In the United States, the income gap between the rich and everyone else has been growing markedly, by every major statistical measure, for more than 30 years. According to the UC Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez, the disparities between rich and poor are so pronounced that America’s top 10 percent now average more than nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent.
Numbers are one thing, but when you put it in a particular perspective, it sheds a whole different light on the problem. So when one Redditor posted the question “In what way is it expensive to be poor?” on Ask Reddit, it was destined to hit close to the bone for many.
And when it feels like this may be a tricky question that’s deeply counterintuitive, in reality, it does make a whole lot of sense. Like, paying a times-ten fine for not having a parking ticket because you just can’t afford one. Let’s see what other fellow Americans had to share on the subject matter, and it’s more illuminating than you’d think.
#1
There are late fees for everything. Overdraft fees at the bank. Sh*tty jobs usually don't have good healthcare plans. If you're poor, you need credit cards just to survive, but interest rates are higher for those with low credit scores (see late fees above). Sh*tty cars are always breaking down, and that's expensive...
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#2
Being stuck with higher interest rates because you don't have enough credit to get low rates.
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#3
Mental health. Or more specifically stress. You will always have stress about future, always making decisions based on your poverty so that it won't affect your situation in bad way.
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#4
"The poor pay interest, and the rich collect it."
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#5
A filling is cheaper than a root canal.
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#6
The quality of stuff you're able to buy. For example someone struggling for cash will may pair of shoes for £5 that last for a short period of time and need to be replaced every two months. And someone who is more well off can afford to buy a pair of shoes for £40 which last about two years. Therefore at the end of the two year period the poorer person has spent around £120
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#7
Biggest one that I always think of for all my fellow Americans is medical care. If you’re poor you put off medical care as long as possible, and it’s extremely expensive by the time it’s serious enough to address.
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#8
I saw a lady coming out of a laundromat, loading her baskets of clothes into a taxi (there is zero other public transport where I saw this happen and only a few taxis).Not being able to put enough money together at one time to buy a car or a washing machine (she probably rented so this maybe wasn't even an option) was costing her a fortune. Just being nickeled and dimed to death.
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#9
You have to buy a cheap, unreliable car, that will inevitably cost you more in repairs, poor fuel economy, higher insurance etc.
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#10
My car has a leaky seal on the transmission. It'd be about $250 to replace the seal and flush the transmission. I don't have $250, so I keep topping up the fluid and keep driving it because I'll never get $250 if I don't get to work. But, in time, that's going to destroy the transmission, which will be about $1200 to replace.
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#11
If you're ever desperate enough to take out a title/payday loan you'll discover you just stepped in financial quicksand.
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#12
The justice system. If you can’t pay a fine, the state will make things more expensive by adding fees on top of fees on top of fees, then they will incarcerate you for not paying the inflated fees. Then you have to pay the parole officer who is keeping an eye on you while you care unable to get a job that pays enough to pay him.
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#13
You can't afford to buy a place and essentially throw the money away into rent instead of paying off a house and being able to sell it after.
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#14
CANT MAKE A $20,000 DOWNPAYMENT?! HERE’S A POOR PERSON OPTION THAT COSTS 600x MORE!!!!!!
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#15
Can't afford to buy bulk at Costco, so end up spending more and getting less in the long run...
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#16
Food desserts, where everything at the single grocery store for miles around is marked WAY the hell up because its shoppers usually pay in food stamps and/or have nowhere else to go.Laundry. Imagine needing an entire morning/afternoon to load and lug your sh*t to a hot building and feeding machines quarter after quarter after quarter while being tethered to the spot so your stuff won't get stolen.
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#17
Renting to own anything is really bad. You pay 4X the value of whatever it is you're renting to own. And if you miss a payment they repossess it and someone else might start at the beginning of attempting to pay for it again. Not only that you very well might be paying 4X the new value for a used item. And only low quality items are sold rent to own. Ashley furniture, sh*tty used cars, the cheapest big screen tvs available at wholesale. Houses might be better, but rent a center, and JD Byrider are worse than loan sharks.
