Is philosophy practical?

It's been said time and again that philosophy "isn't practical." This comment is puzzling. Philosophy is the study of the thinking of other people— people considered to be great thinkers— with an eye to improving our own thinking. How could this be impractical? On the contrary, reasoning and improving our ability to reason should be practiced every day, perhaps all the time, especially considering the many challenges to understanding that we encounter every day. Is it the case for anything else we could ever study that it is used every day, every time we think? Perhaps it's just that people who don't know, don't understand, and so don't appreciate philosophy say it isn't practical... and then other people believe it.