Find more meaning to life besides’build wealth’

I don’t know if I’ve built wealth. Moved here at 18 with a suitcase. I was an au pair then a live in nanny then a live out nanny then a different field altogether. I had no credit but my bank gave me a credit card with a $300 limit. I paid it off every month it went up. Now I have a credit score close to 800. I am married and we own a house with a mortgage. Cars are paid off and we have money for vacations, activities etc. I think just having good spending habits is huge. Never got into debt aside from car payments and mortgage.

Came to US in 1995 making $130 a week but living expenses paid. Went back home for awhile and returned broke in 2001 right into after September 11 making only $30-$50 a night after 10-12 hours shift. Had to get a 2nd job just to pay bills.
Stayed here on student visa illegally working low wage jobs. Married a loser in 2005 and divorced him in 2010. The marriage left me in $40k credit card debt. I was still working minimum wage job: DH did few odd jobs a month for less than $1k.
Had started college in 2007 which I finished in 2014. Never worked in my field but took interest in the topic since the 2008-2009 crash and even way before starting the degree. College was cheap (thing UDC and I took out some loans).
Still completely broke in 2019 because I never worked in my field (my 2 kids took most of my days, worked nights and weekends). I continued working in service field for ca $23 an hour by now.
Sold my condo (bought in 2008) that never make me any money (just paid down the equity) and put some of the money into the market. Some of the stocks I bought grew ca 5 times during the next 2 years. I'm really close to a million. While it's not a lot of money in DC, I'm used to living off of ca $30-$40k a year, and I don't feel deprived.
I do have another property to sell to put the money into the market. It's in Europe and should sell easier than here. Bought it in 2007 right before real estate crashed. It has come back to original value and then some, but those were hard times. Shortly, I lived paycheck to paycheck and had to pay two mortgages at the same time - forced savings for me.
The real estate was bought with almost nothing down before someone wonders where the money came from. I'm a good at budgeting and never missed a payment and had a great credit score. I have learned a lot in the market the last 2 years. So much so, that I feel like I could turn $100k into million within the next 10 years. That's actually the plan.
My degree is in finance but I never worked a day in it. It's just for me.
If all fails, my hometown is a great cheap place to retire.
You got to be in the market to get a sense of how it works-be it with $3000-$5000. I made 5% just in one stock in one day (not selling anything here). Another stock I kept an eye on, rallied 25% in 4 days. I don't do day trading, but can see the movements and understand why people get excited.
I also have a very high risk tolerance.
For most people, going with an ETF and putting as much into is as possible is the way to go.

It's the same for everyone, without regard to immigrant or any other status.

Obtain a solid education in a field which is likely to provide good compensation, work hard and seek advancement regularly (doing the same thing forever results in the same compensation forever), live below your means, and use the excess compensation to save and invest prudently and consistently over a long period of time.

People who fail to accumulate wealth spend more than they should, justify their spending to themselves in the name of convenience or preference, and/or lack professional ambition and so remain in poorly compensated jobs for too long.

Make friends with Asian immigrants, OP.
They’ve got this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both immigrated to the US as young children with our poor Asian parents. We worked hard and studied hard. We work in STEM and have a seven figure income. We support both sides of parents, bought their homes, cars and support them financially. We own a few homes and have about $10m saved. The American dream is possible.

You are 2nd gen then, your parents are first gen

No they are 1.5 gen

Our story - first generation immigrants, moved here with toddler
Live frugally (to a degree) - home cooking, hands me down clothes for kids, a lot of DIY home projects
Drive cars until wheels fall off
We're house poor per DCUM and overall American standards, just our way to prioritize kids education (best public schools we could afford)
No student loans, we came to us with college education already. DH is in IT, I did take some classes/got certification to complement my foreign education, but was able to pay out of pocket.
We didn't really built the wealth, but we do live comfortably - own house and rental property, decent retirement savings, will be able to pay college tuition (paid for oldest already).
Looking back - I probably should've got US Masters degree, but was afraid to take out loans. It bites me in the arse now as I reached the ceiling in terms of earnings, and too old to go back to school now (I'm 48 yo).

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both immigrated to the US as young children with our poor Asian parents. We worked hard and studied hard. We work in STEM and have a seven figure income. We support both sides of parents, bought their homes, cars and support them financially. We own a few homes and have about $10m saved. The American dream is possible.

