What if You are Poor?

What to do if you are poor, unemployed, or have financial problems?

I believe that every problem has a solution. I do not believe in the no-win scenario. If you are poor and have financial problems, remember that the only difference between you and some rich and famous people is the attitude. To free yourself from poverty, you need to start with the right mental position. That is, you can do anything you put your mind to. Do not be afraid to live your dream. I know many people talk big like this, but it is true.

what is poor
Poor is relative. If you think you are poor, just think about how other people in the past lived in utter poverty.

I realize there’s no shame in being poor, but it’s no great honor either – Fiddler on the Roof

There is nothing wrong with being poor – Start with the idea that there is nothing wrong with being poor. You need to believe this. The whole idea of freeing yourself from poverty is not about getting money. It is about changing your attitude. Again you have to believe that you can achieve anything you want in your life in any circumstance you were born into.

For example, both my brother and father, who have seen more extremes of rich and poor than I, both said they were just having happy when they were poor. Being poor has a certain cool factor all to itself. It is fun to be just a normal person and fly beneath the Radar.

God loves common people, that is why he made so many of the – Abraham Lincoln.

Change your mind – change your destiny – I remember reading a book, I can not remember the name of it about a woman who lives a nice life in both Hawaii and London. People often said to her; we can not achieve this; we are not you. Her reply was, I was just a secretary, and I changed my thinking.

The problem is reading things like this get you all fired up and ready to get rich, but it does not lead you to how to get rich. It only motivated you. My advice is to be patient. Use your imagination and dream for a few years if you need to. Relax about the whole process and be a beach bum if you need to. Ideas will open up when you are doing what relaxes you.

People make money when they are older – Another idea you need to realize is that most people do not start making real money until they are in their 50s. This is a statistic. Some people latter. So if you are 40 and not rich, do not worry, it is par for the course. Most people do not start making money until latter because it takes a lifetime to figure out what life is about.

Know the why, what and how of lifting yourself from poverty

For too long, we have been dreaming a dream from which we are now waking up: the dream that if we improve the socio-economic situation of people, everything will be okay, people will become happy. The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Evermore, people today have the means to live, but no meaning of living for. – Viktor E. Frankl, “The Unheard Cry for Meaning”

If you want to know how to get rich – read my posts on it on this blog. But more important – before the how or what is the why.

People think the problem with money and life is what. What can you do? What is the idea? Some people also think the how is a problem. That is how to set something up or accomplish your goal. This, I all wrong. There is only one question or problem. That is why.

Start with the idea of active indifference towards wealth  – If you know the why in life the how is easy. If you know why in your life, I think things fall into place easier. I have a pretty good why I have my family to take care of. But taking a step deeper, I believe this:

We should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things …. everything you do should be to add to God’s greater glory. – Ignatius of Loyola’s First principle and foundation.

It does not matter if we are rich or poor, it is all for the greater Glory of God and in doing so save our soul. How can you argue with this? If you want to change your life, start with finding you why. Be radical in your thinking.

It does not matter if people think poorly of me, or I live a life of dishonor. If you are actively indifferent, then this gives you freedom. There is a power in being powerless. Once you are powerless and free and free from any social fears or self-doubt because you are indifferent towards these things, you are more able to do your life’s work.

The above is the idea of active indifference.

My story perspective on wealth.

I am not the world’s most significant investor, nor am I the richest person. However, I have done well. What is well? My last real job was seven years ago at age 40. There is a good chance I will never have to work again in my life, and I will live my dream of living both in Europe and the USA and maximizing time with my family. This, to me, is wealth. Here is how I recommend you make money.

You might say that it is easy for me to say since I am a stock trading entrepreneur guy. But remember, I do not live in the USA. I lived in Poland and was living in a 190 square foot apartment and washing my clothes the sink. My wife’s family had eight people sleeping in one bedroom. My relatives in Ukraine still do not have running water. Wealth is relative. So if you feel bad, your family has to live in a 500 square foot apartment. My take on this is a good size. Do not feel sorry for yourself if you are poor. I think many Americans are spoiled.

Look I have horrible back pain as I use to work on the loading docks and can not even lift my own daughter. I have bleeding in my brain stem and dizzy and in pain. But what does that matter? I am not going to feel (too) sorry for myself. I am just going to know that every challenge I have in my life, I offer up to God and say ‘thy will be done’.

If you are healthy, you should be moving mountains. Just find the why in your life first.

What if you have you? Why who do you find you what?

