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A guy and his friends shared their travel plans. The results perfectly explain the wealth gap.

What on Jeff Bezos's green earth did we just watch?

TikTok/@tcruznc

Sometimes you see something so mind-boggling you have to take a minute to digest what just happened in your brain. Be prepared to take that moment while watching these videos.

Real estate investor and TikTok user Tom Cruz shared two videos explaining the spreadsheets he and his friends use to plan vacations and it's...well...something. Watch the first one:

What in the wealth is thispic.twitter.com/NTPTKT5CZG
— Karim Alammuri (@Karim Alammuri) 1629292830

So "Broke Bobby" makes $125,000 a year. There's that.

How about the fact that his guy has more than zero friends who budget $80,000 for a 3-day getaway? Y'all. I wouldn't know how to spend $80,000 in three days if you paid me to. Especially if we're talking about a trip with friends where we're all splitting the cost. Like what does this even look like? Are they flying in private jets that burn dollar bills as fuel? Are they bathing in hot tubs full of cocaine? I genuinely don't get it.

To be crystal clear here, the top 5 friends on the Forbes list are willing to spend more than double what the guy at the bottom of the Welfare 10 list makes per year on a 3-day guy's trip. I don't know what to do with this information.

\u201c@Radio_Reem Those that make less are called the "Welfare 10" \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude29\u201d
— Karim Alammuri (@Karim Alammuri) 1629292830

But that's not even the full spreadsheet. It might make sense if this guy was just rich, had always been rich, only knew rich people, and therefore having multiple millionnaire friends was his normal. Surely that's some people's reality who were born into the 1%.

That's not the case here, though, because Cruz also has a Welfare 10 list. He says this group of friends who make less than $100K a year call themselves that, and perhaps that's true. (If I were a part of this group, I might call myself a welfare case too because everything's relative and some of these dudes spend more in an hour of vacation than I spend on my mortgage each month.)

It's like we can see our society's wealth gap all laid out nice and neatly in a spreadsheet, only these people aren't even the uber-wealthy and uber-poor. This is just the range of this one guy's friends.

I have nothing against people who build success and wealth for themselves, and even $5 million per year is hardly obscenely wealthy by billionaire standards. But Cruz says he's known most of his "welfare" friends since college, which presumably means most of those guys have college degrees and are making pittance in comparison with the Forbes list. One could claim the guy making $5 million a year just works harder, but does he really work 100 times harder than the guy making $50,000? Doubt it.

Money makes money, and after a certain threshold of wealth or income, it's actually quite easy to get and stay rich without actually "earning" more money, assuming you're reasonably wise and responsible. So maybe the guys who are willing to shell out $125,000 for a week-long trip should offer to pay the travel expenses of the friends they "hang out with regardless of income" who don't even make that in a year, since that's probably just the interest they're making on their wealth anyway.

But what do I know? This is like an entirely different world to me and probably 99+% of Americans, as evidenced by some of the responses.

\u201c@araless Broke Bobby every time it\u2019s time for a trip https://t.co/VTUf3xW1DW\u201d
— Karim Alammuri (@Karim Alammuri) 1629292830

\u201c@_jasminwats @Radio_Reem I noticed everyone with PTO has less than is legally required in the U.K., crazy!!\u201d
— Karim Alammuri (@Karim Alammuri) 1629292830

Naturally, there will be a range of incomes in any group of people, but 1) most of us don't actually know how much our friends make, and 2) even fewer of us make spreadsheets with that information in order to rank our friends and figure out who can go on which vacations.

People are just endlessly fascinating. That's all I've got.

This article originally appeared on 08.20.21

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A story about two pairs of boots illustrates how rich people get richer in ways poor people can't

It’s got nothing to do with bootstraps.

Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

The Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness explains one way the rich get richer.

Any time conversations about wealth and poverty come up, people inevitably start talking about boots.

The standard phrase that comes up is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," which is usually shorthand for "work harder and don't ask for or expect help." (The fact that the phrase was originally used sarcastically because pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps is literally, physically impossible is rarely acknowledged, but c'est la vie.) The idea that people who build wealth do so because they individually work harder than poor people is baked into the American consciousness and wrapped up in the ideal of the American dream.

A different take on boots and building wealth, however, paints a more accurate picture of what it takes to get out of poverty.

