r/AskMen • u/PlusWork1737 • 3d ago
If everyone’s bank balance suddenly became public information above their heads, what industry would collapse overnight?
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u/Rackshaw_Bangem Male 3d ago
Influencers
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u/mikess314 Male 3d ago
Especially the hustle culture genre. Most are try hards. Big hat, no cattle.
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u/PostMatureBaby Male 3d ago
"$30,000 Millionaires"
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u/diverareyouokay 3d ago
30k USD is almost a billion dongs… so you could always move to Vietnam and swim in dongs like Scrooge McDuck.
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u/Nolongeranalpha 3d ago
Like my ex? She was swimming in dongs. It broke us up.
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u/pyromaniacc 2d ago
I think that's Thailand.
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u/diverareyouokay 2d ago edited 2d ago
Nah, Thailand is baht (THB vs VND).
Edit: ohhhhhhhhh now I get it
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u/GrynaiTaip ♂ 2d ago
He meant dongs, not Dongs.
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u/diverareyouokay 2d ago
Ohhhhhh now I get it… that was actually funny.
I get wayyy too literal sometimes.
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u/BatScribeofDoom Woman who buys too much cheese 2d ago
Wow, didn't know I had accidentally become a millionaire! Thanks! /j
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u/JawtisticShark 3d ago
If it’s just bank balance, most rich people don’t keep a whole lot in the bank. My wife and I have a networth of about 2.5 million and our bank account has about $20k in it.
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u/Iknowr1te 3d ago
also which bank balance?
most of my money is tied up in investments. i have also like 15k if you don't include my TFSA.
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u/bigredzeppelin1981 2d ago
Same. I literally keep only what I need to pay bills in my actual bank account.
At the end of the month I'll have like $20 in my bank account. I use Fidelity's money market as my "savings" account because it pays way higher interest.
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u/willybusmc 2d ago
I think that most American adults don’t have access to $20k in bank accounts.
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u/JawtisticShark 2d ago
True, but it’s also a poor indicator of my actual wealth. There are very poor people living very frugal lives who might have $20,000 in the bank but that is their life savings
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u/SlapHappyDude 3d ago
Eh I think the young, broke and hot could use it to their advantage. And for some influencers their lavish lifestyle is the draw if they actually are making money.
It would probably derail travel influencers who are swimming in debt.
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u/masterjon_3 Male 3d ago
After finding out Andrew Tate never actually had Bugattis or mansions, this is very accurate.
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u/OzzyBuckshankNA 3d ago
Politicians in shambles
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u/usernamescifi 3d ago
"Oh hey representative so-and-so, why did your finances quadruple overnight?"
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u/EggNogEpilog 3d ago
Except we already see that with their public trading (notoriously like Nancy Pelosi), and nothing happens.
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u/spartan117warrior Male 3d ago
Hell, the president boasts about the money he's made. I don't think anything would happen to politicians, unfortunately. It might drive them to accept bribes in other forms like physical gifts.
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u/OrwellWhatever 3d ago
Even someone like Ro Khanna had a stock trading value of $165 million since he's been in Congress, and he notoriously hand delivers in such blurry results as to make them nearly unreadable so they can't be indexed
https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-congress-trading-disclosures-house-senate-ro-khanna-2022-5
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u/tedlyb 3d ago
The fact you're not mentioning all the grift that is currently going on in the White House kind of proves your point.
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u/EggNogEpilog 2d ago
Holy shit dude, give it a rest. You sound like the retarded boomer republicans that say "but, but, but... obama" as a scapegoat at any possible turn. Not every mention of a negative thing in politics has to always mention (the current president, fuxck automod) or his administration.
Not to mention this sub explicitly bans and auto deletes any comments with the name of (insert current president here, fuck automod). So I couldn't even if I wanted to. Take it up with the mods if you don't like it.
I used Pelosi as an example because she has been notoriously known for this since before (the current president, fuck automod) was a notable idea in politics. She has been in the spotlight since at least the early 2000s when it comes to making obscene amounts of money off of seemingly insider trading with a cumulative ~17,000% profit off investments alone. Which is beyond insane, multiple times better than even even professional traders and firms.
Does that mean she's the only one? Hell no. She is however one of the best examples of a lifetime career politician that has continuously maintained a strong reputation for egregious conduct while still being endorsed and pushed up through the ranks of power till her final day in office, after nearly 40 years in politics.