I say, ask God to guide you and be patient. Start to meditate on what you really loved when you were a kid or now before you had to make a living. As yourself, if God could give you any superpower to be anything you wanted, a rock star or an investor, or anything, what would you be?

The answer will be different for everyone. This is the way the world works when we are all doing our own thing on this earth, the full benefits (Adam Smith).

The ‘How’ of freeing yourself from Poor

After this ‘why’ and ‘what’, the ‘how’ part is easy. Learn everything you can by reading books and on the Internet. Then, I pay people consulting fees as it accelerates the learning curve. Find someone in the area that you want to focus on and pay them. Gradually here and there. Until you know the process and are all set up. I pay for the people. Do not be cheap. Research things on the Internet until you are at a point you can go no further and find someone trustworthy to coach you on the how.

If you are poor and want to know how to make money, take some of the things I write here to heart. If you have any questions, write to me.

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Comments

4 responses to “What if You are Poor?”

  1. Bobby

    Being poor has a certain cool factor all to itself, than I am certainly pretty cool. Hard work has brought me nothing in life, so I have pretty much given up. I work, pay the bills, and despair. I never wanted to be filthy rich, just wanted a place to raise my kids, work a job that pays something, maybe buy some health and life insurance. God obviously hates poor people, else he would make things a little more even throughout the world.
    And yes, there is a great stigma attached to being poor. Poor is not cool, not is it freedom. It’s a trap. If you have done well for yourself, I can at least respect your hard work, and be happy for your success. Take care.

    1. Mark Biernat

      Read Napoleon Hill Think and grow rich. Most men do not get wealthy until they are in their 50s or latter. It takes a lifetime of experience to figure things out. Also there is no dishonor in being poor. I am older than you and I am investing in stocks and creating my own company and doing many entrepreneurial things. I know others who are doing the same. Age is just a number. You need to reinvent yourself. What are you doing now? If it is not working think of a way to do something different.

      Trying to make money is like trying to get a date
      It is like with dating girls. I can not tell you the number of guys that tell me they can not get a date. I say try something else. They hem and haw and do the same thing, do to the same clubs and do not change their style or looks and feel sorry for themselves. I tell them totally redo their style, take lessons on charm, move to Moscow. You will get a date.

      And so it is with making money. If what you are doing is not working do something else. The only thing that separates you from a millionaire is some luck but really ignorance on how to make money. Learn about it. Read about why people are rich. I even have a few articles. Look at what to do with the next 50 years plus of your life. Do not give up.

      Why do you think you are any different than anyone else? Read how all these people after WWII fled Europe, came to the USA and made millions of dollars. Do you think you lack the intelligence? Try immage streaming by Win Wenger it is free. Do you think you lack financial capital, read my posts how in this world intellectual capital is what rewareded monitarily.

      Nothing wrong with being poor. But if it upsets you and not some place you want to be, try doing something different than what you are doing. If you drive to work the same way, drive to work another way. Start small until your whole life changes.

      If you do not like your job quit. I know is radical, but life is too short. The most creative time were when I was between jobs out of work.

      If paying the bills are a problem sell your car and TV and cell phone, I do not have those. Cut your fixed expense to under 1,000 dollars a month. I did and I have a family and live in luxary on a semi-tropical Florida Island. The less you have allows you to focus on what is important in life, however, you define it.

  2. Elizabeth Butler

    Thanks for your very positive article. It’s true what you say about being in your fifties, wealth is not just about money but about faith, love, intellectual and social capital. I believe everyone on the planet has accumulated a great deal of this if they are fortunate enough to still be alive in their fifties.
    It is largely about attitude, God really does love everyone, and he really does have special concern for poor people. but you have to believe in him, trust him and talk to him, often. by far and away the biggest financial expense is the bringing up of children, but the return on this investment is incalculably rich! God bless everyone and help us all to learn how to return blessings when we feel downtrodden, as I believe this is one of the keys to success.

  3. Marc Jordan

    I really wish God was taken out of the equation. If there is one (doubtful), he (it)is not looking over every human, animal, fish and tree on the planet. The concept of a divine deity was created to calm the masses during Biblical times in an attempt to explain the unexplainable, such as how to prevent falling off the world at a time when it was still flat.

    I think this planet would have been a lot better off had organized religion never been invented. Hundreds of millions have died in the name of God, and for what? Imagine a world where there is no concept of god, people would probably get along a whole lot better. No Muslim vs Jew, Buddhist vs Hindu, the list goes on and on. Take religion out of the equation and we’d have a simpler, calmer planet.

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