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BTW, the vast majority of this demographic do not have a checkbook, even if they have a checking acct. |
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When I have downtime between appointments (often no shows) and/or cannot read the handwriting on the lead cards people mail in, I go door knock them. It's a character-building experience and my absolute gold mine, largest customer is a result of that tactic. Yesterday I DK'ed a 55 y/o woman in an apt complex. It wasn't ghetto, but not high end either. And she looked somewhat normal, even attractive. I showed her the card she had filled out and explained what it was about. She said she didn't need life insurance because her mom was a millionaire. I said, "So are my folks, but they wouldn't let me live in a place like this, if they were supporting me." No sale. Amazing, eh?
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Y'all get back to me with your thoughts. I am off to go watch some reruns of "Teen Mom 2" on MTV. It's so cool how these unwed girls are so FAMOUS now. /s |
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Seems predatory and unethical. |
I don't cold call at all. These people mail in lead cards, asking for me to contact them about final expense insurance. I run appointments they set with me by phone. 20% of them no-show, so I door knock them at a later date when I happen to be in the area. But I don't do that without their handwritten lead card in my hand to show them why I'm there. 90% of my business is fixing whatever mess they got into with more expensive insurance sold by unscrupulous agents. Again, this demographic has a fanatical belief in life insurance. i don't have to convince them they want or need it when they already have it and are overpaying for it. When i can save someone $25/mo for the same or more coverage, sometimes get them thousands of dollars cash back in the process, well, I sleep just fine at night.
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I don’t remember how I learned how to manage money. It didn’t come from school or my parents. But a lot of people won’t be told what to do. They live their lives the way they want and no amount of encouragement, cajoling, or force is going to convince them there is a better way. Z-man’s steps to success are so basic, yet so many people don’t believe in them. Folks I know (relatives) actually thought my siblings and I were being pessimistic by planning for the future. I kid you not. They stumbled through life with no plan or direction, confident that God would provide or things would somehow work out. Parenthood was something that just “happened” so they’ve produced a dozen or so children and grandchildren who are following the same path. They are almost all overweight smokers and a few died early. And the cycle continues. |
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I shall use 'stubbled' as liberally as I can for the next few days. :-) |
I worked for a few years managing an office for a non profit that did "representative payee" work. Most of our clients were on SSI which is supplemental income for the "disabled" that don't have enough work experience to have paid anything into the SS system. A few years back that got you about $750 per month.
There are folks that are legitimately disabled in this system. There are others that could work but the system discourages that by eliminating any payments when income comes in. If that work is seasonal or irregular in hours it gets really messed up. Many are afraid to even try. It's definitely generational. Folks with limited cognitive ability have kids that function the same. I've met with 3 generations of folks "in the system". I've testified in front of panels of both SS management and the board that provides guidance to the SS system about making the system work better for folks who want to work. Any feedback basically falls on deaf ears. These are the stereotypical Govt. employees completely entrenched in a system that makes no sense. It is a complex problem that would be difficult to fix. Yes, being poor is expensive. Poverty is generational. It becomes more difficult with increasingly limited opportunities for simple manual labor type jobs as manufacturing is shipped overseas and done more by computers/robots. Our society is not getting smarter so the problem will get worse. I hate to think what things will look like a few generations from today. |
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Teaching money mgt skills is certainly something we need to do. But let's not put the cart before the horse. People need to learn very early on that they need to earn money by working and not depending on the gov't. for a bare subsistence. No kid whose parents are living in Section 8 housing and on SSDI is going to learn that lesson at home. When the gov't. is the keeper of the poor, it keeps them poor. But once they have decided to work and be productive, they can worry about the next problem - managing money. Of all the things I was warned about as a yute that would send my life into a serious wrong turn with little chance of course correction, no one told me that going on SSDI was the worst thing I could ever do. Not that I ever even considered it, but it's worse than heroin. If you're at all able bodied, you need to work. The kids with cerebral palsy bagging groceries at Frys make more $$ there than on SSDI. And that's still not much. But it has some dignity and chance of upward mobility. |
matrasses.. a good matrass saves you a lot of back pain and fatigue.
