This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.

In 2008, during what would come to be known as the Great Recession, stories like Nicole Brewer’s were all too common.

At 27, she’d recently bought a condo on the South Side of Chicago with little money down and a loan that would likely stretch her mid-$30,000′s salary thin. Then the market research firm she worked for did layoffs, and she lost her job.

Amid a financial crisis, finding another one proved difficult. After collecting unemployment benefits for five of the allotted six months, Brewer, like many of her peers, was growing desperate.

“I remember I got scared and I was like, ‘OK, what are you going to do if your unemployment runs out? You don’t have a job,’” she tells CNBC Make It. “That’s when I started looking at opportunities. I said, ‘I’ll think outside the box, look at some teaching jobs abroad.’”

Brewer found a gig teaching English at a primary school South Korea, a move that would satisfy some wanderlust while she waited for the U.S. economy to bounce back.

But that’s where her story gets a little less common. After three years in Korea, Brewer took a college-level ESL job, this time in Nizwa, an ancient city in Oman about a 90-minute drive from Muscat, the nation’s capital. She’s been there ever since, living happily and traveling — and currently earning a salary of just over $40,000 a year, plus some side-hustle income.

“I have had such an incredible experience living here. I never even imagined that I would be here for 10-plus years, because I just felt comfortable here,” Brewer, 43, says. “My mental health has definitely been great here.”

A move abroad can be daunting — especially for someone in a precarious financial situation. But for Brewer, who’d moved to a new country with just two suitcases, things were surprisingly seamless.

“Fortunately at that time, being recruited to work for the education department in Korea, they helped set you up,” she says. That meant covering the cost of her flight and assigning her a liaison from her school who helped her find an apartment and transition into working life in Busan, a city of just over 3 million people.

Back home, things were still rough. The renter she’d found to take over payments on her Chicago condo lost his job too and soon fell behind. The bank foreclosed on the property.

That may have made life difficult for Brewer had she chosen to return to the States on her original timeline. But it didn’t take long for her to realize that expat life suited her.

Her home base in Korea, along with a modest cost of living, allowed her to see parts of the world she would have likely otherwise missed, including trips to India and the Philippines. “I was able to live comfortably and still travel a bit,” she says.

After three years, Brewer was looking for a change of pace, and initially thought she might like Dubai. While researching the region, she came across a posting for a job at a university in Oman. “After seeing that posting, I ended up researching on my own and I was like, ‘Wow, this is a very beautiful country,’” Brewer says.

She gave it a chance, boarding a plane in 2012, once again with two suitcases and plans to figure things out when she got there. Other than brief stints in Germany and South Africa to complete an accelerated masters program in international humanitarian aid, she’s stuck around.

Brewer’s main gig is still teaching English, a job which pays her about $3,400 a month, even when school is not in session. Over the years, she’s picked up some side hustles, too, as a freelance travel writer and part-time travel advisor. Those brought her an extra $3,400 in 2024.

Brewer is still an American citizen and pays income taxes in the U.S. And even though she doesn’t necessarily blend in with the locals — she doesn’t speak Arabic or practice Islam — her Yankee status comes with a certain level of respect. “I like to call it ‘passport privilege,’” she says.

Overall, she says, being a Black American woman doesn’t come with many of the burdens while living abroad as it might have back home. “I wouldn’t say that I deal with much or any racism, because I think it’s more so, you’re American — we take pride in having an American who loves living in Oman.”

Even though it took a while for Brewer to adjust to the conservative Omani lifestyle — and casual dating is still a struggle — she says she consistently feels welcomed by the Omani people.

“They welcome me. They say, ‘Oh, hello, sister,’ when I get in taxis. They call me sister like I’m one of them because I respect the culture,” she says. “It’s been very great. I wouldn’t have stayed as long as I had if it wasn’t a good life here.”

Despite the region’s reputation for opulence, Brewer’s day-to-day life in Oman is unostentatious and, by U.S. standards, inexpensive. Here’s how she spent her money in January 2025.

• Travel: $2,630 on flights and hotels for a trip to Bali, Indonesia
• Rent: $650
• Food: $348 on groceries and dining
• Cab fare: $277
• Discretionary: $133 on clothing, donations and various fees
• Health and wellness: $65 on spa treatment and prescriptions
• Netflix subscription: $15
• Phone: $10

Brewer’s two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment came fully furnished, and she pays 250 Omani rials — or roughly $650 — a month in rent, utilities included. She spends about $70 or $80 a week on groceries. Insurance, a major line item in most American workers’ budgets, is covered by her employer.

Living relatively modestly for most of the year allows Brewer to devote significant funds toward her life’s passion: travel. More than half her January spending went toward a trip to Bali during her school’s winter break.

