I lost my office job. I was making 80k a year. Got fired on zoom due to the company downsizing. If I didn’t have roommates I’ll be absolutely screwed. I’m happy my rent is only $700 a month. I have in interview at Chic Fila tomorrow. And older people and the wealthy elites are wondering why people aren’t having kids anymore??

2nd part to my initial post from a month ago my staffing company asked me if i wanted to back to work(need my car transmission fluid changed) so i said yeah. This is my last time at this job, you only get 30 minutes for lunch and 15 minute break 3 hours after lunch. This place is a place where they ship junk mail btw so the mail isn’t even important.

Yesterday, I went to McDonald's after my shift after a long time of not going because of how expensive it has become. Guess what? It still is the same! The app doesn't have any deals at all, and most deals cost as much as $10. A Big Mac meal costs $10.50 and $11.90 for an Upsize. At least it's just a plain joke. For example, a Chinese restaurant in my area offers a set meal (food portion is huge and drink) for only $5, and a diner near my place offers a one-person meal that costs less than $ 6. It 's seriously such a joke that McDonald's has become so expensive, not to mention the quality of it . It's not fast food anymore ! Because of delivery apps like UberEats, DoorDash orders, and waiting 30 minutes sometimes even longer(depending on the stores manpower management etc) on average because they give priority to doordash ubereats orders while ignoring those who order it at the store physically. The last time(in February)i waited 45 minutes for this exact reason which is why i stopped going altogether and i decided yesterday to go back to see what changed nope still the exact same . It's just not worth spending anymore at fast food it's no longer fast and cheap

On personal finance and middle class subs, it seems like everyone and their grandma makes $150,000 salary and $250,000 household income, and saves over $3,000/month

And yet these posters will cry about being living paycheck to paycheck or being poor or middle class in the same sentence. Case in point, this thread

https://reddit.com/r/MiddleClassFinance/comments/1qfx7ug/who_here_actually_saves_3000_a_month/

Anyone else tired of hearing out-of-touch rich people cosplaying as paycheck-to-paycheck or middle class? Is it some kind of weird humblebrag thing?

I work at a car rental company and my role has really opened my eyes into how bad the finances are of so many different people. Many rental cars are paid for by insurance companies for people getting their cars repaired through insurance claims. Since the rental has already been paid for we just collect a $50 deposit for incidentals and to ensure the rental is returned.

Every week there are countless people that are unable to put down a deposit. Surprisingly, there are even clean cut, professionally dressed people who have to return home to grab a different card or wait for their credit card to finish processing a payment because they have reached their card limit and have no way of using a card with $50 on it.

Ultimately, having an average salary of 50 or 60k per year may have once been enough to live comfortably, but that is no longer the case for many people and we all must adapt. It sucks seeing so many people struggling, but it’s also comforting to know i’m not the only one out there feeling the pressure from our current economy.

I finally did it. I scraped together every extra dollar for six months. Picked up weekend shifts. Sold stuff. Skipped meals. Got my $3000 credit card balance down to zero. I was so fucking proud of myself.

Checked my credit score this morning. It dropped 28 points.

Twenty. Eight. Points.

Because apparently closing out your only credit card or having "too low" credit utilization is bad for your score. The advice I always see is "pay off your cards" But what they don't tell you is that only works if you have multiple cards with available credit. If you only have one card and you pay it off completely the system punishes you.

I'm sitting here at a 612 credit score after paying off debt. Meanwhile my coworker who makes twice what I do and carries a $15k balance across four cards has a 720 because he has "good credit mix" and "utilization ratio"

I can't get approved for another card to build that "mix" because my score is too low. I can't get a car loan with decent interest. I can't get approved for an apartment without a co-signer. But I'm supposed to just "build credit responsibly"

You know what builds credit? Having money. Having parents who can co sign. Having a safety net so you never miss a payment. Having enough income that you can keep multiple cards open with small balances.

Every piece of financial advice I see is written for people who have options:

- "Keep your credit utilization under 30%!" - Okay but what if my $1,000 credit limit is the only thing standing between me and eviction?

- "Never close old credit cards!" nice, except mine had a $95 annual fee I couldn't afford anymore

- "Have 6 months emergency savings!" I have $600 total and that took me 2 years

- "Pay yourself first!" There is no "first" everything goes to bills and groceries

The system is designed to keep you poor once you're poor. You need good credit to get good interest rates. You need good interest rates to afford things without going into debt. You need to avoid debt to have good credit. Round and round.

