start at 16yo building your net worth. get as much money as you can as quickly as you can. get a job ASAP. get a credit card ASAP. buy a house ASAP. buy a house every year, and rent your old house out. when you get 10 houses, you can retire.dont help people until you can help yourself. your responsibility is to the family you create and to yourself. anyone else you help is out of the kindness of your heart. people will use you. its your responsibility to not allow them to use you. stay away from people that reject your help, but seek to use you. giving people money is NOT help. give people help, not money. youll give them all your money and all your money will be gone and they will still be in the same position. dont help people that dont help themselves but understand some people are in genuine situations b/c and they are so down and out that they wont help themselves...and you might need to push or inspire them. depression is just sadness. live your life a certain way to avoid it.whew!

If you have never done such a thing before, try it, you'd be amazed how far a little genuine "giving a sh#t" will go, and does come back to reward.  

The solution is simple but not easy: increase income, and reduce expenses.I always advise making a list of the things you genuinely care about in life (family, hobbies, REI, etc..) and then try to best match your income to go towards those things — and ruthlessly cut the rest.