Why some people stay "poor".
Some poor people will always be poor, not because of their income but because of their lifestyle and lack of planning. Not many people these days have budget and stick to it religiously. I gave a lady a lift a few days ago, I picked her up at the Air Force base where she asked for a lift to the closest town. We had a decent conversation during the ride and somewhere salary slipped into the conversation, she didn't give me a number but said that it was decent for the work that she was doing.
Somewhere along the lines she mentioned how she is struggling to save money and always ends up spending money that she has saved up. She told me that when she goes to town and see something nice, something she wants or her favorite type of food she must just have it, regardless if it is needed at that time. She told me that she would rather spend the money than deprive herself of the pleasure at that moment.
What does being rich mean?
This is a big problem among the young lower to middle classes these days, they will never be rich because of this. No person perceived as being rich will ever say that he has enough money, this happens because no one gets a large salary right off the bat. Everyone starts small and work themselves up through the years, as your salary increase so does your living expenses. The more money you have the more you will spend (in some cases).
Not a lot of people can do rich right, the trick is to accumulate assets and not liabilities. If you invest in assets early in life you will benefit from it at a later stage. Liabilities and monthly expenses are what eats at your salary, we can all agree that the debit orders at the beginning of the month is depressing.
So in conclusion, draw up a budget and stick to it. Always remember to look at the bigger picture, will this thing that you are craving and must have at this moment really be worth it in the long run? These are just my personal views which I have formed over the years after speaking to many people in different industries. If I'm wrong or missing something, lets discuss it in the comment section :).
Lifestyle inflation is a real thing. It's easy to spend more once you can afford more, but I also don't think it's always worth it.
I agree with you that we must watch our budget and not to feed ourselves to instant gratification. Invest in gold and silver and cryptocurrency for long-term investment. You only put money in the bank if you need it right away.
I am unemployed so managing my personal finance is so crucial to me. Upvoted!
This is so true, in modern life it is definitely a problem, and I also feel that the lifestyle we live today is also a cause. If you don't own the newest or the best product, you will fall behine. Like major tech companies which decides that some devices are out of date and therefore they will no longer produce software for that said product. Yes the other side of the coin a product which is out of date is a financial los for a company to update regularly but where is that border? So I blame this on we the users and the producers...