The 7 Paths to Poverty: Learning How Not to Prosper

This Breakfast Club started with a story: the tale of a beggar who also smoked cigarettes. The moral of the story: that smoker could have saved $850,000 from his 20s to the time he was 60 by not smoking.  Dr. Lance Mason, a dentist, and Gary Byrne, an economist, co-authored a book centered on this story with the idea that we each have enough money pass through our lives to live well. The question they ask is, where does it all go? The book discusses a battle between you and the institutions that want you to go broke. Ultimately, say Mason and Bryne, it is up to each individual to forge their own fortunes and destinies alike, by avoiding the traps of society, like Starbucks and take-out meals.

Student Response: “We had very interesting speakers this year and each one affected me in a positive way.  Since I cannot choose them all, I will choose Lance Mason and Gary Byrne, who wrote Seven Paths to Poverty: Finding Financial Stability in an Unstable World.  Their methods of dealing with money really interest me.  I love the complexities and the ways to move money effectively.  It is something I want to learn about and see myself studying in the future.  I plan to start saving up money (what little I have).  I know people say money isn’t everything, but for a kid who has grown up without any, it means a lot.”  – D. T. (grade 12)