The reason people become poor was actually explained clearly over a decade ago by the talent scout behind Airbnb and Stripe.

His name is Paul Graham, founder of YC and author of "Hackers & Painters," often referred to as the "godfather of startups" by many programmers.

He wrote a short essay called "How to Lose Time and Money," which boils down to three main points:

1️⃣ Most people aren't ruined by indulgence, but by seemingly respectable "bad investments."

2️⃣ The same goes for time. The real danger isn't playing around, but spending the whole day doing "fake work"—feeling exhausted every day but producing no real results.

3️⃣ Just restraining your desires isn't enough; you also need to develop your own alert system for "bad investments" and "fake busyness."

The essay isn't long. Reading it carefully only takes a few minutes and it's well worth it for anyone who's started making money, thinking about how to invest, and feels "very busy" every day.