r/povertyfinance: rules, karma requirements and posting culture
Money advice and moral support for people who are short on rent, behind on bills or starting from zero. Protective of its posters and strict about judgment.
Personal Finance For The Financially Challenged · Open on Reddit
- Members
- 2.9M
- Created
- 2018
- New posts a day
- 55.7
- Comments on a typical post
- 15
- New posts removed
- 17%
The short answer
r/povertyfinance publishes no karma or account age requirement, and the AutoModerator messages in our sample are reminders about tone, not removals. About 83% of posts stayed up. The rest were caught by Reddit's own filters, and we saw no moderator removals in the sample. Every post carries a flair, 85% are text, and the median post gets 15 comments. The rules that matter are about behavior: no judging how someone got poor, no asking for or offering money, and full disclosure of any link you benefit from.
Who posts here
Posters are in the middle of a problem, not studying finance. They ask whether to borrow from a retirement plan to clear card debt, how to cover a car repair with 300 dollars in the bank, or where rental assistance comes from. Nothing is too basic, and the rules ban gatekeeping and poor-shaming outright. Standard advice built for people with spare income is the thing that gets a cool reception here.
- People facing a deadline: rent due tomorrow, a missed car payment, a shutoff notice.
- Low wage workers, single parents and people on disability benefits working out a budget that does not balance.
- People starting over after a job loss, a breakup or years out of work.
- Members who have climbed out and come back with what worked, from sobriety to support groups.
- Posters from outside the US, in smaller numbers, describing the same problems in other currencies.
Karma and account requirements
What it takes to get a post through in r/povertyfinance.
| Karma | Not stated publicly. About 16% of posts in our sample were removed by Reddit's own filters, which the subreddit does not explain. |
|---|---|
| Account age | Not stated publicly. |
| Post flair | Every post in our sample has one. Budgeting, Debt and Income are the largest at around 15% each. The flair changes the rules of the thread: Vent/Rant means no advice. |
| Who can post | Anyone who considers themselves financially insecure. You do not have to prove you are poor enough.Mods' wording: “This sub is for anyone who self identifies as struggling financially or as financially insecure.” |
| Links and referrals | Allowed with disclosure. State any affiliation, give a non-referral link next to a referral one, use a clear title and no URL shorteners. Referral links are banned during the holidays.Mods' wording: “You must disclose referral links and provide a non-ref link as well, no exceptions!” |
| Money requests | Not allowed in either direction. Help has to be information or advice.Mods' wording: “No soliciting, offering, or accepting public or private donations, loans, or crowdsourcing.” |
What AutoModerator says
The moderators' bot leaves these messages on posts. They are the closest thing to an official statement of the thresholds.
This post has been flaired as “Vent”. As a reminder to commenting users, “Vent/Rant” posts are here to give our subscribers a safe place to vent their frustrations at an uncaring world to a supportive place of people who “get it”. Vents do not need to be fair. They do not need to be articulate. They do not need to be factual. They just need to be honest. Unlike most of the content on this subreddit, Vents should not be considered advice threads. In most cases it is not appropriate to try to give the Submitter advice on their issue. In no circumstances is it appropriate to tell them “why they are wrong” or to criticise them, their decisions, values, or anything else. If there are aspects of their situation that they are able to directly address themselves, the submitter can always make a new thread with a different flair asking for help once they are ready to tackle the issue. Vents are an emotional outlet, not an academic conversation. Appropriate replies in these threads are offering support, sharing similar experiences/grievances, offering condolences, or simply letting the Submitter know that they were heard. As always, if there are inappropriate comments please downvote them, REPORT them to the mods, and move on without responding to them. To the Submitter, if you DO want discussion to be focused on resolving your situation, rather than supporting you emotional
Congratulations on your success! In an effort to make this subreddit more helpful and supportive, we request that you share the details of where you started from and how you got to this place! That way other redditors who are in a similar place you were can look to your example, follow your lead, and see some light at the end of the tunnel! If you have already done this please ignore this! Thank you!
General Mod Note Grocery posts are here to give people a place to show off their good purchases, to lament the expense of groceries, or to otherwise comment on their food budget. They are NOT an invitation for the "food police" to come in and harass them about what they choose to buy, criticize their health decisions, or knit-pick their spending habits. Criticism and advice is only welcome if the Submitter overtly asks for input. Food Police will be asked to turn in their badge and their gun and will be placed on suspension. As always, if there are inappropriate comments please downvote them, REPORT them to the mods, and move on without responding to them. Thank you all for being a part of this great financial advice and emotional support community!
What you can post
| Post type | Subreddit setting | Share of recent posts |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Allowed | 85% |
| Link | Allowed | 2% |
| Image | Allowed | 13% |
| Video | Allowed | <1% |
| Poll | Not allowed | 0% |
Post flairs in use
- Budgeting/Saving/Investing/Spending 17%
- Debt/Loans/Credit 15%
- Income/Employment/Aid 14%
- Misc Advice 13%
- Free talk 11%
- Housing/Shelter/Standard of Living 9%
- Vent/Rant (No Advice/Criticism!) 8%
- Grocery Haul 4%
- Wellness 3%
- Success/Cheers 3%
What happens to a new post
Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.
