Also a first-generation Asian (on one side of the family), and my wife is one too. This is absolutely right. It basically comes down to "Make (a lot) more tha

Also a first-generation Asian (on one side of the family), and my wife is one too. This is absolutely right. It basically comes down to "Make (a lot) more than you spend. Invest the difference in scarce, desirable cash-flowing assets. Borrow money iff the expected returns from the asset exceed the interest rate." These are really simple rules, but really hard to execute. The advantage that immigrants (and some of their kids) have is that they haven't internalized all the subconscious messages American society imparts. So for example my sister lives in Texas, where everything is bigger, and her home is like 50% bigger than my Bay Area one (which I thought was a huge extravagance). But she's always like "Yeah, the neighbors all have bigger houses, and their kids have like twice as many toys, and our kids' friends all have bouncy castles inside the home, and we need to buy them a play structure so we don't waste time going to the playground." So money goes out the door on a bouncy castle, and a play structure, and full-service landscaping, and home improvements, and even more toys. Meanwhile, a typical Asian immigrant is like "Who need more than 4 walls and a bed? Why you care if other people think you poor, when your bank account go up?" My wife is like "We're gonna all end up in one big family bed anyways. Let's look into converting the house into a duplex and renting out the downstairs."