Nobody plans to become poor and yet a great many people end up poor. Here are some of the best known ways of ensuring a life of penury.
1. ‘We don’t need no education…’
If you drop out of school or fail to achieve a basic education then you will severely restrict your chances of employment. What is more it is difficult to acquire further skills if you lack the basic ones. However this method does not guarantee poverty as there are some exceptional people who, because of sheer hard work or innate ability, succeed despite little formal education.
2. Develop an addiction.
Addictions are good ways to squander wealth and health. Cocaine and heroin are fast routes to perdition. Gambling works really well too. The time-honoured choice is alcoholism which has ruined many a career and relationship. Yet there are exceptions. A tiny number of habitual gamblers win, some alcoholics can function for a long time. In the end the addiction usually wins.
3. Never save.
Savings help build wealth so a good plan for long-term poverty is to blow any extra earnings or bonuses on having a good time.
4. Borrow.
Borrowing to buy a house or get a degree can be an investment but borrowing for vacations, cars and general consumption is not very smart. A good way to become penniless is to max out your credit cards and keep borrowing more until the repayments overwhelm you.
5. Go directly to jail.
A proven way to avoid success is to get involved in crime, particularly early in life, and end up in jail where you can waste the years that could have been spent acquiring an education and useful skills. Petty criminals find it hard to get jobs, build relationships or retain wealth. Of course some criminals end up rich but they risk being eliminated by rivals.
6. Stay in a dead-end low-paid job.
A low-paid job is fine if you really enjoy what you do or if it is a route to something better. But many people hate what they do and earn barely enough money to survive. They are reluctant to take a risk, to learn new skills or to try something new. They stay on a road that leads nowhere.
7. Avoid work altogether.
Some unfortunate people are too ill to work but many able bodied people make a decision to live on benefits and to avoid work. Perhaps they intend to marry a movie star or to win the lottery but working their way up is not part of the plan.
8. Be born in a failing country.
If you are one of the millions born in very poor countries with no human rights, no education or healthcare and a repressive regime then you face enormous difficulties in escaping a life of poverty. Some do but the vast majority is condemned to extreme hardship.
Items 1 to 7 occur by choice. If you are fortunate enough to live in a developed country then you need to avoid these traps and then maybe do something to help those caught in number 8.
Take direct action with this online course:
The Seven Best Ways to Become Rich
Thanks for that
Have children
Very true. I am in Uganda. Point eight is very true. Becoming rich here you have to in first family
All of these reasons are true my drug has become very bad and im poor now
Hey guys this is lolipop the same guy as before that was obviously a joke but why would you search up how to become poor. Guys use this as motivation to become rich and better. You can do it if you try! 🙂
I am a Ugandan and I pass through a problem of not saving. I earn little, How can I overcome this.
Live on less than you earn. Everyone can do this.
This whole article is kinda stupid.
Most of the things on this list are not the reasons of becoming poor rather the outcome of being in a bad situation.
If you have to constantly focus on surviving, that takes a lot of your cognitive skills, it’s less likely that you can finish a school. Like, you decide to take control of your life and start studying, because you are poor you have no health care. If you have problems with your health you have to spend on that. That means you either can’t finance your studying, or you have to borrow, so you’re already in debt.
People with poor life have a much higher chance to develop an addiction because they need some relief. And because they are constantly stressed. It is exactly the same when managers drink 2 or 3+ beers. Still nobody considers them an addict.
Getting to jail is most of the times the outcome of the last chance to survive. You can’t pay your rent, you’re struggling to get food. (Because you’re trying to pay your loans to save your *ss from getting to much bigger trouble) So you decide to steal food. You’re inprisoned. When you get out you even have less. No food, no place to stay. You’re stigmatised. Less likely to get a job. Not because you’re a bad person. Just because you wanted to eat.
Also if you have no money, you have no networks. You can not afford to hang with people who can tell you: hey I’ve just heard my company is looking for someone as an xy. I’ts quite a good job, nice salary. No chance.
So you are basically sentenced to do shitty jobs for bad salary.
Can you guys imagine how hard the street sweeper guy is working every day, to get food for his family? The people in factories?
Taking a lot of overtime.
It is really easy to say that these people are poor because of their lifestyle, addictions, taking loans and other reasons, so people don’t have to deal with them as a problem. This thing is kind of failure of society.
And the worst of all is the mindset that develops through this all. Also depression, anxiety and loosing faith in life. Disconnecting from society because of this all. This road is really slippery. And a LOT of the times this thing is coming from just one or two bad decisions. And after that. No chance. No matter how hard they try.
