But I am a fresh immigrant. Can I still become wealthy?

I heard several comments stating that being an immigrant puts you at a disadvantage compared to the local born citizens. No local experience, no network of connections, often no supporting families, and sometimes not even proper language skills, etc. What a load of cr@p!! It’s the exact opposite!!

A fresh immigrant has a long list of ‘unfair’ advantages. Benefits of being a SWimmigrant includes:

• Already got used to live at a lower standard;
• Not having a pile of debt (to get out from under);
• Not influenced by preconceived notions or local ‘currents of complaints’;
• Being able to start with a blank slate;
• Motivated, ready to work very hard;
• Having international experience;
• Speaking foreign language(s);
• Higher level of risk (and pain) tolerance then locals;
• Being a ‘dreamer’ helps to overcome obstacles.

The facts confirm our theory. If you look at the Top 10 Ancestry groups of American Millionaires, it shows that in several immigrant groups the concentration of Millionaire households are 3-4-5 times higher then the expectation based on the overall average. E.g. Hungarian, Scottish, Russian immigrant households have over 15% Millionaire rate vs. 3.7% overall American households*. (And for the skeptics, no, there are not 750,000 households in the mob.)

Or look at the Ancestry groups that own/occupy $Million homes. Only 2.8% of those of English ancestry own homes valued at $1 Million or more. That figure is over 10% for several immigrant groups (like South African, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Taiwanese).

Being an immigrant indeed do seem like an unfair advantage to me. (But just between us: there is nothing unfair about fighting harder for your future, as most immigrants do.) And once we are here, disassembling false notions, let’s attack one more.

I can already hear some comments stating that getting wealthy requires some kind of special talent or luck or most likely both.  Nothing can be further from the truth. A person with average intelligence can go through this process and be successful. I call it the slow, boring way to riches. As long as you are mindful about money, diligent about saving and investing, you will get there before you know it.

The best example is yours truly, Mr. SWimmigrant, who never started a blockbuster business, never attained the glory of top executive positions, was not smart to invent something revolutionary and never lucky enough to hit it out of the park with a small mining stock. However, he always kept an eye on money, how to earn it, how to spend it and most importantly, how to invest the difference. And there are some very important principles that could be distilled from the two decades spent as an immigrant. If you follow these principles, we can promise you will not be disappointed.  Your Dream will come to pass sooner than expected!  We are here on this blog to walk you through these principles step by step.

We like the symbolism of our favorite pass-time: swimming, and the analogy it provides for Immigrants.

• First of all, for new comers, like for those who get thrown into a lake, there are no other options; you have to swim or you will sink.
• Financial ‘smarts’, just like swimming is a simply, not too invasive habit you can build into your day-to-day life, without interfering with other areas, but almost certainly guarantees significant long-term benefits, such as (financial) health, energy and vitality.
• While swimming could be quite boring (just like saving/investing), you can always find variety in different strokes, experimenting with different technics, perfecting your movement and posture, trying different bodies of water, not to mention listening to music and other fun stuff.

It’s all about the journey, not the destination. Most of the pleasure is derived from the act of swimming, and not from the ‘arrival’, not unlike living as an immigrant. Keep on swimming, my friends!

With Love,

Mr. SWimmigrant

*Data comes from The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.