Life seems meaningless without generational wealth.

[Parnate]

I don't really enjoy doing any work, I love gossiping, watching movies, books, meditation. But being born to poor parents I don't have the luxury that children of rich kids have. There are few college friends of mine , same age and gender. And man do they live their life. They drive big cars, hang around with friends, play sports, travel, fine dine, etc . Most importantly they have rental income many times my monthly salary .oThey have businesses which are taken care of by other people and they just overlook the work for a few hours in a day.
During college times I tried to be a part of their group, not cause they were rich but I was lonely and seemed nice. I ended up being their errand boy. Eventually I just distanced myself .
I am just so unhappy about my financial condition.

 

[Steph99]

I don't really enjoy doing any work, I love gossiping, watching movies, books, meditation. But being born to poor parents I don't have the luxury that children of rich kids have. There are few college friends of mine , same age and gender. And man do they live their life. They drive big cars, hang around with friends, play sports, travel, fine dine, etc . Most importantly they have rental income many times my monthly salary .oThey have businesses which are taken care of by other people and they just overlook the work for a few hours in a day.
During college times I tried to be a part of their group, not cause they were rich but I was lonely and seemed nice. I ended up being their errand boy. Eventually I just distanced myself .
I am just so unhappy about my financial condition.

We've forgotten what true poverty is - 100 years ago people had to work 6 days a week for long hours just to avoid starving. Poor accommodation with 3 to a room. The current situation is light years from that.

 

[metfan647]

There seems to be a lot of positives in your post. You seem to have a lot that you enjoy in life and things you aspire to just not the work ethic and/or desire to attain those things. Sure, generational wealth would be great.

I wish my only grievances in life were an inability to acquire things. Life would be so much more tolerable.

 

[SmigSauer]

Everybody wants power and control. Money brings more power and control to your life. The phrase "money doesn't buy happiness" is fucking horseshit peddled to you by people who have wealth you'll never see.

 

[existentiallinguine]

We've forgotten what true poverty is - 100 years ago people had to work 6 days a week for long hours just to avoid starving. Poor accommodation with 3 to a room. The current situation is light years from that.

Haven't studies said our current wealth inequality is roughly equivalent to that of the industrial revolutionary/gilded age period? I just don't think what you're saying is true. Like it or not op has a point. Happy to cite sources. A lot of us are experiencing true poverty in a way that's not dissimilar. I know people who work 16 hours a day because the minimum wage in America is nowhere near equivalent to cost of living.

Income Inequality - Inequality.org

Inequality in earnings between America's most affluent and the rest of the country continue to grow year after year.

inequality.org

How American Inequality in the Gilded Age Compares to Today

"'Gilded' is not golden"

time.com

Wealth inequality in America just hit its widest gap in more than 3 decades

Nearly one-third of U.S. household wealth was held by the top 1% in the third quarter of 2025.

www.cbsnews.com

Equity implications of the unchanged Federal minimum wage since 2009 - RISE - Virginia Commonwealth University

rise.vcu.edu

Why New York City Needs a Higher City Minimum Wage - National Employment Law Project

New York City's cost of living surpasses the state's minimum wage.

www.nelp.org

 

[Steph99]

Haven't studies said our current wealth inequality is roughly equivalent to that of the industrial revolutionary/gilded age period? I just don't think what you're saying is true. Like it or not op has a point. Happy to cite sources. A lot of us are experiencing true poverty in a way that's not dissimilar. I know people who work 16 hours a day because the minimum wage in America is nowhere near equivalent to cost of living.

Income Inequality - Inequality.org

Inequality in earnings between America's most affluent and the rest of the country continue to grow year after year.

inequality.org

How American Inequality in the Gilded Age Compares to Today

"'Gilded' is not golden"

time.com

Wealth inequality in America just hit its widest gap in more than 3 decades

Nearly one-third of U.S. household wealth was held by the top 1% in the third quarter of 2025.

www.cbsnews.com

Equity implications of the unchanged Federal minimum wage since 2009 - RISE - Virginia Commonwealth University

rise.vcu.edu

Why New York City Needs a Higher City Minimum Wage - National Employment Law Project

New York City's cost of living surpasses the state's minimum wage.

www.nelp.org

Haven't studies said our current wealth inequality is roughly equivalent to that of the industrial revolutionary/gilded age period? I just don't think what you're saying is true. Like it or not op has a point. Happy to cite sources. A lot of us are experiencing true poverty in a way that's not dissimilar. I know people who work 16 hours a day because the minimum wage in America is nowhere near equivalent to cost of living.

Income Inequality - Inequality.org

Inequality in earnings between America's most affluent and the rest of the country continue to grow year after year.

inequality.org

How American Inequality in the Gilded Age Compares to Today

"'Gilded' is not golden"

time.com

Wealth inequality in America just hit its widest gap in more than 3 decades

Nearly one-third of U.S. household wealth was held by the top 1% in the third quarter of 2025.

www.cbsnews.com

Equity implications of the unchanged Federal minimum wage since 2009 - RISE - Virginia Commonwealth University

rise.vcu.edu

Why New York City Needs a Higher City Minimum Wage - National Employment Law Project

New York City's cost of living surpasses the state's minimum wage.

www.nelp.org

It's pretty unarguable. 200 years ago 3 quarters of the world lived in extreme poverty. Now it's less than 1 in 10. The progress since 1990 has been huge - mostly in Asia.