Author Terry Pratchett is no longer with us, but his writing lives on and is occasionally shared on his official social media accounts. Recently, his Twitter page shared the "Sam Vimes 'Boots' Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness" from Pratchett's 1993 book "Men At Arms." This boots theory explains that one reason the rich are able to get richer is because they are able to spend less money.

If that sounds confusing, read on:

\u2026 He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars\u2026\n2/5
— Terry Pratchett (@Terry Pratchett) 1643144843

Pratchett wrote:

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."

In other words, people who have the money to spend a little more upfront often end up spending less in the long run. A $50 pair of boots that last five years essentially cost you $10 a year. But if you can only afford $10 upfront for a pair of boots that last six months, that's what you buy—and you end up paying twice as much over a five-year period.

There are so many areas in which this principle applies when you're poor. Buying in bulk saves you money over the long run, but you have to be able to afford the bulk cost up front. A reliable car that doesn't require regular repairs will cost more than a beater, but if the beater is all you can afford, that's what you're stuck with. You'll likely spend the same or more over time than if you'd bought a newer/higher quality car, but without the capital (or the credit rating) to begin with, you don't have much choice.

People who can afford larger down payments pay lower interest rates, saving them money both immediately and in the long run. People who can afford to buy more can spend more with credit cards, pay off the balances, build up good credit and qualify for lower interest rate loans.

There are lots of good financial decisions and strategies one can utilize if one has the ability to build up some cash. But if you are living paycheck to paycheck, you can't.

Climbing the financial ladder requires getting to the bottom rung first. Those who started off anywhere on the ladder can make all kinds of pronouncements about how to climb it—good, sound advice that really does work if you're already on the ladder. But for people living in poverty, the bottom rung is just out of reach, and the walls you have to climb to get to it are slippery. It's expensive to be poor.

When people talk about how hard it is to climb out of poverty, this is a big part of what they mean. Ladder-climbing advice is useless if you can't actually get to the ladder. And yet, far too many people decry offering people assistance that might help them reach the ladder so they can start taking advantage of all that great financial advice. Why? Perhaps because they were born somewhere on the ladder—even if it was the bottom rung—and aren't aware that there are people for whom the ladder is out of reach. Or perhaps they're unaware of how expensive it is to be poor and how the costs of poverty keep people stuck in the pit. Hopefully, this theory will help more people understand and sympathize with the reality of being poor.

Money makes money, but having money also saves you money. The more money you have, the more wealth you're able to build not only because you have extra money to save, but also because you buy higher quality things that last, therefore spending less in the long run. (There's also the reality that the uber-wealthy will pay $5,000 for shoes they'll only wear a few times, but that's a whole other kind of boots story.)

Thanks, Terry Pratchett, for the simple explanation.

This story originally appeared on 01.28.22

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Education

The amount of money Americans budgeted for food 100 years ago is mind-boggling

If we think our grocery bills are high now, it's nothing compared to what families spent in the early 1900s.

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Even if we shop at the most expensive stores, we still don't spend as much of our income on food as they did in 1901.

As inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic peaked in the summer of 2022, Americans keenly felt it at the grocery check-out. It seemed as if prices had gone up on everything, and our food budgets took a hit. Even though inflation has eased since then, many of us are still lamenting the amount we're spending on groceries and dining out every month.

A New York Post headline ominously pronounced in February 2024 that "Americans have not spent this much of their incomes on food since the Gulf War," citing a federal statistic that U.S.consumers spent 11.3% of their disposable income on food—a higher percentage than we've seen in the past 30 years.

But as they say, it's all relative. While we balk at spending 11% of our income on food, families in the early 1900s would have been thrilled at spending that little on food.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spent a whopping 42.5% of their household budgets on food in 1901, nearly four times what we spend now. In real numbers, that means the equivalent of a household with the current median income of almost $75,000/yr spending $2,610 a month on food. And that was the reality for a long time—even a few decades later in the 1930s, people were still spending more than a third of their income on food compared to our 11% today.

And the economy, while different in its nature, wasn't drastically different in terms of numbers at that time. The unemployment rate for Americans in 1901 was 4.0%, approximately the same as March of 2024. The country was between two mild recessions and it would only be two more years before it overtook Britain as the world's wealthiest nation. It's not like there was some huge economic downturn that had caused food prices to soar at that time. Food just cost a whole lot more relative to people's income back then.

Okay, so food budgets were high relative to income back then, but what about housing? Surely, people spent far less of their money on housing at that time, right?

