EP341: Who Are The Kitti Sisters? Our Immigrant Background & How We Built a $400M Real Estate Empire

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I’ll never forget the night it all started.

Palm texted me five words that would change everything:
“This chart broke my heart.”

At first, I thought it was about business—maybe something to do with our investments or a deal gone sideways. But when I opened the chart, I realized it wasn’t just data. It was our family’s story, drawn in numbers.

It showed how families like ours—immigrants, Asian Americans—climb for twenty years. You could almost feel the hope in that upward line… until it suddenly dropped.

Year twenty-one: wealth collapses. From six hundred thousand to three hundred fifty. Two decades of sweat—gone.

Our parents believed hard work was freedom.

They followed every rule, every piece of “American Dream” advice. Work hard. Save. Buy a house.

But no one told them what happens after you make it. Without assets, income is just a rollercoaster—you’re always one bad month away from losing what you built.

Even now, with a $400 million multifamily portfolio, those memories don’t fade. They leave scars that success can’t erase. Because we still remember what it felt like to lose everything. To watch security slip through your fingers overnight.

The Two-Suitcase Beginning

Before the chart. Before the portfolio. There were two suitcases.

Mom and Dad landed here with no guarantees—just faith. They slept on borrowed couches, ate on borrowed money, and stitched together a dream from pure grit.

Our kitchen table was lit by a single yellow bulb, the hum of Mom’s sewing machine filling the night. Dad cutting fabric until sunrise. Every dollar sacred. Every sacrifice invisible.

That’s where grit was born. Where survival became success.

When the Dream Starts to Fray

But grit is rocket fuel—it gets you off the ground, not across the ocean.

Our parents’ greatest strength became their heartbreak. They did everything right… until the world shifted. It’s like owning a bakery you’ve poured your heart into, only to wake up to new tariffs that double your costs. You can’t raise prices without losing customers. You’re stuck doing everything right, yet still falling behind.

They didn’t fail—they just ran out of fuel.

The Unspoken Pain

Immigrant wealth is different.
We don’t inherit portfolios—we inherit pressure.

We make up 7% of the population, yet 14% of small-business owners. We build with our hands, not systems.

Real estate changed everything for us. It was the first time our money had a career of its own. Finally, our money worked while we slept.

Real estate gave us leverage, stability, and peace of mind. It’s not just wealth—it’s legacy. It’s something the government can’t print. Your money grows with inflation, your tenants pay down the mortgage, and over time your hard work becomes hard assets.

The Million-Dollar Lesson

I still remember sitting at brunch with Mom. The bill came—$157—and she hesitated.

Years ago, I’d seen her bank account: over a million dollars. I thought, we made it. But it was gone within a few years. Not from extravagance—from fear. Fear of losing again.

That hesitation at brunch? That was the chart.
Not because she’s cheap, but because she knows how fragile security can be.

If that million had been invested, it could’ve been fifty. Maybe sixty. That’s the cost of not knowing the rules of the game.

It was never about greed—it was about fear. Fear of trusting the wrong person. Fear of repeating the past. And that’s why education matters. That’s why we started The Immigrant Millionaire Investors Movement.

From Grit to Grace

Our parents gave us grit—the most powerful fuel in the world. But grit was only the beginning.

Now it’s our turn—to turn sweat into systems, hustle into harmony, survival into legacy.

This is for every immigrant business owner tired of starting over. For every parent who gave everything. For every next-gen ready to rewrite the story.

Because real wealth isn’t just money—it’s peace. It’s dignity. It’s time freedom.

Our parents were the fire. Now we’re the bridge.

➡️ Welcome to The Immigrant Millionaire Investors Movement.

Because the next generation of immigrant millionaires won’t just dream about freedom—
they’ll own it. ✨