Monica is the author of Grab Your Slice of Financial Independence and writes at thepieceofthepy.com. Monica: Growing up, I got my first job at 15 and I was a spender. My parents came from Italy and they both their families didn't have a lot of money growing up. They were come to this country to for opportunity like so many immigrants come here. So we were raised with a lot of the culture Italian culture, but living in the United States.