To think my niece doesn’t really get a say on how good or bad she thinks the budget is

[Dennien]

I’m a single mum, I work full time, I have 3 children and I just about get by.
My niece is 26, she makes almost 100k (got lucky, was in the right rooms either the right people), and inherited 500k from her paternal grandparents.
She doesn’t have uni debt, she doesn’t have childcare costs. She happily pays £500 a month for a fancy London gym, lives in a flat share with her best friend etc.
Today she told me she didn’t think the budget went far enough etc. that Labour are useless and so on. She is a Lib Dem/Tory voter and very against reform too.

AIBU to say that young people in a privileged position shouldn’t really get to comment as they aren’t facing the same difficulties others are.

No, and I never said that. I said that she, as a tax payer, was entitled to an opinion. Other people are also entitled to an opinion, but we’re not discussing them in this post.

You just sound quite envious or chippy I’m afraid.

Nobody becomes a trained dancer, however much natural talent and luck they have, without years of bloody hard work, much of which is done at an age where other kids are hanging out w mates or on the PlayStation. And most professional dance careers pay poorly - she's done well for herself.

I’m proud of her for succeeding

Well you don't sound it.

In fact you sound incredibly bitter.

Agree. The OP is hilariously jealous and bitter.

She bloody well does!

Of course she gets to say whether she thinks it’s good or bad, numpty.
Sounds like she made choices in life, and you made choices in life, but hers worked out well and yours didn’t so much - financially anyway - get over it. You’re very invested in minimising the fact that she might have had anything other than ‘luck’ involved in her current position. Despite admitting some was due to inheritance….which always means someone died…..

so preparation, on her part, met opportunity, that is not luck.

Your green is showing where it should really be pride, no?

Exactly.

Very hard work and lots of self-discipline.

Two qualities that not everyone has, especially someone so young.

Of course she’s allowed an opinion!

No I’m well aware of this, I’m not ignorant to the fact she probably put in as many hours before 18 to become a highly talented and skilled dancer as many do at uni post 18.
What I’m saying is she was not the only teenager to go straight from school to dance every night, or to spend weekends practicing.
She is not the only talented dancer.

Many are, not all are fortunate enough to meet the right people and the right time.

I appreciate skill got her there, and her qualities made her memorable to the people who mattered but there is an element of luck in even meeting them.

Pride? Why should the OP have any claim to pride? She’s had nothing to do with this young woman’s success.

I don’t think the budget went far enough. I’m a high earner. I don’t see how those two things aren’t compatible.

Catch a grip

In a moment OP is going to come on claiming her niece didn't give two hoots about the person who died.

OP, you are outrageously jealous and you know far too much about your niece's private affairs.

Sorry, I realise you didn't say that, but we sort of are inasmuch as the OP is suggesting people should be silenced because they don't meet certain criteria. You shouldn't have to meet any criteria to have an opinion, or even to express it. However that certainly doesn't mean all opinions should be given equal weight - that's a different matter.

I just meant that she "should" be proud of her niece rather than jealous?

Gosh OP, you are digging yourself into a very bitter, jealous and self pitying hole.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. You don't have to agree with them.

But as others have said that’s how pretty much ALL careers work to a point @Dennien in my workplace we were looking for someone, I knew someone that had the necessary qualifications and put them forward, they got the job. It’s not luck, it’s being in the position to do the job in the first place! It’s about being THAT bit more impressive than the rest, it’s getting on with the people that you are working with and being the right fit for them. Luck is a part of it, but Luck didn’t get her there, luck didn’t spend years training, luck didn’t network for her. She did that, she pushed herself..she got the job!

I bet the harder niece worked, the luckier she got!
How unfair to the OP.

This is not going well for you OP, is it 🤣🤣

I grew up in a council house with low income parents. They both worked every hour under the sun and put their two children ahead of everything else.

I went to school with and lived around people who didn’t work. They were no worse off than my parents, and in many cases lived a more luxurious life. I knew a family of seven who all spent three weeks in Florida every summer. Another girl who received free school meals but also had parents who could afford to have a horse.

It’s a cliche but they all had bigger TVs than us, their parents were often smokers whilst mine weren’t, we didn’t go on as many foreign holidays and the kids all had decent phones and games consoles.

I’m not earning anywhere near as much as your niece is but I’m slightly sympathetic to her views, and I feel she’s more entitled to those views given her background.

I don't agree with her opinions at all but you are being daft if you seriously think she isn't allowed to have an opinion just because she has money. She will pay a lot of tax on her high earnings so she therefore has the right to an opinion on how her tax is spent just like the rest of us who pay tax.

Its these people that are funding you to have your children and all your benefits so YABU and extremely entitled.