Hey there. Orianna here from Fortune.

Forget your salary—this space founder says a simple kids’ marshmallow experiment can reveal whether you’re destined to stay middle class for life.

The classic psychology experiment sees four-year-olds given one marshmallow and a choice: Eat it now, or wait until the researcher returns and get two. Most kids can’t resist. And according to Dylan Taylor, philanthropist and CEO of Voyager Technologies, that same impulse is exactly what keeps most people stuck financially in adulthood.

“It’s this deferred gratification,” Taylor, who made his first million before hitting 30, recently told me. “It’s like, do you have the mental discipline to defer your gratification?”

In his view, grown adults face the same choice every time they sign a car lease or tap a credit card for something they can’t yet afford.

“I see a lot of those things—cars and planes and boats and all that stuff…I support all that stuff when you can afford it, but most people lean into it before they can afford it.”

The exception, he admits, is “good” leverage, like a mortgage on a primary home, which in the U.S. often comes with tax benefits and has historically been a decent long-term investment.

But car leases, credit card debt, recurring monthly payments on things that are sinking in value—these are the habits he sees keeping people stuck. And that, he suggests, is the adult version of eating the marshmallow the second the researcher leaves the room.

—Orianna Rosa Royle
Success Associate Editor, Fortune

Got a career tip or dilemma? Get in touch: orianna.royle@fortune.com. You can also find me on LinkedIn, TikTok, X, and Instagram.