The Immigrant Script

The Immigrant Script

Monday’s episode of The What’s Up Next Podcast asks and intriguing question. When it comes to financial independence, is there an immigrant advantage? I have talked in the past about the American dream script. The idea that one can arise from even the lowliest of beginnings to make it big in this wonderful country. It strikes me as much less well known that there is indeed also a narrative for those who migrate to this country and the generations that follow. The immigrant script strangely sounds quite familiar to financial freedom enthusiasts.

Or maybe I should say that the financial independence script echoes what immigrants in this country have been doing for years.

Surviving, thriving.

Frugality

When my in laws migrated to the United States under duress from Iran, frugality wasn’t a matter of choice. Strangers in a strange land, they either had to learn to survive on little or perish. There were no glamorous blogs or no spend memes. They were struggling for mere existence.

Like so many others who came to the United States with little more than the clothes on their backs, they quickly learned the immigrant script. This included extreme mechanisms to feed, cloth, and shelter themselves.

So they never paid full price. They haggled on every purchase. They bought used, re purposed, and did things by hand. DIY wasn’t a catchy phrase, it was a required survival skill.

They cooked every night at home. Ate leftovers even if they had been a little old. There was no such luxury as a night out, a trip to a far away land, or an expensive dalliance.

House Hacking/Real Estate

The immigrant script regarding property ownership is clear. We might like to call it house hacking in the financial independence community, most immigrants would just call it life. Multiple generations are squished into small living quarters. Siblings share rooms, or even beds. Any extra space is rented out to friends or acquaintances.

And if extra money does become available, investment properties are often bought and renovated. Renters are secured and buildings are managed. Owning land, buildings. Hard assets are fundamental to the immigrant script.

From rags to property mogul is not an unheard of path.

Side Hustle

Because of the economic hardships and sparsity of money, the immigrant script has come to embrace hustle. Whether a main gig or a side gig. Extra work is taken on during nights and weekends. Small businesses are run out of back yards and garages. It isn’t uncommon to carry a few different jobs at a time.

There is a belief that mirrors the American dream script that in this country of abundance, hard work will lead to riches. A place where the streets are paved n gold.

Being scrappy is not a skill, it is a way of life.

Final Thoughts

The financial independence narrative and the immigrant dream script hold many common elements. Frugality. Real estate. Side hustling. Making it today requires certain fundamental values and beliefs that transcend.

There are, however, several differences. In the financial independence community we focus on the stock market which is not always the experience with immigrants. Also, early retirement is a topic that often doesn’t hold resonance with newly emigrated families.

Even as the generations pass, letting go of the grind till you die work ethic is not easy.