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I'm not, have a pretty high double income. But, a lot of my friends are. I'm starting to notice things getting more expensive, but I was pissed off before that.
I don't have to be struggling myself to be upset at how things are going. I guess not everybody is like that.
My situation exactly. I get pissed off thinking about how unaffordable everything is for the majority of people right now.
Not yet.
Not yet. But it feels like the squeeze is getting tighter every month that passes. It feels like I can't get through a day without having to spend money on some shit. And I'm not talking about luxuries. I'm not talking about avocado toast or coffee. I'm talking about fixing shit in my coop apartment. Getting new brakes on my car. Getting clothes for my kids. New shoes because mine literally have a hole worn through them. I try to go with low cost options. I buy food in bulk and meal prep. It feels like the system is nickel and dime-ing me harder and harder every day. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but the future feels bleak. Capitalism is bleeding us dry while keeping us alive. We are the prisoners of financial vampires.
Struggling?
No.
Drowning, yes.
the finances I have to manage are a 12 pound bass hanging off 4 pound line.
No. Financially, I'm in a good spot right now.
Most other aspects of my life, I'm struggling hard.
Not just financially, also mentally and emotionally!
Scientific Socialism, look it up
Not sure anyone asked you yet... tell us your story. Where you living and what's the sitch?
I have been rather fortunate, and well paid (~$120K after taxes and savings). Even 3 years ago, I didn't have to think about money day to day. I was brought up with a very modest lifestyle, so the things that feel extravagent to me were affordable in that context.
Today my wife and I eat out less, shop for groceries differently, and plan things that used to be a small purchase more carefully. It's not a struggle in the important senses, but I have a clear feeling of "it's going to get worse", and I want to make lifestyle adjustments ahead of that rather than falling behind it.
As a family we make 10 to $11,000 a month.
We can hardly put anything away. Between cars and daycare and rent and groceries and gas prices, there's nothing left.
These corporations are unwilling to sacrifice anything for the people that consume them.
And when these ass hats say crap like corporations or people too. It just pisses me off even more.
Wtf we make half that and are hardly putting anything away. What are you doing?
Guessing live in a high cost of living area in the US. I live in MA and have a high tech worker salary and don't have daycare of a car payment and I'm still just above water. I have literally no idea what my neighbors with multiple young children are doing.
I live in the Atlanta metro area, two kids two car payments rent and credit card debt which is kinda my fault but at the same time it helps keep us afloat. Also day care is 1000+ a month.
Grocery's and gas alone tripled.
Yes.
Does a bear shit in the woods? But for real, it's getting baaaaad and we gonna have civil war soon, buckle up butter cup and figure out your afterlife because we gon' die.
It won't exactly be a civil war. But when the trump family hardens their power over the government, the US will be a lot like Mexico. Local militias and cartels will largely replace government.
Not struggling perse but yeah shit has gone up way more than my pay check. Paying double for groceries what I did a few years ago, paying 50% more for gas than I did a year ago electricity doubled. Pay went up a few percent....
No, not personally.
But I don't live in the US (so healthcare costs are not much of an concern, despite me being disabled) and know I am incredibly lucky. Is it economically worse? Fuck yeah.
I am self employed/have my own company and I am also blessed with a high earning (and in every other aspect awesome) wife who brings in the main income (she works full time, I normally would work 70%).
Two years ago I had 5 full time slots(filled by 7 people), now I am down to 3. Being unable to renew contracts with people at the beginning of the year broke something in me. It's not their fault. They did their best. While I sure could have done some things differently I am somewhat sure by now that in the broad picture I could not have done much to save their jobs - I already have reduced my own payout to the legal minimum (less than 50% of my already average theoretical wage) and used loopholes to even pay nothing to me for half a year. But cutting costs only goes so far if not enough new projects come in.
My clients are mostly healthcare and public services and these sectors are forced to massively cut costs due to our incompetent neocon government.
The only thing that lets me sleep at night easier is the fact that by now I could "recommend" all affected people (who wanted that) into new jobs, so none is left unemployed.
While it hasn't been direct make me struggle personally I am struggling with my company.
Which sucks balls,especially considering seeing how competitors get huge grants just for "being in the right party",etc.
We are also otherwise very lucky - We (well,half of it is owned by the bank,but who 's house isn't) own a house - but it's an three apartment building we simply live in one. The other two apartments are rented out (below median rent and far below what I might get if I push things) and our apartment is rather, well, mediocre. But that's okay. It's mainly meant as a way to invest money I made when younger by doing some incredibly risky but lucrative jobs. And to make sure we don't need to bother with another landlord ever again. We just liked the location, the age (it's over 70 years old) and the property - and have now have a relationship with our two other renters that is basically "live and let live". They know they can simply knock on our door if something's wrong and have profited by the modernisation of some core things, but also don't bother me with bullshit.
