Please don't discount the fact that--despite popular perception--economic mobility in America is much smaller than in most developed countries. Your rags-to-riches success (while wonderful) is a statistical outlier. The vast majority of studies bear this out. What one starts with (parents' income/wealth) has a massive impact on what one finishes with.

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-t...