Less, yes, but not by as much as we might assume. In 1901, housing made up 23.3% of the average household budget, while in 2022 it was 33%. Definitely an increase, but not as drastic as the decrease in our food budgets. (Caveat: Those percentages don't speak to everyone's individual situation—some Americans are spending upwards of 50% of their income on rent and utilities.) Our clothing expenditures have also gone down by a lot since 1901, from 14% of income to less than 3%.

So where is all of our money going to make our budgets feel squeezed? One spending category that's not even included in the 1901 statistics, which makes up double digit percentages of our spending today, is transportation. In 1901, the automobile industry was in its infancy, still a couple decades away from its first big boom that made cars commonplace. Now we have cars, buses, subways, air travel—and the fuel for all of those things—that people in 1901 simply didn't have to consider.

We also have technology like computers and smartphones now that have become more necessity than nice-to-have. And along with that, of course, we have copious entertainment extras that most of us can't imagine living without.

Another expenditure that doesn't show up in 1901 is healthcare, which takes up 8% of our budgets now. Did people simply not have healthcare expenses back then?

Basically, no, they didn't. According NPR, Americans spent around $5 a year ($100 in today's dollars) on medical care in 1900, primarily because there wasn't a whole lot of medical care to be had. We forget how far our advancements in medicine came in the 20th century, and that those advancements have a cost. Throw in the health insurance industry evolving in the middle of the 1900s, and now medical costs make up a decent chunk of our budgets.

It's fascinating to take a step back and look at the big picture of history when we find ourselves complaining about the price of a banana or a bag of rice. It's not that we can't or shouldn't feel frustrated when our cost of living increases, but when it comes to food budgets, we're living in pretty flush times, relatively speaking. Especially when we consider how much more access we have to different kinds of foods than ever before.

Fluctuations in retail prices have always occurred, of course, due to wars, recessions, etc., and some items have become more expensive while others have gotten cheaper, relatively speaking. But regardless of individual prices, if we find ourselves lamenting our curren grocery bill, it might help to remember how much more of the average budget food used to be. Even if grocery prices were to rise more, we still won't be anywhere near the percentage of our paychecks that food used to take up, and that's certainly something to be grateful for.

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Woman goes up to strangers on the street and asks how much money they make in their jobs

It's all in the name of salary transparency, and some of these people's salaries are mind-blowing.

Salary Transparent Street/TikTok (used with permission)

From teachers to software engineers to dog groomers and more, here's what people say they make.

Asking someone how much money they make is taboo, at least in American culture. Unless someone's salary is posted publicly, most of us don't even know how much our own coworkers or bosses make, much less complete strangers.

Google isn't a whole lot of help on this front, as compensation in specific jobs can vary wildly depending on the market, someone's education level, years of experience and other factors. So if we're curious about how much someone around us makes in their job, we're often just left to wonder and guess. We're not going to ask out of common courtesy, and most people aren't likely to volunteer the information unprompted because that's also seen as uncouth.

None of that awkwardness around money questions has stopped Hannah Williams, creator of Salary Transparent Street, though. The company's popular social media videos have garnered millions of views and likes with a simple premise: asking people on the street what they do for a living and how much they make.

And interestingly enough, people seem perfectly happy to share.

Some jobs, such as software engineer, have expectedly high wages, though even those varied quite a bit (which could be based on location, but apparently not based on experience, according to this video):

@salarytransparentstreet
How much do Software Engineers make? #salarytransparentstreet compilation! #salarytransparency #paytransparency #softwaredeveloper #softwareengineer #softwareengineering

But other high paying jobs may not be as well known. For instance, a certified anesthesiology assistant shared that she makes over $200,000 a year.

Williams interviewed people in trades jobs, and that was quite eye-opening. (Did you know tattoo artists and hairdressers can make well over six figures? Perhaps they are outliers, but even if they are, holy moly.)

@salarytransparentstreet
Want to get into a trade? Learn how at the link in our bio! 🛠️💄⛑️ Trade jobs are some of the most in-demand, secure, and high-paying jobs out there. #indeedpartner #salarytransparentstreet #salarytransparency #paytransparency #tradejobs #tradejob #tradejobpay #tradejobopportunities

Again, these are specific people's situations, and people in the same job can make a wide range of wages, but one thing Salary Transparent Street does is help people know what's possible with real-life examples.