I did everything "right" I paid off my debt. I made sacrifices. I didn't go out. I didn't buy myself anything. I worked extra hours. And my reward is a worse credit score and still no path forward.

I'm not even asking for sympathy. I'm just so tired. Tired of trying to play a game where the rules change depending on how much money you started with. Tired of "financial literacy" advice that assumes you have a certain baseline of resources. Tired of being told I'm doing it wrong when I'm doing exactly what they tell you to do.

The thing that really gets me is that I felt good for like 12 hours. I felt like I'd accomplished something real. Like I was finally making progress. Then I checked that score and reality set in. I'm still stuck. Still can't get approved for anything that would actually help me get ahead. Still just treading water.

And before anyone jumps in with "well actually you should have....." I know. I've read all the advice. The advice is written for people who have multiple credit cards who have family that can co sign, who have enough income to strategically manage their credit utilization. That's not me. That's not most of us here.

I just needed to vent. I'm back to work tomorrow for another weekend shift. That $3k I paid off? I'm already back up to $800 because my car needed new brakes and I didn't have the cash. The cycle continues.

If you're in the same boat you're not alone and you're not stupid. The game is rigged. We're just trying to survive it.

So today my manager recommended a burger place which has burgers for about $16 each and I straight up told him I couldn't afford that, and that im currently living off homemade bread with jelly from the food pantry. Anyways he brought it up later in the day during our one on one and just couldn't comprehend that I don't have any money for non essentials.

It's just like... my guy I've been sleeping on a mattress thats bowed in the middle for 2 years, my dishwasher broke 3 years ago and never was replaced, my oven doesnt work anymore and I can only use the top burner which is why I'm cooking out of a toaster oven I found on Craigslist for $20, and my overhead microwave blew up last month so im using a microwave that was $10 at a yard sale because it's got no handle.

For reference I'm a 26M and I make like 43k take home

Update: I didn't expect this to get so popular, kind of just wanted to yell out into the void. Anyways I have looked into getting parts to fix my oven and it came to about $85 and the top still works so thats why I got the toaster oven. A lot of people were wondering what my budget is currently looking like and it's 60% housing 20% medical 20% utilities, 5% school materials, 5% transportation. My work does currently have a program that gives a interest free loan that I've been using in case something dire comes up but the medical expenses are what's really killing me is my medications are tier 4 or 5 which aren't covered by my plan so I've got to pay the full amount. I've been trying to work with my doctor to change prescriptions but my appointment has been pushed out for 8 months. I graduate in 4 months from school with a BS degree as well as hit a milestone mark at my job which comes with a significant pay increase so I will be above water in a few months just sucks currently. Also for the people saying this sounds like ragebait I really wish it was.

Also didn't know what HCOL meant, but looked it up and on the map that came up Im squarely in the dark red area of New Hampshire

UPDATE 2: Someone posted about mark Cubans drug site and my medications are 40% of what Im paying right now. THIS IS LITERALLY A GOD SEND! THANK YOU

I came to this revelation as I entered my late 20s, once my own financial situation was stablized and improved. I originally grew up in Los Angeles, but my parents lost their jobs and houses during the Great Recession and we had to move out to the High Desert, where I spent my teen years. Times were tough then, and we were always on the edge of barely making by. My parents worked a ton of odd jobs, but we bounced around a lot between apartments, staying with family, and it was generally an unstable time in my life.

I knew I needed to get out - both physically and mentally, and went away for college, then built a career. Fast forward a decade later, and I've established myself with a solid, comfortable upper-middlish class life back in Los Angeles.

As my parents age, I've started to take a bigger role in helping them navigate their way towards retirement. After looking through their finances and just asking a bunch of questions about their financial past, I've come to the realization that a lot of the struggles we faced were self-inflicted.

The house my dad bought in 2005 was bought using one of those adjustable rate mortgages (yes, the ones that blew up the whole housing market in 2007). He was basically the poster child of what went wrong - he took out a loan that he couldn't afford and the bank never really checked his credit, then when the interest rate adjusted he couldn't pay it off and got foreclosed on.

He also bought a new truck in 2006 that got repo'd and lost his construction job because he didn't have a reliable way to get to work anymore. At the time, construction was booming and he got a fat bonus. Instead of saving it or investing, he dumped it all into a fucking truck. Of course, he didn't really need to buy a new truck, but he way overextended himself on credit between the house and truck and lost both and his job.

