Poverty can be defined as a persistent lack of financial means necessary to sustain a relatively acceptable or comfortable quality of life. To overcome poverty, you need to improve certain aspects of your personal and financial well-being, using a variety of methods. Follow these guidelines to learn how to overcome poverty.
Steps
Step 1. Avoid counterproductive behaviors typical of those who squander money
Taking on the responsibility of ending poverty means eliminating the habits that lead to impoverishment from one's life. So, stop:
- Making unnecessary expenses. Don't spend money on unnecessary things. Also, avoid paying full price for items that can be purchased on sale, with coupons, or through other savings options, such as online auction sites, pawn shops, thrift shops, and private used item sales.
- Betting on luck rather than planning for the future. Studies show that the poor spend almost twice as much as the rich to play various lotteries. Statistically speaking, this type of spending rarely pays off the investments made and contributes to impoverishing people.
Step 2. Take advantage of government welfare programs
You can use them as a stepping stone to overcome poverty by using the funds to offset your primary expenses while trying to promote your financial situation. Look for local, regional and national benefits for food, health care, education, rent.
Step 3. Increase your income
Ending poverty means having a steady stream of income that not only covers your monthly financial obligations, but also allows you to save and invest in a poverty-free future. You can use one of the following methods, or a combination of them, to increase your income:
- Promotion at work. Ask for a raise at your current job or apply for a higher paying position within the company you work for.
- Second job. A part-time job can provide you with the temporary means to overcome poverty while you are busy finding more open-ended full-time employment opportunities.
- You work to round up. If you have commercial talent or skills, you can use your skills to generate additional income and defeat poverty. For example, you can babysit, cook for someone, clean houses, mow lawns, do handyman repairs, or paint interiors to earn extra money.
- Alternatives to the income obtained through the main job. The private sale of used items, the auctioning of articles on online sites, participation in medical research studies are some examples to increase your income outside of the usual job.
Step 4. Learn more about money management
When you are on a tight budget, it is important to take steps to organize and distribute income in order to meet financial obligations and quantify future goals. Meet with a professional who works at a financial institution to discuss how you can balance a checking account, create a savings plan, and use an open account.
Step 5. Protect your future
Once you are able to overcome the condition of poverty in the present, you can guarantee the possibility of not getting worse by taking the following measures:
- Instruction. Studies show that education is valuable for increasing income and finally defeating poverty. Education opens the door to many and varied job opportunities that would otherwise not be accessible. In addition, it equips you better to be able to advance and understand the complex network of welfare programs and money management techniques - both of which are helpful in getting out of poverty.
- Investments. Talk to a financial advisor about investment vehicles that you can use to leverage a small amount of money and multiply it. In this way you will be able to make your money work and get closer to your goal of definitively overcoming the condition of poverty.
- Contributions. Pay social security contributions. Even the smallest monthly contribution will add up over time, so make sure the employer pays his share as well.
