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There is also a difference between lifting yourself out of poverty versus getting rich. Two very entirely different discussions.
Common sense in personal finance might not make you rich but it will certainly make you less likely to be poor.
Yes, this the overarching point I wanted to make as well. Almost anybody can lift themselves out of poverty through hard work, delayed gratification and financial prudence if they choose to do so. You don't need any special luck or a particularly high paying job to make that happen.
Becoming rich to the point of no longer having to work for a living is beyond the capability of most people, and most of the people who get to that point had a good deal of advantage and luck at their back. They invested in something at the right time or started a small business that defied the odds and grew into something big. Or they took a gamble on high-high education that paid off big time. Something happened along the way that allowed them to leverage whatever work ethic, intelligence, advantages, and luck they possessed all at the same time. very few people ever get an opportunity to leverage all of those factors at the same, assuming they even possess them in the first place.
If you spend every dollar to your name, you won't go anywhere but down. Getting out of poverty doesn't happen over night. Winning the lottery isn't how it happens. A few dollars here and there over a long course of time adds up. Just take smoking for example, someone who smokes two packs a day spends $10 per day on cigarettes or $70 per week or about $3800 per year. That's not a trivial amount of money. Smoking is generally associated with poverty, quitting is a step a person can take to lift themselves out of poverty.
If you spend every dollar to your name, you won't go anywhere but down. Getting out of poverty doesn't happen over night. Winning the lottery isn't how it happens. A few dollars here and there over a long course of time adds up. Just take smoking for example, someone who smokes two packs a day spends $10 per day on cigarettes or $70 per week or about $3800 per year. That's not a trivial amount of money. Smoking is generally associated with poverty, quitting is a step a person can take to lift themselves out of poverty.
If you spend every dollar to your name, you won't go anywhere but down. Getting out of poverty doesn't happen over night. Winning the lottery isn't how it happens. A few dollars here and there over a long course of time adds up. Just take smoking for example, someone who smokes two packs a day spends $10 per day on cigarettes or $70 per week or about $3800 per year. That's not a trivial amount of money. Smoking is generally associated with poverty, quitting is a step a person can take to lift themselves out of poverty.
It's a waste of money, yes. But then again a lot of things are.
I'd say that in the last 50 years, smoking has become associated largely with the so-called underclass, although perhaps not with poverty specifically.
Smoking used to be much more common among all social and income classes than it is today; as health issues became understood and publicized, fewer people started smoking and more adults started quitting.
The quitters and the non-starters today on average are higher-income and more educated than the smokers. Some say there are complex cues and triggers involved, some of which are social, e.g. people who smoke find it easier to quit of they hang around others who quit or don't smoke, and harder to quit if the people they hang around with smoke.
e.g. it's easier for middle class people to quit when their friends and co-workers don't smoke and harder for working class people to quit when their friends and co-workers do smoke.
I'd say that in the last 50 years, smoking has become associated largely with the so-called underclass, although perhaps not with poverty specifically.
Smoking used to be much more common among all social and income classes than it is today; as health issues became understood and publicized, fewer people started smoking and more adults started quitting.
The quitters and the non-starters today on average are higher-income and more educated than the smokers. Some say there are complex cues and triggers involved, some of which are social, e.g. people who smoke find it easier to quit of they hang around others who quit or don't smoke, and harder to quit if the people they hang around with smoke.
e.g. it's easier for middle class people to quit when their friends and co-workers don't smoke and harder for working class people to quit when their friends and co-workers do smoke.
If you have a white collar job, your office building is probably smoke-free. It's really easy to quit when it's impossible to smoke for 10 hours every day. For the working class, the cigarette break is an accepted temporary respite from the repetitive task job just like bathroom break.
I'd say that in the last 50 years, smoking has become associated largely with the so-called underclass, although perhaps not with poverty specifically.
Smoking used to be much more common among all social and income classes than it is today; as health issues became understood and publicized, fewer people started smoking and more adults started quitting.
The quitters and the non-starters today on average are higher-income and more educated than the smokers. Some say there are complex cues and triggers involved, some of which are social, e.g. people who smoke find it easier to quit of they hang around others who quit or don't smoke, and harder to quit if the people they hang around with smoke.
e.g. it's easier for middle class people to quit when their friends and co-workers don't smoke and harder for working class people to quit when their friends and co-workers do smoke.
There were some polls by Gallup/Pew and studies by the CDC that showed a higher percentage of smokers at the lower income bands. The percentage of smokers drops as income rises. Here are two links that I found:
If you spend every dollar to your name, you won't go anywhere but down. Getting out of poverty doesn't happen over night. Winning the lottery isn't how it happens. A few dollars here and there over a long course of time adds up. Just take smoking for example, someone who smokes two packs a day spends $10 per day on cigarettes or $70 per week or about $3800 per year. That's not a trivial amount of money. Smoking is generally associated with poverty, quitting is a step a person can take to lift themselves out of poverty.
If you spend every dollar to your name, you just might need more dollars.
If you spend every dollar to your name, you just might need more dollars.
That's the wonderful thing about this country. Nobody but yourself is stopping you from making more dollars.
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