15 Steps to Force Your Way Out of Poverty

Hello, alexers. Welcome back to a special multi-part series that we're going to be doing on the financial journey of going from poverty to wealth. Do not skip this intro; this is going to be an honest conversation focused on the fundamentals. The things you need to get right; otherwise, you'll be trapped in generational poverty. Nobody can choose where and to whom they're born, but if you do everything right, we can choose where and how we die.

This premise of you being able to alter your destiny is at the core of every person who ever got out of the trap of poverty. This series will take you through the complete journey from poverty into the middle class first and then on your way to riches. This piece will focus on the very start: how to force your way out of poverty. A study by the Brookings Institute shows the three main factors that guarantee poverty living as a family of four once you're over the age of 30.

These are:

1. Not completing a high school education. You know our position on the education system, but if you're starting out poor, the straight path out is through traditional education systems. You're struggling; you don't have the luxury to look down on school.
2. Children outside of wedlock early on in your life. An early pregnancy can take the wind out of your sails, even more so if the couple will not stay together.
3. Lack of wedlock. Two heads and two paychecks are better than one, especially as a single parent. Although the marriage part doesn't sit that right with us on a macro scale, we believe it makes sense.

Escaping poverty has two fundamental premises: one, the minimum predictable income that is enough to cover the basics; and two, the ability to access growth opportunities. Without these two elements, one can get stuck in a poverty spiral. Welcome to alux.com, the place where future billionaires come to get inspired. If you're not subscribed yet, you're missing out.

But enough with the theory; here are the exact 15 steps you need to take if you want to force yourself out of poverty.

Step one: Accept that things have to change. It's time you and yourself have a little talk. Sit yourself down and think about your life, the life your children will live, and what will happen if things remain the same. Contrary to what you're thinking, most poor people get really good at living the poor lifestyle. They find a rhythm, and although it sounds hard to believe, they get complacent.

This doesn't mean they like or enjoy their lifestyle; it just means they're not in a rush to change. In order for one to escape the trap of poverty, this needs to become a priority. Everything about the poor lifestyle will need to change, and for most people, this is their current identity, and of course, they're scared to lose it. The truth is this person needs to die. You'll have to kill your current self and become someone else. You will have to sacrifice for your well-being and that of your children.

You'll most likely need to sacrifice the people who are not benefiting your growth; sometimes these are your friends or even family members. You cannot help others unless you help yourself first, right now you're in no position to help anyone, so things need to change. Once you understand mentally and emotionally that you have no other option but to change, the process finally begins.

Step two: Honestly analyze your life and put everything down. You cannot make any real progress unless you get a clear inventory of your life in as much detail as possible. This isn't about making yourself look good; instead, be brutally honest with yourself. Begin with your finances: how much money do you earn and have coming in? How much do you spend every month? Break everything down into relevant topics like food, transportation, subscriptions, utilities, entertainment, clothing, family care, health, and so on.

Yes, poverty is more than a money problem, but we get a feeling that money would solve a lot of the problems you have in your life right now. So, you'll have to make it a priority to solve money for you. Most people have no idea how much money goes where. If you've never tracked your expenses, do it for 30 days, but do it in a brutally honest fashion. The moment you close into getting the personal report done, you'll be shocked at how much money you spend that maybe could be put to better use. Either way, you need this clear image because it'll allow you to move on to the next step.

Step three: Identify the bare minimum for survival. This is where you're going to put in some work. Go through the personal profile and identify the minimum you need to survive. You're going to enter survival mode. This means you'll allocate resources to only the most vital parts: keep the lights on, keep the water and gas going, and some food that's just good enough to get the job done. No, your Spotify or Netflix subscription is not a necessity.

The speed at which you're able to escape poverty depends on your ability to live as minimalistic a life as possible. I know it's gonna suck, but your life sucks right now anyway. If you want it to stop sucking, you're going to have to make some tough choices. After you identify the bare minimum for survival, you're ready for the next step.

Step four: Cut everything else out for at least 6 months. This is the part that people don't want to do; it's also the reason why people never escape poverty. Growth is the result of sacrificing the present for a better future, and most people don't want to sacrifice anything. They want all the upside without any effort or pain on their behalf, which is why years go by and nothing changes. No matter how much you try to attract money into your life, send out positive thoughts and prayers.

One thing is certain: Jesus ain't coming to pay your rent. So, be brutal with yourself. For what do you really have to lose? Six months of relative misery for a shot to have a better life long term? You'll get out of this situation by making the most out of the resources you already have at your disposal. Give yourself every advantage you can and rid yourself of everything that's making your journey longer, and this needs to happen now. The longer you stay in poverty, the higher the price is to get out.

This is why some people end up in generational poverty; they never stop the bleeding. Your priority is to spend as little money as possible so that with the little that's left you can begin to build momentum.

Step five: Get a job or increase your work volume. Don't allow pride to get in the way of achieving your long-term objectives. If you don't have a job, get one. As much as you want to become a millionaire long-term, you need to focus on the next six to 12 months of your life. You have to do anything you can to increase your income. If you already have a job, the simplest way to earn more is to increase work volume.