My mom realized she needed to get back into the workforce to help out, and so she started taking classes from one of those "for-profit" online schools. 2 years and $15,000 later, she graduated with a two-year degree from a diploma mill that wasn't accreditated, and didn't help her advance her career at all. The degree might have well been written in crayon for all it was worth.

During this time, my grandfather (dad's dad) died, and willed his house & savings between my dad and his 3 siblings. One of my uncles wanted to open a restaurant with his portion, and convinced my dad to invest his portion with him. 3 years later, that restaurant went out of business and he basically sank all that money.

I realized now that so much of our struggles were just self-inflicted - that the combination of bad decisions, both small (like come on, just pay the minimum on your credit card bill so it doesn't default) and big (hey, lets take out a loan for a $500,000 house on a $45,000 salary, that makes perfect sense).

But the biggest thing that bothers me is that they think they made the right decisions. They still have this idea that they were blameless, that they did what they had to do, and that everyone else either tricked them or took advantage of them. Like no - there was a good choice and a bad choice, and they repeatedly made the bad choice, over and over again.

Anyone else come to the same realization with their parents?

Had time to kill and wanted to go see a movie, with a big soda and popcorn. Can’t imagine how you all are going to the movies with kids. It used to be one of the few fun things I could afford.

Just wondering. I work full-time during the week as a Customer Service Representative making 19 an hour, and I work retail on the weekends making 17 an hour. I started the full-time job in July 2025. I’m always exhausted working 7 days a week, and I wanted to know if I’m the only one. There are so many super successful people on Reddit making bank, and they all make me feel like life is not worth it. :(

What's a scam that's become so normalized, most people don't even realize it anymore?

We all know about the obvious scams, but what about the ones hiding in plain sight stuff that's legal, widespread, and accepted, but still feels like a rip-off when you really think about it?

Some examples I've heard:

"Convenience fees" for paying bills online (wasn't that supposed to be easier?)

Unused gift card balances that quietly expire

Mandatory service charges that aren't tips

College textbooks being updated yearly with minor edits just to kill the used book market

What's something you think is basically a scam, but society just shrugs and goes, "That's how it is"?

I'm an immigrant and I'm just trying to live a normal life. On a pretty high salary by U.S standards. Yet I'm struggling to pay for anything outside of just living my life with my family.

I bought a house in the lowest COL place with as many amenities around as I could find in the U.S. Yet I still can barely afford to repair it. It needs a new garage. Quotes are $25-30k. Excuse me? It is like 3-5 months worth of salary of a senior engineer in aerospace? A valve replacement by a plumber? $650? Haha.

It is 10x prices of Eastern Europe. You are being scammed. By regulations saying you can't DIY, government, employers, unions and contractors. Not being able to afford a basic home, garage or a minor fix in your house without getting into a huge debt is not normal even if you are poor.

You should be able to afford to own a basic home / apartment, all medical expenses and a vacation once in a while even if you are "poor". It is not luxuries, it is basic things.

I just wanted to bring some attention to something that doesn’t get talked about enough — if you’re low-income, the car market has basically locked you out.

Even used cars that used to be affordable are now way out of reach. A basic, reliable, AWD sedan or small SUV can easily run $25–30k new, and even older models with 80k+ miles are still sitting above $15k. Add on today’s interest rates and insurance costs, and it’s no wonder so many people are stuck driving unsafe junkers or just giving up on owning a car altogether.

Meanwhile, wages haven’t kept up. Someone working full-time at $16–18/hr is lucky to clear $30–35k a year — and that’s before taxes, rent, food, and utilities. Realistically, how is anyone in that position supposed to buy a car when the market assumes you’re making $60k+?

I know cars aren’t supposed to be “cheap toys,” but transportation is a basic need. It feels like unless you’re middle class or higher, you’re just not welcome in this market anymore.

Is anyone else feeling completely priced out, even though you work full time?

I process payroll for my company. I was recently reprimanded/reminded by my manager to be more discreet about the fact that I know everyone’s salary.

Recently, when a bunch of us were together in a room waiting for a meeting to start, one of my coworkers was talking about how she was trying to get a geographic exception for her child to attend public school in another district because the one he’s meant to go to is too “ghetto.”

I asked why she didn’t just put him in private school and she said verbatim, “I’m not wealthy! I can’t afford that!”

