To think that if you’re in a position of choice, you should always choose affluence?

[TheTaupeMoose]

If you can choose comfort, ease, security and options, why wouldn’t you? Struggle isn’t noble. Rich is just better. AIBU to say that given the choice, choosing affluence every time just makes sense?

Are you saying that all people in poverty are there because the made a noble choice over being rich?
Are you smoking crack?

So let's say a very rich but abusive man wants to marry me, I should say yes because I can be affluent?

What are you rattling on about? Who chooses affluence that they don't earn?

I chose a career helping people rather than screwing them. I have less money than I would have had. But a much better life. And although I don’t believe in karma, I’ve been very lucky so the choice to earn less has been offset by things working out for me, mostly.

It’s not about struggle necessarily, it’s about wanting the world to be better, not just my house.

That’s not what I said at all. I was talking about situations where people do have genuine choice, not about poverty or blame.

Affluence is not a choice, or at least not the only factor to choose from.

If you're in a position to choose a job you love rather than one that would kill your soul, or a spouse you love rather than someone who repulses you, those are also preferred choices, even if they come at the expense of affluence.

I wouldn't choose affluence if it meant a more stressful job/working full time.
I'm pretty happy somewhere in the middle (not struggling but not multiple holidays or private school either).

I meant choosing stability and comfort when it’s healthy and ethical to do so. Affluence isn’t worth anything if it costs your peace or safety.

I meant more about making intentional choices that lead to security and comfort when the option exists, not about unearned wealth.

So what you’re saying is that if you can have peace, ethics, health and everything else, AND money, it’s better.

No shit, Sherlock.

Choosing affluence is fine as long as it doesn’t compromise your peace or your sanity. I wouldn’t take a higher paid job if it left me stressed and impacted my time with my family.

Depends what you mean by affluence. Or, perhaps, what affluence means to you.

If the choice is between a generous more-than-enough affluence, and private jet affluence, then, personally, I would choose the less affluent option. I don’t actually want to have so much that I need to worry about personal security and gold-diggers.

if the choice is between poverty or belt-tightening not-quite-enough and more-than-enough affluence, then, yes, I would choose affluence.

And if the choice was affluence at the cost of personal integrity, then I would choose poverty. My dad has told me how he had been headhunted by a company that dealt in the international arms trade. He weighed it up: massive salary v personal ethics. It didn’t take him long to decide. We continued in our very ordinary lives entirely oblivious to the massive efforts our parents went to to provide for us.

Hi ‘three capitalised words as a user name’, can you give us some examples of this? You’re being very vague, and it’s unusual that you know so many people that have done this you’ve postulated a theory about it. It might help us lesser mortals if you could give concrete example of where you know this has happened so we don’t don't have to use our limited imagine to help you out with your quandary.

I think most people would choose affluence if it were always a choice, sadly it very often isn't.

One of my best friends nearly died three weeks ago from a very serious heart attack. Her arteries are fine, it turns out. But the level of stress she has been living with is not.

While poverty is stressful, the lifestyle needs to be wealthy is also very stressful. I would never choose that. Modest living and low stress seems by far better to me.

There’s a whole rich middle ground between affluence and struggle though. I would choose that middle ground over affluence.

Who on earth is choosing poverty over affluence? Can you give an actually example?

Do you have an example?

Because I think most people choose what they believe will give security and comfort, but that doesn’t necessarily look the same for everyone. People have different priorities, and comfort is subjective.

When do people have a choice?And I disagree.

I partially agree. I’m going to ask my kids to take into account salary when they’re thinking about their career but as part of a wider picture- there are many things that make us happy and our lifestyle is just one of them. I actually believe your real wealth is your health and your free time so I wouldn’t sacrifice my mental health and all my free time to work a high stress 6-figure salary job, but would possibly make more financially savvy decisions in different situations.

It’s more of an observation than a case study, just noticing how often people downplay the value of comfort when they actually have access to it.

Fair enough. I choose affluence

When do I get my money and stuff?

it sounds way too simplistic.

When do you really have that choice?

Or do you mean someone giving up their well paid career to become a struggling artist, or a doing charity work for next to nothing?

Can't see many investment bankers deciding to work in an Amazon warehouse because it's fun to struggle to pay the bills.

If people go for shit jobs when they have a choice, it's because they are or close to have a complete burnout and their mental health is worth everything, and an easy life is worth it. If it's to genuinely struggle?

So give a hypothetical example of when someone may have chosen poverty over affluence despite other things being equal?

I didn’t mean people choose poverty, more that when people do have options, some still romanticise struggle or act like comfort is morally inferior.