How to escape from poverty

**roadtoharvard** · 06-28-2007 11:46 AM

Hey guys I just finished an article on my blog that addresses poverty and how to escape from it. I wasn't sure where to put this but this subsection of the forum seemed as good a place as anywhere. I'm looking for feedback.

Anyway thanks for the help and here is the link.

http://www.roadtoharvard.com/howtoescapefrompoverty/

**ProLogic** · 06-28-2007 01:57 PM

Awsome, I dropped a comment.

**jasaunders** · 06-28-2007 02:09 PM

The article is good and I commend you on the time and effort you took to writing it. It is a good step forward.
As this is a very debatable topic, there are some things in the article that I don't agree with you on. Namely that you make it sound easy to follow your steps. The largest demographic of poor people are single mothers. It is often hard for these single mothers to get two jobs while supporting their kids on their own. They often don't have the money for child care and are therefore stuck taking care of their kids, limiting their available time to work.

**zoobie** · 06-28-2007 04:42 PM

Wow!...thanks for posting this one...it really is helpful...and I understand where you're coming from..I've also been there but I tried my best to finish College and now I'm working in one of the companies here in the Philippines...I know I don't have much but it's enough for me now...someday I know I can be better.

**MoneyMagnet** · 06-28-2007 06:51 PM

Decent article. I dont agree with the steps referring to selling off just about everything to your name and have but a few articles of clothing and a car so bad everyone will laugh at you. It might decrease the expenses, but it might not be good emotionally. I think people can get out of poverty and not have to live below their current means. Maybe add a step like, learning what a budget is? Also learn cash flow? I liked the article, keep on doing your good work.

**EzMac** · 06-28-2007 07:27 PM

haha I love this line:
"Want to buy something because you deserve it? Fuck you. You don’t deserve it."

**usakos** · 06-28-2007 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by roadtoharvard

Hey guys I just finished an article on my blog that addresses poverty and how to escape from it. I wasn't sure where to put this but this subsection of the forum seemed as good a place as anywhere. I'm looking for feedback.

Anyway thanks for the help and here is the link.

http://www.roadtoharvard.com/howtoescapefrompoverty/

When are you thinking of getting in HBS?

I am hoping to do a joint MBA/Law at Harvard starting in the fall 2009.

**roadtoharvard** · 06-28-2007 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by jasaunders

The article is good and I commend you on the time and effort you took to writing it. It is a good step forward.
As this is a very debatable topic, there are some things in the article that I don't agree with you on. Namely that you make it sound easy to follow your steps. The largest demographic of poor people are single mothers. It is often hard for these single mothers to get two jobs while supporting their kids on their own. They often don't have the money for child care and are therefore stuck taking care of their kids, limiting their available time to work.

It was not my intent to make the steps sound easy. Throughout the post I mentioned that it was extremely difficult and that there is a high chance of failure but perhaps I did not clarify myself enough.

I'm glad you addressed the point about single mothers as I did not cover it in the FAQs. The post is in no way a catch all and was constructed from my own experiences. I didn't address this segment of poverty because I don't know what it's like to be a single parent. Anything that I could possibly suggest would be presumptuous of me as I have never been one. I can relate to them as my mother was a single parent but other than that i don't truly know what it's like.

**rejoice** · 06-28-2007 09:46 PM

If you really want to stop being poor then the thought on your mind at all times should be “I want to stop being poor.”

If all your thinking about is being poor and not being poor and getting out of being poor... what are you thinking about? POVERTY

So what I don't understand is how someone who is thinking poor can get rich? I'm sorry to say but your article seems like it was written by an uneducated parent who tells their kids to get good grades, go to uni, get a good job, and sleep with the boss if all else fails.

**roadtoharvard** · 06-28-2007 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by MoneyMagnet

Decent article. I dont agree with the steps referring to selling off just about everything to your name and have but a few articles of clothing and a car so bad everyone will laugh at you. It might decrease the expenses, but it might not be good emotionally. I think people can get out of poverty and not have to live below their current means. Maybe add a step like, learning what a budget is? Also learn cash flow? I liked the article, keep on doing your good work.

