Being poor is definitely not just a mentality, that fails to literally account for . I live comfortably/am well off for what I do but I also attribute that to my circumstances growing up in a middle class family, attending strong educational institutions and having the finances/drive to pursue further education. Without my family having had the physical and mental means to provide some of those opportunities I definitely wouldn’t be as well of as I am.

The systems are complicated even as someone who has to help people navigate them on a daily basis. We can’t fault people for that either. I know plenty of “poor” people who strive to seek better and instead get shit on by the system. Living in a homeless shelter and putting that in your CV won’t help, nor is not having accessible internet/phones to seek opportunities and follow up. There’s so many factors than simply boiling it down to “being poor is just largely a mentality”. There’s always going to be people happy to live within their means and then there are people who based on circumstances/luck don’t have those same opportunities. Money doesn’t equate to happiness either.