Speaking from an Australian perspective here, so many of the traps that exist in the US (medical debt, credit card debt persisting post-bankruptcy, low minimum

Speaking from an Australian perspective here, so many of the traps that exist in the US (medical debt, credit card debt persisting post-bankruptcy, low minimum wage etc.) just simply don't exist here. Of course, there are people who are chronically unemployed, abused, single mothers whose ex-husband dodges child support etc. For every one person like that, though, there are a dozen who simply live beyond their means, fail to plan for the future and get bowled over by minor hiccups. I know a couple who have both been in the professional workforce for decades, have a household income of 200k+, own no property and had to take out finance to pay for a bloody Holden Barina (<20k AUD car). There's a reason that The Barefoot Investor has sold 1.4m copies in a country with a population of 25m. The advice within is golden for those who exist in this state of self-inflicted middle-class poverty.