Money

You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money.
P. J. O'Rourke

At first glance this sounds like a strange proposition. You may well think "Isn't that the only way to get rid of poverty? What's wrong with just giving someone whatever they don't have? Why won't that help them?"

The truth is that poverty isn't about a lack of money, any more than being happy is about having lots of money. Poverty is either a mindset or a lack of skills, and giving a poor person money will not change their mindset, or give them new skills (although it might make it easier for them to acquire schooling or training if they already know what skills they need).

We have all heard the story about the lottery winners who are bankrupt within 5 years because they never could change their mindset and never learned money management skills. For most poor people it is not obvious at all what they need to learn in order to become rich and most importantly stay rich. Most of us have never really been taught how to manage money. Nor have we been taught that money is not the end goal but simply a tool for other things. Nor that there is enough money to go around and we can always get more. I certainly wasn't and I came from an upper middle class family.

We all know the story about if you want to feed a hungry man, don't just give him a fish. Instead teach him how to fish. If you want to help a poor person, don't give him money. Give him a hand. Teach him how to get and manage money for himself. Tell him the truth about money and change his mindset about it. One person at a time, we can change the world together.