This is very good advice to give someone who starts from a position of neutral or positive finances. It is practically useless advice to give to a poor person

This is very good advice to give someone who starts from a position of neutral or positive finances. It is practically useless advice to give to a poor person who grew up poor, in an area where prices are increasing much faster than their income. This is a very well known problem. The poor person must make financial decisions out of absolute short term necessity that result in worse financial futures compared to one who has the starting finances to think long term. One good example is in everyday choices, like buying shoes. A good pair of shoes, the type you would wear to a job (whether working boots or business casual) may cost around $80. Most of us here think that's low, but it's a reasonable example. Those $80 shoes should last a few years with some maintenance (low cost maintenance). The cheap shoes cost $15. They will be very poorly made (probably by children or effective slave labor), and they will come apart within a year (despite your efforts to keep them clean or make small repairs). The poor person will have to buy new shoes more often, and the overall cost will probably be higher than if they had been able to _invest_ in better shoes. Used cars are another good example. The $500 beater will require more maintenance and be less reliable than the $3000 used car, but the poor person doesn't get to choose wisely. So they buy the $500 car, drive far each day to work (since they cannot afford to live close their job due to rising property prices). Their car breaks down or otherwise requires $xxx in repairs frequently. In the end, they will spend more on their car than the person who could afford the $3k up front. Now, perhaps the poor person can get a loan so they can make some wiser buying decisions. We know how that goes. Once saddled with debt, they are statistically far less likely to get out of debt and reach a positive financial situation. If you look at the numbers on poverty in the US, you'll see just how many poor kids you are asking something impossible of.