How about something like a teacher? There's a wide range there, too. But considering the above, it's mostly not amazing. Watch:

@salarytransparentstreet
One year ago! How much do #Teachers make? #salarycompilation #salarytransparentstreet #salarytransparency #paytransparency #teacherpay #onthisday

Salary Transparent Street has grown beyond just on-the-street interviews to include career path assistance, a salary negotiation guide, salary database and more, which you can find on their website.

If you want to see a whole lot more salary interviews with travel nurses, data analysts, UPS driver and more, check out Salary Transparent Street on TikTok and Instagram.

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People reveal which paid memberships are 100 percent worth every penny

"Costco… For the chicken and food court alone it is worth it."

Photo (left) by Johannes Andersson on Unsplash Photo (right) by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

From National Parks passes to air ambulance services, some memberships are totally worth it.

With the basic cost of living stretching many folks financially, people are always on the lookout for ways to save money. But with long-term commitments and ever-increasing costs, people are also often wary of memberships or subscriptions that might save you money (or at least be worth what they cost), but also might not.

Thanks to a Reddit user who asked fellow Redditors, "What membership is 100% worth every penny you pay for it?" we've got a list of memberships that might actually be worth checking out.

The kinds of memberships people listed vary widely, from warehouse stores to learning programs to medical evacuation services, but everyone who shared made a strong case for why the cost of them are worth it.

Here are the memberships people say are worth every penny:

Emergency Helicopter Services

"I live on an island in Alaska with limited healthcare. An emergency flight to a more capable hospital will cost $50000. For $100 a year I save $49900 if I ever need their services. That $100 covers everyone living under my roof. There is no limit on the number of flights. And seniors pay $75. Of course, the flight isn't a guarantee. Bad weather or the donated jet needing repairs can, and does, prevent you from being flown out." – Ksan_of_Tongass

"Can't believe someone beat me to this.
A year and a half ago, I had to be medevaced to Seattle with a broken back. Price tag on the flight would have been $141,110.89...
Good thing we are a member of the air med network!" – Tedious_research

"More common than you would think. They have this same premise in rural Texas for about $25/m." – sevargmas

The Great Courses (or Wondrium)

"The Great Courses. It’s now under the umbrella of Wondrium (and they have a bunch of other stuff, but I look for the GC stuff) They have hundreds of courses. Each one has roughly 26-40 lectures. They’re the best professors in the world - the ones that students report as their favorite teachers.

My boyfriend and I always have four on Thursdays: a science, an art, a philosophy (or wild card) and a history. We’ve done classes like: botany, the analects of Confucius, The Medici’s, the physics of time, early humans and the history of food.

I’ve got a good deal with them at $10/month all I can stream. Great for lifelong learners." – Shaydie

"I bought a 2 year subscription (when it was 50% off) and never looked back. Ancient Egypt is probably the best course I've ever taken, even including courses I've taken in college. It's old (1999) and some things have been disproven since, but it's still so damn good. Now I'm watching Ancient Mesopotamia, which is also very good." – Ok-Supermarket-1414

"I’ve learned so many things from having a Wondrium subscription (and mostly the great courses ones are my favourites). I think having the streaming version of this versus buying courses has led me to learn so many more things than I would have, and try and some and find out they weren’t really for me." — Shipping_away_at_it

Mountains rising up behind a lake at sunset

Grand Tetons National Park

Photo by Nate Foong on Unsplash

National Parks Pass

"The US National Park Senior Pass. The BEST bargain in the nation." – BrunoGerace

"We toured the us in an rv this year, and the america the beautiful pass paid for itself many, many, many times over." – mushnu

"And if you're not a Senior (or Vet) the annual pass is still a deal. Visit 3 NPs or NMs in a year and it's paid for itself." – Kerensky97

"I’m canadian, I’ve seen national parks in canada, a lot of europe and the us, and it’s not even a fair contest. The national parks in america are s tier amazing sites. Diverse, well cared for yet wild, affordable, etc." – mushnu

The YMCA (though this varies a lot by location and income)

"YMCA - I pay $70 a month for a family of four and it includes use of the pool, gym, and sauna and up to four hours of childcare a day. I go nearly everyday and have lost 60 pounds over the last six months. It’s also my only childcare as a stay at home mom so it keeps me sane." – neopolitandynomite

"Came here to say this! I’m in WI and pay $82/month for my family of 7. We go 3-4 times a week, love it. Also have volunteered to coach soccer and have kids in the youth sports. Pool, hot tub and sauna is like a spa to me." – Martini6288

