Is there just some basic personality type that finds it hard to be responsible with money, or is this a failure of education somehow? I have ideas for how to help but help will be unwelcome by people who refuse to recognize that they have a problem.
I think a few things come together to bring us here:
Modern education has completely abandoned teaching personal finance to kids.
Modern payment technology (credit cards, tap to pay, apple pay) have separated us all from the tangible feeling of spending our cash on stuff. Now we don’t even swipe a card or hand over a credit card to pay for something.
Influencers and social media create new, unrealistic expectations of lifestyle.
Highly targeted advertising on the web, in apps, and through paid influencers and social media, finds people at their most vulnerable moments and suggests that they buy stuff. Companies are targeting the weaknesses in our psychology and it’s hard to withstand that onslaught.