These people are not poor because they are doing bad. They are doing bad, because they are poor and have to constantly focus on day-to-day surviving, rather then long term goals. It’s been scientifically proven multiple times.
Think about it and help them, rather than stigmatizing.
The correct way to view this is that a certain amount of poverty is a choice. Keeping the “guilt mentality” out of it is as important as keeping the “victim mentality” out of it. Certainly the victim role has no hope for wealth. But the guilt role leaves you powerless to move on as well. Forget the past, but learn from it. Take small steps often.
You have said a lot. I agree with you, it is not fun being poor. I was once poor and I did not like it one bit, but as the years have transpired, I realized there was much to learn from my poverty. Adversity can be a great teacher. I hope you will consider this reply. It is meant to help not to condemn.
You said this list “are not reasons of being poor.” All the items on this list contribute to one becoming poor. You will not get rich (a few exceptions) by following these items.
You said, ” if you have to constantly focus on surviving that takes a lot of your cognitive skills.” No one can take your cognitive skills.
You said, “That means you either can’t finance your study…” It’s been said you can earn a PhD on the Internet. Seek learning with all your getting. Instead of lamenting about the trevails of poverty, spend your time in a good book. Learn something today.
You said, “So you decide to steal food.” Read the book Les Miserables. It’s a hard read, but there are many resources available to help you understand this great book. I purchased the audio book a couple of weeks ago for $3.99 from Chirp. This story starts when Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread. You can learn enough in the first fifty pages to dispel the gloom and dispair you have complained about on this blog. If you read it; it will change your life.
One last piece of unsolicited advise, Do what is required of you to the very best of your ability, even if you don’t want to do it. Do this each and every time and their will come a day when you want to follow a certain path and you will be able to do it. You will have paid the price.
Good Luck to you. Ps: God is a pretty good companion too, when life is difficult.
Thinking like Tom will definitely keep you poor forever. Be a naysayer and always criticize instead of encourage action will keep you poor. The wrong attitude will prevent from being a positive active member of the society and contribute.
all of them are true but am trying exit from them
great advice totally worked i am poor now but sadly im a druggie 🙁
i tried all of these methods and i am still rich. how can i change this?
Divorce your movie star, rich wife or husband or rich mommy and daddy and you will be poor as hell.
I think the biggest thing is poor family planning. Children are extremely expensive.
I TOTALLY ACCEPT WITH THESE THOUGHTS TO BE BORN IN A RICH FAMILY MAKE YOU RICH .BUT TO BE BORN IN A POOR FAMILY IS NOT OUR FAULT. THERE MUST BE DIFFERENT SITUATIONS FOR EACH PEOPLE AND ITS LIKE A GAME WHEN WE START IT WE CAN VISUALIZE OUR SITUATION IF WE QUIT THAT IT WILL BE THE END,AND YOU STAY IN YOUR CURRENT CONDITION . THE RISK OF YOUR LIFE IS IN YOUR HAND.NO ONE WILL HELP IF YOU CANNOT TAKE THE STEP EVEN THE GOD.
ye why would you type up how to become poor why not type how to become rich
Thanks for sharing, this information was useful
Have Children and do all of the above 🙂
Excellent advice.
Addiction is not only in drugs but also social media,idle joints etc
Yea, really true
The article is precise and straightforward. The aforementioned reasons account for poverty in most individuals and households. It is not a mistake to be born poor, but it is a crime to die poor….congrats
Thanks very much……this information was very very useful
I’m 18, I Don’t Have A Diploma, A GED, A Driver’s License, Or A State ID, So Therefore I Have No Way To Make Money, And I Got My Phone From An Old Friend, Who Saw Me One Day Sleeping On The Side Of The Road, I Also Have To Use The Wi-Fi From “Hampton Inn” Therefore I Am Screwed.
So I Suggest You Should Go To School, Get An Education, Then Go To College And Get A Degree For Something That Can’t Be Replaced By Human Built Technology.
Point 1-8 is happening now in my life .I have struggled to face all above true points in the manner of no.7 point. God bless me
Being a single mom of unexpected pregnancy child with migration baground, without family support or even with duty to support someone extra from older generation. Living in a region where working hours of a nanny cost more than any job. Or a region where is disbalance in cost of housing, where are ecological disasters, or child is often sick. Anything what forces that single parent to choose to be with child, not having a career.