How to define being poor?

[quote name='steve_k']I'm tempted to call B.S. on some of the people who claim to be wealthy but do not have an occupation or side-hobby that is able to generate a nice income. I suspect they are living above their means simply to keep up with everyone else and impress others.

Maybe a net worth of $100,000 is a bit much to expect from most people in their early 30's. That was one of the points of this post. I suspected the statement may have been wrong. That's why I posted.

Maybe I'm not poor, and it's not like I sit around and calculate my break-even point. There were about ten reasons why we broke up. The finances were about number three or four on the list. When you start talking to someone about getting serious, it's normal to be curious whether you will be living in poverty and stressing about whether or not you will be able to pay the rent from month to month versus being finacially stable and not having to worry about money. When you've worked hard your entire life to avoid a life a poverty, financial stability carries a little bit of weight. If this was the only reason to question getting serious, maybe I would simply overlook it. However, there were about nine other compounding factors not relating to finances which I will not go into detail here.[/QUOTE]

I don't have an occupation or side hobby that generates income. Does that make me poor? Why not directly call out the members of this site you're referring to instead of hinting around about other people who claim to be well off, but you suspect aren't? And why would that matter anyway? That's their life to live, not yours.

Believe me guy, I know exactly where you're coming from with talking to a person you're getting serious with about money. It's a very important issue, however you shouldn't let it become the most important issue between you two. My SO and I have differences of opinion on money, but I know that she will not lead us to the road of ruin. We've talked out many things and it has given us BOTH perspective on it.
 
I never realized how over sensitive people who consider themselves poor can be. The way this guy is getting raked over the coals you'd think he walked into a church, unzipped his pants and drained the lizard into the holy-water.

Note to self: If you ever reach a good place financially, for the love of god don't mention it on CAG, you'll get flogged. :rofl:
(seriously, people in this thread need to crank the venom, piss and vinegar back abit rather than just venting frustration at the first sap to stick his head out of the whack-a-mole hole.)
 
If you're single, making less than $10,000 a year, and aren't receiving any social assistance or support from your family I would most definitely call you poor.
 
[quote name='steve_k']
My genuine and now expressed definition of 'poor' is:

1. inability to pay bills prior to payday (living paycheck to paycheck)
2. inability of financial progression due to lack of resources
3. inability to support dependents (children, wife) under normal circumstances
[/QUOTE]

Only issue with those is one can make a decent amount of money and still have all those be true because they live above their means and take on too much debt etc.

Poverty line (of local area) is probably still the best measure of being poor we have as it's at least semi-objective and based on local cost of living and number of dependents etc.

It's a way of saying if you earn below $X in the area you live, the three things you list above are probably going to be true for you. So that's a pretty good definition of being financially poor IMO as it's reasonably objective and adjusted for local cost of living etc.
 
$100,000 in liquid assets is not even remotely "poor" - this might be the craziest thing I've read on the internet in a long time. If you've got access to $100,000 you are doing very well for yourself.

Being poor is VERY different from being "not rich" or even "breaking even financially". To me poor is not being able to pay for basic necessities like food, shelter and medical needs.
 
[quote name='Javery']$100,000 in liquid assets is not even remotely "poor" - this might be the craziest thing I've read on the internet in a long time. If you've got access to $100,000 you are doing very well for yourself.

Being poor is VERY different from being "not rich" or even "breaking even financially". To me poor is not being able to pay for basic necessities like food, shelter and medical needs.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. That's a solid, layman's definition of poor.

Being able to afford all basic necessities without much worry and having some left over for luxuries is middle class--with how much disposable income you have defining whether you're lower middle class, middle class or upper middle class.

Not having to worry about any of that stuff and having a large amount of disposable income (i.e. can buy pretty much anything you want) is being wealthy.

Poverty line still works well for that though--below it your poor, and how far above it you are in your locale defines where you are on the middle class and above scales.
 
[quote name='david12795']obviously when you' re struggling to keep up with mortgage and other bills[/QUOTE]

If you can afford a mortgage in the first place, you're not poor.
 
This thread makes me lol. It's already been said, but OP is definitely not poor. A girl with living expenses three times as much as yours seems to be quite excessive.... Just because you can't afford to support 4 times what you currently do, doesn't mean you're poor. No need for everyone to attack the OP so much though...
 
[quote name='elessar123']If you can afford a mortgage in the first place, you're not poor.[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily as there's are public assistance programs to aid poor people in buying a home as well as renting.

As well as poor who buy a cheap trailer or house that costs around the same as rent in a crappy apartment etc.

And factor in banks giving mortgages to people who shouldn't get them in recent years.....


Anyway, poor doesn't have to mean abject poverty, which is more of what your thinking of. It just means lower class. There are different degrees of lower class/poor just like there are different degrees within the middle and upper classes.
 
I think it has to do with how well you manage money. Do you/can you pay off your credit card bills in full every month? Do you work for minimum wage? How much debt do you have? Can you save $$?

Right now, I'm in good shape financially, but the money coming in barely pays my bills. Hell, I just bought the house < 1 month ago, and I still don't know what my bills are.

I admit, I have to lean on my Dad for help with doing things around the house, and occassionaly for money. But if my company takes off, I'll have no money problems whatsoever. I've stayed at my company through thick and thin, after about 12 people have left. My hours got cut, but I'm staying the course, taking a risk and staying put. I hate looking for jobs - I did it pretty much all through my 20s.
 
[quote name='bkjohns1']This link is an entertaining but true read on being poor. Maybe the OP can see if he has any of those problems.[/QUOTE]
Man the comments on that article are so fucking depressing.
 
Reminds me of an article titled "The High Cost of Being Poor" or something to that effect from a couple of years back.

One thing everyone should do; get a Target Card and tell them to make it a $150 limit. That way you can't get yourself into trouble and you'll slowly build a credit history.

While payday loan places (and pawn shops) suck, one needs to understand the relationship between credit risk and interest rate. Think of it like bail, if you ran a red light your bail might be $100, if you're on your 5th DUI it might be $10,000, if you killed a bunch of guys and ate their penises while trying to turn them into your zombie love slaves you probably won't get any bail at all.

Things, they cost stuff.

I also disagree with the "needs perfect math" thing. You spent more than you had and the bank covered you until you had the money. The bank is not your buddy Steve that will spot you a $5 for a week, or just let you pay him back with a beer or a burger. The bank is a commercial lending institution. Let's be sure to demonize banks! Do they charge crazy fees? Yep, but how much of that do they get to collect on? How many people will just walk away from owing the bank $300 for $5 extra in gas? Maybe not a majority, but enough that the bank feels that the fees are justified to cover their loss.

The payday loan place knows that they have you by the balls and if you didn't need them you wouldn't be there. It's a business model and one that is sadly necessary, but to demonize them for taking a risk on lending is absurd.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702053.html
High cost of being poor article mentioned above, found it
 
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I went to disney for the first time over July 4th with the family and the money people were spending on them fan/spray bottles beckons me to question, are we really in a recession??? $20 glow sticks, one for each kid. HOlly jesus. Either everyone's rich, or everyone's poor... its how you spend your money
 
[quote name='Average Gamer']I went to disney for the first time over July 4th with the family and the money people were spending on them fan/spray bottles beckons me to question, are we really in a recession??? $20 glow sticks, one for each kid. HOlly jesus. Either everyone's rich, or everyone's poor... its how you spend your money[/QUOTE]

or they are in credit card debt...
 
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