A rant about money

This one is close to my heart since it talks about one thing that matters to me a lot, money.

Before you go off on a tangent, let me be clear—I'm not spouting off as a die-hard capitalist. I made a conscious decision to move to Scandinavia to live a modest family oriented life and not to work my ass off and cash out relatively large in the US.

For context, I didn’t grow up poor, but I grew up fiercely independent from the rest of my extended family. I moved out early and paid most of my private education and expenses by myself in a country where most people have their parents pay the tuition and living costs until we get our first job. It is just how it has worked for most of my friends, but not for me.

By the time I decided to move to Scandinavia, I had a year’s salary racked up in savings, which roughly amounts to a living cost of 3 to 4 months in Sweden if I live frugal. As a student, I made piss-poor money by the hour ( like most Swedish students ) but without a first-world fallback. I can’t move in with my parents if I fall sick and can't work and no, my parents can’t send me money since their pension combined makes just right about my monthly rent. I just have to pack my bags and leave.

This was my life for the first three years in Sweden while my friends and colleagues who are mostly from here, enjoyed the luxuries of a summerhouse in summers and ski trips in the winter. I obviously, don’t have anything against them, it’s just a life choice I didn’t get to have, unless I was invited. What I am saying is a very, very common life of first generation immigrants, the second generation immigrants have slightly better, but not by much.

Now I do much better, but obviously, I still don’t enjoy the luxuries of fancy vacations or month-long stays at summer houses, which are often bought by parents or are bought at the expense of having safe fallbacks.

So, yes, we are hustling for money to give our family a taste of the good life. If that rubs you the wrong way, chances are you're comfortably reclining in your summer house, enjoying generational first world privilege without realizing it.

Money is important to immigrants, don’t hire them if you don’t like it. If you don’t like the mindset, start looking into the mirror a bit more deeply and a bit more often. It will tell you why.

Alright, gotta pop my blood pressure tabs and go off on a different trajectory. Adios.