I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense. This sounds crazy to me. I understand that poverty exists, but the idea that an adult with a job doesn’t even have that amount saved up seems really strange.
What’s your relationship or philosophy with money? What do you credit for your financial success, or alternatively, what do you blame for your failures?
For the extra brave ones: how much savings do you have, and what are you planning to do with them?
I am not American, but Austrian. I earn way more money than I spend each month, causing my bank balance to rise over time; I am not going to say exactly how much I have, but €1000 (which is about the same as $1000) is no problem for me to afford when I need it.
While it’s better than the alternative, it still doesn’t make me very happy because this only helps fulfill the bottom two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I wish I could easily earn less money, but have more free time to travel and pursue hobbies, but the system of wage labor is not flexible enough to cover the needs of someone like me.
Doesn’t Austria have a law that allows employees to reduce hours to part-time as they see fit? We do here in Germany. Last place I worked at, my team lead didn’t want me to reduce from full-time to 80%. The Betriebsrat (employee council) was ready to go to bat for me, but I didn’t like the role anyway, so I interviewed for another place. They offered me 80%, a pay raise, a better role and benefits.
This might come off as bragging, I realize. Sorry, not my intention. I just wanted to share my experience, maybe it’s useful to someone 😊