Chapter 1- About 2.5 billion people live on less than two dollars a day.
Two dollars a day does not mean literally mean “two dollars a day.” It is an average over time.
Those who live on so little seek to manage their money. They save as much as they can and borrow when they need to.
“Money management, for the poor [is] a fundamental and well-understood part of everyday life” (3).
-The authors conducted studies that they called financial diaries to discover how the poor managed their money. -Negative net worth was rare in the study; in fact only 3 percent were in that position.
-The poor not only save, borrow, and repay in money but also in kind. Wives swap rice or other food items. Another example would be repaying a debt with labor instead of money.
-Most changes over the year in the study was financial rather than physical.
“financial management is the stepping-stone to understanding how households build net worth” (11).
-Every household in the study had savings and debt of some sort. The hardest things for the households are that their income is irregular. Some days they have work and get paid and some days they don’t.
-Long-term money management has two concerns in poor households:
One: how to cope with risk
Two: the need to build or borrow large sums of money.
-The three needs that drive the activity in the house hold are 
 1. Managing basics ex. Food 2. Coping with risk 3. Raising Lump sums
Borrowing = starting or expanding a business or financing current needs.
Insurance = protecting against risk and saving large amounts for the future.
Chapter 2- The Daily Grind
Chapter two describes the triple whammy the poor face in developing countries. Its components are low incomes, irregular cash flows and financial tools provided by the formal sector which fail to meet the needs of the poor.
People who live on a very meager income rely