People Are Calling Out Examples Of "Richsplaining" (AKA When Rich People Give Wildly Out-Of-Touch Money Advice), And It's Spot On
I say this all the time: money advice is NOT one size fits all. Depending on your goals and income, a financial practice that's really effective for one person can be absolutely useless or even potentially harmful to you.
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This is especially clear when you see affluent people sharing "tips" for folks with lower incomes that assume they have resources that they simply don't. See also: the assumption that poorer people are being held down by lifestyle choices rather than low wages and rising costs.
In a nutshell, if a money tip doesn't apply to your situation, it's bad advice for you. It might work for someone else, but that's not your life. Oh, and I hope we can all agree that giving others unsolicited money advice is just rude.
So, when u/supersecretspare started a conversation in r/PovertyFinance about "richsplaining," people chimed in with some of the most annoying and out-of-touch things wealthy people have suggested they do to get out of poverty (which is much, much harder than most people realize, btw). Here are some of the top replies:
1."A friend of mine genuinely said about poor people, 'They just need to swallow their pride and ask their parents for money.'"
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2."Earlier today I told my mom we couldn’t afford another streaming service, and she starts saying, 'it’s so cheap,' and sending me screenshots of how it only costs $4.99 per month. And I’m just like, 'no, you don’t understand.' I get that it’s only $5. I don’t have $5 to spend on something that frivolous."
3."You have a scarcity mindset. You just have to think more positively."
4."'Just work harder and invest every extra dollar you have.' Bitch, I don’t have one extra dollar."
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5."Another employee and I worked as private nurses for a family that used a payroll company to give us our checks each week. The daughter who was in charge of the finances went on a lot of vacations, like six or more a year. Every time she went, she'd more than likely forget to call in our hours. When we casually complained about not getting paid, she would say, 'Why can't you manage your money better?'"
"Hint: It's because our parents didn't give us massive trust funds to draw upon in times of need."
6."My old boss told me that sometimes people run the air conditioning for too long on too low of a temperature and that was the reason they struggled. He said this when I wanted a raise and he decided he wanted to see my bank statements to prove I spent money responsibly."
"I’m in a place that reaches 105 degrees with a LOT of humidity and I still only pay around $65 in the absolute worst months, most of the time it’s like $35."
7."'Money doesn't buy happiness, son.' I honestly was only hoping for groceries, so I'm okay with that."
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8."One of my coworkers is constantly talking about crypto or investing in this or that. He has thousands he can dump into whatever he wants and if it goes bad, 'We'll get em next time.' But I can't take that risk. I have nothing extra to safely lose. It's so goddamn irritating."
9."'Just learn to code' Me, who has struggled with basic HTML and CSS and can’t get a basic IF function to work in Excel without hours of googling: “…fascinating.'"
10."Instead of wasting all your money on rent, just live in your parents' spare house while you're going to college!"
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11."No one wants to work these days."
12."Just lay off the Starbucks and the avocado toast and you’ll be just fine!"
13."My brother-in-law and sister lived in poverty until he took over his father’s business and did well for himself. Now he thinks everyone should have their own business — forget that you need people to work for you, Todd. If you don’t own your own business, it is your fault you’re not rich."
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14."I have a job teaching foreign business people English over the phone. Most of the time it's a great job. But what I can't stand is how they constantly ask me things like: Where do you like to travel? Why don't you play golf? Why don't you go shopping? And so many other questions that all have the same answer: I'm poor."
"It's infuriating trying to explain it and they just don't understand. 'Oh, just shop around for a cheaper flight/hotel/etc.' There's literally no price point for traveling that I can afford. All of your advice is for a problem that doesn't apply to me."
15."My partner and I are looking for an apartment so we can move out of his dad’s basement. My partner’s sister told us we could afford more house than we expect. She’s a lawyer, her kids are in private school, and she has no college debt. I love her, but damn can she be out of touch."
16."My favorite: Why don’t you just get a better job?!"
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17."'Borrow money from your parents. Sell one of your video game systems. Stop smoking $10 a pack cigarettes.' Like, thanks, literally none of that applies to me."
18."There is a segment on our local news channel about managing money run by this old super uptight lady who has no idea what poverty is really like. It's the most insulting thing I've ever seen — literally nothing useful. 'Don't eat out more than once a week.' 'Buy high quality instead of quantity.' 'Save an emergency fund of at least six months of bills.' And so on."
19."My mother, who had union-provided health insurance, then Medicare, telling me she doesn't understand why I just don't get a plan with a lower deductible. Um, cause my kids need to eat and it's $600 a month more."
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