She generally takes two or three big trips a year, and her location in the Middle East makes it easier to travel to some parts of the world than if she had stayed in the U.S. Trips to Namibia and the Seychelles, she says, are much more affordable with Oman has a home base.

“I’m able to travel to Europe, of course, as well, because it’s right there,” she says.

Even given her relatively low cost of living, traveling the world on a teacher’s salary means Brewer has had to put some financial goals on the back burner. Although her credit cards are paid off, she still carries about $24,600 in student debt from her time as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan.

And while she has about $22,000 invested across stocks and cryptocurrency, it’s hardly enough for her to feel like she’s on track for major financial milestones, like retirement.

“I do feel like sometimes maybe I beat myself up because I feel like I should have more in savings, considering how long I’ve been abroad,” Brewer says. “Sometimes I’m like, ‘Maybe I could have not gone to this destination and have a little more money padded in my savings.’ But the reality is, I’m grateful for every trip that I have been on.”

In the coming years, Brewer hopes to ramp up her savings enough to fund a semi-retirement of sorts in Portugal.

“In the perfect scenario, I would have a hostel. It would be a place where I can live, as well as have additional rooms to be able to rent out and make an income from the property,” she says.

For now, though, she has no plans to leave what she says is a fulfilling and peaceful life in Oman.

“It’s not an easy life to be on the other side of the world from your family, especially when emergencies and family situations come up,” she says. “You have to take the good with the bad. But overall, I do have a peace of mind living here because it’s so safe and people are really kind-hearted.”

Conversions from OMR to USD were done using the Bank of Muscat’s conversion rate of 1 USD to 0.3877 OMR on Jan. 1, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

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A lot of parents tell their children that can achieve anything if they work hard and apply themselves. But that doesn’t account for luck, which is a huge factor that many highly successful people have said they owe their careers to, points out Anthony Mackie, star of the 2025 movie “Captain America: Brave New World.”

“We are lying to our kids,” Mackie, 46, said in a recent interview with The Pivot Podcast. “We tell [them] … if they do right and they make the good grades and they go to the programs, they will become successful. ‘If you work hard enough, your work will [pay off].’ And that’s not true.”

In many cases, “success is given [and] not earned,” Mackie continued.

Mackie had been an actor for over 10 years before landing the role that many consider his big break, as Sam Wilson in 2014′s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” he said. After graduating from the prestigious Juilliard School in 2001, he performed in both on- and Off-Broadway productions and in Academy award-winning films, like 2008′s “The Hurt Locker.” However, the New Orleans native struggled to break out in Hollywood’s highly competitive landscape.

Mackie estimates he “put in 10,750 hours of training” before landing that life-changing job. He was proactive, too: He wrote letters to executives at Disney’s Marvel Studios over a decade ago in the hopes of landing a role in one of the studio’s popular superhero films, he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023.

While the letters didn’t result in any roles right away, Mackie eventually landed a meeting with directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. They offered him a part in an upcoming film, though they couldn’t share many details: ”[They said], ‘We can’t say what character you’re playing or who else is going to be in it. Would you do it?’” Mackie said.

The actor agreed because he liked the directors and believed joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up, he said. Fortunately for Mackie, the role of Sam Wilson proved popular enough to grow from a small character into a headliner.

Mackie is far from the only successful person to recognize the power of luck. You can be the smartest and most deserving person in the room, the billionaire and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger told students at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in 2018, but there are no guarantees: “There’s also a factor of luck that comes into this thing.”

He added: “I did not intend to get rich. I wanted to get independent. I just overshot.”

Similarly, in 2023, Mark Cuban told GQ that any billionaire who says they could definitely start over from scratch is “lying their a– off.” That’s because a person also needs “luck” and good “timing” to run a highly lucrative company, particularly in the fast-moving tech industry.

If he’d been born three years earlier, he likely wouldn’t have the status that he has today, Cuban added.

Put simply, being in the right place at the right time, and having connections, can be as important as having the skills and experience.

People who benefit from luck the most have a few traits in common, according to Richard Wiseman, author of “The Luck Factor” and a psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire.

1. They’re optimistic. Even when they find themselves in bleak circumstances, “lucky” people recognize that things “could have been far worse,” Wiseman wrote for CNBC Make It in 2022.
2. They always jump at new opportunities. Lucky people display an openness and adaptability that puts them in situations to network and make new connections, according to Wiseman.
3. They listen to their intuition. Too much time spent pondering can lead to “indecision,” he added, writing that lucky people tend to “make quick decisions …. By trusting their gut, they’re more likely to take action and expose themselves to new opportunities.”
4. They recover quickly from setbacks. This allows lucky people to remain positive when things don’t go how they’d hoped and “increases the likelihood of them continuing to live a lucky life,” according to Wiseman.

