Marketplace Money for Friday, October 5, 2012

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How do you decide what to do with your money when you have very little? In a special report from our Wealth and Poverty Desk and KPBS in San Diego, we look at the tough choices faced by families living in poverty. For poor people in the U.S., every single penny counts. Good choices about how to spend those pennies can lead to a path out of poverty. Bad choices can send them spiraling downward. We talk with a woman who's worked and saved enough to buy her own house, a family that's counting change picked up on the sidewalk, and a young man who will be the first in his family to go to college. Plus, stories on finding the funny in frugal, driving while poor, and poverty simulation.

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31

Tough Choices: How the poor spend money

Three families living around the poverty line in San Diego tell Marketplace Money what it means to spend money when you don't have a whole lot of it.
Posted In: child poverty, Personal Finance, San Diego, Housing, cars, wealth gap, economic mobility, tough choices, poverty
35

Could you live off of $438 a week?

The poverty threshold for a family of four was $22,811 last year according to Census data. Do you think you could survive on just $1,900 per month? Try our interactive poverty simulation to find out.
Posted In: poverty, simulator, interactive, tough choices
3

The psychology of poverty

One Harvard professor says being poor not only impacts people financially, but mentally as well
Posted In: poor, tough choices, psychology, behavioral economics
8

Is personal responsibility the key to ending poverty?

Two takes from experts on both sides of the political spectrum on why people are poor and what they can do about it.
Posted In: poverty, personal responsiblity, tough choices
5

Rich and poor in San Diego speak out on wealth gap

Residents of San Diego's wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods reflect on opportunity, responsibility and the American Dream.
Posted In: San Diego, Income Gap, wealth gap, poverty, wealth, opportunity, Education, homeless, personal responsiblity, American dream, tough choices
8

Falling into poverty: A family’s story

Clifford Fleischbein and DeeDee Varner used to make $250,000 a year. They're now living just above the poverty line in San Diego.
Posted In: tough choices, poverty
3

A car can transport people out of poverty

When you're poor, car trouble can spiral out of control -- but for those without access to public transportation, a car is essential.
Posted In: poverty, mobility, Transportation, financial literacy, cars, homeless, San Diego, tough choices
0

Comedian puts the funny in frugality

Comedian Juston McKinney grew up poor. Many of his jokes have to do with being a poor kid and how living middle class now hasn't solved all of his problems.
Posted In: poverty, comedy, tough choices, Budgeting

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