Because most varieties of secular education are frowned upon, few haredim hold professional degrees. Most adult men devote themselves to full-time Torah study, and their wives commonly assume the role of breadwinner. Because most haredim live in single-earner households with large numbers of children, haredi communities are generally characterized by extreme poverty, requiring subsidies from charities and governments in order to subsist. However, in recent years, a new haredi upper-class has emerged, Children of the haredi upper-class attend the same yeshivot as their less-privileged peers, while their parents direct a very large portion of their income to communal charities and funds that support major rabbinic figures and their projects.