Sometimes we fall for ideals and the thought that there is only one path to happiness and success. But times change, and personal experiences may dictate something completely different. The following is a list of things some people in an online community believe are nothing short of a scam now.
1. Always Saving for Something
Having financial goals and not carrying large amounts of debt is great. But not everyone will realize that dream of making it to retirement debt free with abundant savings to enjoy for several more years. Many say there needs to be a balance between saving and reducing debt and being able to enjoy the fruits of our labor in our youth rather than waiting until retirement when everything is supposed to be paid off.
“The idea that you spend your life working, putting aside your dreams and hobbies, deny yourself holidays and pleasures, to save for a house that you pass on when you die. To save for a rainy day that you might not be around to see come.”
“The idea of working until I am too old to, only to no longer be able to do the things I loved when I was young, makes me incredibly depressed. I hate it.”
“I worked in cancer nursing for years. Saw hundreds of people saving for a rainy day, only to get too old and sick to do any of the things they’d put aside doing. We’re sold a lie. Which we pay for with our dreams and our best years.”
“Defer happiness and plans until you are sure you can afford to retire, and then die not having spent a cent of your hard earned money. Or have enough money but be too old/unwell to enjoy it.”
2. We Need More Stuff
“We’re being sold a lie that we need more stuff, need to work to buy more stuff, that we need the latest stuff. We spend even more time working to afford the stuff we don’t need, a bigger house, a new car, and end up unhappy because we can’t achieve these ambitions, which are both pointless and take us away from family and actually living life.”
“It’s all designed to get us to buy, consume, and make some other company or individual rich.”
3. Big Weddings and Funerals
“Big weddings are one of the biggest scams I can think of. Watching a young couple spend tons of money on their wedding day just kills me. I’m not saying don’t have a wedding or anything. I’m saying do it in a very budget-minded way. The people you love and want there with you are what’s going to be most important. Your dress, the flowers, the cake, etc., won’t matter in the long run. Saving yourself tens of thousands of dollars and scale that big dream wedding down to something very manageable. That might mean you have to compromise a lot, and you’ll have to cut costs where you can, but that’s a set of skills and things you’ll need to do in order for your marriage and life together to work out anyway.”
“I agree with you, because life just starts after marriage (requires a lot of money), so for a big party at the wedding it’s not too important, because it only costs money and of course, it’s only enjoyed for one day, but after that, we have to earn money again for further needs (after marriage).”
“On the opposite spectrum, funerals are just as big a scam. What they charge for stuff like flowers and caskets is highway robbery.”
“Exactly. You can bury me in a plastic bin bag for all I care. The end result is the same. I do like those seed pods where a tree uses your remains as fertilizer. Think I’ll go with that instead.”
4. That Every Person Will Find Someone
“It should be “Every person can find someone.” There is no magical one person for you. It’s multiple people that can be for you that come with its own set of pros, cons, and unforeseen risks. That’s life in general.”
“But a soulmate experience is not magical. It’s a lot of work with an awesome reward.”
“The older I get, the more I have come to realize that the majority of people settled for whoever was in front of them instead of someone who was actually compatible.”
5. Convenience Fees on Internet Transactions
“Literally some automated code that does all the heavy lifting but charges a percentage of the ticket price as a fee.”
6. Working Ridiculous Hours
“I think Gen Z views retirement as a thing of the past. They know it’s not going to happen for them, which is why we’re seeing them balk at working late and throwing up the middle finger at recruiting / HR. Hopefully, it actually leads to change.”
“That if you “work hard enough and never give up, you will be somebody one day.” Most people will work hard enough to scrape by and then die a nobody with nothing to show for it. No matter how hard they try.”
“You are born to learn how to work so that you can work until you die.”
7. Taxes
“Paying taxes with already taxed money that you use to pay for products that you pay further taxes on. Then wonder why some people use NGOs and LLCs in exotic islands to divert all their assets and not own anything on paper under their name. It’s like the rules of the game for those in the know that have taken their time to dissect the legal apparatus.”
8. College
“This is changing, but going to college. College used to be pretty cheap, so getting a BS in Psychology or a BA in English wasn’t such a bad deal. Work a summer job, get the degree, get a job at some company, and work your way up. This is how boomers still think the world works. Now if you get a psychology or English degree, you are going to be tens of thousands of dollars in debt with few job prospects.”
“More importantly, the employers that are requiring college for entry-level jobs, that are going to have to be 100% taught to any new person.”
“Add in the “everyone should go to college” culture, and a degree is basically worthless. I have a bachelor’s and master’s at 3.97 GPA, and it doesn’t mean anything in the real world.”
9. Holidays
“Holidays are just a reason to sell you something. It’s a polite way of keeping the economy stimulated. Better living through social engineering.”
“I’m so over holidays because I caught onto this. Christmas is the most obvious one, but it doesn’t end there. Every month there seems to be a day when you’re expected to buy stuff, and you’re seen as some or of Grinch for not getting into the spirit. Not to mention how bad for the environment is – you really think many people are keeping all of that cheap plastic Halloween stuff until next year?”
“We stopped celebrating holidays more than a decade ago. We don’t decorate, we don’t buy gifts, and we don’t buy into the commercialization aspect at all. Our recognition of the holidays we choose to acknowledge tends to be cooking a nice dinner at home and just hanging out with family and talking.”
10. Real Estate Agents
“They’re all over Instagram and TikTok, regardless of market conditions, trying to tell people they should buy on the verge of what they can afford. Not only to get a sale but charging any more than a few hundred bucks for their services are obscene. I refuse to use them, and I’m not paying your realtor the closing costs on the other side of the table.”
“All realtors are a scam. The collective debt acquired by paying them outrageous commissions is staggering; All for, at best minimum wage work and qualifications.”
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