Do Poor People Not Understand Money?

I guess the obvious reason might be yes. Yes, poor people do not understand money--that is why they are poor.

But of course it is more complicated than that. There are a lot of economic and social reasons that people are poor. Minimum wage, lack of child care, lack of education, and family support, etc.

This is not what this post is about.

I am just talking about how poor people handle money. Like do they handle it well? Waste it? Or what?

I remember on one episode of Mad Men, Don Draper's first wife, who is from an affluent family, said when she realized that her husband was a fake and from a poor family--"Well, I knew you didn't know how to handle money."

The thought jarred me. I had never thought of ability to handle money in that way.

Recently, a friend of mine, also from an affluent family, said this same thing about her husband, who is from a poor background. "When you are poor, you don't know how to handle money."

Again, I felt jarred. Why?

I think it is because I have been a bad money handler most of my life. I am not from a poor family. So, I guess I wondered about the correlation.

I guess the idea is that if you don't come from money, you don't know what to do with it. You don't have experience with it, because you have never had it.

But couldn't it also be that you are poor at handling money, because you have some depression or other problem like that? I think that is more my problem. I am single, and I probably spend more money than I should, because that is how I see my friends--that is  my social life. And through the years, I have bought things and gone on trips when I shouldn't have to make me feel better. To fill a void in my life.

But I am fighting the good fight. And I think I am winning. Slowly. I better! Because I don't want the alternative to keep on making bad money mistakes.