I would rather endure the short term emotional pain of change than a lifetime of mind numbing emotional monotony. As for not LBYM well it takes money to get out of poverty and it has to come from somewhere. If it doesn't come from the reduction of expenses then it has to come in from income.The problem with getting out of poverty solely with income is threefold: 1) You only have 24 hours in a day and can't always work more 2) Pay is usually crappy when you're poor 3) Taxes and deductions eat away at pay (at least where i live). That's why you need a combination of both LBYM and working more to get traction. I like things as much as the next guy but if the long term gain of sacrificing them is greater than the pleasure that they bring presently then they're history.

**roadtoharvard** · 06-28-2007 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by rejoice

If you really want to stop being poor then the thought on your mind at all times should be “I want to stop being poor.”

If all your thinking about is being poor and not being poor and getting out of being poor... what are you thinking about? POVERTY

So what I don't understand is how someone who is thinking poor can get rich? I'm sorry to say but your article seems like it was written by an uneducated parent who tells their kids to get good grades, go to uni, get a good job, and sleep with the boss if all else fails.

Thinking about poverty does not make you poor. Bill gates thinks about poverty all the time but is he poor? Maybe you're looking at it from one of those Law of Attraction views. I don't believe in tripe like that and think it's that sort of shysterism that keeps so many people poor.

The article is not about how to get rich. It was written on how to get out of poverty. There is a difference. If you think you have a better way of getting out then go write about it. I'll keep my uneducated parent view.

**roadtoharvard** · 06-28-2007 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by usakos

When are you thinking of getting in HBS?

I am hoping to do a joint MBA/Law at Harvard starting in the fall 2009.

It's projected for fall of 2010 but it will most likely be longer than that. Good luck with MBA/Law. You're a sucker for punishment

. If you're a masochist you'll get the CPA and go into tax law.

**Cognition** · 06-28-2007 10:18 PM

I didn't like the article because you left out a major component of "escaping poverty", which is financial intelligence. This artile is filled with cliches of Industrial Age concepts, which are invaluable in our day and time.

You see my friend, although a person may work hard to get into college, graduate, and find a high paying job, without financial intelligence (that is how money works and how to make it grow) a person will ALWAYS be a slave to money and possesse the "poverty" mindset. Yes, even while making $50K a year - that poverty mindset will lead them into much bad consumber debt, only to find themselves working harder and harder to support a lifestyle based on bad financial decisions.

How does one attain financial intelligence? For the most part, our schools and colleges/universities do not teach financial education. They do not proactively teach how money works and how it can be grown. So I suggest individuals take some time to read some of the self-help books out there by Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), Dave Ramsey (The Money Makeover), and others. These authors introduce you to a form of thinking that will provoke thinking about money in a new way. Instead of spending money, you'll become motivated to learn about investing money, growing, and cultivating it.

Only then can you truly begin to escape poverty. I commend you for writing the article, but it's just seriously lacking in so many areas...

Financial education - the primary key to escaping poverty.

**rejoice** · 06-28-2007 10:30 PM

why do you say Bill Gates thinks about poverty all the time?

if you are to get out of poverty... what are you to get into? wealth!

let me ask you this... if i show you how to ride a bike... and you've never ridden one... it looks easy... and if your desire to ride that bike was big enough... you would get on and try and persist and have faith that you too can ride that bike... until it finally clicks and off you go speeding down the street... ok... now think of the same scenario... except after it looking easy... you have the same desire... but you don't get on the bike... you don't take action to fulfill your desire... well then my friend it is wishful thinking

thoughts (conscious) ---> emotions (subconscious) ---> actions ---> results

the only thing that can grow is that what you put energy into... and if poverty is on your mind then guess what? poverty is what you get... and if you think law off attraction is BS... then how do you explain andrew carnagie and the hundreds of millions of dollars he accumulated... what about thomas edison... i don't think he was thinking poverty to accomplish what he did