The rent we now receive will go to the bank for at least two more decades,so it's not something that helps us financially now - but it might help my kiddo one day.
So yeah. I am still incredibly lucky.
Yes. Next question. :3
I’m not but we’ve been very lucky in many ways. Our parents were poor but we’ve done well career wise.
Cost of life is a huge factor, I live in Italy, our paychecks are very thin but, especially in the southern regions, cost of life is relatively, especially if you don't have to travel too far for work.
I'm able to save a few hundred euros per month (my paycheck is a net of about 1700€).
Paycheck to paycheck gang with very little if anything goes wrong
Capitalism suck. Ya there I said it. Now hurry up and downvote me cause youre too childish to accept the truth or to put in the effort to make permanent changes in our lives.
Dude, you can drop the victim complex. You aint being edgy by regurgitating the most widely known and popular opinion.
Capitalism kills
Amen.
I've been unemployed since 04-2025, and while I still have a long way to go, my savings are starting to dwindle. The job market is tough for coders that find generative AI, wasteful, unethical, and a copyright hazard, in addition to not being much impressed with the output, even from tests earlier this year. I wonder if the new convenience store needs people.
It would be interesting to do an anonymous Google form or something to see what the financial distribution of lemmings is like.
Yeah but I haven't really been financially stable for my entire adult life.
My parents did alright, both retired office workers you'd classify as middle class but I am uneducated and never managed to save anything.
Well, tomorrow my bank account will be down to about 10$ due to the credit payment, and because I just went to another city to get diagnosed and prescribed meds. Then I will have to spend it and go into the negative soon, on top of the credit I'm paying off. My pay also just does not accumulate, it is too low to accumulate by a significant amount. I might pay off the debt in 5.5 years.
I think I got 80 years for how long I'd take me to retire with how much I was saving before.
Everytime i manage to save a few thousand and think im adding to my savings, suddenly we need a root canal, i blow a tire, doctor wants an MRI because he felt something odd.... and poof, all my savings are gone.
I literally refuse to look at our bank balance. The moment I look and think "oh, that's better than I expected" then the AC dies, or our roof starts leaking and needs replacement, or some other bullshit happens to consume every last penny we have.
I always thought i was 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Now im also worried about the C level morons saying AI can do my job and let me go. They already require everyone use AI to gen code. Eventually, they will expect AI to architect the product too.
On the plus side, I have been in the biz long enough to have heard the "developers are a thing of the past" speech often enough to realize it's bullshit. Unfortunately, I have also been around long enough to know that the idiots in the C suite will use any excuses to cut people loose if they think it can get them even $1 more on their next bonus. I also have never ever seen a dev let go because something came along that made them more efficient, quicker, and able to do more work in the same amount of time. What happens instead is that the already "overly optimistic" time lines get even shorter and more unrealistic.
The short of it is, if they let you go, it wasn't because of AI, it's something that they were planning on doing anyway.
I know that doesn't really help the anxiety, but understanding that can change how you react. For instance, rather than being upset with being forced to use AI. Lean into it. Learn what it can do and what it can't. Fucking abuse the credits that they are paying for. When you run out, ask to be moved up to the next AI tier/usage allowance, and then do it all over again. Do shit like running 2 AIs on the same job and seeing who gets closer. Set up tests that have AI run these comparisons for you. Have AIs run subagents that rubber duck, review, test, verify, ect., the entire work ticket from end to end. Work on augmenting those skills that AI fails at, and add AI expert to your resume (because that is the next bullshit thing that companies will expect on resumes). But the big difference between you and everyone else will be that you have some real insight and experience to talk about with confidence.
And if your learning curve happens to cost them so much $$ that the AI vs employee cost difference begins to rapidly shrink, well that's not really a bad thing for you either.
Have been all my life.
Everyone except the already very wealthy yes.
Elect Republicans, get republican policies.
The country still hadnt really recovered from Reagan, then we got Bush, then we got Trump.
Obama and Biden could only do so much to stop the dumpster fire, and Nazis are famously bad for the economy.
even something as simple as owning your house makes finances so much easier.
Yes, but I work 50-60 hours a month due to burnout and taking care of a toddler that isn't spending all day at kindergarten yet. I'm actually quite privileged in that if I was working 100+ hours a month, I'd have zero financial worries and at 150-200 I'd be doing REALLY well.
My wife and I make about 140k combined and live someplace that is relatively low cost. We aren't struggling the way many people are but we are a more careful with spending than we have been in the past.
