By: Matt @ Home & Pocket
January 2025
Welcome to the most prosperous, safest, and opportunity-rich times in “Human History”!None of what I just said is hyperbole, either—that is a fact—look it up, and I’ll wait.
21st-century America really does kick—A**, if you know what I mean. There is literally opportunity everywhere. Most people now have smartphones and access to free or almost free internet. This, to me and to a reasonable person, means complete and total access to unlimited knowledge. Know what we typically do with that knowledge—look up stupid stuff or scroll social media day and night! Anyway, I digress.
Back to the main point. anyone can be anything now. what is really hard is to get poor and stay that way. If you are interested in how and why poverty occurs, here are five ways to stay poor in the Great U.S. Of A.
#1 Don’t Graduate from High School.
This is a big one and something that has improved over the last two decades as access to adult learning has improved greatly along with the stigma of Returning to finish your degree.
According to U.S. Department of Labor Statistics “high school graduates can earn almost $250,000 more that HS drop-outs over the course of their working lives”.
That’s a Significant amount of money – over a quarter of a million dollars. over the course of a working life – roughly 40-years that would come out to $500 dollars a month of lost revenue. $500 invested a month over 40-years is over a million dollars on the low end no matter how you slice it. so as you can see – it pays to be smart or at least finish high school.
#2 Have KIDS BEFORE YOU GET MARRIED
I don’t want to get religious in this Section because it will probably just fall on deaf ears – but also, you may not be religious so the kids before marriage may not hold any water for you. BUT HERE IS WHERE I THINK YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THE KIDS AFTER MARRIAGE.
according to the national INSTITUTE of health, “The rate of marital dissolution (divorce) was twice as high among premarital parents (19.1%) compared to couples who were not parents at the start of marriage (9.5%)”.
Now that’s a great stat if you even care…
some of you might be saying well, i’m not worried about getting divorced, if the marriage isn’t working you should seek divorce. well, that’s seems to be the new way of thinking in this country. but if marriage before kids due to high divorce rate isn’t an issue for you than how about money??
according to Health and human services (HHS) “The average household income for married couples is 76.1% higher than single-person households. Married couples also have incomes that are nearly four times their basic needs, which is higher than cohabiting couples and single parents”.
Now that one probably stings a little bit. The summary of this Section is find someone you care about, date them, marry them, and then have kids!
#3 Never investing in yourself
This Sections of never investing in yourself is two ways: first, never continuing your education. No, I’m not saying you have to have an advanced degree or spend the next ten years in college. this can be something as simple as working towards certifications to get that pay raise, or learning a new skill “like blogging” haha see what i did there.
investing in yourself is just a means for bettering your financial well-being. you must make yourself more valuable than you were last year. remember, you, me, anybody can be replaced at anything. the goal should be to delay becoming irreplaceable. this delay should last for as long as possible, preferably until you move up or on!
The second part is the more literal one. investing money into your future. I am getting pretty sick of people saying they don’t have enough for retirement Because they had kids, or a slow sales year, or college Tuition Repayments, or family issues, etc…………..
just enough. start saving for tomorrow. it doesn’t take a lot. just be consistent in your savings. contributions to your 401k or whatever you choose should never stop. increase and decrease as life allows but don’t ever stop!
#4 Living outside your means
That will expand a little on the topics i’m talking about.
the big things you have to watch out for are “Cars, Cards, and Cravings”
Those three things will make and keep you broke today.
Check out my article on “Reduce Your Expenses: 3 Areas Families Overspend”
People buying new cars and spending 10-15% of their take home pay on a vehicle is ridiculous. furthermore, people who are leasing their life away on an equally expensive vehicle that they will never own is also crazy.
Credit Cards are also some of the worst finance tools to have ever been introduced to the american people. most people are using them to subsidize their income while Continuously going further into debt every single month.
according to lending tree, us credit card debt is at an all time high with $1.166 trillion, to be exact for 2024!
as for the cravings, well you should just read the article on this. basically, americans are spending roughly $6,000 a year between eating out and coffee. again … just ..wow!
All this being said, if you didn’t spend all this money on new vehicles, credit cards, and coffee you would have the additional funds to invest.
#5 Blame others for your problems
the victim mentality in America seems to have gained a ton of steam over the past decade or so. people have forgotten how to take RESPONSIBILITY for their actions and INSTEAD seem to always blame others for their misfortunes.
If you fail in life its BECAUSE of you not someone else keeping you from achieving your dream/goals.
Everyone has the opportunity to achieve their goals in america. you may not get everything you want and others may ACHIEVE more due to factors outside your control. however, COMPLAINING and blaming others won’t make things better in your life. start working and strive for more!
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