You are 2nd gen then, your parents are first gen

Anonymous wrote:Other first generation immigrants, what did you do to build your wealth?

- Both of us have advanced degrees in the US (masters); Graduated with zero debt (partial funding from school; work while we studied).
- Both of us work - IT/IT adjacent work
- When we bought our first house mortgage was about 25% of our combined income. Today it is about 15% of one person's income.
- Still live in the same house after 20+ years. Luckily we ended up in a decent school district.
- No extravagant vacations or expenses
- Both cars are 10+ years old; Will drive them till they break.
- Public school for kids
- Live on one income

My parents immigrated before I was born. They worked hard at steady jobs that didn’t require a college education, lived frugally, bought a home, paid for their kids’ college education. Amazingly, from pension and social security, my mom has been retired 20 years and lives comfortably. It helps to not live in a high cost area

DH and I both immigrated to the US as young children with our poor Asian parents. We worked hard and studied hard. We work in STEM and have a seven figure income. We support both sides of parents, bought their homes, cars and support them financially. We own a few homes and have about $10m saved. The American dream is possible.

Not an immigrant but first generation college grad that grew up very lower class with no connections. I now live comfortably, should be okay retirement wise, and have put my kids through private school and college. I don’t have any secrets, I don’t have a system, and I don’t know if what worked for me would be useful to anyone else.

But I worked hard in high school, worked harder in college, and worked hardest to get my advanced professional degree. I didn’t have scholarships or family money, so I also worked as many odd jobs as I could did during school and summers and breaks. I took one “vacation” for 4 days as part of a family trip over 7 years of school. I didn’t do Spring Break, or anything like that. School for me was work, but I loved the chance to make my life my own so I was passionate about my work ethic and earning a great education. I never second guessed that.

As an adult, I aggressively pursued lucrative work by working my way up from the bottom. It took years and I switched jobs along with the way a few times as I built my career. I saved. I paid down debt like a crazy person as I moved up. I invested responsibly. Still do. Up market down market, doesn’t matter. I read a lot about investing and am a DIY investor. I tried not to spend on things that lose value (cars, clothes) but I spent on things that increase in value (my house, a modest art collection). I spend a lot on my kids and their education because that is what the money is for and it makes sense to me. I really don’t spent anything on myself and I don’t “keep up with the Jones’s”.

I was fortunate to marry someone who also works. My spouse’ job provides our health care and helps with retirement too. I don’t always share or agree with my spouse on spending and that is frustrating. But on the whole we are more or less on the same page most times. It helps that my spouse has entrusted me to manage our finances. We have avoided some pitfalls because I avoid big mistakes, which are unfortunately easy to make in a society that judges you by what you drive or the size of your house.

I was incredibly lucky. By working hard, I gradually got to know people. Some of them took a liking to me, mostly because I was relentless in focusing on my work and they knew they could trust me to do a good job. They gave me more work, more opportunities, and ultimately became my friends and mentors. They were my “network”, which was great because I am not great at “networking”. I also treated people with respect. I am not outgoing but I tried to be myself and feel for other people. I learned a lot by just listening to people talk about their lives and their ups and downs. They struggled in their own way too.

I am now squarely “middle aged”. I am always nervous about the future. I worry about my ability to continue to succeed. There is an anxiety that gets built up over decades of struggling. My kids don’t know what that is like, which is good, but also I fear they are missing some of the hunger that drove me to survive. You never know if what you achieved is real, or if somehow you are going to lose it all. But you are also proud to know that your kids don’t need to worry like you did. It’s a mixed blessing to have all this in my head.

As an immigrant, you may agree that this is an odd country. It has challenges. It is not even sure what it wants to be anymore. It may not recover its purpose and it may collapse into insanity. But it still offers the best chance to make something of yourself. It can be a brutal place — there are no guarantees that working hard will get you anywhere. You might save and invest for a lifetime and then suffer a calamity. I lost my job during the pandemic. Got a new job that paid less. Then got another job that pays my twice what I was paid before. You cannot predict these things. It’s chaotic. But this country allows you the chance to try. Which in many ways is all you can ask for.

I wish you and your family all the luck in the world.

We both have okay paying job. Definitely not high or DCUM money level. As PP said, we are living frugally, have been saving. Neither of us is a big spender which helps

Got high-paying jobs, lived frugally, saved and invested religiously. And married someone with the same financial outlook.

Other first generation immigrants, what did you do to build your wealth?