The majority of Americans struggle to come up with $400 in an emergency. An estimated 40 million are facing eviction. How do these people “pay themselves first”?

About half of the population would qualify as too poor for the advice in this article.

It is true the poor aren’t concerned with future gains. They are 100% focused on making the best decision possible for immediate survival.

The lucky ones in our society -- those born into good families with plenty of opportunity that leads to high-paying jobs -- believe they are successful because they earned it.

To blame the under-privileged is like condemning someone lost in the desert for not rationing their water better, as if this decision was the primary cause of death and not the fact that they were in a hostile environment in the first place.

This is exactly what society does. We point to the better choices we would make. It is absurd to blame a lack of planning rather than the real issue — a situation of limited options and no appreciable opportunity to improve their life.

In fact, society’s downtrodden face more of these crucial decisions on a regular basis than the more fortunate. Their ability to survive is a testament to their decision-making skill in this regard.

Researchers found that poor people often make more rational financial decisions.

https://medium.com/the-progressive-edge/bad-decisions-are-not-the-cause-of-poverty-83b74326ac48