[alnayyir]

The last paragraph of what you said tells me you already figured out what I was expressing in the post.

There are myriad reasons people may be poor. Some are circumstantial and should be considered with compassion, some are banal and essentially due to character flaws (such as silly spending).

I too live below my means (my income to rent ratio is ~220x, per NYC-style measurement) and will be leaving the country for an extended trip come Jan 7. I can only do this because I was aggressively saving my money and have very low expenses.