I grew up poor and now I help my parents with their bills.

Viviana Vasquez grew up on a low income, but now earns more than $150,000 working in technology. When I first started working, I wanted to contribute to my family, but I struggled with resentment. After setting some boundaries, I am now able to save for myself while still contributing. to her family.

Editor’s note: This list was first published in July 2024 and most recently updated on January 3, 2025.

I grew up in poverty in a $1,000-a-month rent-controlled apartment in Hell’s Kitchen before the neighborhood gentrified.

My parents immigrated from Mexico and met in New York. They got married and had me, a younger sister, and a younger brother.

The five of us lived in one bedroom in an apartment, and my father sublet the other two bedrooms. We often dealt with rats and cockroaches, and sometimes had water cuts, but it was the only place we could afford.

It’s a bittersweet memory now. I’m 28 years old and live in a luxury one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with my fiancé, Xavi, whom I met in college. Our house reminds me of the kind of apartments my mother used to clean.

In 2024, I earned over $150,000 as a Senior Content Marketing Manager for a FinTech startup. That’s more than five times what my family of five lived on when I was a kid. I also earned over $15,000 as a social media content creator.

I was shocked to see my parents struggling.

I remember my father borrowing money from loved ones and the bank to cover the rent. The day I received the eviction letter, my heart sank twice. Once when I read it myself and once when I translated it into Spanish for my parents.

My father has worked minimum wage jobs in parking lots for as long as I can remember. My mom babysat, taught the kids Spanish, and cleaned our apartment. She went home with bags of used clothes and toys donated by customers. My sister and I proudly wore our “new” clothes to school.

Some of my fondest childhood memories were made at local parks. Because it was free to access and almost always empty.

I couldn’t understand why my parents wouldn’t give me money for the books I wanted to buy at the Schola Book Fair or for the Girl Scout cookies my classmates were selling.

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When I was 17, I had to fill out the FAFSA and navigate the college process on my own while watching my classmates register for SAT classes. I didn’t understand why my parents encouraged me to go to college if they didn’t have the money.

I studied at the City University of New York and then transferred to Baruch where I graduated with a BBA in Economics. I was living at home with my parents and working part-time to earn a living.

I thought I was “rich” when I got the $57,000 job

My first job out of college was as a teacher and my salary was $57,000. The whole family cried and celebrated for weeks. I was the first in my family to graduate from college and am now “rich,” or at least I thought I was.

I was already helping my family with money for groceries and small bills, but now I wanted to contribute more financially.

Money you save and spend for yourself after you spend your first paycheck, until you pay off graduate school tuition, pay off more than $15,000 in student loan and credit card debt, and cover most of your family’s expenses. I noticed that there is no.

I felt stuck. I wanted to repay my parents, but as time went on, anger built up inside me. I felt like I had worked so hard just to fall into the same pain that my father had gone through.

I finally told my parents that I was struggling and needed time to sort out my finances. I’m still going to help them, but not as much as I used to. They were supportive, understanding, and curious about how to pay off debt, invest, and build wealth.

Now I’m giving back to my family, but within my means.

I learned about personal finance through podcasts, social media, and Xavi. I quit my teaching job because I realized three things. The classroom environment is not fun, the earning potential is limited, and I am interested in technology and finance.

After networking and months of job searching, I landed my first tech job in 2021. Since then, my income has increased by 300% after two promotions and two interstate moves.

Now, I consistently save and invest 30% of my income (sometimes more) and can afford all the things I wanted to do as a kid, like travel and eat out. I send my mother the grocery bill every month, pay my sister’s cell phone bill, and receive a check every time I go out with my family.

I helped my parents consolidate their debt, refinance their interest rates, and invest in a Roth IRA. I was finally debt free in August. This has taken a huge weight off the shoulders of all of us. Since they were debt free, they were also able to increase their savings.

We’ve accomplished a lot in our money journey, and we share it openly with our community on Instagram.

Establishing boundaries was a big part of my financial journey

My parents and I don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to money. They required me to cosign a mortgage because my aunt didn’t meet the income requirements, and at one point they required me to empty my emergency fund so they could lend money to their family.

In both cases, I didn’t do it because it didn’t align with my financial goals and my parents weren’t very happy with me either. After all, they respected my boundaries.

It took me years to get to where I am now, but I’m grateful that I was able to put myself first.

I’m proud of myself for making myself a priority. I thought I was being selfish at the time, but I was making short-term sacrifices so that I could do more and contribute more to my family in the future.

Since I was able to pay for a flight to Mexico for my wedding this year, my mom and I surprised my dad with a new iPhone 14 for Christmas. My father really liked it. My fiancé said he had never seen my father so happy. It was also a bittersweet moment to see my mother, who grew up poor, able to gift him something so expensive. It shows how far not just me but all of us have come.

Recently I took them to a paint-and-pour session and karaoke. It was my first time doing both, and I really enjoyed it. I hope to experience more of these “first experiences” in the future because they are debt-free, have built great financial habits, and I can afford to buy those experiences.

She would be so happy if she saw my younger self everything I made for us. Although I feel like I have overcome the cycle of intergenerational poverty, there are still many things I want to accomplish, including becoming the first millionaire in my family to help my parents retire.

For now, I’m focused on sharing my wealth with those who most deserve it: my loving parents. Their sacrifices have brought me this far, and I am only just beginning.