Ronnie F. Lee was born to a German mother who married an African-American man, and raised in between the United States and Germany. Even though both of Ronnie’s parents worked and his father was a noncommissioned officer in the Army, he still felt the stress of a paycheck-to-paycheck environment. He felt the discomfort of many cheese and mayo sandwiches six days before payday, and the disappointment of a dinner made up of mayo sandwiches without the cheese four days before payday. The anger that comes with hunger when your father tells you to eat air-biscuits the night before payday. The joy of the first meal after payday, which is usually the family dining out. Ronnie recalls his father sitting down and showing him $900 that he received as an advance payment for the reassignment to a new duty station. He was mesmerized by the nine $100 bills and thought his family was just $100 short of being rich. His parents taught him a lot about economics. The lessons came through examples of what not to do, more so than by guidance and examples of what to do.