"My family YMCA membership (one adult + children) is $115/mo, but even so, it's totally worth it! I attend at least 3 group ex classes a week, my kids go in the kid zone, they get swim lessons, T-ball, summer camp, etc at reduced cost. It's also very convenient as we live right across the street. We attend many of their special events too (Halloween party, pumpkins in the pool, etc)." – WhJoMaShRa

AAA

"AAA or equivalent roadside service club in your respective country. A single tow costs more than your membership and it quickly pays for itself. Plus all the other discounts and affiliated services they offer, it is absolutely worth the money." – llcucf80

"Between tows and the times either I or someone I was with locked their keys in their car, it has more than paid for itself. It has been a life saver more than once." – nelsonalgrencametome

"Family car broke down on a road trip. My dad had some upper level AAA membership or something, because they covered the tow, a bus ticket for me home while they got covered in the affiliated hotel for 2 nights, along with meals." – DopeCharma

"I haven't owned a vehicle in over 6 years, up until the last two years I've had a AAA membership.

It's worth mentioning that it's not like insurance, it's your membership. I kept it because I could call them if a friend needed a tow, someone locked their keys in their car, needed gas but no way to get it, flat and no spare, doesn't matter

If you have a membership, youre present, card in hand, doesn't matter who's vehicle it is, you're golden. I even got complete strangers a tow, I wasn't gonna use them.

One time I even got my own vehicle out of an impound using AAA because the tow company was certified with AAA and it was only impounded for expired tags. I didn't pay a dime to the tow company, they just got more from me requesting the tow through AAA to an auto shop

Amazing service, 100% worth every penny." – drklunk

Costco can save you on a lot more than just chicken.

Photo by Grant Beirute on Unsplash

Costco

"Costco… For the chicken and food court alone it is worth it." – Peach3ater

"Even if you ONLY buy allergy med from Costco, it’s worth the membership fee. $70 membership + $14 bottle of 365 allergy pills is basically 2-3 months max of Claritin or other brands at regular grocery store." – the_bio

"For me it's my contacts. Just my regular prescription for a year is more of a discount at costco vs 1800contacts than the membership costs." – MRoad

"There are so many things it can save you $10 a month on. It’s insane. My wife and I probably save $120 a month on everything from bulkier groceries/snacks, paper towels/toilet paper, laundry detergent, some clothes, tires and gas. We don’t even drink soda or have pets, both of which can more than pay for a membership. We live an hour away and factor our time/wear and tear on the car into how much it saves us. $120 a month easily even on a light month." – sevseg_decoder

Spotify Premium

"I've had Spotify premium since 2011 and I listen to it all day every day. Best value subscription." – Breakfast_1796

"Undoubtedly this, especially compared to what you used to have to spend on physical media. Even then, you’d be stuck with the same handful of albums with one good track instead of nearly every song ever recorded." – Chewie83

"Sometimes I imagine explaining Spotify to my 16-year-old self. "So for about the price of a single CD a month... You can have all the music ever, on demand. All of it, Whenever you want..." It's honestly a dream come true for me lol." – DAFUQ404

"I've had the spotify family plan since like 2015 or so. 15/month for 6 people? Yes please!!! I'd be paying 10 just for me to have premium. Now my fiancée, my adult children, my bestie, and her husband all have a quality music service." – eyemacwgrl

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People reveal 12 everyday things that have gotten so expensive they can't afford them anymore

And a few hints on great bargains in today's economy, too.

Photo (left) by Joana Godinho on Unsplash, Photo (right) by Robert Larsson on Unsplash

From food truck food to pet care, people are feeling priced out of things that used to be affordable.

Despite record unemployment, a booming stock market and easing inflation, Americans are still feeling squeezed at the cash register. We knew the pandemic was going to cause economic woes, and to be fair, things could be a lot worse, but that doesn't ease the shock of seeing the total on a receipt that's far more than we used to pay.

A user on Reddit asked, "What’s gotten so expensive that you no longer purchase it?" and it opened floodgate of financial experiences and feelings. Life in general seems like it's becoming unaffordable for many of us.

"I feel like I can’t walk out of my front door without automatically spending $20," shared one person.

"For me, that was over ten years ago. These days leaving the house is a minimum $50," quipped another.