But poor people (or even younger people at start of career) can't afford any of that. From a healthcare perspective but also economical perspective (happier m more productive workers, less sick time) it would be beneficial to somehow sponsor the purchase of a good quality ergonomic matrass when people go live on their own at 18 or so. But it won't happen, because the cheap matrass companies would cry foul |
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If one wants to understand why people are poor, they can just go to McDonalds or Burger King and watch the folks. Unless travelling, when I go, I often order on my phone app and take it home (saving on drinks), but sometimes I eat there. With the Ap, if you choose carefully, the price is usually about half as much (or less)...and we generally try to eat a moderate sized meal. My wife and I both eat well, typically from $4-6. There is almost always a 2 for 1 and most aps add points that can be saved and redeemed for even more food. I see similar couples spend $20 or more. Many take a bunch of kids who each order some sort of "meal" that is a massive amount of food and expensive...and walk out with a bill of $40 or more. I see the same folks in more expensive local restaurants where they seem to similarly spend massive amounts of money ordering every appetizer and desert on the menu in addition to expensive main course. Their meals are well above $100 while mine is about $25-$30. Sometimes I know the family. They eat out like this several times each week...some almost every day. Often they are one income families where the wage earner happily makes little more than minimum wage (with no interest in working overtime or preparing for a more difficult, higher paying job).
When I was young and poor, my family never ate in a restaurant. As an adult (and with my own kids)...it was a rare treat (as it is pretty inexpensive to cook yourself). A loaf of bread is a couple bucks (maybe $3) at Walmart and a pound of Oscar Meyer bologna is currently $2 and will make at least a dozen sandwiches (just bought some yesterday). I cannot imagine spending 2-3 hours of my work/income for McDonald s burgers for lunch (except on a very rare occasion)...much less 7-8 hrs for a meal at a relatively average chain restaurant. The cost for me is minutes of my day, yet I am still careful/frugal most of the time and prepare my own. The same folks live much the same way with almost every expense. Constant new cars and electronics, etc. It is little wonder they cannot save/invest and have no emergency fund. A little delayed gratification goes a long way. |
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It’s a good word though. Glad you will put it to use. |
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SSI is supplemental security income. It is a basic payment for those who have not put enough into the system. You still have to be qualified as disabled. You get a basic payment, around $750 to $800 per month. If you work, these payments get reduced/eliminated. The rep payees have to report this income. The employers of course have to report to the IRS. There is often a time lag. I've seen folks get temp work, earn money for a few months and then get laid off. The SS administration then stops their benefit months later so no income comes in. The SS administration has put in place a very complex set of rules to protect the disability determination status for those trying to get off of these payments long term. It is difficult to understand and impossible for most to actually manage through. $750 buys you almost nothing when you think about what it costs to pay rent, insurance, etc. I've sat with many and shown them the math of what even 20 hours/week at minimum wage gets you vs. this basic payment. It doesn't matter most of the time. They protect their status like it was their life blood when in fact it is a life sentence of poverty. Imagine if the system just let them work, keep their status and their basic payment until they were earning say 4 times that and then reduce/eliminate it after they had a few years of solid earnings history. Self sufficiency. |
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Requirements are pretty low for SSDI:
"If you become disabled when you are 31 or older, you must have worked at least 5 of the last 10 years to pass the recent work test. Put another way, you will need to have earned 20 credits (one quarter of work equals one credit) in the 10 years immediately before you became disabled. If you become disabled when you are between 24 and 31, you must have worked at least half the time since turning 21. For example, if you become disabled at age 29, you must have worked at least four years out of the last eight years (or have earned 16 credits in the last eight years). If you become disabled when you are 27, you must have worked at least three years out of the last six years (or have earned 12 credits in the last six years). If you become disabled when you are under 24, you must have worked at least one and a half years in the three-year period before disability (or have earned 6 credits in the last three years). There is an exception to these rules for certain blind applicants" |
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