What do YOU consider someone who is 'broke'?

[Still-alive]

Whats the threshold for you to where you conclude a person is 'broke' to you?

So some or most of these may qualify a person as 'broke' to you but which one is the cut off point for you where anything above that a person isn't broke and everything below it you consider them 'broke'?

Someone who is homeless, either living on the streets, in their cars, RVs, vans and may or may not have a job

they have no job, are an adult and freeloading with either their parents or someone else supporting them financially

They have a job, but it is either part time and/or full time making minimum wage and don't seem to have any ambitions to move up past that. they also are living with parents or someone else (spouse, roomie etc) who are the main providers supporting them financially

Where they do have a job, are the main contributor financially (others also partly contributing too) but still unable to pay rent/mortgage to live independently, and they seem stuck in their job currently (no upward mobility).

When they have a job and are living independently but the money they are making is at or below your area's poverty line and may or may not be using financial assistance through welfare (food stamps, medicaid etc). the place they are living in might even be in an poor area (like the ghetto)

When they have a job and are living independently and ARE above the poverty line BUT are swamped with debt (credit cards, student loans, car payments etc), any money they get pays for bills AND if they miss even one paycheck they might lose their house

My threshold for someone who is broke is none of these and something else (state yours)

Updates

10 mo

Click on "See detailed results" to read the full poll descriptions

[meetkitty123]

Broke is freeloading and not attempting to fix themselves.

If all your monthly bills are paid, (regardless of having debt so long as you are making your payments) you have a working vehicle or means of transportation, a roof above your head (Which in one way or another you contribute to it which doesn't necessarily mean you have to make a payment towards it) you able to feed yourself and those you maybe in charge of... Your not broke... Your making it. Despite the struggles... If your needs are being met and you can occasionally afford to do one extra basic activity whether it's eating out once or catching a movie once in a while... Then your not broke... You are living within your means.

Some people have trouble with this sort of lifestyle. Some feel shameful of it but it's something to be proud of.

[meetkitty123]

Thank you 😊

[petitedollbabee]

Where they have a source of income and are able to keep themselves afloat financially, but only just. If they miss one paycheck, they lose everything. They also have absolutely no spare money after paying for necessities. Necessities being groceries, rent/mortgage, power/gas/internet, loan repayments or similar, medical costs, transportation costs (bus fee, gas for car etc). I would consider that to be “broke”.

[Dinklex3]

Living paycheck to paycheck is broke to me.

[zeitgeist057]

To me, broke means you don't have any equity. Everyone you describe is broke; none of them have anything built for themselves. The ones who have debt are even more broke than the ones who are freeloading off of others, because the freeloaders at least are not in the negative. The freeloaders are at 0, the ones with a house and car that they will lose if they miss a paycheck are at -1.

The ones with debt are falling prey to "keeping up with the Joneses" and buying things outside of their means. I work with people who are struggling and I see this in my clients. A person who is in danger of losing their housing but they have cable subscriptions and cell phone plans that add up to over $500/month. They can't pay their rent; it's not surprising when they are throwing away over $6K/year on entertainment. Another thing people do is buy a new car, which is bad enough if you pay cash and lose 40% of the value over the first few years. But if you buy it on a payment plan, you pay roughly DOUBLE the sticker/selling price by the time you pay it off, AND it lost all that value. But still, people care about their image so they have to buy shiny material things to feel good about how they look to others, and so they throw away money on it. But being a poor financial decision, so they look like they are doing well, and the reality is they are broke af (-1).

There's a whole conversation beyond this about luxury vs. necessity, and cost of living. But there's a lot of broke people out there, that's for sure.

[Cute_Miss_Laura]

Well, let's be honest, all of the above are technically "broke". Although, in my own personal usage, I would not refer to someone who has a decent apartment, pays all of their bills, and eats three square meals a day to be poor. However, if they live like that, but do not have any spending money… then yes, I would consider them broke! Technically, the correct financial term for this is "the working poor" while they work full-time (often more than one job), they pay all of their bills, they do not receive any public assistance, and they are functionally poor. This is what I would consider “broke” versus living in poverty. My fiancé is broke, but he also works harder than any college student I know, possibly any person I know! That’s why I bought him a new Prius for Christmas. It allowed him to quit one of his three jobs. He dropped the job where he made the least and took more hours at the furthest job from our apartment, where he earns the most.

Hope this helps, Doug.
Laura 🤗 🥰

[LiZiqiLiZiqi]

I think the standard of bankruptcy is that he has a lot of money and assets. Then because of something, he becomes very poor and in debt. This is bankruptcy. It is not called bankruptcy because of no income and job. This can only be called unemployment or laziness and poverty. This is just my opinion.

[Billlewis]

Yes, ma'am, I just started following you and I'd like to invite you to follow me, as well if that's alright. Thank you very much.

[LiZiqiLiZiqi]

@Billlewis Okay, I'll keep an eye on you,

[Billlewis]

Thank you very much, ma'am.

[Billlewis]

Hopefully, most women will consider a guy who's broke as a guy who's only going to stroke;)

[DrPepper12]

Yes. A GREAT number of PhDs and MS, MA,. and MD. I they don't wanna get DTF then "Ty, next,,!

[LaurenM1997]

When they have a house they don’t clean and is untidy

[LaurenM1997]

Or when they use their money for the wrong reasons like drugs and casino

[LiamJHayden]

Someone who is not working, not getting an education, not disabled, and freeloading.

[goaded]

Like Eric Trump? :)

Seriously, that describes the children of rich parents.

[Pohjolan]

We can't see detailed results before voting.

[OddBeMe]

Picking between home, food, school supplies, etc, to pay for this month.

[sheenagwapa]

i am broke. super uber extremely broje

[Still-alive]

That’s unfortunate. Do any of the poll options apply to you?

[Justneedtokno]

What is the definition of broke?

[Still-alive]

Im interested in how others see it. Hence this question

[Justneedtokno]

Homelessness is poor broke as you spent everything and now you don’t have any other funds to get you through. But are we using this in the sense of dating or living at home with your parents thing is just kind of bum. if you’re not having a plan to do anything else we understand it is like unaffordable out there if you’re not taking care of them or doing something that way, especially if you’re being disrespectful and not helpful.

[Still-alive]

Not using this for dating no. I just wanna see how people think on this

[IslaTheWitch]

if they do nothing to fix it

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Someone who is homeless.

[Sasquach]

Living pay check to paycheck with no oh shit fund

[Jennz6]

Me, I am broke

[Slim57]

The average American nowadays.