to think that some people just don't get poverty?

[Ohsoworried]

I've seen a few posts recently where people earning a fair bit of money (think around 100k a year) are complaining that they're struggling with money, don't have enough etc. I DO understand that it is all relative but equally, for people like me on a low low wage, in insecure housing, wondering how I'm going to pay rent, having to stop paying in to my pension for the extra £30 a month etc it does make me cringe a little. Things are a little better for me at the moment but it has been hard and my secondment is up soon so back down to low pay. When I left my abusive ex I was living in poverty. And when I mean poverty I mean in a refuge, no job because I had to relocate, no money for a deposit to rent etc. It's the choice between being able to downsize your house, not go on holiday for a couple of years, make sacrifices but still live comfortably etc, compared with not knowing if you'll be able to afford your bills. Of course I'm generalising and I'm sure there are people out there who are genuinely on high wages but have high mortgage payments etc who are struggling. I do sympathise. But I don't always think this is the case...

I grew up in poverty, both parents unskilled and unemployed throughout my childhood. If anything it made me determined to be skilled and pursue a career which I did successfully, but I will never forget.

But is the point raised in the OP really a thing? I know lots of people on six figure salaries and have literally never heard anyone complaining about being poor

Oh here we go, as predicted, someone talking about 'real third world' poverty.

Although awful that has nothing to do with poverty, which was OP’s point. Not ‘rich people have perfect lives AIBU’

YANBU OP. I’m financially comfortable, and don’t really know what it’s like to struggle for money. I’m not on 100k or anything like it. But then I don’t run massive cars, send my kid to private school or live in a house with a maxed out mortgage. I just live in a normal house (under 300k), have one car, and my daughter will be going to state school. So 🤷🏼‍♀️ yes it’s silly hearing people living champagne lifestyles then whinging that their 100k won’t cut it.

Depending on where in the world you are, there will be very different definitions of poverty.

Most of the global population live in countries that are known as developing countries.

The West - North America, Australia, New Zealand and European countries - are the only rich parts of the world.

Another measure looking at extreme poverty shows none of this in the West as well.

Someone who's financially struggling in the West WILL be considered better off than their counterparts in South America, Asia and Africa.

So, yes, poverty is relative.

My parents bailed me out about half a dozen times in the 15 years I was a solo mum, it probably amounted to a total of £800 (excluding the two trips abroad for family events which I refused to go because I couldnt afford it but they insisted). They could never been seen to be showing favouritsm, and they werent millionaires (had a couple of investment properties).

I realise I am lucky in that my parents would never see me on the street but they were never the bank of mum and dad. I never went running to them everytime I had an unexpected car bill. If I had to pay for my a new battery for my car we ate fish fingers and pasta for a month.

Except TheBatKeeper's examples DO have a real impact on finances including in the long term.

For example, there is a definite link between being profoundly deaf and income levels. They tend to be low earners and rarely are high earners.

To say nothing about the impact of repeated cancer experiences on a person's ability earn!

Actually, I think they can sometimes be the worse of the lot. 'I managed to get out of poverty so anyone can' I also think the whole idea that you just have to work hard and you'll get out of poverty is bollocks as well. I grew up very poor, absolute bottom of the pile poor. I've never worked particularly hard but just got lucky with timing (I'm 50) and properly and am now quite well off. My cousin, who has worked much harder than me, in hard work jobs, much longer hours etc has NOTHING to show for her 40 years in work. Oh and she wasn't frivolous with money either, that was me.

Your post reminds me of.
Someone with no clue outside their own situation that I couldn't care less about based on your attitude. Perhaps my friends should just let their child die so they have more money to themselves. Or we should stop paying for our necessary medicals so we can gloat too. Fucking clueless but keep crying and pointing fingers.

Spot on

See #vimesbootsindex

To be blunt, yes. The example with the water from the well was personal, by the way. I can say exactly the same as in your OP, people in the UK who face eviction don't even know how lucky they are, on the global scale. They just don't get it.

What on Earth are you referring to?

Don't be so disgusting.

Your friends are in a dreadful position. Imagine how much worse if they couldn't afford the medical care?

Imagine how you would be if you couldn't afford your "medicals" (?)

Yet that ^ is the reality for millions.

But, yeah, maybe we should shut up about it?

Saw something similar just yesterday.

People get used to a level of income. Anything less feels like struggling despite being many times above others income.

But someone struggling to choose between buying enough food for the week, or whether to pay the electricity bill shouldn't feel grateful or lucky because in a developing country they'd practically be a millionaire??

