upworthy

financial literacy

Equality

People shared their experiences encountering insanely rich kids for the first time

"Her parents used to call her and check on her because she 'wasn't spending enough money.'"

avia rkoi / Instagram

Are they out of touch with reality or just living in a different one?

Most people grow up going to schools where people are of a similar social status. Lower-income people tend to grow up with people in the same situation and affluent people usually grow up around people who are rich as well. But things can change dramatically in college. People who are from completely different sides of the socioeconomic spectrum attend class together and sometimes wind up sharing the same dorm room.

One student can be there on a scholarship and have a part-time job to make ends meet. The other may be on a massive allowance from their parents who pay full tuition without batting an eye. What exacerbates the issue is that many people go through college dirt poor. If they have a job, it's often low-paying, they can't work many hours and they aren't old enough to have accumulated any wealth. According to the Lumina Foundation, a nonprofit based in Indianapolis dedicated to providing "opportunities for learning beyond high school" for all, 47% of today's college students don't have or rely on parental support, and of those students, one in four live below the poverty line.

The differences are stark. So stark that seeing one of your peers wasting other people's hard-earned money can be downright stupefying. It can also seem highly immoral for some to have so much and not appreciate it when others are struggling to get by.

College is also a time when people begin to learn about income inequality and why it exists.

college students, income, inequality, socioeconomic status, richIncome inequality becomes more obvious in college. Image via Canva.

In the summer of 2020, freelance journalist Jake Bittle started a fun conversation on Twitter where people shared stories of some of the insanely rich kids they knew in college. Many of the responses came from people who went to the University of Chicago.

Bittle's story started with seeing a girl open her laptop to reveal a ton of money in her bank account while they were taking a class on Marxism. The tweet inspired people to share stories of the insanely rich kids they met in college and how some of them were terribly wasteful with their money.

(Jake has since deleted his original tweet.)


shock, rich kids, college, students, socioeconomic spectrumDonald Glover Reaction GIFGiphy


facepalm, insanely rich kids, rich, college studentsJudge Judy No GIF by Agent M Loves GifsGiphy


One thing really becomes apparent when reading all of these Tweets: the severe lack of financial literacy among the college students in these anecdotes. According to EBSCO, over 40% of college students are "still not equipped with adequate financial literacy knowledge and skills." This also touches on the correlation between student debt and financial literacy. A 2024 study from Auburn University published by the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) notes that students with more than $100,000 in student debt especially lack "adequate financial understanding," exacerbating the student debt crisis.

student debt, student, finances, financial literary, rich, poorThe student debt crisis affects millions.

No matter what side of the socioeconomic spectrum these students hail from, it's well known that schools do not take the time to educate students on real-life skills like taxes, banking, budgeting, etc. before they head out into the world. Even if a student's affluent family hasn't wised them up to how money works in the real world, imagine how much better off everyone would be if we were required to take financial literacy courses before we hit adulthood?

This article originally appeared five years ago.

From Your Site Articles
insanely rich people
Parenting

Mom's real world budgeting lesson goes viral after it leaves her kids feeling overwhelmed

"I just won't eat lunch. I'll just eat a big breakfast. I probably won't eat breakfast."

Ariel B.|TikTok

Mom does budgeting exercise with kids. They're stressed.

Kids, as much as we love them, they're like our little broke best friends. They seemingly always want something and have little to no concept on how much money things cost.

There are some parents that start explaining how finances and budgeting works at an early age so kids know what to expect. It also likely helps them understand that parents don't have an infinite amount of money to spend on unnecessary items. Ariel B. is a mom and content creator that created budgeting worksheets for her children to use to learn how to budget and uploaded the video to TikTok.

Let's just say, the kids were a bit stressed before they even finished the worksheet.

The mom of four gathered her children around the table with budgeting worksheets and a $3,000 imaginary budget, which is based off of a $15 minimum wage plus an additional $500. Ariel explained the average cost of rent in their area and instructed her kids to look up the average cost for utilities in an apartment.

"How long are you leaving your lights on," one of her daughters asks. To which Ariel responds, "well, all of our lights are on in here and you don't seem to mind."

At one point in the video, they're discussing a food budget when one of her children says he will eat take out daily. Reality quickly set in when Ariel encouraged them to crunch some numbers.

"That's too much money, actually," the younger daughter exclaims. "I just won't eat lunch. I'll just eat a big breakfast. I probably won't eat breakfast."

