If you only have $1000 in the bank, it’s not because you can save $1000 / year - it’s because that’s all you can save.

And I used 30 years because 61% of americans aren’t 20 years old right now.

And this is still the scenario where you don’t have a >$1000 emergency any time during that 45 years.

My point is not that investing doesn’t work, my point is that most people don’t have enough capital to be a part of that system.

> If you only have $1000 in the bank, it’s not because you can save $1000 / year - it’s because that’s all you can save.

But at least we all have our big screen TV's and iPhones, right?

Massive eye roll. Yes let's blame the poor for their bad purchasing decisions, instead of idk not getting paid enough?

Like, ok... an entry-level iPhone ($20/month) and a big screen tv ($500, lasts ten years)

That's $50/year + $240/year, call it $300 a year to get an iphone and a big screen tv. Amazing. Are you really here trying to tell me that $300/year is going to make the difference between crushing poverty and a healthy life and retirement?

Now compare that with a $2/hour raise, which amounts to somewhere north of $300/month extra. $3600/year. Yeah, THAT is getting a lot closer to the difference between crushing poverty and a reasonable retirement.

Yes, I see that eye roll. This is a stereotype that comes up regularly specifically because it is such a prolific problem.

I guarantee that a single iPhone purchase and a single big screen TV purchase are not the only poor purchasing decisions being made here.

Yes, lets consider a $2/hour raise. That gets wiped out with a daily trip to take-out instead of regular meals at home, or even by a 750/mo car payment.

Compare it to burning calories. It's much easier to not eat that 500 calorie hamburger than it is to run 5 miles.

Our society should be giving our kids financial literacy instead of bombarding them with advertisements.

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." - Jeff Hammerbacher.

> most people don’t have enough capital to be a part of that system.

Most people are not in the bottom quintile of income.

Where are you getting bottom quintile? If you don't have $1000 for an emergency, it doesn't matter what quintile you're in you're still not going to be maximizing the profitability of your excess capital using the stock market

If you are not poor and yet choose to spend all your money, yes you can have nothing left to invest. If this is happening to you, you might consider counseling from a financial advisor.

Ok so let’s slice it up. 25% of the pop is, in your view, legitimately poor... lowest quintile. Which leaves 61-25 = 36% of the population of the US is just bad at money and it’s their own fault?

I would be very hesitant to make an uncharitable assumption about that many millions of people - their situations are likely more complex than you or I understand.

Best case scenario, you are right, and we are failing massive swaths of the population by not teaching good money management as part of the core education everybody receives. Either way, things are broken right now!

A quintile would be 20%, not 25%.

I've advocated many times on HN that public schools teach basic accounting and how a free market economy works.