I'm financially poor because I generally work one day a week. Suits me fine for the time being. I hope the current economical system destroys itself... except governments probably gonna save it again by throwing 'our' (yes, yes, technically not mine ) money in this bottomless pit again to delay the inevitable.
I'm not poor but I'm a long haul from being rich...probably in the lowest tier of middle class. The reason for that is because of choices I made and would make again if they were presented. Raising seven kids is a nearly perfect get-poor-quick scheme...if I were to change anything I might have picked up few more stray kids...Pretty happy ride all things considered. Sure couldn't have bought it with money
I don't know where you live geographically speaking, but in the United States it's absolutely possible. You're not going to get rich making a lot of excuses, but hard work and determination will go a long way.
I'm not broke, per se, however both my husband and I have quite a bit of debt. A large portion of our debt can be attributed to "investments". We bought some real estate when the market crashes. Luckily for us, its been turning a profit. The rest of our debt is stupid. For him, he's paying his credit card debt off that was spent on whiskey and condoms from 10 years ago. Me, well, I have a good chunk of college debt, since I had to go to that $30k private college my first two years. We both work and are able to make enough to live comfortably and yet be responsible....even if we weren't in the past.