It may sound cliche, but what many poor people lack actually is the knowledge of money management and not money. Easy to say, I know but many of life's complicated problems have simple solutions.
Money Miss Road
There is what we describe as "money miss road" in my country which basically translates to money finding its way into the hands of people who do not know what to do with or how to manage money. A good example is all those people who won mind-blowing amounts in the lottery and a few years later, they become more broke than they were before the lottery.
Some of us have that one friend, neighbor, uncle, or acquaintance who doesn't miss the opportunity to regale us about how they used to be rich and all but because of bad luck, they lost everything (bad luck is valid though... I guess). I have met some of those types of people, hell I used to be those types of people.
I grew a business once from scratch, sold it for some very good profit but mismanaged the proceeds thereafter. I became flat broke, frustrated, and angry. I was sure that it wasn't my fault, I blamed bad luck, I blamed the friend who introduced me to a business during the period I lost mismanaged my money, I blamed the government for not providing jobs thereby making me go into business in the first place.
I blamed everybody and everything for my misfortune but the person responsible for it all - ME.
I was irresponsible with my money and I lost all of it, but I wasn't ready to accept the truth because it was easier to blame someone or something else. You know denial is a very efficient coping mechanism but ultimately, facing reality is inevitable.
Fortunately for me, I didn't live too long in denial, I embraced the truth, acknowledged my mistakes, became sober, and became deliberate about money management.
I get PTSD when I see friends and family towing the same line that got me wrecked. All of a sudden, I see myself always preaching financial responsibility/education to them. It becomes tiring, sad, and annoying because they never take me seriously, mostly they think they have enough to never go broke.
A Couple Thousand Bucks And You Think You Are Rich
In Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, he mentioned Fear, Cynicism, Laziness, Bad Habits, and Arrogance as some of the obstacles that stop people from true financial independence. All those points ring true when you read in between the lines, but none of them rang truer to me than arrogance.
I was having a chat with a friend 2 days ago and this particular point of arrogance screamed in my face. This dude is currently having a tough time with money, he invested in some bad shitcoins and is at a loss of almost $4k. He is crying about his loss on one side and on the other side, he is looking to move into a new apartment.
Well, that's not all. He was talking to me about a 65" Flat Screen TV he intends to buy that is worth around $1,500, then he needs to buy some couch for his sitting room too. I said bro, you could just move in first, invest that $1,500 in some business (I suggested Splinterlands for the SPS airdrop), then you could start furnishing your house with the proceeds of your investment.
He said no, that he is bigger than that, there was no way he could move into a new apartment without pimping it out first. I cried inside, my soul hurt so bad by his arrogance and total ignorance of the workings of money. This dude give or take, is worth around $20k and wants to spend $1,500 on a Flat Screen TV.
In his defence, he said if he doesn't spend on this Flat Screen TV, that something else would come up to ultimately consume that $1,500, and I asked him if he doesn't think in the line of priorities before spending money? He didn't answer.
You might be wondering how he made his money in the first place, given how irresponsible he seems with money. Well, he came into some money 2 years ago, and he came into some money again a year ago...he came into them, he didn't grow his money or earned them in salary, so it's no wonder he thinks how he thinks about spending it.
I gave him a piece of my mind and changed subjects. Then I felt so privileged and so lucky to have known the little I have come to know about money management through my own mistakes and through reading books like Rich Dad Poor Dad and Richest Man In Babylon.
I guess he is his own financial mistake away from learning the hard lessons of financial irresponsibility but at least, I made sure my opinion registered in his mind.
Financial education unfortunately is a subject that is not taught in conventional educational institutions, you either learn from your own mistakes (if you still have your life together after such mistakes) or read books and learn from the mistakes of others.
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From now on I consider you my friend, this left me seeing a non-existent point on the wall, when I read your introduction I thought you were wrong but actually you are very right. I also agree with you in saying that they should teach a subject on financial education.
Somehow I have learned to manage my money by bad decisions and experiences, although the little money I am earning I try to prioritize my needs, then invest some. Although here in Venezuela it is a bit complicated to do it but not impossible.