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#18
When bank fees are waived if you keep more than $X amount in your account, but they start charging for the account when the amount drops under the minimum.
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#19
If you’re poor you already have no or very little money to invest in yourself, so you have to take on debt to do so. If you want to get technical certifications or degrees. Sometimes there’s financial assistance but a lot of the time taking on loans is necessary.
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#20
Therapy is $400 PER SESSION even with the insurance from my job. My job doesn’t pay enough to live on my own. My spouse and I are slowly falling out of love and I’ll end up homeless and dead either way (working non stop and can’t afford living still or spouse passes and still end up homeless and dying). I’m on the autism spectrum and getting further insight costs more than what I can afford after my bills are paid. When everything is paid, I have $20 left. There’s no ladder for me to climb. I try my best to stay upbeat, because in the past I’ve already attempted suicide 3 times. That’s won’t help. But yea, poor sucks because your whole life is more expensive than it feels it’s worth many times. But somehow it’s still beautiful in tiny ways. Death won’t take me that easily; that f**ker has to fight to get my soul after the abyss of madness I’ve seen on Earth... and survived.#21
In certain parts of British Columbia, you have to pay a fine if you're caught panhandling. Homeless people literally have to pay money for asking for money.#22
In every way. You can only afford stuff that breaks, can't afford good health care which will lead to bigger health problems. Stressed about how how you will be able to afford rent/stuff.#23
Not being able to afford preventative care can get expensive fast.Be it cars, homes, bodies, or relationships.
#24
This has probably been said already, but good cooking.For us, middle class now, it's easy to assemble a meal from what is in the pantry and freezer supplemented by what's in our garden or in the stores within three blocks of my house.
It feels thrifty, healthy, sensible.
But to get to this point took a lot of investment. We have pots and pans, spices, flour, oils, vinegars, bags and cans of staples, grills, steamer, measuring devices galore. We have the knowledge of cooking that comes from being able to afford to learn what we liked by going to restaurants, and having the spare time to watch cooking shows, and the energy to cook everyday because we don't have two jobs each with long commutes.
And if you don't have $500 to put together a basic kitchen, or secure private cooking space so that your investment won't immediately be soiled or stolen, you're likely going to be eating a lot of fast food. And that isn't the most nutritious foundation for the next day.
#25
Not MONEY expensive, but TIME expensive. Everything takes longer, and you always have to wait. The bus, the laundromat, the store, the line for Money Orders or check cashing...Before they installed the self-check registers, the Wal-Mart near my work was guaranteed to have a 10-minute wait in line, no matter when you went. Once, there were 42 people in each of the only 2 lines open, at 7P.M. on a Friday. I thought, "They can only get away with this because these people have no other choice."
There's no way the store in the nice neighborhood up the road would ever allow that, their customers would have a fit.
#26
Your health. Poor people with lack of resources are susceptible to diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, poor school etc.#27
I've seen numerous people buy a new car because they can afford a payment but not a $1,200 repair.#28
I always get this realization when I am at airports, especially in the USA.If you want to purchase good, healthy food you easily have to spend $20+, for example on a salad. At the same time, you get a greasy hamburger and even greasier fries for $10.
Don’t have the money to buy a salad? Well, just buy some unhealthy food and live with the consequences as you gain weight and your health deteriorates.
Meanwhile... if you happen to have access to a Centurion Lounge, you can just grab any good food you like and you are not paying anything at all. Some good meat, a few veggies and a glass of wine for... $0.
Yes, it’s expensive to be poor - especially in the USA.
#29
I went through a lot of the top answers and didn't see anyone talking about getting tickets from police/city fines. Especially because there are so many that aren't really justifiedFor rich people that sh*t is like a mosquito on a t-rex
#30
Smoking Cigarettes.You're poor, you're depressed guess what cigarettes offer? A small dopamine hit that make you feel better, tobacco also contains small amounts of MAOI's (a type of anti-depressant) yay not only do you get that dopamine you also get some treatment.
