When I first started learning about how the world worked (waaay back when), I realized pretty quickly that things weren’t as simple as they used to be. My grandparents’ generation had an easy framework for success: work hard, find a good job, and you’ll be fine. My grandfather never went to college. He was a farmer, a construction worker, and at the end of his career, a prison guard. My family was built on the value of hard work and they thought that would be enough to set their children up for success. What I learned, is that it’s not.

The truth is, if you are coming from a lower-middle class family like me, “working hard” and “pulling yourself up from your boot straps” isn’t enough to build true wealth (and by extension, freedom). If I ever wanted to not worry about money, I was going to need to figure out how to play the game of finances. For over 13 years now, I’ve been learning as much as I can and taking steps to get me (and now, my little family of three) closer to that goal of financial freedom.