If going off the derekh led to poverty, it would be very unpopular. Being frum means giving up a large percentage of your income – not just the seventh you lose by not working one day, but all the options you give up by following a non-standard schedule, giving up most mobility, having to pass on many types of jobs. For example, the two largest “merit” (not based on need) scholarship programs for higher education are athletic scholarships and the various ROTC programs – and it is virtually impossible for a Shomer Shabbos to go into either. One can only take jobs in cities with frum communities – and most of the country is not near a kosher grocery, a mikva or even a shul. Many jobs involve foreign travel, and much of the world is inhosptable to frum Jews. — You can go a little bit off the derekh (conceal being frum by dressing like a goy, find a way to “work” without doing malachos on Shabbos, switch to a lower standard of kashrus, etc.). But even a modern Orthodox (who keeps kosher and will stay have to decline food at work, who takes off Shabbos, who still walks to a shul on Shabbos) gives up a large percentage of career opportunities.
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