The cost? The actual cost of the cigarettes and being addicted to them means you need them all the time, cancer, heart disease etc/they hurt your health so more time off work for some, death for others, if in the US big medical bills.
More poor people smoke than rich people, the poorer you are the more likely you are to smoke so all those cigarette taxes that are meant to dissuade you from smoking is quite literally taxing the poor.
Don't smoke people, I did for 22 years and almost died from it, luckily I'm in Canada with a social healthcare system or I'd be in massive medical debt.
#31
Can't afford to buy good quality..anything..so I end up having to replace stuff more often. Like undies or shoes. A good bra costs a f**king fortune too. I have a bad back and I need a new good mattress but they are just straight up out of reach for me, way more than I could even save for. So I end up with more back pain than I should have, which means more pain killers and doc appts and having to get people to so stuff for me like mow the lawn. I have a dinky little aircon that uses more power than a more expensive model because he's working his ass off trying to take the edge off - If I can even afford to run the f**king thing. Put the cheapest fuel in my car, led to engine problems. Psychiatrists cost a fortune and I just plain can't afford to see one unless my family covers the cost for me.#32
Rent is more than a mortgage for my apartment would be, but I can't afford the down payment.#33
Owning a car. If you can't afford the basic maintenance then a catastrophic issue is not a matter of if, but when.#34
There is the phrase, "buy nice or buy twice." It basically means that you should buy the nicer product because you'll need to replace it less often.For those people who can't "buy nice" they are forced to buy an inferior product multiple times.
An example is work boots. A $100 pair of boots may last 5 years. A $20 pair of boots may last 6 months. If you can't afford $100 boots then by the time 5 years is up, you would have already spent $200 on cheap boots.
#35
I once had to pay money so I could set up a payment plan because I had no money. Because I was to broke I had a bunch of late fees so a 100 dollar ticket ended up being around 1500 when all was said and done#36
In every manner.If you want healthy food, that costs. But eating cheap food, while sustaining, will inevitably lead to poorer health.
Bad health will cost you.
If you want to not be stressed-and stress is huge when it comes to health-then that means not having to worry is kind of an integral part of poverty.
Stress means less awesome interpersonal relationships, means less sleep, means overwork to try to make ends meet.
Good interpersonal relationships, getting enough sleep, and not working yourself to exhaustion are things that help you stay alive.
Mentally, you now have a running total of how much everything in your life costs. I guarantee you that every poor person knows exactly, precisely, how much milk costs or gasoline, or a bus pass, or the subscription to Netflix that brings them just a little joy and if they can afford it or not. There are no coins in their couches, $5 to discover in an old coat; they need that money and they know where it is.
And if not, now they have to spend time (another expense!) dealing with debt collectors, or people at utility agencies or banks or government offices, trying to negotiate and navigate systems that may or may not be willing to help them (regardless of that system's original intent).
Poverty is merely the accumulation of expenses that one cannot pay and once you are poor, there is a system in place to ensure that you never, ever run out of those expenses.
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#37
Being unable to pay for education is the most expensive way of staying poor. And don’t come with scholarship and that stuff, it is expensive af and even more if you are like me from a poor third world country
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#38
Low paying jobs can also be physically harmful ie factory work, and you can be treated like garbage because it's cheaper to pay out the occasional law suit and medical expenses rather than resign the factory and make it less efficient to be safer.
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#39
Not having a kitchen and having to rely on fast food for all your meals.
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#40
Debt. Basically if you're poor you need to borrow some money to either get a house or buy food and after a while the debt keeps getting bigger and bigger#41
As an example: buying sh*tty shoes every 3 months because it constantly breaks is more costly than a rich person buying ultra-expensive shoes that will last for the rest of his life.#42
Tires! Used tires cost 1/3 price and get about 20% of the life of a new tire. Also you are paying mount and balance every time, plus worry about blow outs. Even a new tire at $80 with a 30K mileage expectancy or a $100 tire at 65k mileage warranty. Over twice the life, little more than 20% in extra charge.#43
Go buy food in the hood and compare the prices to the suburbs. Way more#44
Everything is expensive when you're poor. Jokes aside, this is true. I've been poor for most of my life and I'm still not in a great financial situation. And the biggest problem is that you not only don't have a lot of money, but all the prices stay the same, so literally ANYTHING that you buy feels like a fortune.I walked to the grocerie store do buy some stuff to make a special dinner on my daughter's birthday and I spent about R$100,00 (about 20 dollars I think, Idk), and I swear I'd win an oscar for how I kept my poker face. The second I walked out of the store I bursted out crying. Everyone on the street could see me crying as I walked back home. Seeing my daughter's smile later that day during dinner made me feel a lot better, but those R$100 ($20) REALLY hurt...
#45
Cant afford to go to the doctor.Get sick to the point where i HAVE to go to the doctor.
Would have been cheaper to go when i first got sick.
#46
Couldn’t afford a car, so my commute to and from work added an extra hour on a bus. That extra hour ate into my day and made it difficult to run basic errands like buying groceries. Ended up paying extra to have them delivered so I could free up some time for myself. I would have to take days off to handle doctors appointments/DMV/anything else which equaled lost wages. I was stuck in a position that required me to go back to school to earn a living wage, but taking night classes and juggling full time work would be nearly impossible without transportation, so I stayed at an underpaid job longer than I had intended until I could save enough to take the financial leap. I’m currently in 60k worth of school debt which equals more than I make annually. I also lived in a high cost of living area, but moving wasn’t feasible due to not having reliable transportation. I paid more rent and for other necessities for having the convenience of being centrally located to a job.Oh and, preventative health care was not a thing growing up. I have thousands of dollars worth of dental work needed for my teeth that I’ve barely even started on. Those $100 dentist visits that my parents never bothered to schedule now have equaled thousands of dollars worth of root canals, fillings, and crowns.
#47
Time is also expensive. I use to spend 4 hours a day on a bus just to get to work. If my manager let us out 15 minutes late, I'd have to wait an hour downtown at night because I JUST missed the bus. The bus came evert hour after a certain time.#48
Driving a beater to and from work.Yeah, you could be spending more on a car payment. Or you could spend 5-10k (that you don't really have or saved up for a long time to get) to get something not on a dealer lot that runs good.
Or you could buy a 30 year old POS for $500-1k because that's what you've got (and public transportation isn't an option for you) and be replacing $20-$200 parts every couple weeks just to keep the damn thing running. It's even worse if you have a job as a delivery driver.
#49
not being able to buy in bulk and save money in the long run#50
You put off regular service for your car and, eventually, that creates a bigger problem.You can pay as much in rent as somebody else does for a mortgage payment. But you don’t have anything to show for it in the end.
#51
Out of necessity, the poor spend more money than they make - getting further and further into debt and expensive finance charges.#52
Healthcare. Was poor basically my whole life and now have to pay thousands for surgeries and the health insurance covers almost nothing.#53
simply having a checking account can get you fee'd into the ground for being in the ground already#54
No money to invest in a retirement fund, stock market, etc. With inflation you're losing money, if you have any saved up at all.#55
Shopping at Aaron's and Rent-a-center. My parents waste so much money paying lower monthly payments when they could just save up to buy furniture upfront, which would cost way less in the long run.#56
Being unable to buy things in cash means financing multiple purchases at once. So someone could (theoretically) have monthly payments for a school laptop, car, apartment, furniture, large applianve like a fridge, CareCredit balances for unexpected medical needs, and credit cards for past emergencies they're still paying off.This puts such a squeeze on the smaller income that when the next unexpected expense comes along, like a car repair or AC blowing, it has nowhere to go but on credit making the hole even deeper.
#57
The laundromat! My washer broke and holy sh*t, thats pricey.Shopping... I get to drive around and go to the cheapest stores. Ironically the 2 chain grocery stores near the projects are the priciest ones.
#58
Banking. It has always blown my mind how predatory banks are on lower income people while all the people with plenty of money get every fee possible waived even though they can easily afford it.#59
Being poor and having a high metabolism (especially if you’re trying to be healthy) is a horrific combination.from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/2QiqZuA
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