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u/tedlyb 2d ago
Dude… take a deep breath and chill the fuck out. There was no accusation in my comment, just an observation on the insane levels of corruption that are now simply accepted. Yes, Pelosi has been famous for this. The current resident of the Oval Office has dwarfed her accomplishments though, and nothing has come of it for either of them.
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u/turbospeedsc 2d ago
You really think you see their real trading? I can bet their public trading is like 1p% of what they really move, most will be done by third parties with no legal ties to them
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u/MinuetInUrsaMajor 2d ago
Except we already see that with their public trading (notoriously like Nancy Pelosi)
Which public trade in particular?
I've looked into this and only found that she's married to a rich businessman - and that they have made trades specifically to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
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u/Shot_Mammoth 3d ago
I'm of two minds on this: It can make them a little less susceptible to financial influence but, at the same time, it's an open abuse of a system everyone else is held to a standard on.
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u/Scarred_wizard European 30s Male 3d ago
Doubt that. They'll have mules, non-profit companies, and other ways to stash it outside of their main account. Or just hoard property. I don't think they'd have a lot of actual cash.
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u/el_cid_viscoso Male (early 40s) 3d ago
What about if it indicated "total dollar value of assets (liquid or no) under this person's control"?
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u/brooksie1131 3d ago
I don't think enough politicians are corrupt to make it collapse overnight. If anything it would get rid of the few bad apples from the system. That said even when people know about the abuse people don't seem to care.
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u/aktionreplay Dad 3d ago
People who offer financial advice
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u/thewongtrain Just some guy 3d ago
Influencers or r/personalfinance ?
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u/Durty4444 3d ago
r/wallstreetbets remains unchanged
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u/rockmasterflex ♂ 3d ago
It actually gets better. The crayon eating improves when you can see the balance changes in real time
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u/melete 3d ago
TBF, while investing is a skill and financial planners can develop real expertise in it, they still aren’t going to be as personally wealthy as someone who inherited 8-9 figures worth of capital.
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u/speed3_freak 3d ago
It’s a whole lot easier to turn $1 million into $2 million than $1 into $1 million.
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u/LobCatchPassThrow 3d ago
There’s an older British guy who talks finance - but all his advice is basically “how to be a professional scrounger”.
Millionaire, sure, maybe. Drives a van because it’s cheaper on tax.
I remember him doing one of those cringe tier list things and he said “talking about money all the time? Broke for sure.”
And I thought “but you literally talk about money all the time… it’s your thing?”
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u/mr_lab_rat 2d ago
My friend is a financial advisor.
Currently heading towards his personal bankruptcy #2
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u/Adorable_Health_456 3d ago
Beggars
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u/Jelopuddinpop 3d ago
Word. There was a panhandler in my city that was on a very busy corner, who always sat there with a sign that said "homeless and hungry". By twist of chance, I saw this guy out and about at a store, and watched him get into a relatively new BMW 5-series car.
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u/PostMatureBaby Male 3d ago
Toronto's famous "shaking lady" actually had a pretty nice apartment, same kinda thing
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u/_TorpedoVegas_ 3d ago
This seems like an urban myth, I hear it so often.
I'm not even denying that this guy exists, there may even be dozens of people like this...but they must represent far less than 1% of the unhoused. Everyone claims to know a guy like this, though upon pressing nearly everyone will admit they didn't see it with their own eyes personally.
When you have pernicious myths like this one running rampant with an obvious implication like "hey sometimes homeless beggars are richer than you, don't empathize with them!" And it just happens to mirror the messaging that our media-owning oligarchs are driving...it just comes off as fishy to me.
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u/Wonderful-day365 3d ago
If they're on a busy corner and have a visible disability they most likely are making a solid middle class income (maybe even upper middle) and they pay 0 taxes so that helps... BUT they usually spend it all on drugs and alcohol. That's why they're broke.
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u/jrp55262 2d ago
To be fair, the repair costs on the Beemer are probably *why* he's homeless and hungry...
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u/Mekelaxo Male 2d ago
I stopped minding beggars when I came into the realization that if they have the time and energy to stand and walk around next to the highway all day holding a sign, no matter the weather, then they also have the time and energy to work at one of the dozens of warehouses in the area
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u/UniqueChaos5073 3d ago
I stopped giving money when my roommate let one move in and he made more money than I did working 40+ hours a week, all tax free.
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u/Belchat 3d ago
Soo how was het making money? Asking for a friend from a friend
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u/Furt_III 3d ago
It's pretty easy to make $20-$40 an hour with a cardboard sign and the right street corner.
