The world population today is approximately 8 billion people. Statistics on poverty indicate that more than 3 billion people live in poverty. This is approximately 40% of the people on the planet who live in poverty. This statistics is not only staggering but it is heartbreaking. This is because of the devastating impact of poverty, some of which I will be looking at in this post.
What is poverty?
Poverty is the state of being extremely poor or not having sufficient money to meet the basic needs of life. When I think of poverty, there are three categories of people who are in poverty.
The first are the people who are born into poverty. There are literally billions of children today they have not done anything wrong just circumstance of birth just brought them into poverty.
The second category of people are those struggling with poverty, because of certain choices they make and behaviors they indulge in.
The third category of people are others who struggle with poverty, because of ignorance
If you are in any of these three categories my goal is to share information that will help you reposition out of poverty
So what are the different causes of poverty ? There are numerous causes, but I will limit it to four.
One, poverty carry over. People do not just inherit poverty, but they live it out by perpetuating it in their own generation. It is not anybody’s fault to inherit poverty. There are literally billions of people who are born with poverty. However, they do not have to be stuck with it. Poverty in this respect is like the issue of disability, some are born with disability and they live, their entire life, as being disabled and helpless, whereas others are born with the same disability, and they go on to overcome their disability by accomplishing things that even able bodied people cannot achieve
The second cause of poverty is indulging in poverty promoting habits, such as laziness, and people being nonchalant towards their job .
Others may include hanging out with irresponsible people , reckless life, such as smoking or drinking, which could lead to addiction, and impair their ability to focus on the job, or keep a proper career. In addition, other poverty promoting habits include over spending, piling up credit card debt, living beyond one’s means, living from hand to mouth and not planning for the future financially.
Thirdly, the poverty mindset. Is having the thought of it can’t be better than this. Or thinking there is nothing I can do to improve my financial status. I have tried and I cannot make it in life . I have tried in the past but it didn’t work out. I know people who tried it and it didn’t work , Giving up and making all sorts of excuses and giving one self the permission to be an onlooker in winning the game of money . This transcends into inability or unwillingness to develop one’s skills to improve one’s ability to earn better. It’s been said that money grows on skills not on trees
The last one is poverty promoting jobs. It is ironic that a job that is expected to empower one financially can be the reason why the person is poor. There are literally billions of people today who are trapped in jobs that are taking them nowhere financially. Such jobs give them no time to rediscover themselves, retrain themselves or think, and use their mental capacity to come up with all the steps they can take to start more rewarding careers and jobs. Someone has put it this way, “he who works all day has no time to make money”.
Another person says the best way to become poor is to get a job that will suck life out of you . Examples of such jobs include jobs with very lengthy hours, that leave one fatigued or unproductive at the end of the day. Or the jobs may include jobs that give you lots of overtime, and no time to think or do any other creative things with your life. They also include combining several jobs back-to-back, and having no life other than a job. If such a job is done to accumulate capital for investments it is understandable, but if it is it permanent feature in one’s life, that is a guaranteed recipe for poverty
So the question is, why must I stop poverty before it stops me?
The reason is because poverty has so many devastating consequences on one’s life.
Poverty can entice one into crime and other immoralities.
Poverty can also impact one’s life in virtually every other area, including health, education, career, marriage and family potential, and spiritual life . The list goes on and on .Here are the four I like to share with us.
One , crime and other immorality. lack of money pushes people to engage in different immoral and illegal activities, such as prostitution drug trafficking , smuggling, forging record, theft, cheating on tax, paying cash, to avoid paying sales tax
The second one is that poverty destroys people’s potentials. People who have been destined to be great have been stopped because of lack of finance to pursue their education. There are millions of people around the world who have potential to become medical doctors, lawyers, engineers, pilots,,top government officials,,top inventors, and so on, but lack the financial resource to acquire basic training on education, and they end up as factory workers for the rest of their lives. That is how poverty can destroy peoples potential.
Thirdly, poverty can destroy one’s health if the person is scheduled for medical treatments, or even procedures he can’t afford to pay for. Poverty also makes people work in jobs that are hazardous to their health.
Also,it can make people live in places that are very degrading to human dignity, which exposes people’s health to different kinds of conditions that induce sicknesses and diseases. Others include not being able to afford to eat decent meals, live in good homes and clean environments that could promote health and wellness.
The last one is marriage and family . Finance is one of the leading causes of divorce and domestic problems. It can also stop parents from raising their children properly. This is because of excessive long hours of work and people holding a career pursuit that leaves them with little or no time to properly raise their children
There are many ways poverty can be eliminated in the life of an individual. I will share. four based on the four causes of poverty discussed earlier.
One, poverty carryover can be overcome by acquiring necessary education and skills that will lift an individual out of poverty through gainful employment and rewarding career
On mindset and ignorance, the antidote is to gain financial literacy by learning how money really works . Regarding mindsets, reading is a big part of the solution by exposing one’s mind to books, messages, video podcasts, and all the materials that could help one renew his or her mind, and change the pattern of thinking. This will go a long way to help anyone reset his mindset differently
Regarding poverty promoting behavior such as laziness, leaving from hand to mouth, lack of saving habits and so on,. An effective solution is having a good role model, mentor, coach, or consultant who can help one overcome such behavior through a combination of therapy, coaching, modeling and inspiring better behavior, and also being exposed to other people who have overcome such challenges, and have done great things after overcoming poverty
Lastly, the antidote to poverty promoting jobs is to have a proper plan and develop the courage to implement such plans. It would typically involve setting up a timeline within which one wants to break loose from such jobs, and following a plan of researching for alternative parts.. Taking time off and using your holiday time to do that retraining, or acquiring new skills along with that job, and then eventually pivot into a new path to earn enough cash flow to meet one’s expenses
While I do not claim to be an expert or to have arrived on the subject of eliminating poverty I certainly have learned valuable lessons that I’ve set me on the journey with valid proofs. My goal is not to hug or keep these lessons to myself, but to share them to add value to you and help you on your journey the same way I have been helped by those who shared them with me. As I conclude, , I have shared with us some of the causes of poverty and three categories of people that are living in poverty, ,the effects of poverty, and how poverty can be eliminated in our lives.