Certain purchases and activities are putting a much bigger dent in our pocketbook than they used to, so if you've been feeling it, take solace in the fact that you're not alone. Here are the things people said they simply can't afford anymore because the prices have gotten too high, along with some savings tips for making some of your favorite things more affordable:

Restaurants

"Me and the wife would have Friday as a more relaxing evening. We have 3 kids. We would always vary and order take away. Take away has gone from $30ish to $50, $60, $70 for the same stuff plus increased delivery charges. Not worth it anymore." – Ok-Stuff-8803

Family of 4, I feel your pain. We didn't go out (or order in) weekly, but it was a fairly common occurrence. Now it's a rarity, and its usually tied to a special occasion. It's frustrating because I feel like my family's standard of living is declining, even though I am progressing in my career and making more money. – Robbie-R

"GF and I used to eat out at a sit down restaurant once a week, now it’s more like once a month if that. It’s gotten crazy expensive." – largecontainer

Yep, fast food, too

"I was at a party the other night and a friend of mine randomly came in with a bucket of chicken from KFC. I was SHOCKED at how expensive it was. Pretty sure it was damn near 40 bucks." – Touch_My_Nips

"McDonalds. Not that I can't afford it, but I am not paying the current prices for cheap, processed food for on the go. They are trying to be fancier, they should accept who they are and stick to be being cheap and convenient, it has always worked for them." – TrixieLurker

"Two and a half years ago they still had the 2 for $2 menu and any size soft drink was a dollar. Now it’s the 2 for $3.99 and a medium soda is $1.19." – king-of-the-sea

Food trucks used to be a cheap alternative to sit-down restaurants.

Photo by Joana Godinho on Unsplash

Even the food trucks

"Food from food trucks. I'm not spending $15 for a grilled cheese that I have to wait in the rain for." – just_hating

"Food truck the other day was charging $20 for a basic chicken sandwich. No sides just meat and bread. I’m officially baffled by the world." – No-Statement9809

"I remember when food trucks used to represent simple finger food that was a cheaper alternative to restaurants (especially taco trucks; used to be like 3 for $8! Now, these f**king places are charging $15-$25 for a smaller sized plate than a sit-down restaurant. I have written them off entirely." – Fated47

Mobile apps

"Mobile apps. I’m absolutely infuriatingly tired of subscription services. The worst is that they let you download the app so they can claim it as a download, only to get stonewalled by a subscription page. Let’s go back to a one time fee please." – SmallRocks

"Most of them don’t even have a free trial. They’re free-to-download for marketing purposes, then immediately make you pay to use. Sh*t should be illegal." – ItsMeCyrie

"Add in app updates that removed features and put them behind a paywall 😢" – Mamasgoldenmilk

Concert ticket prices have gone berserk.

Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash

Concert tickets

"I bought two sets of tickets this year for bands I've wanted to see for over 20 years. One concert cost me $600 for two tickets and the other was $300 for two. The ridiculous part of it all is that the fees alone cost more than one ticket. I can stomach $100-$150 for good seats to a band I like, I can't stomach another $150 in fees." – Syikho

"As someone who spends a lot of money on music $300 for a ticket to see a single band, maybe 2 or 3 with openers, for one night is ridiculous. Last few years I’ve been doing a music festival cruise and feel like I get the most bang for my buck. 6 days of music with 30+ bands mixed in with a tropical vacation for under 2k." – Newone1255

"Yeah, I grew up relatively poor and still got to see countless shows. Luckily a lot of my favorite bands were small-time and I could see them in tiny, cheap venues, but still several times a year I was seeing world-famous bands.

"It is literally prohibitively expensive to the average person to see concerts regularly anymore. And I don’t even f**k with arena shows." – robotatomica

Chips, cereal and soda

"Dude, $7 for Doritos is NUTS. Even store brand chips are getting pricey." – trafficrush

"Ditto with cereal! The boxes have gotten so small and they’re like $7!" – thenisaidbitch

"Soda. Used to enjoy a sprite occasionally. I'm just not paying 3 or 4 dollars at this point for sugar water that kills my insides." – SmokeLawn

"No snack food. Pretty much just buying staples/meat/dairy/fruit/veg and making everything from scratch. Ultra processed food is terrible for you anyway." – _manicpixie

SAVINGS TIP: Shop Aldi

"Aldi is the only place I will buy cereal anymore. $2.15 a box vs $6." – Moronmagnet72

"My uber picky kid LOVES Aldi brand cereal. Thank god." – peachy_sam

Streaming services keep raising their prices while canceling our favorite shows.

