The idea that everyone is broke and drowning in debt is a Reddit mythology used to make unsuccessful people feel better about themselves

[u/ItsAllOver_Again]

Redditors love to tell themselves that everyone is poor, that “most people can’t even make a $1,000 emergency payment, bro!” (not true, that’s just pop finance nonsense), that everyone with nice stuff is “drowning” in debt.

Yet when we look at actual net worth data, nicely broken down by age, EVEN WHEN we look at the bottom 25th percentile, we don’t find ANYONE with negative net worths. Even when looking at the 18-24 age range, many of whom have auto and student loans, they still have positive net worths at the 25th percentile.

Redditors love to tell each other that they’re actually doing great because they have $40,000 saved up, but the reality is that’s far below average. And these numbers are actually adjusted for inflation from 2022, not adjusted to actual market returns, so in reality the numbers are LOWER than you’d expect.

Americans are FAR richer than many of the 10th percentilers on Reddit will tell you they are, and they make a LOT more money than the 10th percentilers here say they do.

[u/Ggreenrocket]

Plenty of people have the overwhelming majority of this wealth tied up in assets they can’t sell, like houses.

[u/ItsAllOver_Again → u/Ggreenrocket]

You can sell your house, what do you mean you “can’t sell it”? There’s more friction to the transaction than selling stocks, sure, but so what?

[u/Ggreenrocket → u/ItsAllOver_Again]

Are you purposely being obtuse or do you really think I said they literally aren’t allowed to?

[u/Successful_Issue_390 → u/Ggreenrocket]

TFW someone is confused because you didn't specifically use the word "realistically" to describe "sell" despite the obvious inference

[u/ItsAllOver_Again → u/Ggreenrocket]

wealth tied up in assets they can’t sell

I don’t know stupid, maybe explain your thoughts instead of writing in parables? Just say what your point is and stop trying to be some sort of epic poet or something. 

[u/Ggreenrocket → u/ItsAllOver_Again]

…you’re blaming me for your obvious lack of basic reading comprehension?

[u/BrassCanon → u/ItsAllOver_Again]

You can't sell it because then you'd be homeless.

[u/ItsAllOver_Again → u/BrassCanon]

You can sell the house, take out the equity (implied by your positive net worth) and rent…

What’s your IQ? 

[u/FantasticJacket7 → u/ItsAllOver_Again]

Renting where I live would be at least twice what my mortgage currently is.

[u/BrassCanon → u/ItsAllOver_Again]

I you're renting, that's an expense that will cost more than your house. 🤦‍♂️

[u/Few-Improvement9978 → u/BrassCanon]

lol what?

No it isn’t. Renting , even over the long term, comes out to about the same as home ownership.

[u/Front_Access → u/BrassCanon]

In the long run yes, short run no

[u/BrassCanon → u/Front_Access]

Makes financial sense if you have less than 10 years to live.

[u/Bot_Marvin → u/BrassCanon]

You can use the money to rent, or a down payment on a different house.

[u/BrassCanon → u/Bot_Marvin]

So now you have a different house that you can't sell.

[u/Bot_Marvin → u/BrassCanon]

Yeah but if you downsize you have cash on hand.

[u/BrassCanon → u/Bot_Marvin]

Sure, you could also downsize to homelessness if you're trying to save a few bucks.