Personal Finance

When Nyna Sorn came to America, her family had nothing. So she's had to spend her life making tough financial decisions.

All photos courtesy of Upworthy.

When Nyna was only five years old, she and her parents escaped the Khmer Rouge — the brutal regime of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in Cambodia. The family had lost everything, and that meant that they had to scrimp and save in order to get by in their new country of the United States.

When she grew up, Nyna made a promise to herself: she would work as hard as she could in order to ensure that her children didn't have a childhood like hers. She would do her very best to provide for them in ways that her parents couldn't provide for her. She would make sure that their future was bright and full of possibilities.

"My dream is to see all my children successful," Nyna says.

Nyna's tried to impart her perspectives on money and saving onto her children, but as her kids got older, she's become concerned about their spending habits.

Nyna and her daughter, Macara.

Nyna has been a single mom for the past decade. While her youngest child isn't yet old enough to learn about responsible spending, she's worked hard to teach her older children, who are 15 and 18, how to save money when they can.

However, she worries that they're being swayed by society's proclivity for instant gratification, and becoming too materialistic. She's especially concerned about her daughter Macara who, at 18, will soon be in charge of her own finances.

Nyna and Macara's situations are very different. At 17, Nyna was already a mother. She didn't have any financial support. That's why she feels it's important for Macara to understand the possible impacts of the money decisions she's making now. But while Macara appreciates everything her mother's done for her (including paying for college), she finds it difficult to focus on her finances.

"I don't want to think about it too deep," says Macara. "I don't want to be in the future. I want to be in the present. I don't want to be stressed out."

It's not easy to talk about money, but Nyna knows that being open and honest with her daughter is the only way to help her make smart decisions.

Sometimes Nyna feels like she's being too hard on Macara, but it's only because she wants her to have a bright future.

"I want you to be able to do better than I did," Macara tells her daughter. "I believe in you. I believe that if you wanted to do something, you can do it."

“I'm just trying to help you. I'm trying to pave a path."

These kinds of conversations may be tough, but they're necessary.

By sitting down and talking about money as more than an abstract concept, Nyna's showing her daughter that she's someone she can always talk to about her future, financial or otherwise.

"It's like a signal for me to do something," says Macara. "Can we keep having these conversations?"

"You need something, you can talk to me. I will always support you," Nyna responds.

To learn more and Nyna and Macara Sorn, check out the video below.

The Kunziers were rich in the things that matter most—family and love—but their finances were in shambles.

John Kunzier had been running a successful construction business when 9/11 happened and changed everything. When the business started struggling, John didn't want to fire his employees, so he made some decisions that, in hindsight, were the wrong ones. The following year, the business failed.

John Kunzier. All photos via Upworthy.

"It was a big blow to my ego," says John, "to have something you built completely collapse."

John had to declare bankruptcy. John's wife, Liz, was pregnant with twins at the time, and the family had to rely on loans to make ends meet. "We actually took out a loan that would never end," says John.

"It was a horrible financial decision for us," says Liz.

The Kunziers began, slowly but surely, picking up the pieces of their financial life but then the 2008 Great Recession hit. "It was literally like somebody ripped the rug out from under us," says John.

Liz kept a "money tree"—a good luck tree people sometimes keep in their homes. The tree wasn't in great shape, but it limped along, and then one day one of the twins cut it down. It was the perfect metaphor for the family's financial situation.

As a result, the family took no vacations, never ate out, and didn't buy any new toys. Despite that, they weren't unhappy.

The Kunziers are a large family. John and Liz have seven kids including the twins and two grandchildren. So when they hit financial hard times, they had to cut out everything but the necessities. The couple didn't even give each other birthday or Christmas presents.

They've been real with their kids about their situation, especially as they've gotten older. The family lives in a very affluent area, and the kids are used to seeing people with lots of material things. But John and Liz maintained the philosophy that "things don't make you happy."

The Kunziers. Photo via the Kunziers.