One or two extra hours a day while living minimally will make a difference, especially if your current workplace will pay for overtime. Remember that everything over 40 hours a week will be paid 50% more. If there are no opportunities to increase the volume at your current workspace, use the gig economy. You're doing this for yourself and so your children will not have to go through the same pain you're going through right now. What better reason is there to do what you must? Deliver for Postmates or Glovo, or drive for Uber. Find a job on Craigslist. Help small businesses in your area in any way that gets you paid.

Step six: Prioritize immediate high-interest debt. Because you're now spending less than you were before and hopefully found a way to slightly increase your income, it's time to address the biggest pains in your life: debt. The system is set up in such a way it takes advantage of the poor and less educated. Just because you throw a credit card away doesn't mean the money you owe goes with it. Never from this day forward will you ever use payday loans again.

Look at all the debts you have and see which one has the highest interest. The interest is that percentage in your contract of which you'll pay on top of the money you borrowed. If you don't know, make it a priority to find out. Almost everything you earn that doesn't go into your survival should go to paying off the highest interest debt you carry. Why? Every day that debt isn't paid, you owe more and more money. Debt is the modern version of chains; as long as you have it, you'll never be free.

Step seven: Save one month worth of essential money. Because you've done the analysis at step three, you know exactly how much money you need to survive month to month. We know saving money is not your forte, but this step is crucial. What happens if you lose your job or you have a medical emergency? Without savings, you would have to go more into debt. More chains, less freedom, more poverty for an even longer period of time.

This is how you need to think about savings: you have them to protect yourself against darker times because you know damn well it's just a matter of time until they come. You're literally in a race to get this minimum fund ready as quickly as possible.

Step eight: Pride aside, take every handout you can get. You have no idea just how many systems are set in place to help you because the truth is, they suck at letting everyone know about them. If you can eat for free, do it. If your neighbor can take care of your children while you're at work, do it. If the city allows you to use public transportation because of your financial status, do it. You're never too good to ride the bus or walk to work, especially now when this money can go toward paying off the bad debt you've gotten yourself into or it can be used for your savings fund.

Use the food stamps. Don't buy yourself a PS5 with a stimulus check. Find programs in your area designed to help. One of the most underutilized resources out there are libraries. You know those buildings you never go into? Libraries are extremely cool, and if they were to invent them today, the subscription would cost a fortune. At this stage, it's all about making progress. Put your pride aside, keep your head down, and keep pushing forward. Always remember the long-term game you're playing.

Step nine: Identify sustainable opportunities to increase your income. At step five, you forced yourself to increase your work volume. Although this gets the job done for short to medium periods of time, it will take a toll on yourself. If your last focus was to increase the number of hours per workday that you can monetize, now it's time to increase your pay per hour. There are two ways to get this done: one, a promotion within the organization you currently work for; or two, a higher-paying job at a different organization.

The key word here is sustainable, meaning once you make the switch, you can confidently predict you'll earn more than you're currently earning for the foreseeable 12 months. This will not happen on its own. You'll need to use the little remaining time in your day to look for other employment opportunities. Leverage the good work you're doing to build trust with your prospective employers. Be honest; let them know you're disciplined and a hard worker and will be willing to make the switch for a specific salary.

It's easy to scoff at an additional five dollars per hour, but if you're currently earning fifteen dollars an hour, an extra five would mean you just increased your work income by 33 percent. Some promotions will require you to take on more responsibility or quickly build a new skill set, and since this is what will get you out of the hole, say yes to every opportunity and figure it out as you go. This is your priority in life; you need the extra income.

Step ten: Start to build good credit. In the words of Jay-Z, you know what's more important than throwing money in a strip club? Credit. The reason the system has you pinned down and locked into poverty is because of debt, and credit is just a different form of debt. The more the system is confident you can pay off your debts, the better terms you'll get.

Here's how you build good credit fast: pay your bills on time. Payment history is the single biggest factor that affects credit scores, and late payments can stay on your credit report for seven years. Make it a priority to pay them on time every single time. Two, make more than one payment per month. The lower you keep your balance, the quicker your credit goes up. Instead of paying it off at the end of every month, pay it off every two weeks.

Three, ask for higher credit limits. When your credit limit goes up and your balance stays the same, it instantly lowers your overall credit utilization, which in turn improves your credit. Once you show the money people you're good with money consistently, you're ready for the next step.

Step eleven: Refinance long-term debts for better returns. As long as you carry heavy debt with you, you will never be free. Everything you do should be focused on getting out of poverty, and debt is how poverty is measured in the modern world. One of the best ways to improve your financial situation is by refinancing long-term debts. If you've done everything right up until this point, you should have no problem getting better terms when you refinance.

This means you can either pay less per month or pay the same but rid yourself of debt sooner than before. As of making this piece, interest rates are at an all-time low because of the economic situation, which means this is a unique opportunity to simply walk into a bank, let them know about the debts you have under the bad terms, show them your new good credit, and get it paid with a new debt that is a lot less straining on your finances. Banks will offer these consultations for free; it's their business to make sure they can offer you a better deal than their competitors. Use this competition to your personal gain.