@the_arielb

Teaching my kids budgeting💰 FREE PDF 🔗 in bio ❤️

In another video, one of the children is appalled that they would be expected to pay first and last month's rent when moving into an apartment. The older daughter is simply flabbergasted at the lack of available money.

"I have nothing. I have no money at all. And I don't know what to do about it," the girl says. I cut all of my ones and I'm already on a bike. Like I don't know what to do. Like what else can I do?"

Oh, little ones, welcome to Adulting 101. These kids are likely thanking all of the stars in the sky that this was just an imaginary situation and not something they need to worry about for a long time.

@the_arielb

Teaching my kids budgeting, they only have $3,000 a month. 💰 FREE PDF 🔗 in bio ❤️

From Your Site Articles
budgeting activities
Pop Culture

Young boy's wows his parents with an impressive 'financial plan' to invest in his future

Some kids know exactly what they want out of life from the get go. And how to get there.

@linsfam33/TikTok

This ten-year-old is going places

It’s uncanny how some kids really don’t seem like kids at all.

Instead, they think, speak and behave like adults (just, you know, child-sized adults). There’s an inherent savviness to these old souls that makes them not only aware of what they want out of life, but able to create concrete steps towards that goal…both skills that don’t reach many of us until well into adulthood.

Take for instance Neil Lims, a 10-year-old who is so determined to go to Morris College that he spent an entire Friday evening coming up with an impressive financial plan to save money for tuition.

Neil presented the plan to his parents, Shark Tank style, and thanks to a recording of it blowing up on TikTok, now we can all marvel at this young man’s natural entrepreneurial abilities.

In the clip, Neil unrolls a large sheet of brown paper with math scribbles as he explains how opting out of Christmas and birthday presents could help the family save big.

"I asked mom how much money she spends on my present for my birthday. She said $100. When I'm 19, I'll be moving out. So if I put all that money, $900, then I have to think about Christmas. It's also $100. Nine-hundred dollars plus $900 is 1800,” he said.

Then came the proposal: “So then the price of Morris for two years is $24,000 currently. If... instead of getting presents from you, I just get the money for college, then I'll be 9% of the way there!"

@linsfam33 It was 10:30 on a Friday night. Our youngest had been quiet. So quiet that i thought he had gone to bed. Nope. He was just preparing a finacial presentation for us. 😂 #collegeplan #financialliteracy #fridaynight #kidsarethebest ♬ original sound - n-lins

When Neil’s mother asks if he’s sure that he would like money for college over presents, the boy’s answer is simple and definitive. “I. Care. About. My. Future.” Wow. It’s hard to tell which is more impressive—this kid’s analytical prowess or his resolve. Plus, good on Neil’s mom for mentioning investing at the end of the video. Judging by the way his face lights up when she utters the word, it’s clearly a passion that she’s paying attention to.

After the clip went viral on TikTok, even Morris College saw Neil’s financial plan, and ended up sending him a swag box to encourage to keep pursuing his dreams.

@linsfam33 Replying to @linsfam33 THANK YOU @umnmorris for this awesome box of fun things for the whole family!! Please follow and subscribe to us on youtube and instagram. (Linsfam33) We have a few things in the works that we will be sharing. #viral #financialliteracy #collegeplan #kidsarethebest ♬ original sound - n-lins

And while a small handful of folks shared concern over Neil sacrificing toys (and therefore an aspect of his childhood) in the name of steep college tuition prices, research has shown that it’s perfectly natural and healthy for kids as young as four or five to be able to formulate plans for their future.

In another video, Neil’s mom explained how at the ripe old age of three when he came up with the idea for a candy stand, with the ultimate goal of owning one on every continent—it’s a business Neil still has today. In fact, following his sudden internet fame, Neil’s family started an Indiegogo campaign to help cover startup costs for the business, including website development, business planning, and marketing.

Learning at least the basics of financial literacy—such as savings, controlling impulse buys, and finding creative ways to make money—can be one of the best ways to ensure a kid’s future. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to make this kind of learning fun for children nowadays, so one doesn’t have to be born with Neil’s shrewdness in order to succeed.

But financial prowess aside, it’s always cool to see it when kids are just so sure of themselves and where they want to be. And Neil is no exception.

From Your Site Articles
kids
Badge
Capital One
Capital One
Capital One Impact Initiative

David and John Auten-Schneider, hosts of the Queer Money podcast, offer their perspectives on financial challenges in the LGBTQ community

Courtesy of Capital One
True

We and other personal finance experts have long talked about the financial challenges of the LGBTQ+ community. That includes access to equal housing, services protections and wage inequality because of one's sexual orientation or gender identity.

