• @Telodzrum
    link
    376 months ago

    73% of households report they are personally doing “Okay or better” financially.

    58% of registered voters say they are living paycheck to paycheck.

    Literally every self-reported metric about the economy contradicts the next one.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      176 months ago

      It’s all down to who you ask, and how you word it. Some polls have some really convoluted wording to try to get the number they want.

    • @BigPotato
      link
      116 months ago

      I asked my buddy at work how he was doing and he said “I need to get this money, ya know? It’s tight.” Meanwhile, he’s paying weekly for what I pay monthly for a car. My phones are always bought secondhand and for the most part I only blow money on videogames.

      You can be “doing good” financially because you make enough money to afford the lifestyle you want while “living paycheck to paycheck” because you spend 100% on your lifestyle.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      36 months ago

      73% of households report they are personally doing “Okay or better” financially.

      I call absolute bullshit. There is no way that could possibly be representative.

      • XIIIesq
        link
        46 months ago

        Well it depends on your definition of “OK” and it’s a matter of perspective.

        If someone views themselves as financially “OK” because they can make it in to the next month with at least as much money as they started, even if that amount is £0, then they’re OK.

        Whatever you read in to the statistic, the implication is that 27% aren’t OK and that is absolutely terrible.

        • GladiusB
          link
          26 months ago

          Being “ok” is a subjective take for many reasons.

          Being “paycheck to paycheck” is objective and easy to formulate an observation.

          The two only have to interconnect through subject matter, not in measure.

  • @Lost_My_Mind
    link
    156 months ago

    That number seems really low…and also not news. I’m 40 years old, and never met anyone who WASN’T living paycheck to paycheck.

    • @School_Lunch
      link
      12
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I don’t get out much, so I have no clue how others are doing. I’ll admit that shit sucks right now, but I haven’t been living paycheck to paycheck since working part time in my early 20s over a decade ago. I live in a low COL area and make about $35-$40,000 a year. I only spend maybe $15,000 a year. I may never be able to buy a house, but I’m far off from paycheck to paycheck. It makes me wonder if people who are living that way are maybe just living outside of their means?

      • @0110010001100010
        link
        166 months ago

        It makes me wonder if people who are living that way are maybe just living outside of their means?

        Could also be a large percentage of people have significant student loans and/or medical debt.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        26 months ago

        In New Zealand there is no such thing as a low COL area, and where there is, it is a small village in the middle of nowhere that has literally no job openings available.

    • @NightAuthor
      link
      English
      76 months ago

      Dual income, no kids. Not living paycheck to paycheck.

      But yeah, all of our friends are single and living paycheck to paycheck.

      • @TexasDrunk
        link
        26 months ago

        Single (but pretty good) income, and also not paycheck to paycheck. I’ve got an extra couple of paychecks in the bank and could draw off my retirement for quite a while because I put everything except a couple of paychecks ahead into either retirement or into paying off my house. Pretty much all my friends are living paycheck to paycheck though.

        I grew up poor as hell so I’m doing my damnedest to actually have some time to relax.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    16 months ago

    I don’t have a lot of money, that’s for sure, but I’m not living paycheck to paycheck either.