We’ve all seen the how-to-be-rich articles that advocate trimming your luxury expenses in order to solve your money woes. It makes sense at some level: if you’re struggling for money, forget the weekly pedicures, avoid lavish vacations, and cancel that streaming service you never use. If you’re making a big purchase, buy a cheaper car or appliance, and pay cash as much as possible. And you can always toss in a side hustle or two (or three) to make extra dough.
As I’ve written before, these tips really only work for people who already have decent income and/or no debt, who are looking to boost their savings, or who simply want to have more money for a nice vacation. For those people, it’s easy to get extra dough by sacrificing completely unnecessary expenses, but their lifestyle really doesn’t change.
For people who are job-insecure or underemployed, who accumulated debt due to medical expenses or periods without income, or who are hit with unexpected large expenses that drain their savings, cutting out a $12 streaming service isn’t enough to lift them out of trouble. Only a major increase in income…
