I think we've been over this close to 10,000 times, but finishing your free public education (in your control), not starting your family until you get married (ditto) and working the best job you can (also mostly in your control at the entry level) is the single best way to avoid poverty statistically. People who do those things set themselves up for the best course in life. Our current system actually disincentivizes this behavior, and we're not even allowed to talk about it. Witness Paul Ryan. I'd like to do more than talk about it. I'd like to fix it by reversing the incentives so that we still begin rewarding working poor people with more aggressive EITCs and caps the time people can stay on long-term unemployment. It's not just by far the most logical and proven thing to do, but it's also the most humane.