> I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck and I definitely still had a few dollars to get the ball rolling after each paycheck. Claiming that you can’t is exactly the defeatist attitude that will keep you financially disabled.
2010s were a decade of paycheck to paycheck years for me+kids. We frequently ate plain white rice (only) because there wasn't enough money for a can of beans. Or 1 onion. Sometimes I couldn't swing a bag of rice. The kids had a couple of regular meals when school was in session.
I suggest your circumstances aren't as universal as they may seem to you.
And you didn’t have a bank account with money in it? Did you cash your paychecks at a check cashing service (giving them a cut?) and spend all the cash? What were your expenses during that time that ate all your paycheck? Surely not just rice.
That comment was directed at the previous poster’s remark than since 60% of Americans have $500 or less in their bank account that must mean all 60% have no money to save and that my advice was bad. That is the defeatist attitude. I’m definitely not insisting that some portion aren’t entirely living paycheck to paycheck.
The point of my comments is to acknowledge that people should seek out return for their money instead of keeping it in a bank. Not to squabble over who is worse off.
> And you didn’t have a bank account with money in it?
I had a bank account. Each month it eventually came to have the exact amount of the rent in it. Most months, anyway.
> Did you cash your paychecks at a check cashing service...
On a few occasions where utilities would be cut off in less than a day, I used a check cashing service. Specifically Ace as their fee was lowest.
> (giving them a cut?) and spend all the cash?
On those occasions I blew it on water or power.
> What were your expenses during that time that ate all your paycheck. Surely not just rice.
Not just rice, true. My expenses were rent, water, power, fuel and minimal auto insurance (until the van was stolen anyway). Water and power outweighed food because disconnected utilities were CPS threat vectors.
> The point of my comments is to acknowledge that people should seek out return for their money instead of keeping it in a bank.
For those that make more than 100% of their minimal bills sure. For the millions of us who had to live otherwise, keeping non-existent money in a bank seems unrealistic.
Sure that is a much larger issue about wage stagnation than it is about ability to save then. It sounds like you were trying to do more than the minimum when it came to keeping money.
2010s were a decade of paycheck to paycheck years for me+kids. We frequently ate plain white rice (only) because there wasn't enough money for a can of beans. Or 1 onion. Sometimes I couldn't swing a bag of rice. The kids had a couple of regular meals when school was in session.
I suggest your circumstances aren't as universal as they may seem to you.