Image by Korean Resource Center via Flickr

Each day millions of American’s go off to work worried about making ends meet, hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel and suddenly finding themselves if not rich, as least financially well off. Many people, will do just about anything to keep up with the Jones and out of the poor house. Few take the time to stop and think that being poor isn’t such a bad thing. There are actually some privileges to poverty you have probably never even stopped to consider.

• Great Friends are a hallmark benefit of being poor. You will never have to worry if people like you for yourself or because you have money. It’s pretty obvious when someone invites you to lunch knowing you can’t afford to pick up the check that it is your scintillating company that is drawing them and not your bank balance.

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  Not only will you not ever have to worry about someone wanting to marry you because they see you as a meal ticket, but in some cases there are people out there who will actually offer you money to marry them!

• You will be saved the burden and the headache of having to decide where you will spend your next vacation. There will be no arguments over whether you should go on that long awaited cruise or off to some romantic hot spot. You will know, that if you can afford time off to take a vacation at all, it will be spent in the comfort of your own back yard weeding the garden so you can put food on the table.

• You will never have to suffer the disappointment or frustration of discovering that the new Mercedes or Ferrari you purchased is actually a lemon. You will know that the car you own has been test driven for years by a series of drivers who should have worked all the bugs out of it by now.

Image via Wikipedia

• Your life will be more relaxed and stress free. There is no worry about making the opera or the opening of that Broadway show on time. You never have to worry about over extending your commitments since you have no money to go anywhere or do anything. Sitting home and relaxing is the only thing you can honestly afford.

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• You can complete your monthly budget in a few minutes time instead of spending days or hours working on it. Since you can barely pay the rent, you don’t have to take time deciding where to spend the extra money you make.

• You don’t have to spend time worrying over cuts in your retirement fund, as you are never going to be able to afford to retire anyway. Less worry could add years to your life.

• You also don’t have to worry about the rising costs of health care, since everyone knows that poor people can’t afford to get sick.

Most of us are never going to be rich, so we might as well relax and enjoy the little joys in life and quit fretting over what we don’t have. It is time we enjoyed the simple pleasures in life, and then maybe we can all feel that poverty or near poverty has its privileges.