I'm only in my 20s, but know three people quite well, all from diverse backgrounds, who have escaped the poverty trap. The traits I would note is that they wer

I'm only in my 20s, but know three people quite well, all from diverse backgrounds, who have escaped the poverty trap. The traits I would note is that they were reasonably intelligent, actually made changes in their lives in order to achieve financial success (ie played the game to win), and were somewhat "interesting" socially. The last one may be selection bias, but I'm not so sure. I remember listening to an interview with Grant Petty (Co-Founder/CEO of Blackmagic Design, grew up in public housing in Shepparton, would be worth $100m+ overnight if they IPO'd) saying that he was basically too Autistic to pick up on social cues from others informing him that he was white trash and had no future.