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by irishcoffee 27 days ago
My spouse and I both work. We also live so far within our means that either one of us could quit tomorrow and our lifestyle would not change.

Is that privilege? I consider it basic fiscal responsibility.

2 comments

We should all aspire to that, but by that measurement, a huge percentage of the population don't have "basic fiscal responsibility." I know exactly one person who could quit their job tomorrow and not have to change his lifestyle. It's extremely rare, and I think qualifies as "privilege."
To qualify this: yes I think anyone that can just walk away from this job because its tuesday and they don't like tuesdays is extremely privileged, there is no doubt. I was/am speaking purely from a financial perspective.

If one cannot live within their means and save up an emergency fund of ~6 months, I don't think that is unprivileged, that is just not responsible.

Can everyone do this? Probably not, life is hard. Have most people made a series of life decisions for which they not longer want to be culpable, instead complaining about how hard life is? Almost always. There are always edge cases, and reasons we need a solid social safety net, I advocate for social safety nets. Most people just spend too much money and bitch that they're paycheck-to-paycheck.

Yeah, a huge percentage don't.
I’m in a similar situation. I’m just saying that I know a lot of people who work much harder than me, without anywhere near the same financial freedom. I think it’s good to meditate on that fact regularly.