Step twelve: Save four months' worth of essential money. By this point, your life is starting to feel a lot better. You feel in control, and things are starting to look up for you. This is where people usually screw everything up and fall back into old habits. Others will see you doing just a bit better and immediately try to drag you back down to where you started. Sorry, fam; I can't afford to give anyone money right now will become your most common word.

It's easy to identify money vacuums—people or services that just want your money. You keep your head down and move forward. You don't need a better phone as long as yours still works, even if the screen is cracked. At this stage, you don't need to be cool. You know what's actually cool? Not being poor for the rest of your life because you wanted to impress some people who don't even care about you.

Don't allow anything to sabotage your mission. Be a person of purpose. It worked so far, which is why you finally found yourself in a position to build some runway. Use this position to put aside four months of essential money. This is your new priority. Shit will inevitably hit the fan at some point, and you need to be ready to deal with it. If you don't, all that you've built would fall like a house of cards and send you back to the beginning. You didn't come this far just to come this far and go back.

Step thirteen: Use free resources to build your skill set and monetize that. The first half of this piece forced you to get things under control, while the second half got you ready and in position for this right here. This is how you're going to make the leap from poverty into the middle class. The marketplace will pay you in proportion to what you can offer it. You need a valuable skill set that you can monetize.

Fortunately for you, you live in the best time in history to do this. You have an entire library of value at your disposal for free. Use the internet to learn things that people will pay for. You can learn how to restore old furniture. You can learn how to use Microsoft Excel on YouTube and literally double your salary. Learn how to manage a social media profile. Learn how to graphic design. This is the beauty of the age that we're living in; for anything you wish to learn, there's someone out there who's documented everything and made it available for free.

At this stage, never pay for anything that you can get for free, and pay close attention to the people who want your money. As a rule of thumb, there are no get-rich-quick schemes; there are just people who will get rich off of you.

Step fourteen: Become a contractor instead of an employee. This is where the leap actually takes place. The moment you go from being an employee to being a contractor is the crucial point in your trajectory. There are two main reasons why becoming a business is better than working for a business. One: flexibility. You're not locked into a single revenue source; you can serve the one that pays you more and more than one client at a time.

Two: taxes and benefits. Society has decided that contractors are worth more to the marketplace than employees, so it gives them better terms. You pay less in taxes, and you enjoy more freedoms. The day you decide to work for yourself, the marketplace begins to treat you differently. If you're decent at what you do, you'll make a decent living. But you come from poverty; there's a hunger these other people can't relate to.

This hunger will be your competitive advantage. It'll not allow you to settle for just this; it'll push you forward. Sooner than later, you'll find yourself in a position to expand, and that's when you'll bring in help.

Step fifteen: Group source your way out of poverty. By yourself, you can force your way out of poverty and cross the line into the middle class, but it's all still dependent on you to keep performing. To be safe, you'll need to keep moving up until you're as far away as you can be from the life you used to live. That's where you'll need other people to help you, and in exchange, you'll help them do the same.

People bring leverage; the collective is stronger than the sum of its parts. You have your strengths and your weaknesses. If this new reality you're building is to last, you need to cover these weaknesses, and other people can do that for you. If you've made it out of poverty, it is your responsibility to help others do the same, but be very careful whom you choose to help. Because some will want to be helped to make money, while others will want yours and will make it their mission to take it from you.

The snakes are in the grassy aluxers; you have to learn to deal with them. Maybe you're fortunate, and some of these steps don't apply to you. We started out poor, but fortunately, debt wasn't an issue. We simply didn't have any money and had to figure out how to build from that, but the fundamentals remain the same: sacrifice and prioritizing long-term over short-term.

This makes us wonder: those of you who've made it out of poverty, how did you escape from poverty? Tell us your story in the comments so our community knows it is possible. Next week, we'll continue this journey and break down what it takes to never be poor again, so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss the notification.

And as for those of you who are still with us, you get a special bit of information. Your bonus: 1 in 5 people born in poverty manages to move up in society, giving their children an even better opportunity for upward mobility. Here's something you probably don't know: a study by Fidelity Investments found that 88% of millionaires are self-made millionaires, meaning they grew up in a middle-class or poor family. Only 12% of rich people alive today have inherited their fortune, and their numbers are dropping rapidly.

Approximately 41% of self-made millionaires come from poor households, according to research done by Thomas C. Corley. That's almost half. Growing up poor sucks, but we know the kind of drive it instilled within us. Many of the lessons we learned back then have paid dividends over and over.

You're living in the most abundant age in human history, and our economy is on the brink of disruption. The middle class is being shrunk down, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Very soon, the world will be split into halves and have-nots, and this is the time you have to decide on which side of the split you'll find yourself.

Technology, advanced education, money, and health will all soon be commercialized to a degree unseen before. Our world is slowly becoming a pay-to-win game. We hope you're ready, alexers. If you are, please write the word "ready" in the comments section so we know you're ready for what's coming. We always value your support. Remember to subscribe for more videos, and thanks for the thumbs up!