The Poverty Slide

sisygoboom (64)in #money • 6 years ago (edited)

What I've Learnt Being In Debt And Living One Day To The Next

^{All wrapped up with some of my famous, thought provoking opinions and some truly shitty formatting, just give the content a chance - it's mildly interesting, I promise.}

Summing it up

Rich people get handed money on silver platters
Poor people get money ripped out of the holes in their pockets
Being unemployed is kinda fun.. for a while
The games 'Monopoly' and 'Snakes and Ladders' are metaphors for life
Hang up on ANY cold caller, if they're reaching out to you, you won't gain

Do you ever think it's strange how banks charge you money... as a punishment for.. not having money? And when you do have money, you get interest.

The rich are always getting richer and the poor are always getting poorer, it's easy to think that it's because the rich are earning more and the poor are either not earning or have more debt. But you'd be wrong (a little bit).

The main thing I've noticed since I've quit work is that when I was working and had more money, money seemed to find it's way to me easier..

Just as a quick example: when you work, you're more likely to get a job somewhere else.

When you have large amounts of money you're able to invest more and people are more likely to approach you with wealth making opportunities.

It's like a game of monopoly, when you own lots of property, those who don't have any end up paying you money. The less you have, the more you loose.

I've been out of work for maybe a couple of months now, and in some ways I've been avoiding it - I've enjoyed my break thoroughly, I've have had more time to dedicate to university work, enjoying the student life and exploring the wonders of on steemit. But, I've got into a lot of debt in the process, I'm down to my last couple of interest free pounds.

Fun's over, I'll have to get a job soon - I can't live life going from one set of borrowed money to the next.

My funds have run dry and it's as if the universe can tell.

More adverts with catchphrases like these ones have been catching my eye:
Make £250 A Week By Doing Surveys
How I Went From Having Nothing To Making $700,000 A Month - And You Can Too!

Or maybe it's just that I notice more stuff like that because I'm looking for it.

I decided to do the 'surveys to earn money' offer since there was a site which had seemingly good trustpilot reviews

I made £2.50 doing that survey, it wasn't very long either, but it wasn't the kind of survey that tries to get your opinion or thoughts on a topic - it was a huge advertisemnt; Do you want this product? How about another chance to win stuff? Free pizza maybe?

I said no to all their offers but even after I'd denied them, I received two phone calls from London based sales companies pitching me products I didn't even know I wanted until they forced them down my throat.

The first call was a puzzle magazine for a quid a week. He wasn't a great salesman, he was very easy to say no to and gave a fairly flimsy response to my objections. Plus, I can get free puzzles online so his product was just a waste.

I fell for the second guy's pitch though.

He was from whats known as a 'lottery syndicate', where users pool together to play the lottery. Now, I was drawn in by his offer; if I don't win anything, I get a full refund, if the syndicate do win, we could get the jackpot/#of people (£67million/150).

I was a salesman once so I find it very easy to spot sales tactics being implemented - the lottery guy was using a multitude at once:

It costs "the price of a bottle of jack daniels" rather than "£40 a month".
Going on about the direct debit guarantee
Not giving you a chance to speak
Just emphasizing the good + ignoring the bad
Not addressing my concerns and questions properly
Building rapport

Anyway, I figured I had nothing to loose and everything to gain if they offer full refunds when there are no winnings. I guess they make money by giving you a prize less than the amount you paid in lines, then they don't need to give you a refund!

^{See, I'm smart.}
I'll just cancel it as soon as it appears on my statement, if that guy hit bonus because of me - I've done some random salesman a favor; put food on his table even!

Back to what I was saying about wealth

When you have no money, you're targeted more by people who are desperate to take your tiny amount of money! We used to go to poorer places on purpose when I still worked as a charity fundraiser (basically a door to door salesman, my third ever post was actually about that job). We went to poorer places because they were actually more likeley to give than the middle class demographic.

Sometimes I'm not sure if they were more likely to give because sales techniques worked better on them, or because poorer people are more generous.

Here's some questions for you

Are poorer people more generous? Or are generous people more likely to be poor?
Are salespeople more confident when they're not talking up to people in nice houses?

That's it from me today, I need a cigarette. Don't get into debt unless it's interest free or it gets written off after x years!