While those protections would be included in the Equality Act, legislation remains pending in Congress.

To be fair, the LGBTQ+ community has made significant progress over the last several years. The two most notable being the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling to ensure marriage equality and 2020 decision to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. That progress has continued with the current administration, as President Joe Biden recently signed executive orders protecting LGBTQ people from housing and services discrimination.

The LGBTQ+ community faces a unique set of financial challenges that are preventing equal opportunity for all.

Let's break down some of the obstacles confronting members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Queer people are often expected to pay more

One LGBTQ+ financial challenge is the expectations — and misconception — that LGBTQ people can or should pay more because we don't have kids. While 15% of LGBTQ people have kids — compared to 38% of opposite-sex couples — it's not a cause for LGBTQ people having more money.

In fact, because of wage inequality for people in the LGBTQ community, having fewer opportunities for career advancement and in many cases needing the physical and emotional safety that comes with living in an LGBTQ-friendly city (many of which often have high costs of living), it's likely that your LGBTQ+ sibling or friend doesn't have as much financial security as their straight counterparts.

This is why we didn't travel for the holidays for three years while paying off credit card debt. Adding $800 to $1,000 in plane tickets to the credit cards we were working hard to pay off didn't make sense. Yet, our families never offered to come to where we lived for a holiday and foot the travel expenses.

A similar situation arises when caring for aging parents. LGBTQ folks are more likely to be asked to care for aging parents, which is backed by a 2010 MetLife study. This increases the financial burdens and restricts the savings opportunities for LGBTQ folks.

Queer people, especially gay men, struggle with the 'hysteresis effect'

There's also the lingering consequence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the LGBTQ community, specifically for gay men.

As Paul Donovan said on Queer Money® episode 252 about his book, Profit and Prejudice: The Luddites of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that then created a hysteresis effect.

The hysteresis effect occurs when a singular event has an economic effect that lasts even after the initial event no longer exists.

Of course, we're still fighting HIV/AIDS. But we know more and have more resources to fight HIV/AIDS and it's no longer the death sentence it once was. A lingering economic effect for many LGBTQ+ people is "an unhealthy short-term view when it comes to finances," according to Donovan.

Our struggle with the hysteresis effect is one reason we got into $51,00 in credit card debt. We had a myopic view of what being successful was and spent accordingly.

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

The consequences compound on the challenges above and the many LGBTQ+ financial challenges about which we and many others have written. For example, LGBTQ+ people have smaller emergency savings accounts, less in retirement savings and more in debt than the general population, according to Student Loan Hero.

How to overcome those challenges

Get clear and become committed to your life and money goals

There are a lot of emotions tied to money. We attach our self-worth and value to money. We sometimes feel guilty that we have money while we also sometimes feel guilty that we don't have enough money. If we're letting family or loved ones guilt us into paying for what we can't afford, paying more than our fair share, or risking our financial security, we likely have emotional reasons, such as the need to please, to cause that.

This is just one reason why it's important for LGBTQ+ folks to get crystal clear on what matters most to us. We must figure out what we want our lives to look like and what we want to achieve, then architect our lives to reach those goals. That includes financing. If being helpful, giving or being charitable is one of our goals, we can include that in our life and financial plans.

If we have fewer resources at hand, then being clear on the one or two things we most want to achieve in life can help us efficiently spend our money and have money left over to help the people we care about or to meet our obligations.

Let's be hopeful (and intentional) about our future

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, "the arch of the moral universe is long and bends toward justice".

There's no doubt it's bending toward justice in the LGBTQ+ community. The solution is that we must recognize that.

This means that while we live our best lives today, we must consider our long-term financial security and the lives we want to live when we're older. To be clear, living our best lives today and having financial well-being to live our best lives in the future aren't mutually exclusive.

Courtesy of Capital One's website

It's by talking with our friends and family about money, working with a Money Coach at a Capital One Café or other financial planner to recognize what matters most to us today and what we want in the future.

It's for these challenges and opportunities that we're strong advocates for LGBTQ+ financial independence and why we're proud to partner with Capital One. Though people have nuanced backgrounds, Capital One believes, as we do, that finances should work for everyone. That's why Capital One supports LGBTQ+ communities facing unique economic hardships through both products and programs supporting our needs.
From Your Site Articles
financial literacy
Trending Stories