Dave's good to a certain extent. However, we need to tailor the advice of others to fit our need(s). I'm not sure which "baby step" this is but I'm almost mortgage free. I have no car payments but all 4 of my vehicles I purchased brand new. I have to splurge a little because I don't know when I'm going to die and if I were to die tomorrow not ever having experienced driving a brand new car among other things, I would be mad.
I don't believe in college right out of high school. I feel that as a society we over prescribed college only to have, historically speaking 1/3 of Americans with college degrees. Of that 1/3, roughly half are in careers pertaining to one's degree.
Again, like I have mentioned, I'm darn near or at a millionaire status. I think I'm doing pretty damn well for someone my age. I have cash on hand, stocks, real estate, a 401k, life insurance, vehicles, gold/jewelry, firearms (love my firearms), etc.
Given this, there is no reason/excuse a refugee such as myself can do all this and folks such as the Black community, Latino community, etc who complain about "systemic racism/oppression/inequalities" can't!