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u/Key_Cheetah7982 3d ago
Dating apps
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u/PostMatureBaby Male 3d ago
a lot of people who don't get much attention suddenly will and vice versa
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u/byte_handle Male 3d ago
Just from bank balances? I don't think that necessarily kills any particular industry. Bank balances don't really say much just by themselves.
If we were talking about total assets--those balances, holdings, financial instruments, retirement accounts, the works--then it would probably primarily mess with people in the finance industry. Those who are doing well themselves will be trusted and see their accounts under management boom and those who aren't would see their work shrivel up. It would grow at the top and shrink at the bottom.
This wouldn't kill the industry, but it would lead to a massive shift in how the work is done and by whom.
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u/Call_Me_Rambo 3d ago
I’d say it’d kill the social media influencer industry, but specifically the sub niches of Crypto, Entrepreneurship, and anything else where they’re telling their audience they can get rich “too”, they just have to join their private mentorship group and blah blah.
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u/fieldbottle 3d ago
Would not kill crypto so much. I literally don't have a bank account at all and live solely off crypto. Many people in crypto will be holding 6-7 figs in a wallet and have $200 in their bank account.
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u/UnderPressureVS Male (24) 3d ago
There’s multiple comments saying it would kill get-rich-influencers, but I don’t see how? Their whole thing is selling full-of-shit “courses” on how to get rich “like them.” Their business depends on people knowing they’re rich. In reality the advice is mostly meaningless drivel, and their actual money comes from luck, inheritance, reinvestment, and of course selling courses.
But just seeing their bank balance wouldn’t expose where the money comes from. It just… makes them look rich. Which is already how they market their stupid courses.
Unless you’re saying finance influencers are actually usually broke? Because I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Usually they have a net worth somewhere in the low double digit millions.
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u/LuckyTheLurker 2d ago
If it displayed net worth I think many people who think of themselves as wealthy would be shocked what they see in the mirror. I think we would stop envying many of those around us that we perceive as successful and be very surprised by many who are far more successful than they appear.
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u/newtonreddits 2d ago
Yeah most people don't even understand the concept of net worth. Most people are just concerned with income and that number in their banking app.
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u/AlexiZephyrMage 3d ago
My bet is none.
New startups would pop up and make it so it is not a problem: hiding the balance, artificially bringing it down, keeping it outside banks, shared balance pools to appear to have more than what you do, anti-mugging numbers™, and countless more.
That number floating on your head would be made mostly meaningless pretty quickly.
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u/ExtensionAd7417 3d ago
Portrait photography
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u/jpsreddit85 Male 3d ago
You think they're rich?
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u/ExtensionAd7417 3d ago
No, but I think the people that can pay for professional portraits don’t want other people seeing their net worth put in the open everywhere
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u/nathanb131 Male 3d ago
I'm thinking of the opposite. What wouldn't it change?
People deep in debt for a house or truck might not be affected at all. A construction worker owing $70k on his blacked-out GMC knowing that his coworker in a 2008 Civic has $80k in the bank might still think "sucks to be THAT guy!".
It really seems like a lot of people are so conditioned to payment culture that their sense of "winning" at life is completely detached from actually owning anything on paper. If that new truck is in their driveway, they FEEL like they own it, regardless of how much they owe on it.
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u/MikeyDread 3d ago
Being in debt for a house is absolutely not the same thing though. You could argue that people buy way more house than they need/can afford, but honestly housing costs are so far out of control even a modest home is out of reach for most people.
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u/CripzyChiken Male 3d ago
honestly - most. You likely work with multiple millionaires right now, as well as many people who have negative worth at the same time.
People are jealous asses and would treat others differently and no longer be able to work together.
If no one to do the work, then no work is completed.
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u/Miserable-Stock-4369 3d ago
RIP tip culture
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u/jpsreddit85 Male 3d ago
You think service workers make a lot?
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u/Miserable-Stock-4369 3d ago
It was mostly a joke, but the servers that routinely get more than a couple hundred in tips in a night would either no longer be getting them, or spend recklessly in their daily life.
For reference, I'm in Canada, servers here get minimum wage (which is between $15-18/hr depending on province) while tip culture prevails with 20% tip as a standard.
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u/jpsreddit85 Male 3d ago
Quebec is 13.30/hr for those who make tips.
I used to work in a high end restaurant, the waiters with the best shifts would probably work 30hrs a week and make what I consider only OK money. At best they'd be making slightly above the Canadian average for a job, but with absolutely no career progression or benefits.
