27-year-old bought a $575,000 duplex and paid off her student loans in 5 years: 'I have spurts of 'I can do anything''

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

Margaret Skiff learned early on the importance of good money management. Her dad was a teacher and her mom stayed at home for much of her childhood in Maine, so the family was “always pretty strapped for cash,” she says.

“We definitely did everything we could to live below our means and be OK, but I think that definitely taught me the value of money … we always made it work with what we had,” the 27-year-old tells CNBC Make It.

With those humble beginnings, earning $70,000 a year at a tech company at her first job out of college in Washington, D.C. in 2020 made Skiff feel rich, she says.

“That felt like so much money,” she says. “I remember getting the offer and being like, ‘Oh my God, I’m making more money than both of my parents combined ... I am rich. This is amazing.’”