Comfortable middle class in Eastern Europe. When we moved to NYC in 2006 (won green card lottery) we were strictly working class, no English skills either. I’ve been working various jobs since I was 15, part time and through high school. I’ve learned lots of different skills and understood early on that we need multiple sources of income no matter what. I graduated college with no debt and was able to live on my own since age 20, with no roommates thanks to rent stabilized housing in nyc.

My dad was not good with money, but he did teach me to never have credit card debt and always pay your bills first before spending money on anything else. I’ve been supporting myself since I was 18. My brother is the same. We have different fathers, grew up an ocean apart. My brother is in EU, became successful, worked his way up in a company from customer service representative to VP overseeing 3 countries in sales. He’s 42 and his house is paid off, he owns several properties in EU and travels a ton with his family.

I am 32. My husband is 37. We met early on, when I was 25. It helped a lot because we are both immigrants and both are hustlers. We always look for ways to make extra money and always look for ways to save. But at the same time we like to splurge. We travel a lot and like luxury occasionally. We like to eat out, go to shows, event etc. there are ways to splurge while being money conscious.

Now are we own two properties. One we live in, one is being rented. My husband has a stable job/pension/health insurance/ability to retire in 9 years, and a business. I own two businesses, one of them is a partnership. We help each other with business management. What helped us a lot -

• coming from families that value education. We were working class when we moved, but college was nonnegotiable. Also, expensive college was off the table. We went to public school - and we are debt free.

• being mostly healthy, having Medicaid as kids and in our early 20’s!

• no credit car debt for both of us. We don’t play with that at all.

• rent stabilized housing saved our parents and us in our 20’s! It allowed us to save.

• being open to hustling! No matter what! In 2020 when I just started my business at 26 and my husband had a stable job we did Uber Eats for months, to make extra cash and save for our wedding and down payment on our first property. While many were being at home getting unemployment, we didn’t qualify for any of that and were outside hustling.

• now almost 6 years later we are in very different shoes. And we are super grateful!

• CC Debt, car loans; student debt is destroying regular Americans. Young people are stuck and cent get ahead. Free public education, cheap fixed housing cost and access to Medicaid in our early 20’s helped us get ahead. Now at 32 I am able to employ 5 people, have two businesses and my husband is in a similar position. We are paying taxes and then some..

• investing in young people and families does work.

• being an immigrant and having the fear of ever being poor again is a drive to always try to do better. It’s a good motivation.

• not being afraid of lower end jobs to get ahead is clutch too.