I have been poor almost my whole life (by Canadian standards), yet I don’t complain about my poverty.

Here are some examples of my poverty:

• I worked as a janitor in an office building cleaning toilets and vacuuming carpets at 3:00 am
• I worked as a busboy cleaning tables at more than one restaurant
• I worked at a sandwich deli preparing sandwiches
• I worked as an Uber driver
• I have gotten my food from food centers

Instead of denouncing my lack of income, I considered myself so lucky to have the opportunity to work when I needed to pay the rent and put food on the table.

I always knew that the were opportunities for me to get out of poverty.

I was a victim of racial discrimination. I never got the jobs that I was applying for because my French was never good enough for my prospective Quebecois bosses.

I started my own business as a dance teacher because I didn’t have any choice. But slowly I crawled myself out of poverty.

I worked hard
I was frugal
I saved money
I learned how to invest
And now, 22 years after my arrival to Canada, I am retired.

I am lucky enough to live in a great country as Canada, where anyone who decides to get out of poverty, has the opportunity to get out of poverty.

Here is my formula to get out of poverty:

1. Stop consuming cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol
2. Adopt a frugal mentality. Be careful about how you spend your money.
3. Invest in yourself. There are hundreds of FREE college classes or YouTube classes on everything. All my real education, I got on YouTube.
4. Learn how to invest your savings.
5. Do some exercises every day.
6. Spend some time with friends and family.
7. Don’t eat junk food.
8. Get enough sleep.

If you follow that simple formula, not only you will get out of poverty, but you will have a healthy life and you can make lots of money.

If I did it, an immigrant with no special skills, I am sure you can do it too.

I have no problem with income inequality. I can care less if Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are multybillionaires. All I care is that I have the opportunity to improve myself, to work hard, and to invest.

Support this blog

You can support this blog by:

1. Subscribing to our YouTube Channel.
2. Subscribing to our podcast through your favorite podcast app.
3. Subscribing to our newsletter. We send one email every Sunday with a summary of the week.

Previous Posts

1. Men Feel Lonely Too. Loneliness is the second epidemic we are fighting
2. How Much Money Would You Like to Earn
3. I am starting a high-risk stock portfolio