It's True: You're Broke Because You Want To Be

I believe that within a modern society with a modern economy, people are broke because they want to be.  

Poverty is more a result of personal bad choices than we usually acknowledge.  Without acknowledging this fact we cannot adequately fight poverty.  

Poverty has little to do with our environment or race. If a person's fate in life is predetermined by his social and physical environment, then we should all still be living in caves. 

Pay close attention to the people you know that are broke and stay broke.  

You are capable of helping yourself by going out there and earning more money.
You need to earn more money, not expect others to give it to you.
Take responsibility for your own life.  It's your fault you're broke. 

It's not your depression or your anxiety's fault that things aren't going your way.
It's your fault you aren't following through on your applications which
is why you're still broke! 

Don't blame him or his job (or lack thereof) for the fact you don't have money.
It's your fault.  Get off your butt and go back to work!

They find blame for their misfortunes in everyone and everything but themselves and their lack of self control when it comes to money and their attitudes.  They deny their own responsibility in those choices.  

This is a relief

There is nothing more demoralizing than to convince someone they are incapable of taking care of themselves.  LDS gospel principles of church welfare and self reliance teach us the exact opposite of what society teaches regarding welfare and poverty. Some things they teach us. 

(1) Each of us has a responsibility to try to avoid problems before they happen and to learn to overcome challenges when they occur.  

I feel that so many members of the Church have a gross misunderstanding of this: Church welfare was set up to remind us that we are responsible for preventing need in the first place. We are responsible for preventing the outcomes that would make us go to our bishop or local welfare office for temporal assistance.  Church welfare wasn't created just in case we need it, a common belief I've noticed that is irritating. This attitude makes us void of personal responsibility and consequences for our decisions.  It destroys our temporal and spiritual progress. 

(2) We need to abandon immature strategies of blaming and victimhood and adopt a more self-reliant view of ourselves in the world.  

(3) Because of agency, we create our problems and therefore, we are capable of fixing them.  We're responsible for our situations and we can't just wish for something to happen.  We have to get up and do something about it.  Once we feel remorse for our poor choices that led us to being broke, we exercise repentance and change the behavior that made us broke, and prevent it from happening again.   

You Don't Have a Money Problem

Most broke people do not have a money problem: the money problem is a result of other problems! Discipline problems, self esteem problems, attitude problems, integrity problems, thinking problems.  Messed up priorities.  

Other Things
No amount of outside help like money from family, free rent,  Xmas presents from Secret Santas, or public assistance will help poor people out other than themselves.  Outside help tends to make the problem worse.  This is because before you can fix a problem you have to know you have a problem.  The sad truth is most of the poor people in your community or family you are trying to help, don't think they have a problem, so therefore they see no incentive to fix it. 

We do nothing for our broke friends and relatives when we tolerate their whining and moaning about what's wrong with their life, job, etc.  

We do our loved ones a favor when we cowboy up, look them straight in the eye and tell them, 

"You know what?  Life is your own damn fault.  It's your fault that you're broke"