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Comment by refurb | Hacker News Reader

Hmmm.... not sure I agree with the definition "broke". Let's take this scenario (which isn't that uncommon):

You're a student who just graduated college and you have $40K in student loans, but a bright career ahead of you (STEM degree or similar). Overall you're net worth is minus $40,000, but you're first job is paying your $75K and it's likely to only go up from there.

I wouldn't call such a person broke.

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I'd call that a broke person with potential, but that person is still currently broke. I would hope that person looks in the mirror and also agrees they are broke, and will make financial decisions with that in mind.

In many ways, this is how so many folks end up drowning in debt. They "bet on the come" by assuming they are investing in the right education, will be successful in their field, etc.

They delude themselves into thinking that just because they make $75k/yr that they aren't broke.

Yeah, I wouldn't call this broke. You owe more money than you have, but you don't need to hand it all over right now. Broke is you need a hundred more dollars to pay rent, and even if you have a million in an account somewhere, you have no way to get that hundred before the date rent is due.

You wouldn't say the United States is the poorest country in the world, even though it's in the most debt.

Literally me right now. Of course, as someone who lives in Australia, where our government-run student loan scheme is both income-contingent and deducted straight from payroll as part of income taxation, the only time I notice how much I owe in student debt is once a year when I'm doing my tax return... other than that, I don't worry about my student debt at all, knowing that even if I lose my job it's not going to drive me broke.

Yes, they take two terms with precise meanings (insolvent and negative equity) and muddle them up with being "broke". They also struggle with the unmeasurable. It's hard to measure the value of an education, or good health, so they don't.

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