WE ARE THE 1 PERCENT

I came from a poor family that always told me to work hard so that I could have a better life than them. They never really bought me much things. They also only allowed me to watch TV and play video games for only 5 hours a week.

This kind of parenting allowed me free time to study hard in school throughout my life. While other kids played video games and watched TV all day, I played sports and studied a lot. I kept doing extra-curricular activities, because I had an hunger for knowledge and a willingness to help those less fortunate. I aced all of my exams because I studied for them, while the slackers did not. Because I aced my exams, I went to a top public university.

While other students chose easy and useless majors, I got a computer science and computer engineering degree. It was a hard curriculum, and there were many sleepless nights spent studying. But it was a price that I was willing to pay.

While other students partied and got drunk, I was in my dorm room making programs and websites as a hobby and as a part-time job. Some of them were actually profitable and helped me pay off some of my tuition.

After I graduated, I interned at a tech company in California while renting a small apartment. Then my father passed away (not naturally) a few months after I graduated, and nobody was home to take care of my mother. My mother suffers from a genetic mental disability, and does not work. Since I became the only one working in my family, I moved out of California and moved back in to my mother’s house. I took a lower-paying job over my high-paying tech job in CA just to be able to live closer and to take care of my mother.

Having good grades and previous work experience helped me get these jobs. While working to feed my family, I coded iPhone apps on weekends as a side-job to earn a little extra dough, so that I could have some savings. I learned the new Objective-C programming language on my own using free tutorials online (they did not teach this stuff at my college).

I spent a lot of time on my apps and listened to the customers on what features they wanted in the apps. Because I listened and loved coding, my apps have an 4.5+ out of 5 stars rating. People downloaded my apps by the millions. This all happened in my early 20’s and I gave my 9-5 job to someone else. I am now part of the top .1% earners and in my mid-20’s.

But I am still the same person as when I was working at a 9-5 job. The difference is that I now have more money to take care of my family and friends. I also donate a lot of earnings to those less fortunate (such as the ones who are affected by natural disasters or the kids who were born with a disease).

I know that I am vilified by many, because I have things that they do not have. But the truth is that I work harder than most people. I pay more taxes than most people. I give to charity more than most people do. Vasts amount of money was never the goal of mine. It was more of a byproduct from my hard work.

I never cheated anyone. I never scammed anyone. I never chose money and greed over people. I just make things that people find useful, and I got paid for it. That’s how I came about to becoming a 1 percenter.

By the way, I have friends both in the 1 percent and in the 99 percent, and I find the 99 percenters to be more likely to be greedy. It’s usually the 99 percenters who try to scam me or ask me for money. The friends I have in the 1 percent are actually really friendly, and generous. We hold charity events all of the time. I’m not saying that all 1 percenters are generous and all 99 percenters are greedy. I’m just saying that there are a mix of people in any grouping and that you shouldn’t judge people without getting to know them.

Here’s proof of my wealth, for those of you doubting my story.