I understand what you mean; my parents, my sister & I came to Canada in late 90's. We went through normal "new immigrant" jobs - newspaper delivery, cleaning, e

I understand what you mean; my parents, my sister & I came to Canada in late 90's. We went through normal "new immigrant" jobs - newspaper delivery, cleaning, etc; but eventually my dad got an IT job again. 5-7 years after arriving, our income was nominal. But having arrived to Canada with literally a suitcase of clothes each, the prospects, in particularly retirement, were substantially different. It works both ways sometimes though - not only is it difficult for those born here to understand the difference, we too have to mentally remind ourselves - just because I make as much money as my best friends, I should not indulge in quite the same lifestyle; when it comes to "wealth", they are WAY ahead (some got an apartment as gift from parents, others had their university education paid for, trusts and RESP/RRSPs, etc etc).