- Stayed up83%
- Removed by Reddit's filters17%
- Deleted by the author<1%
Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.
The rules, in the mods' words
- 1
Civility
Be civil and respectful
- 2
Off-Topic
Off-topic posts will be removed.
- 3
Illegal or Immoral Advice or Action
All content must be ethical and moral. Posts advocating theft, or practices that in any way exploit or harm others (criminal or not) will be removed.
- 4
Politics
This is not a place for politics, but rather a place to get advice on daily living and short-to-midterm financial planning. Political advocacy, debate, or grandstanding will be removed.
- 5
Ableism/Bigotry/Classism (poor shaming)/Racism/Sexism
Racism, sexism, classism, or any other inherent bias will not be tolerated. Any comments/posts stating or implying that the reason that people are poor is because of personal decision making or that people in poverty "deserve" to be in poverty will be removed.
- 6
Judgment
No judgment on how people got to where they are at. Regardless of if someone was simply born into poverty, or earned it through drug use, criminal activity, gambling, having a lot of kids, working for LuLaRoe, etc. We're focused on the road forward, not the past.
- 7
Gatekeeping
No gatekeeping. This sub is for anyone who self identifies as struggling financially or as financially insecure.
- 8
Bad, Dangerous, or Predatory Advice or Action
Advice, action, and comments must be in good faith. Anything that appears to be a scam, predatory, or downright dangerous will be removed. This includes most "get rich quick" schemes and DM requests to "help".
- 9
Disclose Affiliations
Links to websites outside of Reddit: The titles of these posts must have clear, accurate titles, misleading or vague titles will be removed. URL shorteners are not permitted. Referral links, or links to your own content (whether monetized or not) are permitted. You need to disclose if you have an affiliation with a site or service you are linking to. You must disclose referral links and provide a non-ref link as well, no exceptions! During the Holidays referral links are not permitted.
- 10
Soliciting/Offering Donations or Loans
No soliciting, offering, or accepting public or private donations, loans, or crowdsourcing. All aid given must be in the form of information or advice. All aid given must be in the form of information or advice.
- 11
Value Judgment
Unsolicited advice must be generally respectful of people's right to determine their own values, free of assumptions and judgments, and in otherwise fitting with the rules, guidelines, and spirit of the sub. This includes posts flaired as "Vent/Rant" where any advice/judgment is prohibited as these are reserved as posts where users can simply express themselves.
- 12
Bot
Bots will either be sent to the jawas or transported into the upside-down and fed to the demogorgons, at moderator discretion.
- 13
Mod Needed!
Please use this if a post is going off the rails and mods should review immediately
- 14
Accurate Flair
Use this to report a post that is missing or has inaccurate flair so the mods can apply the correct post flair.
These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.
The culture
r/povertyfinance has about 2.9 million members and around 55 posts a day. Its own description is financial advice for people who are struggling, with no judgment. Posts are personal and specific, about 120 words at the median, and they get answered: the median post draws 15 comments, more than most advice subreddits.
The flairs split the room in two. Budgeting, debt, income and housing posts ask for practical help and get it: call the card company, check this assistance program, here is what a balance transfer costs. Vent, Free talk, Grocery Haul and Success posts are there for company. AutoModerator posts a long note under every vent telling commenters not to give advice or criticism, and another under grocery posts warning off the food police.
The friction is between sympathy and lecture. The rules ban saying or implying that people are poor because of their own decisions, yet some comments do exactly that and get reported. Politics is banned too, but a post about the minimum wage will fill with arguments about it. And a recurring complaint is that mainstream money advice, invest more and cut spending, has nothing to say to someone whose rent just went up.
What lands
- A concrete problem with the figures: income, what is owed, what is due and when.
- A small practical discovery other people can copy, like a fee you stopped paying or a benefit you did not know you could claim.
- An honest vent under the Vent/Rant flair. These get support, not solutions.
- A success post that explains where you started and how you got there. AutoModerator asks for those details.
- A grocery haul photo with what it cost and how you got the price down.
What gets removed or ignored
- We saw no moderator removals in our sample, so the list below comes from the rules. About 16% of posts were removed by Reddit's filters, and our data does not show why.
- Asking for or offering money, loans or crowdfunding. All aid has to be advice.
- Get rich quick schemes, anything predatory, and offers to help by DM.
- Political advocacy or debate, and any content that blames people for being poor.
- Links with vague or misleading titles, shortened URLs, or an affiliation that is not disclosed.
The unwritten rules
- Pick the flair on purpose. If you want solutions, do not use Vent/Rant, because commenters are told not to give any.
- Say where you live. Answers about wages, benefits and rent depend on the state or country, and people will ask.