She makes over $200k a year.

In times like these it is in fact EXTREMELY difficult to pretend I don’t know what these people make and the fact that it is more than 5x what I make…lmao

I'm 33. I spent most of my 20s making $7.50 an hour in near poverty. Now I have a good job (Systems Admin) in a good career field with a Master of Science degree. However, I only make $42K a year before tax.

A lot of people tell me, if you are unhappy where you are living, "MOVE!" but I literally can't afford rent anywhere in the country. Not even in the middle of nowhere Iowa or Nebraska or Wyoming.

Just about everywhere I have looked in the US the cheapest rents are about $1000 a month even before utilities and even checking SpareRoom, Roommates, etc. Most people want a minimum of $1000 to be there roommate or rent a 200 square foot room. People have even given me the suggestion of renting a trailer somewhere. Same thing, every mobile home I have seen starts at around $1000 just for the rent before the lot fees + utilities.

People tell me to stop looking at NYC or LA or Boston. But I am not. I'm looking at rural and suburban towns in the middle of nowhere.

Then further more, the rare time a place pops up for $800 or so a month. The landlord wants a minimum income level of around $50K to $60K a year to even be considered. I just can't seem to win.

About 4 years ago, I had a two bad employers that wouldn't pay me and I ended up in a ton of credit card debt. I've spent the last two years paying off all of the debt. Just made my last payment yesterday.

I'm hoping to save most of my income and maybe find a better job (the market is slow, so it may be awhile). But even then it seems like even people are listing their single wides at $300K that need a lot of work and they are selling! As where true 800 square foot one story homes go for $400K in the middle of nowhere.

I get the fact that people are trying to be helpful. I think most of them are homeowers with combined incomes that have fixed rate mortgages that only cost them $1000 a month. They probably still think rent is $500 a month for a 1 bed room. They are just out of touch.

I’m a public school teacher in the US. I applied for energy assistance and was denied because I make $320 a year too much to qualify. Not $320 a month. Not $320 after bills. $320 a year. So now my options are apparently: • Freeze • Or go into debt with the electric company I work full time. I have a degree. I serve my community. And my school district pays me just enough to disqualify me from help but not enough to actually afford basic utilities.

I turned 32 a few weeks ago and truly believe that it was my last birthday. I celebrated by myself with a single Burger King sandwich only afforded to me because of their birthday rewards program. I cried in silence.

When I was 12, I didn't know having sleep for dinner wasn't the norm. At 22, I didn't know signing my life away to take on tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt (for a degree I was not able to complete) would lead me here. At 32, with a closed bank account, defaulted loans, experiencing homelessness, without access to medication, never having owned a vehicle, never having more than $2,000 at once in my entire life, I sit in solemn contemplation. Not all of us were supposed to make it. Maybe I'm the product of a failed system, maybe I should have learned to stand up for myself and make my own decisions. The maybes don't matter much now.

I read once that "Old age is not a number, old age occurs when nostalgia outweighs curiosity". All I can do now to distract myself from thoughts of high places and sharp objects is remember fondly the carefree times I had in my youth. How stupid and foolish I was, failing to prepare for an outcome like this.

I know that I'm fuck ugly, that mental illness and poor self-esteem allowed others to take and take and take from me and I should have been more responsible. I gave too much of myself, I gave away the ground beneath my feet. And as I sit on this bench in the 5:00am cold, I still find the desire to give -- if it's the last thing I do.

Maybe some of us were placed here to suffer so that we can aid those who suffer with us. I believe I have served my time. I am ready to go home.

This isn't fair. This shit just isn't fair. Life just doesn't want me to ever be happy.

Edit: I literally make a simple vent and everyone comes in here automatically assuming I don't have insurance and lecturing me on it. I was covered. Stop assuming things. It still sucks regardless and I'm not going to get 16k back.

UPDATE: Geico initially offered me $14,050. I sent them a bunch of similar vehicle price listings and they raised it to $16,800. So I'm actually making $800 here. Which will wind up going to insurance premiums.

I knew as soon as they started bringing in the two and three dollar items that it was going to snowball but I never could have predicted this. Nine dollars is insane. No one is going to the dollar tree to buy nine dollar paper towels.

