There's also some interesting psychology around poverty and delaying gratification in early childhood. Being able to save is a much easier skill to learn if you've come from a childhood of plenty. You can often see this in celebs who come from poor backgrounds - think of working class football players, many of them earn and lose a fortune in the first third of their life and end up without anything. Delaying gratification is sometimes a skill best learned outside of poverty - education can offset it, but it won't erase the pattern entirely. This is also the reason I should not be left unsupervised at buffets. :o)