- Do not open with advice that needs spare money. Telling people to invest the difference reads as not understanding the room.
- Comments are short, about 17 words, and almost never carry links, around 1 in 70. A link stands out.
- Surveys, research requests and for-hire posts do turn up, and they sit at the bottom with no engagement.
Self-promotion
The rule is called Disclose Affiliations and it is more open than most finance subreddits. Referral links and links to your own content are permitted, monetized or not, as long as you say you are affiliated, give a non-referral link as well, use an accurate title and avoid URL shorteners. Referral links are switched off during the holidays. In practice very few posts carry links at all, and the ones that read as a product pitch, such as a tracker someone built, get little response. Anything that looks like a scheme falls under the rule against predatory advice, so the safe version is a disclosed link inside a post that is useful without it.
How people write here
- Typical post length
- 119 words
- Typical title length
- 7 words
- Titles phrased as a question
- 28%
- Typical comment length
- 17 words
- Comments that include a link
- 1%
- Posts that carry a flair
- 100%
When people post
- 0:00 UTC, 19
- 1:00 UTC, 22
- 2:00 UTC, 17
- 3:00 UTC, 15
- 4:00 UTC, 13
- 5:00 UTC, 7
- 6:00 UTC, 11
- 7:00 UTC, 5
- 8:00 UTC, 6
- 9:00 UTC, 11
- 10:00 UTC, 13
- 11:00 UTC, 12
- 12:00 UTC, 11
- 13:00 UTC, 13
- 14:00 UTC, 24
- 15:00 UTC, 16
- 16:00 UTC, 23
- 17:00 UTC, 25
- 18:00 UTC, 23
- 19:00 UTC, 21
- 20:00 UTC, 28
- 21:00 UTC, 14
- 22:00 UTC, 29
- 23:00 UTC, 22
New posts by hour of day, UTC.
The regulars
The accounts that showed up most in our sample. Worth reading before you post: they set the tone, and they are usually the first to reply.
Most active posters
- u/Smooth-moves-3173 posts
- u/WildWaveStylez3 posts
Most active commenters
- u/Loose-Relationship-69 comments
- u/LeakyManBoobs9 comments
- u/Blossom737 comments
- u/Electric_Bluebell7 comments
- u/Street_Pride43527 comments
Top keywords
The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/povertyfinance.
- money 119 posts
- rent 61 posts
- job 96 posts
- pay 83 posts
- debt 45 posts
- car 51 posts
- food 55 posts
- bills 37 posts
- income 43 posts
- afford 34 posts
- don 73 posts
- loan 30 posts
- credit 40 posts
- financial 35 posts
- family 41 posts
- financially 23 posts
- struggling 33 posts
- paycheck 17 posts
- due 37 posts
- situation 34 posts
- bank 31 posts
- savings 25 posts
- groceries 20 posts
- living 34 posts
- life 44 posts
- assistance 18 posts
- paid 38 posts
- expenses 22 posts
- loans 17 posts
- broke 24 posts
- mom 23 posts
- food bank 8 posts
- cash 27 posts
- insurance 33 posts
- homeless 12 posts
- jobs 28 posts
- apartment 19 posts
- account 37 posts
- parents 20 posts
- left 30 posts
Recurring topics: help, bills, credit, job, work, money, advice, food, car, income.
Growth
- 2018153k
- 2019262k
- 2020456k
- 2021968k
- 20232M
- 20242.3M
- 20252.5M
- 20262.9M
Related subreddits
- r/teenagers
- r/AskWomenOver30
- r/adultingph
- r/Adulting
- r/TikTok
- r/MiddleClassFinance
Common questions
How much karma do you need to post in r/povertyfinance?
No karma or account age requirement is published, and we found no AutoModerator message that mentions one. About 16% of posts in our sample were removed by Reddit's own filters, so a brand new account can still be caught, but new posters who say they just joined Reddit do get through.
Can I share a referral link or my own site in r/povertyfinance?
Yes, if you disclose it. The rules permit referral links and links to your own content, but you must state your affiliation and provide a non-referral link as well. Titles must be clear, URL shorteners are not permitted, and referral links are not allowed during the holidays.
Can I ask for money or donations in r/povertyfinance?
No. The rules ban soliciting, offering or accepting donations, loans or crowdsourcing, in public or in private. All help has to take the form of information or advice. The sidebar points to other subreddits for financial donations.
What does the Vent/Rant flair mean in r/povertyfinance?
It marks a post as an emotional outlet, not a request for help. AutoModerator tells commenters not to offer advice or criticism on those threads, only support or shared experience. If you want practical answers, choose a different flair. Vent/Rant is about 8% of posts.
Data as of October 4, 2026. Numbers come from public Reddit data (the Arctic Shift archive and GummySearch) sampled on this date. Removal share counts posts taken down by moderators, AutoModerator or Reddit's own filters. Banner and icon belong to the community. Moderators change rules without notice, so treat the sidebar as the final word.