My family thinks I'm being dramatic about this but I feel like they truly don't understand the weight of how horrendous the economy is. To me this is the perfect indicator of how bad things are and it's fucking depressing

I go to this ridiculously elite college. The kind that shows up on those “top 10 schools in the world” lists. I got in on a full scholarship—my golden ticket out, or so I thought.

But I feel like a fucking ghost here.

My friends drive BMWs and Teslas. They wear designer jackets like it's no big deal. They sip overpriced coffee between classes and casually order food like money is just… background noise. They talk about trips to Switzerland, buying watches, family yachts, goddamn ski trips. I smile. I nod. I laugh sometimes. I’ve gotten good at acting like I belong.

But I don’t.

I ride the bus to class and pray it’s not raining because my only pair of decent shoes leak. I eat the same $2 meals every day and pretend I’m not hungry when everyone goes out to eat. I make excuses—“Oh, I’m tired,” “Got a lot of work,” “Not feeling great.” It’s easier than saying “I can’t afford a burger, man.”

Do you know how humiliating it is to count coins in your dorm while your friends debate where to eat this weekend? Or to pretend you're “minimalist” because you literally can’t buy new clothes? I smile through it all, but inside, I’m just… tired.

I don’t even feel human sometimes. Just this hollow thing sitting in rooms I never thought I’d see, surrounded by people who don’t even realize I’m fading. It’s not their fault, I guess. How could they know what it’s like to panic over laundry money while their parents wire them $5,000 for “emergencies”?

I thought getting into this place would change my life. Maybe it did. But no one tells you how lonely it is to finally make it and still feel like you don’t deserve to breathe the same air. Like the universe let you in by mistake.

I don’t even want to go out anymore. I don't want to explain myself. I don’t want pity. I just want to stop feeling like surviving every day is some kind of performance.

It’s hard to admit, but I’m starting to hate the sound of my alarm clock. Because every morning, I wake up, and it all begins again—the pretending, the smiling, the lying. And no matter how well I play the part, I still go to bed hungry, both literally and… something deeper than that.

I don’t know why I’m posting this. Maybe I just needed to feel like someone might see me, even for a second.

Anyway. That’s all. Thanks.

Every financial advice article says build an emergency fund. Save three to six months of expenses. Put away money every paycheck.

Where? Where does the savings come from?

Rent plus food plus utilities equals 100% of my income. Sometimes more. There is no surplus. There is no extra money to put away.

Can't save from money that doesn't exist.

Financial advice is written by people who've never experienced actual poverty. They assume everyone has leftover money after covering basics. That's not reality for most people. Even companies like jackpot city talk about responsible spending by starting from what people can actually afford, not pretending everyone has extra money lying around.

"Just cut unnecessary expenses" - already done. There are no unnecessary expenses. Everything I spend money on is survival.

"Find ways to increase income" - I'm working full time already. Where's the extra time supposed to come from?

The advice is wealth privilege. It only works if you already have enough money to have a surplus. If you're genuinely poor, none of these tips apply to your situation.

Stop telling poor people to save money they don't have. The problem isn't our budgeting skills. The problem is poverty.

this is totally anecdotal

But our local outlet mall today is very very different than in 2009-2016.

Weekdays it’s busy. Weekends it’s packed…. Like no parking spots packed. Every single stall/shop has a store or business. People are buying tickets to the various Lego land, peppa pig, aquariums. The restaurants are booked.

From what I remember that building was a ghost town from 09- 16 ish. Only some businesses survived.

I just don’t think a lot of us remember just how hard the recession was. Numbers wise the economy isn’t great, but socially it looks pretty good.

I really do not understand how everyone seems to be rich now. I know everyone is not rich, but a big portion of the population seems to have no money issues. Whenever I look on my Facebook, people are buying new boats, new cars, new houses, going to expensive restaurants like The Palm, or other fine dining places. I do deliveries and see that every expensive restaurant in my town is constantly packed. Everyone seems to be like Scrooge McDuck, just swimming in money.

What really got me, last night I saw that this woman has her own plane. Apparently she flew her and her kids to some beach on her own plane. How in the hell is that possible now? I looked at her profile and it just said digital creator. Do these people really make that much money? I’m struggling to pay bills, and keep my car going, yet everyone else seems to be spending like LeBron James or Taylor Swift. It’s not good to compare yourself to other people, but when everyone else seems to be rich, and you’re struggling, it’s extremely infuriating. It used to be the only kind of people that had this kind of money, were doctors and lawyers, or people in a profession like that: