This week on The Wealthy You!; win the war against poverty.
Building wealth for you, your family, and your community is doing your part to win the war against poverty. There is a war against poverty despite it not being mentioned in the news on a regular basis or even hearing other people talk about it throughout society. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson initiated a war on poverty in 1964, this program has been the center of various different criticisms and its ability to actually fight poverty from a whole-of-government approach, but the reasoning behind it makes sense. This was an interventionist strategy led by the state, but this approach doesn’t allow people or give citizens the opportunity to stand on their own two feet and develop and prosper on their own work, energy and economic production. Johnson’s program has been criticized and often been tagged as the program that has led to the massive welfare state that the U.S. Government has built over the pass few decades. Despite its criticism and shortcomings, the government was correct about one thing; generally speaking, the fewer people there are in poverty, the lower the crime rate, drug use, prison populations, homeless camps and other ills associated with poverty in society. This is a fact that all people can come together on. The easiest way of winning the war on poverty is to not be in poverty yourself. That makes it a personal endeavor instead of a state-led effort. How has poverty served society? Have you ever seen anyone purchase happiness with poverty?
The best and most effective way to not be in poverty yourself is to have a thorough understanding of financial literacy and to produce for others. Understanding financial literacy is my DEFENSIVE approach and producing is my OFFENSIVE approach.
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States released the U.S. National Strategy for Financial Literacy. They define financial literacy and education, “Financial literacy describes the skills, knowledge and tools that equip people to make individual financial decisions and actions to attain their goals; this may also be known as financial capability, especially when paired with access to financial products and services. Financial education is the process by which people gain information, skills, confidence and motivation to act, through various means, including classroom education, one-on-one counseling and coaching, technology-based interventions, and self-study. A key desired outcome for financial education is sustained financial well-being, in which people can fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations, can feel secure in their financial future, and are able to make choices that allow enjoyment of life.” In the document, they call for state, tribal, and local governments, the private sector, local service providers and community organizations to work and participate together to teach and spread financial literacy to the people they serve and work for in their corner of society. The Wealthy You! DEFENSE & OFFENSE operate within the private sector. The government wants you to be smart with money and to be wealthy.
Doing your part to win the war on poverty helps not only you, your family, and your community, but it directly and indirectly helps other people from around the world. You become a member of the world’s production instead of being a sole-consumer. Whatever you produce through self-interests, other people in societies around the world will be interested in your production because it is helpful and productive for their life. Those people will merely trade in their own money for your production (OFFENSE), that money goes into your pocket or bank account, you can then use some of that money to trade in for food, energy, home and other things you need, and then through proper financial literacy (DEFENSE) you will be able to build The Wealthy You!.
Imagine going on the OFFENSE to produce a product the whole world will consume and utilize (McDonalds, Apple, Google, Twitter, Ford, Coca-Cola, and any other company that can be found around the world). These companies produce a product for people around the world that are willing to trade in their money for these companies products or services (money is a means of exchange or sharing). Think about humans and what humans need to survive, thrive and live and everything that orbits humans (pets, luxuries, entertainment, wants, etc…). In America (and other democracies with a human-capital means of production) you do not need the state’s permission to produce for the world. You just need to file with the secretary of state in whichever state you plan on operating from and then it becomes your responsibility to figure out how to produce your product or service (factory or farm), distribution of your product and the continued sales of your product. Of course there are a lot of nuances to doing this, but that is a part of the fun in producing for the world and building The Wealthy You!.
Next week on The Wealthy You! – OFFENSE; poverty is a lack of resources and wealth is an abundance of resources.
Become The Wealthy You!