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Streaming services

"Netflix is about to be that way. They're gonna do another price hike later this year and that's just laughable to me. Blows my mind that they can cancel damn near every show that they produce in three seasons or less and then have the audacity to keep wanting people to pay more. Like, I'm not even exaggerating when I say that I've probably watched more than fifty Netflix original series over the past several years and that less than a dozen of them made it past three seasons or gotten proper endings." – IDoBelieveInGarys

"I cancelled Netflix back when they stopped allowing password sharing (I share it with family) and just cancelled Disney+ and Hulu for the same reason. HBO Max and Paramount get my money until they do something stupid too." – TrilobiteBoi

"I canceled all of my subscriptions except one and will be canceling the last one in the next month or so. They’re too expensive- Hulu, prime, Netflix- it’s just cable all over again." – Dementedstapler

SAVINGS TIP: Streaming service cycling

"Years ago I decided that the best thing to do is just cycle through streaming subscriptions one at a time. Right now I've got Disney+/Hulu. If I find that I've watched everything on there and I'm bored of it and there's nothing else coming soon that I want I'll cancel it and move on to HBO or Netflix or whatever and catch up on all the stuff that's come out since the last time I had that service. I don't really care that I'm not able to watch every show that's great right when it comes out." – tenehemia

"We need to normalize regularly cancelling memberships. No one's giving you a discount the longer you stay and resubscribing doesn't cost anything extra. I'll gladly wait until Netflix / Hulu / Whoever releases a few shows I want to watch, pay for a month to watch them, then cancel again." – Fine_on_the_outside·

Manicures and pedicures

"I don't visit nail salons at all anymore." – mondaysareturds

"i was coming to say this. i used to do mani/pedi twice a month before covid. but now it’s $50 before tip for REGULAR not gel not acrylic and that’s just insane to me. i’m from nyc when i was a kid (im 25) mani/pedi was $15." – Neat-Lawfulness9586

"Same here, I used to go once a month to treat myself now I can't even afford just to go once a year." – UnicornTurtle_

SAVINGS TIP: Beauty school salons

"If you can find a beauty school, go there. Great prices, the students are watched by teachers and they do a great job. And the beauty school where I go has coupons, and discount days for different things. It's really worth looking into.

That's where I get my hair colored/cut too. I've got long hair (middle of the back) and I can get something that would cost $300+ at a salon, for like $100 +tip. And if you don't like what you got, they will go out of their way to fix it." – Ihavefluffycats

Feeding our furry friends is pricey enough, but vet bills are something else.

Photo by Robert Larsson on Unsplash

Pet care

"Having a pet :( I’ve had pets my whole life, but lost my last cat a few years ago. I miss having a companion but I know I cannot afford beyond basic care right now or an emergency if it were to arise." – No-Ambassador-6984

"Our 12 year -old cat had bladder stones and needed surgery a couple of years ago. The bill came to like $7500 🫠" – Noisycarlos

"I feel your pain. I worked as a veterinary technician. My last job gave us 40% off. I couldn’t afford bloodwork for my diabetic cat. When I quit that job for something that paid better and wasn’t going to break my body, I realized I had 4 pets and no discounts! I almost kept my license so I could moonlight for some savings. I’m on pins and needles if anyone sneezes in the house." – wisemonkey101

"This is true. Vet bills are insane. Boarding is so expensive I look for pet friendly AirBNBs when going on vacation because the pet fee is tiny by comparison." – Got_Cabin_Fever

SAVINGS TIP: Foster animals instead of adopting

"Have you considered fostering? You give them all the love and they (shelter/rescue organization) pay the bills!" – conflictmuffin

"My nearby shelter just put a plea out for fosters because they are way over capacity. I’ve fostered a lot, and sometimes it can be hard to say good bye but it a truly good kind of pain." – imadoggomom

"Lots of my military friends do this and they are genuinely so happy with the arrangement! Good luck." – savannigray

From Your Site Articles

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Man breaks down how living in an all-inclusive resort is cheaper than his average apartment

"I just might find myself on a beach somewhere sucking down cocktails and WHAT OF IT."

Representative Image from Canva

Are resorts the new retirement homes?

Don’t know if you heard, but the cost of living is pretty high these days. Prices for groceries, restaurants, gas, and other necessary items just to, you know, live in the world, reaching an all time high is already making what used to be a decent wage barely enough to get by.

