I'm 37 now, and I think I have a pretty comfortable life. I have a nice 33rd floor downtown apartment, no debt, I do mostly whatever I want to do and I have some modest savings and investments. I grew up pretty poor in the interior, my family was on and off of welfare for most of my childhood, and the biggest single financial gift I ever got from my parents or anyone was a $1,500 car when I was 18. When I think about how I ended up in my position, I've come to realize it's mostly luck. My family was poor, but extremely close, loving and supportive. I had a much happier childhood than people I know who grew up wealthy. I went to a trade school, rather than a college or university (I went to film school, and never ended up using my degree, so it was pretty much a waste of money anyway). When I was paying back my student loan, I had a long term girlfriend and friends who could front me $50 or $100 a few times a year to keep things level (I always paid everyone back, fwiw). This is the biggest thing, I've come to realize, many people don't have this kind of low-key financial support. I lucked into a decent paying job by making friends with people who recommended me into decent promotions. My GF and I moved into our apartment over 10 years ago, and have been on good terms with our landlords, so we're in the position now of paying well below market price. Some of my financial stability is lifestyle (I don't own a car and Skytrain everywhere, I don't really have any expensive hobbies like snowboarding, and I don't go on expensive vacations a bunch), but honestly, most of it is a lot of luck that I didn't really appreciate until looking at it in hindsight much later. Not very helpful, I know.