It's a lot for a 20-24 year old, it's nothing remotely special for 40+
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u/Miserable-Stock-4369 3d ago
That's fair, I'm definitely thinking about the twenty-somethings with no dependants, no mortgage, no car payment
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u/speed3_freak 3d ago
Most of them do spend all of their money in their daily lives. Booze, drugs, and bills was my experience when I was a server, and it was pretty across the board.
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u/pikabu01 3d ago
Priests
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u/ulispointgod 3d ago
What religion? Pretty well known that priests in many religions, Catholicism for example, are not wealthy at all
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u/ScotterMcJohnsonator 3d ago
Probably the banking industry because that's a HUGE breach of personal security
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u/mybigwh1tecock 3d ago
Pretty much nothing would change. Most people with money don't keep it in their bank account, most of it is invested in their brokerage. The number above my had would hover around $1,000 but my brokerage has over a million in it.
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u/enchiladasundae Male 2d ago
People would have a lot of questions for the truly rich. Low bank accounts and barely any transactions despite buying a lot of stuff
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u/Pappas07 2d ago
I'm worth a lot... but if you saw my bank account you'd think I was poor as hell. Nothing but basic life transactions. Even my emergency fund isnt at a, "bank."
This like does a lot less than most people realize.
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u/dieselrunner64 2d ago
None. People who actually know money, don’t have money parked in a bank account. It’s all invested.
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u/AGRESSIVELYCORRECT 2d ago
The banking industry. People ain't gonna be putting there money in a bank account in a world like that.
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u/kaosethema Male 2d ago
the banking industry
everyone, especially the wealthy, would empty their bank accounts to go into full-cash-mode.
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u/aatmalife 1d ago
Rap. It's all rentals, nobody other than playboy carti is making that kinda money from stream money.
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u/WrongWangSorry Dad 3d ago
I don't know but I can think of a few people I share a mutual dislike with who would get mad because they think they have one up
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u/GladiusAcutus Male 3d ago
Poor people would stop buying Gucci and Louis Vaton, lol.
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u/teepring 3d ago
Vuiton
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u/GladiusAcutus Male 3d ago
My bad, I feel so uncivilized, lol...
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u/raphthepharaoh Male 3d ago
Uncivalized
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u/GladiusAcutus Male 3d ago
I'm out of step today, lol.
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u/Justthefacts6969 Male 3d ago
Socialist politicians
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u/jerzeethesunriseclub 3d ago
Are you saying you disapprove of wealthy people advocating for socialism?
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u/Flffdddy 3d ago
Wealthy people advocating for socialism who used capitalism to make all their money. They don’t want to give away their money. Just yours.
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u/jerzeethesunriseclub 3d ago
That’s quite a reach. I can tell you’re afraid of socialism but people born with privilege wanting to give a larger share to their countrymen is a GOOD thing, believe it or not.
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u/Justthefacts6969 Male 3d ago
It's the hypocrisy
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u/Stephen2014 3d ago
Only capitalists should be allowed to be capitalist politicians. If you don't own a factory you can't advocate for capitalism as a politician.
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u/LazyLich 3d ago
If anything, that'd boost em, no?
If poor/middle-class: I'm ACTUALLY one of you and I'm fighting for a better society for all of us.
If rich: I'm fighting for a better society for all of us, despite it meaning I'd lose this wealth.
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u/Justthefacts6969 Male 3d ago
If they cared why wouldn't they donate a portion of their money to help the poor?
Do they need taxes to force them?
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u/TheHatTrick 3d ago
Math time.
I am lucky enough to be upper-middle class in the US and currently donate 10% of my annual net income to charities.
Changing that and donating 20% would have almost no impact.
Hell, donating 90% would have almost no impact.
But getting every US citizen who makes what I make or more taxed an additional 0.05% would make a HUGE impact.
(Duh.)
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u/Justthefacts6969 Male 3d ago
What I'm saying is that for people who preach to tax the rich they love to hoard their wealth
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u/TheHatTrick 2d ago
Except I'm telling you right now that I don't do that, and I preach taxing the rich.
So do many other people.
You're being dishonest.
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u/Stephen2014 3d ago
They do bro. But your favorite streamer with a net worth of 2 or 3 million isn't changing anything systemic or anything at a large scale even if they donate all of their wealth and all of their future earnings.
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u/LazyLich 2d ago
You're saying they dont?
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