To think most rich people don’t understand how the rest of us live?

OP it IS sometimes hard when you're used to a better standard of living. I've had both and I have to remind myself sometimes!

its sound like the often posted moan form the mc that they do get any benefits and its so unfair all those poor people

boohoo

Yanbu, I always remember when I was in my early 20s and a man the same age I had just met told ne that he didn't really respect people that hadn't travelled. 🙄

It’s less like comparing beans on toast and a tiara and more like beans on toast vs sausage and mash.

Take home after tax and pension etc is £5,100, private school = £2k a month. Then the you have the rest of the costs. She gets some maintenance from her ex but it isn’t a lot for her and 3 teens. She’s never had her nails done, gets her hair cut twice a year. It’s not living on the breadline but it’s not eating out every week and having a flash car like some people on here seem to envision.

You don't have to believe me but the only reason you are determined not to is that it doesn't suit what you want to believe. How inconvenient that myself and other people might have different experiences to you.

In fairness people pile onto those threads too. Read the room, shouldn't complain on your salary etc etc. Personally I think anyone who is genuinely stressed about money should be able to vent.

This is true. However, I do carp on about water being a commodity lol. Water bottles not finished at school are presented with dinner 🙈.

I just do not believe you have

Being in the middle and getting by is that finances have been stretched as being in the middle allows you choices and its is nothing in comparison to waiting for your benefits as they are needed to get by

I am in the lower middle now and its a far far more comfortable place to be

I think it's a bit unreasonable. However it's a matter of context. If you live in the UK, you are categorically, and by all historical standards, amongst a tiny fraction of the richest people to have ever lived on this planet. Some people may be richer, and may advise living in a way that you choose not to, but that doesn't mean they don't understand what's it's like to have a bit less.

I think the fact that you would consider yourself to be unfortunate, or poor, shows a hypocritical, but entirely understandable mentality. The fact that we all take what riches and wealth we all have for granted shows we have no clue what 'poor' actually means.

The disposable change you have in your pocket at the end of the day isn't a sign of how rich you are. We all benefit hugely from the wealth of our country and those before us, and just because we enjoy it as a collective doesn't take that wealth away or make it any less valuable. If you have unlimited free lifesaving healthcare not just for you, but for your whole family, if you have a house with several rooms and separate bedrooms for each child, if you have enough food to not only fend off starvation but in so much excess to make you fat and overweight not to mention having money leftover for luxuries like electronic products, free time to sit on Internet forums chatting and Xmas gifts for your kids then make no mistake, you are definatively rich by world standards, so to even ask the question from a standpoint of so much personal wealth and privilege kind of answers itself.

We suffer largely here in the UK from envy, greed and jealously of people who have more money than we do ourselves, always wanting more than than the next person instead of concentrating and being grateful for the wealth we have and enjoy on a day to day basis. It's only because we have enjoyed this for so long and lived in such peaceful times with such overflowing excesses around us that we have become to view this as 'the norm', when in reality the norm would be something completely alien to our way of life we are used to.

Except no one with millions is saying “Just buy a flat” are they? Can you share an example? Can you share ten? Because for you to “keep seeing” it it needs to be a lot more than one.
What you are actually sharing is your perception of how “rich” people view “poor”’people, you aren’t describing the reality.

Agree. The thread where two brothers share a bedroom and the number of posters saying that’s not okay and they need to move to a bigger house, like that’s an option the op hasn’t ever considered 🙄

That would still leave nearly £4k a month left if my maths is correct (not my strong subject admittedly).

Having lived at all three levels (though never super 'rich'), I believe it to be true and I know many others who have experienced it that way.

Absolutely - money gives you options that you don't have if you are poor.

Yes, I think the difference is how much could you in all honesty cut back on if you had to. I’m down to the bone, there is no area in my life I can trim. I don’t have holidays, I don’t smoke or drink, I don’t eat out or have takeaways, I don’t go to the hairdressers or buy clothes. It hasn’t always been like that but because of some circumstances out of my control (basically ex running up debt/reneging on financial commitments) every bit of my rainy day money has been spent and can’t be replenished. My income barely covers my outgoings now. My last bit of trim is to change my Netflix from ad free (£12.99pm) to ads (😕) for £5.99pm. It’s the only self indulgence I have and the only thing that is trimmable, even in a crisis.

Or the poster may have an SEN child but no money and no option to even consider private education. That’s a very different position to someone with an SEN child who has the privilege of being able to make the choice to send them private.

Yes but usually those that have come from
nothing rarely recognise their new privilege.

Yes, I agree. They are the same group that go on that they saved to buy things. Well what a luxury it would be to have the means to save, for a alot of people in today's world they have nothing left over, and that is despite living frugally, and working their arses off!

Seriously

I just can't find the words to reply to this nonsense

I see it at work as I work in a very affluent industry and I just don’t think it crosses their minds that people track every pound. I’m not poor but I track my spend down to the penny to ensure I don’t end up in the red.
i remember being asked why people don’t just fill up a full tank of petrol every time they go to the petrol station. He couldn’t even fathom not doing that.

I think people get out of touch very quickly.

And - they don’t realise the cost of things like rent have changed (or by how much).

Regarding extremely wealthy people (what counts as extremely wealthy?) I don’t think I ever really see them inputting into how those on lower incomes should manage their money. At ‘extremely wealthy’ I think they probably know they have no idea and have nothing useful to add.

This, I have a similar experience. I was a young single mum who went hungry and without heating, broken pushchair that I could not afford to replace. I am not playing the victim, just stating facts. I pulled myself out of the darkness and am in a position where I don't have to struggle. I never take that for granted and appreciate so many things that others appear to take for granted. It's all about perception. I know people who have never struggled and lack insight into the challenges of others. This is just an example of the diversity of the human race

How often do you (if you are struggling financially) tell people I can't do X or Y. I do more and more now but there is an unspoken rule - don't talk about money. Sod that!

IME the rich who've never experienced being poor are like this, but not those who've experienced no money.