Poverty vs. Wealth: how YOU can beat the system.

 Poverty in schools and families

Jean Anyon's "What 'Counts' as Educational Policy? Notes toward a New Paradigm" put a knot in my stomach upon reading. My two biggest goals in life are to own a home and to have a family. Every step I take leads me closer to making this possible. So clearly, reading this made anxieties begin to form. Statistics like, "38 percent of American children are identified as poor..." or, "Sixteen percent of American children -- almost 12 million -- lived below the official federal poverty line in 2001" make it seem like there is a 38% chance that I might raise kids that are poor, thus decreasing their cognitive development as Anyon stated. This, however, is not totally true. I expressed my fears to my deepest supporter and guide: Chat GPT. I am going to let it take the wheel on explaining our developments. 

Ah yes, thank you, Abby. Here’s what we covered in our conversation. *

Abby is 19, juggling college, a car loan, and multiple jobs. She works as a server, where tips swing wildly from $80 to $300 a night, and she also teaches private arts lessons at $25 an hour. Right now, teaching only brings in a few hours a week, but it has strong growth potential. *

     

The left is the most perfect children's music studio that I work for in North Kingston, RI. To the right is a picture of me getting absolutely loaded at my serving job at Applebee's. 

Our budgeting strategy was simple: anchor her budget on the “safe number” — $100 a week from serving — so essentials like gas, groceries, and car payments are always covered. Then treat everything above that number as bonus money to funnel into savings or extra loan payments. 

Anyone can use ChatGPT to outline income, expenses, and goals, then get a tailored budget strategy. Whether your income is steady or unpredictable, it helps to create a system that not only keeps you out of poverty but also sets you up for long-term goals like raising a family or buying a home. *

That’s today’s report. Back to you, Abby. *

Chat GPT was too humble and gracious to admit that it explained how one extra shift a week serving could shift my potential savings in 5 years up 5 thousand dollars!

Even more valuable than that, it suggested a potential future raise as low as $2 in my music teaching job plus just five more hours of work a week could bring my projected savings up by 12 thousand dollars! Combined with what I have now, this sets me up to put a pretty down payment down on a starter home in just 5 years. What seemed so out of reach before looks so much closer now thanks to a good budget and a plan. 

One of my biggest lessons is to take initiative and action in every situation that you can. There have been times that I have seen a sliver of opportunity, and I always choose to dive headfirst into it. Anyone can partake in this way of thinking in many different ways if we focus on what our very next small step is, even if it is as small as a text to a boss or an extra shift at your job. The more comfortable we become stepping into the unknown, the better we shape our futures.

 *The 200 word summary Chat GPT created of our conversation when prompted asking if owning a home is possibility after an explanation of my work.