Embodying these four traits can help put you in a better position to make your goals a reality, he added.

The second and third traits in particular helped Mackie, who, in 2025, became a new face of the “Captain America” franchise, once led by former co-star Chris Evans.

“When you’re given a huge opportunity like that, you have to take into consideration that you might fail,” Mackie said. At first he was afraid, but he didn’t let that stop him. He had a network of mentors and supporters who could help, he realized: “I had to lean on those teachers and the people around me who got me to that point.”

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Before making a push to become the highest-paid woman on television, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo reached out to the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes. 

Though Rhimes had no power over Pompeo’s paycheck, the actress wanted to get her blessing and give Rhimes a heads up before making headlines with her salary demands. 

In a recent appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Pompeo said that not only did Rhimes give her the green light, she also encouraged her to ask for what she was worth. 

“I said to her: ‘I’m going to go in and ask for this much. Are you cool with that?’” she said. ”[Rhimes] was like, ‘Yeah, no one’s going to give it to you. You have to ask for it.’”

With Rhimes’ blessing, Pompeo landed a $20 million a year contract in 2017. Though she wanted to check in with Rhimes before entering negotiations, Pompeo had no qualms about telling the network what she felt she was worth. 

“Women should always push the envelope,” she said. “All anyone can say is no.”

For Pompeo, securing a high salary was not only about feeling respected and appreciated by the network, but also about power.

“I became aware at a really early age that people with money had power,” she said. “I didn’t have any power as a young woman. And I didn’t like the way that felt.” 

Having enough money to do — and not do — whatever she wanted, was the “freedom” that Pompeo was looking for. 

“To be financially independent, to me, is what makes me the happiest and makes me feel the most free,” she said. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.”

“As a woman I’m sure you know how freeing it feels to have financial independence,” she continued. “You don’t have to be with any man you don’t want to be with. For women, financial freedom is true independence.” 

And like Rhimes encouraging her to push for her $20 million salary, Pompeo said she wants to use her power to help “advocate for other women on your platform, in your job, in your workplace.”

“How can I take that power and do good with it?” she said. “How can I amplify someone else? How can I help someone else? How can I lift up someone else that doesn’t sit i the position of privilege that I sit in?”

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Marriage is one of the most rewarding yet challenging journeys in life. While we often enter it with high expectations, the reality is that marriage is a lifelong learning process.

As a psychologist who studies couples every day, I’ve worked with many people who only come to understand the toughest marriage lessons after they’ve experienced conflict, disappointment or a even divorce.

If you can accept these five hard truths about marriage now, you’re more likely to have a happy and successful relationship:

Many couples believe that as long as they love each other, everything else will fall into place. But love doesn’t automatically solve differences in communication styles, personal values or long-term goals.

What truly sustains a marriage is commitment, effort and the willingness to adapt. Love can help keep the spark going, but it’s the daily choices that really make a difference.

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How do you respond to conflict? How do you show up for each other? How are you continuing to grow together? These are the questions that determine how strong your marriage really is.

One of the biggest misconceptions about marriage is that truly compatible people don’t argue. But not only is conflict inevitable, it’s also essential. In fact, the absence of conflict likely means that important issues are being swept under the rug.

And it’s not the fighting that damages relationships — it’s how couples choose to handle their disagreements. Healthy conflict can bring partners closer by opening the door to deep, meaningful conversations about wants and needs, which can then lead to problem-solving.

My advice is to learn how to fight fairly. No blame games, no stonewalling and no personal attacks. Create a safe space where you can both be honest and open without judgment.

Many people enter a marriage thinking that their spouse will be their “everything” — their best friend, emotional support system, cheerleader and problem-solver. While it’s natural to lean on each other for support, expecting one person to fulfill your every need is unrealistic.

Healthy spouses recognize the importance of individuality. That means maintaining individual interests, friendships and goals. Nurturing a strong sense of self outside of the marriage helps prevent resentment and keeps the relationship from feeling suffocating.

Always remember that a thriving relationship is built on two whole, complementary individuals — not two halves trying to complete each other.

Many couples underestimate how much work it takes to have a healthy marriage.

The honeymoon phase may feel effortless, but over time, life’s responsibilities — work, kids, finances, health — often puts the relationship lower on the priority list.

You need to have regular check-ins and planned quality time together. Just as you wouldn’t expect a car to run forever without maintenance, you can’t expect a marriage to thrive without consistent care.

You can’t expect the person you marry at 25 to be the exact same person at 45. People evolve, priorities shift and life circumstances change.