The water well case

How poverty affects people is partly the mental stress and stigma which means it can be harder to be poor in a rich country compared to being middling in a poor country

If you are going without food it doesn't matter what country you are in that is a pretty hard way to exist

To be blunt, yes. The example with the water from the well was personal, by the way. I can say exactly the same as in your OP, people in the UK who face eviction don't even know how lucky they are, on the global scale. They just don't get it..
That's kind of the point about it all being relative to an individuals situation but there is a fair few posters that don't see the variables just that someone better off than them shouldn't complain.. While they complain about being hard up yet in comparison to other situations people over the world are in they have it good. Some of those people can't afford internet to be here to complain yet all these people who can't afford to eat can afford internet or phone plans to complain online! Ironic isn't it.

Yes. The OP accused "people on 100K" of not knowing what poverty is, exactly the same argument applies to someone struggling to pay their electricity bill - they also have no idea what real poverty is.

I didn't really understand that we were poor until I started secondary school tbh.

Suddenly my peers were no longer "like me" and had parents who travelled abroad to work, went abroad on holidays, had the latest tech - I'll never forget the wonder of seeing the first sony walkman!

A girl in my class went to NZ on holiday. My poor little brain just couldn't comprehend it at all. How? How was it possible?

It occurred to me years later I was probably the kid their parents didn't want them to play with :(

Misfortunes such as yours happen when you're living in poverty too, even more so because poor living conditions can exacerbate ill health.. No one is totally immune from heartache but some people really struggle to understand poverty because they havent encountered it themselves. And that's OPs point. I am sorry though that your life has been turned on its head by ill health.

If you are going without food it doesn't matter what country you are in that is a pretty hard way to exist.

Yes but if someone on a high income to someone else can't afford food due to other unforeseen circumstances they should shut up because they could be worse off.. It's all relative.
Those same people stating they have issues buying food or choosing which bill to pay have internet and a means to access it to argue here so maybe they should prioritise food over playing the internet Olympics of who has it worse? Just a thought but I'm sure plenty of posters will come back raging about the fact their privilege isn't as much as someone else's... insert eye roll.

Out of the threads referred to in the OP and this one it's clear which side has less of an idea and post ignorantly and it isn't the other threads.....

Cue witch hunt...

The part about mental health is also true. But I'd submit that consumerism is mostly responsible for that, rather than objective deficits.

1. VimesBoot Index…doesn’t exist….just saying.
2. OP I totally agree, some people will never get it.
3. Some people also cry “I’m poor” when in reality they have loads (thinking of one particular food poverty blogger who currently rents expensive massive property they don’t need to live in). Said food blogger also brings in thousands a month via Patreon for cooking what is largely slop. Yeah… it fooled by the rhetoric that one posts.
4. And yes, crying because you can’t afford champagne and that you’re going to have to change the very expensive car for a less expensive one as we’ve seen in some newspapers is NOT poverty.

Poverty is stretching the food budget to the nth degree and hoping it will last.

It is hoping and praying that the washing machine, fridge, cooker etc don’t break down. A reality for us at the moment as our old fan over is making lists of noises when turned on…we shout words of encouragement to it. Thankfully there’s a furniture project nearby where we can buy secondhand…IF we have the finances.

It’s also praying for not too many work miles due to the sky high petrol prices. I’m lucky enough to have a job but it’s not paid at an exorbitant rate. Public service roles rarely are but I get satisfaction from more than my income (although more pay would be nice).

Its paying a set amount every month to the gas and electric company because you can’t afford to pay any more despite knowing you are building a debt.

Its not having enough food for your children and needing a food bank.

Its being disabled and not having access to enough support so you struggle.

I could go on and on.

It really became clear on here during lockdown.

The threads where people were asking “how had lockdown changed your life?”

And there were a lot of people, like me, saying it hadn’t really.

There was a lot of handwringing asking, “but what about the theatre, galleries, dinners with friends, family days out, holidays, the cinema?”

No understanding got that a lot of people don’t have the money to do those things, live in places without even free museums and no money to travel to places that do, or are too busy working every hour to make ends meet to have the money, time or energy to do any of that. And that there were people who weren’t mourning the loss of travel as they hadn’t even stayed the night in a travelogde in the UK for 15 years because even a night away is beyond them.

I also like the “swap to a cheaper supermarket, get rid of netflix” comments.

Many people already buy the bare minimum in Aldi and couldn’t afford a TV package anyway.

I know that on a global scale there are people living on rubbish tips and not able to access clean water or toilets. But i dont see many threads saying 'why dont they just get a better job' or 'if they walked 2 more miles the water is cleaner'. There is an acceptance that the situation is most likely not of their own doing and its beyond our realm of experience.

Those struggling to eat or heat, or living in hostels here are more likely to be seen as having got things wrong so deserve it or to get unworkable suggestions thrown at them - like the batch cooking (in a hostel with no cooking facilities or freezer)