See the fantastic Our World in Data site under 'Extreme Poverty".

 

[existentiallinguine]

It's pretty unarguable. 200 years ago 3 quarters of the world lived in extreme poverty. Now it's less than 1 in 10. The progress since 1990 has been huge - mostly in Asia.

See the fantastic Our World in Data site under 'Extreme Poverty".

Neither of us of us are talking about extreme world poverty in Asia. The margin of extreme poverty in your source is literally $3 dollars a day. This is clearly about working class resentment in the Western core, which includes more than the impoverished. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. People are allowed to be upset about the unfair nature of class without being the bottom most percentile of world global poverty, or even their particular country as class divides worsen. This should not even be a conversation we are having when roughly 1% of the population has more money than the GDP of entire nations, roughly half of the worlds wealth and could solve much of this poverty with a flick of the risk but do not out of greed. It's perfectly reasonable to be upset about that without pointing out children dying in the 3rd world had it worse 100 years ago. We shouldn't live in a world like I do where millions of houses sit empty and simultaneously millions of people are on the street homeless. We're out here projecting the world's first trillionaire living in a country where healthcare is for profit. It's a lot to be pissed about.

 

[darkandtwisty]

Unfortunately, OP is right. Making $30/hour and I could barely afford rent and my utilities. Let alone groceries and gas. I had to pick and choose which bills got paid which month and rent was half of my income. So, once every two weeks, I could buy groceries. I couldn't go out and enjoy life. I had no room financially. So, I stayed home.

 

[witchcraft]

I don't care what life was like 200 years ago. I have to live now. I'm the one stuck in this fucking meatbag, in these circumstances, with this mind, this brain, these parents, this shitty ass fucking personality, this dogshit temperament, in this bullshit fucking system, losing my fucking hair before I'm 30, in severe debt from trying to make my life better, in a world where none of my best efforts matter.

I literally do not fucking care about the Industrial Revolution or the days of indentured servitude or serfdom or whatever the fucking fuck else. Just give me a million dollars to make me shut the hell up and go away, or blow my brains out please. Jesus fucking Christ, I am so sick of being here. 8 to 9 out of 10 interactions with people make me just want to commit seppuku with a dull plastic knife in the middle of Times Square. I'm so over it.

If I had a million dollars, I would retire off of it and live in solitude. It's the only thing that would make me think it might finally be easier to stick around for however many years instead of killing myself tomorrow.

 

[violetforever]

They drive big cars, hang around with friends, play sports, travel, fine dine, etc . Most importantly they have rental income many times my monthly salary .oThey have businesses which are taken care of by other people and they just overlook the work for a few hours in a day

i might be broken bc even this doesnt appeal to me. so many material things idk. but its objectively far better than the life i live now.

I am just so unhappy about my financial condition.

i just want to live comfortably at most. anything more is greed to me. i dont blame anyone who wants more though.

 

[silentnights56]

I understand your despair. Well, generational wealth may make life more bearable but it will always be a harm and burden to be born and to stay alive...

 

[SASU-KE]

It's called **** you money for a reason. You don't have to take **** from anyone. You can live on your own terms not having to pander to someone.

I'm there already but only because of my parents.But I'm still struggling cause I am unable to enjoy any of this.

The Peace of Mind of having financial security is the most important thing though imo.

 

[Tired_birth_1967]

I partly agree: I hate working just to sustain a life that has never given me real pleasure. When I stop working, maybe in a little over a year, I'll feel lighter. But my problem with existence will continue: I don't like this idiotic process, which I'm sure arose by chance billions of years ago, and nothing here pleases me. I didn't become this way for any specific reason; it was just from experiencing and observing a lot. Maybe if I had ignored every event where I realized this crap is just a repetitive, purposeless process, I wouldn't be so angry with life now. But being forced to observe and question things started early in my life, mainly with the death of my parents. Then I started observing everything and realizing that this thing only annihilates people. To be born, to live, to die, without any meaning. If I wanted to find some meaning, I would have to ignore everything I already knew and create one. The artifices that most people use to create meanings that don't exist didn't work for me. I'd even say it was bad luck. I could currently be living like everyone else without having this perception of what life is, and I probably wouldn't even be on this forum. Here I see the stories, the outpourings, I rarely identify with some detail (perhaps because of my advanced age), but what always happens is that I reinforce my view on existence. It bothers me to see so many young people going through unpleasant situations, but what could I say? Perhaps I can say that even though I don't like being alive, I am. Who knows, maybe these young people here will reach my age and maybe they'll achieve what I've never seen: meaning in existence. But these young people will only know if they reach that age. I wouldn't tell any of them that they're wasting their time trying. I don't know. Maybe they'll convert to some religion, maybe something will happen that changes their ideas. How can I know? Good Luck.