By embracing change instead of resisting it, you’ll come to realize the beauty and privilege in being able to witness this evolution. 

The most successful couples are the ones who adapt and grow together. While partners drift apart, they find new reasons to keep loving each other every day. This means being open to new experiences and giving one another the space to evolve without feeling threatened by it.

Mark Travers, PhD, is a psychologist who specializes in relationships. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the lead psychologist at Awake Therapy, a telehealth company that provides online psychotherapy, counseling and coaching. He is also the curator of the popular mental health and wellness website, Therapytips.org.

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As a neuroscience researcher and psychiatrist, I’ve been treating patients for over two decades. I’ve found that there are certain daily habits that influence our mental resilience and brain health.

In my new book, “Healing The Modern Brain,” I offer ways to strengthen your brain health through tiny, evidence-based lifestyle changes. The first step is to know where you stand.

If you can answer “yes” to all five questions below, you’re already implementing the key elements of brain fitness that most Americans currently lack.

Dream recall indicates quality REM sleep — the phase when your brain processes emotions and consolidates memories. When my patients track their sleep, I’m interested in total hours and even more intrigued when they mention vivid dreams.

Why it matters: During sleep, your brain’s glymphatic system activates to clear metabolic waste.

Researchers discovered that this waste-clearance system works primarily during sleep, with brain cells creating pathways for cerebrospinal fluid to flow through and clear out toxins that accumulate during wakefulness. This process removes proteins like beta-amyloid that can contribute to cognitive decline.

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Sleep disruption directly impacts mental health — insomnia nearly doubles the risk of developing depression, according to comprehensive meta-analyses.

These foods illustrate the idea of nutrient density, and they offer specific nutrients essential for brain function: omega-3 fatty acids (anchovies), folate (basil in pesto) and fiber and B vitamins (lentils).

Why it matters: A landmark study demonstrated that approximately one-third of participants with major depression achieved full remission simply by improving their diet. More recent research shows that diets rich in ultra-processed foods are associated with increased depression risk.

The Mediterranean diet, rich in these brain-supporting foods, significantly reduces inflammation markers associated with depression. Omega-3s specifically help maintain neuronal membrane fluidity and support synapse formation — both critical for learning and emotional regulation.

Human connection provides essential neurobiological support for brain health. But the quality of these interactions matters more than quantity.

Why it matters: A comprehensive meta-analysis of 148 studies found that strong social relationships increase survival by approximately 50% — comparable to the effects of quitting smoking.

Positive social interactions trigger oxytocin release, which reduces cortisol levels and inflammatory processes. Even brief social exchanges can improve cognitive performance.

Conversely, social isolation is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke —reflecting how deeply our neurobiological systems depend on human connection.

Regular nature exposure offers measurable benefits for brain function and mental health, particularly in our increasingly digital world.

Why it matters: Stanford researchers found that a 90-minute walk in nature reduced neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex — an area associated with rumination and depression. Similarly, forest walks were shown to reduce amygdala activity compared to urban environments, indicating a reduced stress response.

Natural environments also expose us to phytoncides — antimicrobial compounds released by trees and plants. These compounds increase natural killer cell activity, enhancing immune function after forest exposure. Your brain benefits from natural settings in ways that indoor environments simply cannot replicate.

Self-reflection through writing provides measurable cognitive and emotional benefits by helping process experiences and clarify thinking.

Why it matters: Meta-analyses have found that expressive writing can improve both physical and psychological health outcomes. Neuroimaging studies reveal that labeling emotions through writing activates the prefrontal cortex while dampening amygdala activity, effectively reducing emotional reactivity.

This process strengthens neural pathways associated with emotional regulation. UCLA researchers found that putting feelings into words — a process called “affect labeling” — diminishes emotional reactivity and helps process difficult experiences, creating measurable changes in brain function.

These five practices form the foundation of what I call “Mental Fitness,” a framework I’ve developed after years of clinical practice in psychiatry.

By incorporating them into your daily life, you are building biological resilience against modern stressors. Small, consistent changes in how you sleep, eat, connect, experience nature and reflect can transform your mental health by working with your brain’s capacity for adaptation and growth.

Dr. Drew Ramsey, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist, author and leading voice in neuroscience, nutritional psychiatry and integrative mental health. For 20 years, he served as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, where he taught and supervised psychotherapy and nutritional psychiatry. His work has been featured by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show and NPR. His new book is ”Healing the Modern Brain: 9 Tenets to Build Mental Fitness and Revitalize Your Mind.” 

Want to earn some extra money on the side? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Start a Side Hustle to learn tips to get started and strategies for success from top side hustle experts. Sign up today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $97 (+taxes and fees) through April 1, 2025.