And let’s not forget the biggest financial whammy of all: rent prices. According to Zillow, the average rent price in the US was $1,958 ( recorded in January 2024). That a whopping 29.4% price jump since pre-pandemic times. And of course, that not even taking larger, more expensive cities into account.

It’s enough to make you wonder: “Is it actually cheaper to just live in an all-inclusive resort at this point?”

This question was certainly on Ben Keenan’s mind. In a now-viral TikTok, the 31-year-old compared the cost of living in a resort to that of his Seattle apartment. And let’s just say…it sparked a conversation.

Keenan broke down how much he spent each month on essentials like rent ($2300), utilities ($300), WiFi ($40), car/insurance ($320) and groceries ($400), plus nice-to-haves like dinners out ($300), drinks ($300) and his gym membership ($40). All totaling to $4000.

The first all-inclusive resort that Ben showed, located in Mexico, was priced at $4,500. For a little more, Ben could get everything he was used to having, minus any chores.

"Yes, that's $500 more than what I normally spend on rent, but bear in mind, I'm not paying the most expensive rent out there compared to, like, what other people in Seattle might be paying, for example. Also, is that $500 worth me never having to do a single ounce of laundry or any of my cleaning or whatever?" he said in the clip.

The next resort in the Dominican Republic would be $3,100, already cheaper than what he currently pays. And if he were to, say, split a double room with a roommate, well…you don’t have to be good at math to know that’s a lot less.

In the video's caption, it seems pretty clear that Keenan might be tempted to abandon it al fo that sweet resort life.

"I just might find myself on a beach somewhere sucking down cocktails and WHAT OF IT," he wrote.

@ivebentraveling Honestly, kind of a joke but kind of serious - I might just find myself on a beach somewhere sucking down cocktails and WHAT OF IT 😩 #allinclusive #allinclusiveresort #resortlife #livehack #mexico #dominicanrepublic #travel #travellife #travelmeme ♬ Funny video "Carmen Prelude" Arranging weakness(836530) - yo suzuki(akisai)

Down in the comments section, Keenan’s video struck up a conversation about another affordable alternative lifestyle: cruises. A few even referenced Nancy and Robert Houchens, the retired couple who famously began living on cruise ships because “it’s cheaper than a nursing home.”

Not to mention…it inspired some pretty funny (if not a little bittersweet) jokes from millennials.

“New retirement plan” rent our house and live at an all-inclusive resort with a butler til I die,” one person wrote.

“All inclusive resort aka millennial assisted living,” another quipped.

And perhaps the most millennial joke of them all: “‘Suite Life of Zack and Cody’ got it right all along.”

It’s no secret that many working adults can’t foresee a future where they’d be able to afford the same “American Dream” that their parents achieved. And if having a forever home isn’t a possibility, traveling the world or enjoying a relaxing retirement very well might be the next best thing. And even if finances aren’t an issue, this kind of lifestyle just might align with current values a bit more.

From Your Site Articles

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finances

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A story about two pairs of boots illustrates how rich people get richer in ways poor people can't

It’s got nothing to do with bootstraps.

The amount of money Americans budgeted for food 100 years ago is mind-boggling

If we think our grocery bills are high now, it's nothing compared to what families spent in the early 1900s.

Woman goes up to strangers on the street and asks how much money they make in their jobs

It's all in the name of salary transparency, and some of these people's salaries are mind-blowing.

People reveal which paid memberships are 100 percent worth every penny

"Costco… For the chicken and food court alone it is worth it."

Emergency Helicopter Services

The Great Courses (or Wondrium)

National Parks Pass

The YMCA (though this varies a lot by location and income)

AAA

Costco

Spotify Premium

People reveal 12 everyday things that have gotten so expensive they can't afford them anymore

And a few hints on great bargains in today's economy, too.

Restaurants

Yep, fast food, too

Even the food trucks

Mobile apps

Concert tickets

Chips, cereal and soda

Streaming services

Manicures and pedicures

Pet care

Man breaks down how living in an all-inclusive resort is cheaper than his average apartment

"I just might find myself on a beach somewhere sucking down cocktails and WHAT OF IT."

Little boy mistakes multimillionaire for homeless man and they end becoming good friends

Steve Martin has the best response to hearing that his book was banned in Florida

Nonprofit exposes 'housing cartel' behind sharp rent increases across the country

What will Earth look like if all its land ice melts? Here's your answer.

Woman adopts a blind senior dog and spoils him for 28 days before putting him to sleep