Category: Concepts

A few years ago, I remember the Romney family getting in hot water rhetorically speaking because one of them (I think it was Ann?) said something very tone-deaf about financial difficulties. It was along the lines of “Yes, we too have known poverty. Why, one time during graduate school, we had to sell some stock to make ends meet!”

I think about this a lot, when I see finance getting talked about on the Internet. If you are well off, there’s a certain level of desperation that you will simply never know, because you have enough cushion/backup (whether that’s from your own savings, family support, or savings you have BECAUSE of earlier family support).

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One of my friends and I have a running gag about the very un-self-aware articles that are sometimes published in places like Business Insider. You probably know the drill: “This plucky young lad paid off $120,000 of student loans before age 30! What an inspiration!” Then you read the article and (a) there is no budget presented, and (b) the most mathematically significant “tip” offered is something like “He chose to live with his parents to save money on rent” (good! If you can swing it!) “and also rented out the Harlem condominium his grandmother gifted him upon graduation for $4000 a month of extra income! What a hustle grindset, am I right?” (Laughably out of reach for almost everyone in the country).

The thing that makes these puff pieces laughable is the lack of a written budget and the lack of comparability to even the median American, let alone the lower quartiles.

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Someone recently shared this article in a space I’m in, and people immediately started talking shit about the interviewee. At first glance, I agreed – if he’s got very wealthy parents, that’s why, right?

But then I actually clicked on it, and there were a couple features that made this different from the normal puff pieces.

1. The very first sentence of the article acknowledged his privilege in growing up wealthy. There’s a lot of benefit that you get from even just turning 21 with a net worth of Zero, let alone a positive net worth, that can be hard to articulate. Additionally, being surrounded by people who are making good financial decisions (regardless of how easy it is to make them) helps build the right attitudes about money and savings. It’s why the whole “role model” thing is so important. It’s why mentoring is important.
2. The article actually included his monthly budget and how he got there. $2000/mo for a studio he shares with a partner is actually not completely insane, even in DC. Would everyone want or be able to live like that? Of course not. But this isn’t “live in genteel poverty in your father’s estate’s carriage house while renting out your condominium for pocket change” nonsense.
3. 82k is actually a decent income in this area, especially if you’re half of a two-income household. And saving 20% of that means he’s effectively living on 65k, which – while not great – is still pretty okay.

I would have preferred slightly more acknowledgement that not everyone can join the military (due to medical restrictions and so forth) but overall? It’s actually a pretty good article.

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Anyway. I was just having some feelings about that, and it made me think of the “Romney poor” concept at the same time.

It’s important to keep things in perspective, no matter what stage of the journey you’re on.