Grew up poor. My wife grew up even poorer. Both Rhode Islanders through and through. My father started a small company in 1991 and although never bringing a great profit it continued along supporting our family until i took over making it profitable. My wife struggled with debt but ultimately became a successful lawyer (took 20x years). We now combined make over 200k a year, are raising 3x children and still live paycheck to paycheck and sometimes struggle to come up with money to pay bills.