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The Dirty Little Secret about Money
Research proves money CAN buy happiness…
“You may never be rich,” said my dad, “but once you become a tenured professor, you’ll be comfortable.” I was in my early 20s, just graduated with a bachelor of science in physics and math, about to start my graduate studies in physics, and wondering how this passion-driven career choice will turn out financially.
My parents had never been wealthy.
Mom came from abject poverty. The kind of poverty where she didn’t know where her next meal would come from. The kind where her mother had to go work as the only woman in a crew of day laborers building a seaport, to cover the cost of life-saving medical care for her husband, my grandfather.
Dad’s family wasn’t quite that poor, but not far from it.
Mom was 15 when they met. Dad was 18. They married three years later, a marriage that lasted 71 years until Dad passed away.
Through hard work, sacrifices, calculated risks, and frugality, they clawed their way into the lower middle class before I was born. Later, through astute decisions and a bit of luck, they managed to climb solidly into middle class.
