What My Immigrant Mom Can Teach You About Money

September 1, 2017

 How an Immigrant Does Money

My mom thinks that if she had $1,100 a month she’d be able to retire rich. That’s just $13,200 a year. To most people reading this that amount is poverty level. You need millions to retire, right?

My mom and I have this tradition: since she can’t read or write, she puts any unfamiliar mail aside, waits for me to come visit, so I can then read the mail and explain to her what it says.

This last time, she got a letter from Social Security. The letter showed a chart of how much she was eligible for if she retired. I explained that if she retired right now, at 62, she’d get a little over $1,100 a month. But if she waited until she was 65, she’d get $1,500 per month.

“So, what do you think?” I asked.

She thought for a second and said, “If I had the $1,100, then that’s rich enough.” In her mind, that’s $1,100 she wouldn’t have to work for. It’d be enough to cover her basic needs. What else would you need?

Aside from social security, my mom has saved up a high five-figure sum in 401k funds, plus five-figure amounts set aside for both my sister and me. And yet. She has never made more than $14 an hour. She was the breadwinner, and worked to support a family of four.

When I was little, my dad got fired from his job one day and never went back to work. Then he passed away when I was a teenager.

Still, us kids never wanted for much of anything. We lived a life of amazing privilege: a steady roof over our heads, full bellies, and parents who wondered about us when we went out at night.

You’ve seen the startling headlines. That nearly half of Americans don’t have an extra $400 laying around in case of an emergency. And most Americans have little saved for retirement. In my mom’s age group, the median amount saved is a paltry $17,000.

So, how is it that an illiterate, low-wage earning immigrant has managed to surpass these Americans?

Let’s start from the beginning.

 Coming to America

Most people would say my parents came to America with the most unfortunate circumstances: they didn’t speak any English, were uneducated, and didn’t have a penny to their name. Coming from a tropical country, also unfortunate was the cold, snowy area they landed in: a small, working-class, predominantly white city, because the local church folks brought them there, and my parents didn’t know any better.

To continue reading, please go to the original article at

http://www.theluxestrategist.com/immigrant-mom-can-teach-money/