"I took it as us being a different kind of rich," says the Kunzier's daughter, Claire. "Us being rich in family."

Not wanting their kids to feel a sense of deprivation, Liz says, "We didn't say, 'Oh we can't do that because we can't afford it,' we would just say, 'No, we're not doing that. That's not something we're going to do.'"

"We wanted to make sure your upbringing was good and memorable and fun, and that you guys didn't know any different," John tells his kids.

What's more, the Kunzier kids have learned valuable lessons from their parents' financial experiences.

When the market turned around, the Kunziers were able to refinance their home, which helped them climb out of their financial hole. "All of a sudden, things got better and better and better," says John. "It's a snowball effect, either way."

Because the Kunziers are open with their kids about their financial journey, their kids will have a better sense of how to financially plan and make sound monetary decisions.

"I think it's really important for me to hear this," says Claire. "Because I am a freshman in college, and I am starting to make these financial decisions for myself, especially with loans." Claire says she won't live on campus next year so she won't have to take a loan out to pay for room and board.

Claire with her sister and mother. Photo via Upworthy.

"For me," she says, "deciding what's important to do is being shaped by what you guys did."

The Kunziers now have loads of financial wisdom, guidance, and proven advice to pass on to their kids and grandkids. But perhaps the most crucial lesson is one they've already imparted — how to maintain a resilient spirit and focus on what's most important when times are toughest.

"We didn't have all the money in the world, but we had each other," says the Kunziers' son, Jack.

"Not having a whole lot of money isn't the worst thing in the world," says Liz, "because if you've got your family with you, and you love each other. That makes it not sting so bad."

Learn more about the Kunziers in the video below:

Karleh Wilson didn't know she had a credit problem until she wanted to buy a house.

Karleh and her fiancée, Kareem, have been living in a rented 3-bedroom home with their daughter, Kaari, in Philadelphia. But when they realized how much money they were forking over in rent that wasn't going towards any long-term investment, they decided to start the process of purchasing their first home.

Karleh researched what she'd need to make that happen, and found out she'd need a credit score of at least 650. However, when she looked at her free credit report, she found out her credit score was a dismal 315. So, in order to get a mortgage, she'd have to find a way to at least double her score, and hopefully get it even higher to land a competitive interest rate.

Karleh Wilson. All photos via Upworthy.

Karleh is a smart and responsible person. She went to an Ivy League school. So how did she end up in such a terrible credit situation?

It came down to an oversight that she made while she was in college.

She had gotten a card at a department store not realizing it was a credit card.

"I remember being in college and getting my first credit card," says Karleh. "I also remember being confused about the difference between a credit card and a store card. At that point, I was still getting used to using a bank account, much less navigating the complicated world of consumer credit."

Since Karleh didn't realize the retail card was actually a credit card, she had been missing payments for quite some time, which ultimately had a negative effect on her credit score.

Like many college kids, she didn't have the financial education to fully understand how credit worked. Karleh's dad feels that he bears some responsibility for that fact. "That's not stuff you talk about in the family," says Karleh's dad. "You don't want to put that stress on your child."

Karleh's dad.

Thankfully, Karleh was able to turn her credit score around with some diligent research and new habits.

She was embarrassed by her low score, and she and Kareem want to raise Kaari in a financially secure household.

Her dad was a big cheerleader throughout the process. He told Karleh she could turn her credit around, and said it with such confidence that she believed him.

Karleh started paying all of her bills on time. She got a credit card that was built for people with poor credit, used it for all of her purchases, and payed it off in full every two weeks. "That really drove my credit through the roof," she says.

"At this point, I've gotten my credit in a really good situation," Karleh says, "and now I'm approved for a mortgage."

At 24 years old, Karleh has gotten her credit under control and will soon be closing on her first home. In addition, she'll be providing a financially savvy example for her daughter, and her dad couldn't be more proud.

To learn more about Karleh's financial journey, check out this video: