How is it possible that so few families have built any form of capital?

[Themius]

This is what it come across like to me as well.

I mean I kind of feel that your elder family members should have laid the ground for you.

[melodramocracy]

Most Americans don't save money for shit. I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but our country is one of decadence, luxury expenditures, and easy credit.

And stupendous cost of living. I make way more than my day to day existence would actually indicate, largely because most of it flies out the door in metro living expenses.

[PC2]

There's a lot of lower-middle class families that could've been upper-middle class if they didn't buy so many unnecessary things that depreciate in value.

[freezion]

I guess. But I don't mean savings exclusively. Buying properties for rental purposes, stocks and other cash flow assets. I really don't understand how things have not been stockpiling after such a long time. Are we that impulsive to buying luxury items?

Buying a house, even for renting out requires either:
A) A fucktonne of money. like seriously real estate investing is for people who already have money.
B) Have a high enough credit score and cashflow to be eligible for a loan, to get started.

Stocks are a rollercoaster and in general are shit for long-term investments, plus requires additional effort in relation to keeping UTD with the market and having a certain knowledge about it as well.

One of the only real ''safe'' investments are mortgage or state bonds which have low ROI.

For most people, getting some quality of life improvements for the current situation trumps buying stocks or other cashflow assets, which potentially ends in a loss.

[JohnBrown1917]

There's a lot of lower-middle class families that could or could've been upper-middle class if they didn't buy so many unnecessary things that depreciate in value.

I wish I actually lived in your fantasy universe.

[Draco-Onis]

There's a lot of lower-middle class families that could've been upper-middle class if they didn't buy so many unnecessary things that depreciate in value.

The financial crisis that wiped millions of people from their houses and put an entire generation on bad footing because they went into the job market around that same time had more effects than people buying unnecessary things. That's not even going into wage stagnation and other problems.

[melodramocracy]

There's a lot of lower-middle class families that could've been upper-middle class if they didn't buy so many unnecessary things that depreciate in value.

[Themius]

The elder family members who fought in the war against USSR and who lost land and other things when they took Karelia? They should have laid the ground for me or my parents?

Well for my generation that means gen x born around the 70s are their elders / parents.

[Kumorii]

I mean I kind of feel that your elder family members should have laid the ground for you.

Completely different thing in wanting to do well and help your kids and grandkids and being said kid and become mad or annoyed because you don't inherit enough wealth....

[Themius]

Completely different thing in wanting to do well and help your kids and grandkids and being said kid and become mad or annoyed because you don't inherit enough wealth....

It’s resentment.

Maybe the OP is having a tough financial situation idk.

But it is understandable.

I resent my father for his irresponsible spending growing up. It’s probably what has made me an extremely frugal person. I constantly have my mind framed like “what if it all goes to shit” so I’m very risk adverse.

[Themius]

How would my parents have done that? We moved to Sweden due to job opportunities. We had next to nothing when we moved.

There are obviously exceptions...

Generally immigrants out perform the native populous also.

[PC2]

There are obviously exceptions...

Generally immigrants out perform the native populous also.

Correlation isn't causation though. An immigrant performing well doesn't mean their immigration status is the cause of any of it.

In my personal experience I've found that successful immigrants mostly all came through a formal process and we're already relatively successful and educated before they came.

[Kumorii]

It’s resentment.

Maybe the OP is having a tough financial situation idk.

But it is understandable.

I resent my father for his irresponsible spending growing up. It’s probably what has made me an extremely frugal person. I constantly have my mind framed like “what if it all goes to shit” so I’m very risk adverse.

OP is having financial trouble and he complains his parents or grandparents didn't give him enough? I wonder why he has financial problems...
I grew up in a single house hold where we didn't get much luxury items. Am I pissed at my mom because she didn't do better during her time? Fuck no, what kind of thinking is that... She did her best and did a damn fine job at that considering the circumstances.

Even to this day she keeps taking care of us "kids" even now when we are adults and some have kids of their own. Our heritage is what she have done for us and still do until she will die.

it just screams entitlement to me.

[Kumorii]

Tbh, anyone that can actually have a positive relationship with their parents are lucky. My father abused us, my mother did nothing. When he lost his job he started drinking. I didn't particularly feel anything when he died, due to the shit he did to us.

In a similar boat as me then.

[NED funded]

A lot of it is poor financial education or straight up not caring about it. One of the scandinavian countries has a sovereign fund, something like that would be neat in the US but with some taxes to fund it rather than oil money or oil money whatever goes

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The financial crisis that wiped millions of people from their houses and put an entire generation on bad footing because they went into the job market around that same time had more effects than people buying unnecessary things. That's not even going into wage stagnation and other problems.

Its worrying that people stake everything on their house tbh

[Machismo]

And stupendous cost of living. I make way more than my day to day existence would actually indicate, largely because most of it flies out the door in metro living expenses.

Meh, cost of living can be managed with choosing different places to live. Sure, it may mean a different job, or a longer commute, but it is doable.

[GreenJesus]

Because people live longer and people are barely able to set aside enough money to retire. How do you expect people to be able to set aside enough for the next generation as well?

[Ivanstone]

There's a lot of lower-middle class families that could've been upper-middle class if they didn't buy so many unnecessary things that depreciate in value.

Those silly lower classers with their houses and cars! Their houses would be worth more but America has correctly chosen that short term wealth gains for a minority of the population is better than infrastructure spending. Cars are a pretty worthless investment but at least there's plenty of parking and no transit options. That's forward thinking.

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A lot of it is poor financial education or straight up not caring about it. One of the scandinavian countries has a sovereign fund, something like that would be neat in the US but with some taxes to fund it rather than oil money or oil money whatever goes

Alaska has one and its decently functional but they use it as an excuse to reduce taxes instead of spending the money on infrastructure and development. Norway's is better because Norway chooses to use proper taxation to fund infrastructure.

[Elegiac]

Correlation isn't causation though.

In my personal experience

Anecdotes have even less basis than correlation, try again.

[Kathandira]

I make 63k a year, my other half makes 30k a year. Between the two of us, you'd think we'd have plenty of money to throw around. But we live in a state that has one of the highest costs of living in the country. We also both have student loan debt, and car payments. That is along side of the typical bills such as insurance, phones, internet, food, and other living expenses. In the end, we are able to save money, but don't really have enough to put towards investments.

With all of that in mind, we are in better shape than the majority of people we associate with. If we had our incomes and lived in a cheaper state, we'd be able to do a whole lot more with our earnings, but it sadly all comes down to where we live.

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Meh, cost of living can be managed with choosing different places to live. Sure, it may mean a different job, or a longer commute, but it is doable.

If you live in a very expensive place, paying rent, and are living paycheck to paycheck, uprooting and moving a cheaper place may simply not be an option. Being financial trapped is a real thing that many are stuck with.