How Not to be Broke

Walter Williams, Economics Professor at George Mason University, offers this advice on how not to be poor.

“Avoiding long-term poverty is not rocket science. First, graduate from high school. Second, get married before you have children, and stay married. Third, work at any kind of job, even one that starts out paying the minimum wage. And, finally, avoid engaging in criminal behavior.”

Following this basic advice will almost guarantee that you keep your head above the poverty level. But what if you have already screwed up on one or more of these points? How do you avoid being perpetually broke for the rest of your life?
Here are some basic tips for avoiding long term poverty.

1. Learn something new

The only difference between where you are now and where you will be 5 years from now are what you experience and what you learn. (I stole that, but I can’t remember where) Come to terms with the fact that your current skill set is not enough to keep you out of poverty and decide to do something about it. There are several ways to accomplish this-

Take a class-
Many vo-tech and community colleges offer cheap night classes for adults to learn everything from basic computer skills to photography and plumbing.

Find a mentor-
If you have friends that work in a trade that interests you, hang out with them, go on jobs with them, take any opportunity to ask them questions about their field.

Perhaps the simplest way to begin this process is to

2. Read a friggin’ book!
The average millionaire reads a non-fiction book a week. The average American hasn’t read a non-fiction book since their last day of formal education. Get off the couch, turn off the television and get a library card. It’s free, it’s easy and it keeps you away from the television. Which brings us to number three-

3. Stop focusing your life on being entertained

I used to work in a video store and I would watch the folks coming in every Tuesday when the new releases came out. Four movies at a time cost $12. They came every week. This was in addition to their cable or satellite bills. This was in addition to the collection of cd’s they owned. This is in addition to the hours they spent on the internet playing yahoo games or forwarding stupid emails.

I don’t mean to sound callous, but please understand that every minute you spend focusing on entertainment costs you money. Not only is most entertainment not cheap, but it delays you from pursuing bigger and better things. If you don’t want to be broke for the rest of your life, start focusing on learning and improving yourself.

4. Stay away from places that rip you off

As you read this, you need to know that I am a staunch free market capitalist. I understand that pay day loans represent a huge risk to the lender. The default rate is sky high in that business and in my opinion the interest rate ought to be unbelievably high in order to dissuade broke people from using the service in the first place. Pay day loans are bad math. The cost of doing business is too high, especially when you are broke.

Other places to avoid when you’re broke-
Rent to own stores
Buy Here Pay Here auto dealerships
Cut rate insurance agencies

5. Appreciate the value of government services

If you’re broke, there is a good chance that you have several government assistance programs available to you. This includes food stamps, welfare, WIC, Medicaid, free daycare, free school lunches, etc.
While I inherently disagree with welfare programs, I understand that if you are a parent and you are broke, you do what you have to in order to care for your kids. With that in mind, understand what happens if you ever start making money for yourself.
If your habit is to buy overpriced junk food and pre-packaged meals with your food stamps, you are going to have a hard time making due on your own income if you ever get off the government programs. You have to be frugal when you spend your own money and if you don’t develop a habit of wise spending now, it will be twice as hard to develop later.


There is nothing easy about being broke. There is also nothing easy about getting out of poverty. It takes work to move beyond being broke. These 5 things are not an exhaustive list, but they are a good starting point for building a better life.