This article is a guest blogger submission written by Chris and first published at YoungFinanceGuy. If you like what you see, why not subscribe to his RSS feed?

Growing up, it was just me and my mom and dad (well, a cat too). I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. It was just us. During my childhood, I was fortunate enough to live in a nice house, have nice things and go on several vacations with my parents. Thus, I was victim to the “Only Child” stereotype of being completely spoiled and getting whatever I wanted.

However, that was hardly the case. Since I was 8 my dad, who owned a construction company, took me with him on Saturday morning to pick up job sites (in the Summer) or clean up his office (Winter). As I got older, my duties expanded into cutting grass, digging ditches, operating light machinery and continuing to keep his office clean. The most I ever got paid an hour was $8. Being the businessperson I was, I started a car cleaning business when I was a freshman in high school. I put together a marketing campaign, established a client base and even started a frequent washer program. My point is the following: For every 16 year old only child who is driving a Hummer, talking on a $300 cell phone, on his/her way to the mall to buy a $250 pair of jeans from Saks, there are plenty of only children working hard to put $20 bucks in their Grand AM.