To ask what’s one stereotype about money you wish people would change?

[SoftPowerSaver]

For me, it’s the idea that money automatically corrupts people - that if you have it, you’ll become selfish, mean or disconnected from others. I think that belief stops people from wanting to grow financially or even talk about money openly. Yes, money can bring out the worst in some but it can also give people freedom, stability and the ability to help others.

AIBU to wish we could separate wealth from moral judgement a bit more?

I agree with both things, they can both be true at the same time.

There are people who seem to think that working full time for NMW means they should be able to afford 2+ children, but a house and have a foreign holiday every year, which seems bonkers to me.

At the same time though, working full time, even at NMW, should mean that you can afford to live in a shared home and pay necessary bills without needing UC.

I'd love it if the government stopped talking about 'hard working' people. Some people work & earn a living without being hard working - we've all had a colleague who seems to avoid the difficult stuff/cut corners/ never works the bank holiday shift. Some people go above and beyond - some do the minimum or less and get away with it. Some people can afford to work part time just because they want more free time, and some lucky souls have jobs they find easy.
They are all still entitled to decent public services and protection from discrimination etc.

I mean it depends. If you're disabled. Then yeah .not your fault at all. 100%.

Caring for disabled kids, once again not your fault.

When would it be the person's own fault?

That I haven’t bloody earned it. That I must have had a “ privileged” upbringing or “connections” or inheritance. All those are so untrue as to be laughable.
But what REALLY pisses me off? The assumption that I’ve made it off the back of exploiting other people, off zero hours contracts and minimum wage. That is such utter bullshit, I would never and have never treated my employees like that, that’s why they stay and it’s why we are all successful. Ironically, no one that works for me is considered a “working person” by this bloody government.
Oh and that I “avoid tax”. I do not, absolute straight arrow for me. Not all business owners are tax avoiding, exploitative wankers.
And I would add, off the back of some of the comments on this thread, that yes, I am a decent person. I am honest, kind, generous, decent and loyal. Those things matter to me. I was when I didn’t have a pot to piss in and I still am now, I just have more to give away. Which I do, anonymously.

I did recently meet the most bleeding heart liberal of all time at a function. He was riddled with guilt about money. He was a whiny git who was virtue signalling himself in to oblivion. He needed to just shut up and give some of his money away to assuage his guilt.

I went to school with a lot of kids who just pissed around full time. They’re probably struggling to make ends meet now, but sod them. They stoped the rest of us from learning. Couldn’t care less.

That it is the ultimate standard by which success is judged. We are all supposed to want to be rich, to get richer, to admire rich people and want jobs that make us rich. Not jobs that contribute to society. If we were to value kindness and loyalty and community spirit and creativity as much or more, to honour these qualities and uphold them and make them newsworthy and set them as our goals and work towards them, encourage children and young adults to aspire towards them, the world would undoubtedly be a better place.

I don't think wealth is a bad thing. But I do think pursuit of wealth above any other thing, as though it were a virtue, is a sickness in our society that needs to be healed.

When DS was in primary there were some who were goddamn hopeless. I remember in year 6 the school took these kids into a separate room and directly told them the answers because they'd made the school look bad. My DS went to a top grammar school.

Some of them fixed up, a lot haven't and still have no brains.

When would it be the person's own fault?

I can think of lots of cases!! One example- I used to work with a woman who constantly tried to get me to lend her money. This woman would splash her money around on designer bags, cosmetic procedures, holidays etc (I know she did because she would come in and tell us about it) and then moan that she was "broke". She wasnt broke - she just wanted a lifestyle she couldnt afford.

We were both on the same wage at that time- I saved most of mine and she spent it on crap which is why she kept asking me for money, because she knew I was careful with it. There are lots of resources online about how to save and budget your money- I even told her about them and she ignored me so yeah, that is on HER.

Some people aren’t very bright and that’s not a crime. The lack of vocational education that they might excel at in this country is a crime. Ruining education for others trying to learn is also a crime.

Lots of people make stupid and unwise decisions about money. Some people choose to get into debt because they want things now and dont want to save.

My BIL is jealous of my husband because he built up a business from scratch and is now doing very well financially. What he forgets is that all the times my husband got up at 6am to go to work, he was laying in bed until 10 and then going to the sauna at his gym and working a few hours here and there in the evenings. That was his choice of course- he was perfectly capable of doing more, he just didnt want to, but he cannot then whine about it when the consequences hit.

It has zero to do with any kind of moral judgement and everything to do with the consequences of our actions and the choices we make. (I am not referring to people who cannot work due to disability etc obv)

That cash is king. Personally I find phone payments, online banking etc very convenient, and online/app banking in particular has helped me get in control of my finances for the first time in my life 😊

Seriously?

Dossed about through their school years (and probably messed about with other kids education too)
left school, dossed about some more
realised that change in benefit system meant that they would indeed gasp have to find work
work odd jobs cash in hand because essentially unemployable

This is what I believe but lots of people on MN say "oh I can't do anything more, this is too much for me already"

Yup
and they live month by month
and deserve to 🤷‍♀️
shame they often have multiple children dragged in to their situations. And the cycle continues…

That's a reductive reading of the "sell-out" narrative.

Wanting more money isn't, in itself, greedy or less pure. Compromising your principles to get more money is what makes you a sell-out.

Like there are people (who are not disabled) who say they can only do low paying jobs because they can't do anything better

Exactly
the OP reads like a year 10 GCSE suggestion for a debate

That stocks, shares and investments are only for the rich.

My challenge to that would be, that as the minimum wage has risen, so has the expectations that go with minimum wage roles.

A job like McDonald's may well be the type of work that students do or as a start point (my understanding is mcdonalds is actually a really good employer as it happens)

But if you read job descriptions for roles that are paying minimum wage, or a tiny bit over, they will say things like have a degree, have a level 3 qualification, 3 years experience, leadership skills, they will be doing increasing complex thing. There is there is nothing 'starter' about them and opportunities to increase the salary are quite hard as there's then a huge gap between them and the manager as structures are less heirachical Im often amazed at the expectations for some minimum wage work or the tier just a tiny bit over.

I think it's fair to say that some government controlled roles (such as carers and social workers) deserve more pay. The NMW need not rise, but their pay should.

That it doesn’t solve problems. Pretty much any basic problem/need - food, shelter, warmth to name 3 - is solved by money. Of course it doesn’t solve all problems and it can actually create them but on a basic level it solves them.

😆 at the poster who says they had the idea that now features in iPhones

It isn't - it's so simplistic to ever blame an individual in poverty. There has been plenty of social research done on how people are in difficult situations. I didn't say it was ever anyone's fault - you seem to imply to that it might be?

I mean yeah.