“Passions: self-improvement, personal finance, investing, real estate, relationships, parenting, mental health, health/fitness/nutrition”
PERSONAL FINANCE
Like many others, I was clueless about personal finance (and didn't care) in my 20s. I accumulated a lot of credit card debt, and bought many "cool things" - thinking they would make me happy.
In my late 20s I had an "aha" moment when I saw on my credit card bill the number of years it would take to pay off my balance by paying the minimum amount, and it terrified me. It was then that I vowed to turn myself around - although too much by some people's standards. I also started to get nervous about retirement with no idea on how to get there.
My frugalness began, quickly becoming an obsession. I made batches of lunches for the week and froze them, eating the same exact thing every weekday to save on food.
I tracked my spending on a PDA by rounding up expenses and rounding down income. I used 0% balance transfer offers across multiple credit cards as I paid them off because I despised paying interest on money owed. I hated paying rent to an apartment, so (against my parents' recommendation) I bought my first house, and rented out the other bedrooms (now called "house hacking") - even the master bedroom for a higher rent - to have more money to speed up paying off the credit cards. I also started selling off my "cool stuff" I had collected.
Luckily, it only took me about 2.5 years to pay off my credit card debt. My next stage was to try to understand how to invest for my future, while my frugal habits continued on.
In my early 30s, I started to research online the basics of investing and started dabbling in some random mutual funds. Then I continued my education about 401ks vs IRAs, Traditional vs Roth, Stocks, Mutual/Index Funds, and settled on Target Date Funds as my primary investing strategy in my maximized 401ks and IRAs.
REAL ESTATE
In my early 40s, I wanted to improve my returns and learned that 90% of millionaires succeeded through Real Estate Investing (REI). Listening to Rich Dad Poor Dad gave me my "aha" moment on a new way to look at assets vs liabilities. I learned through podcasts and YouTube videos. Brandon Turner and Bigger Pockets gave me my initial knowledge to start in REI. In the first 2 years, I purchased 4 long-term rental properties, self managed the 2 local ones and hired a Property Manager for 2 remote ones, and it became my favorite form of investing. I also enjoy analyzing properties, being a landlord, and doing handyman work myself. But REI is an area that is always changing and broad, there is still a lot I do not fully understand and will continue to learn and grow in. As many say, getting started was the hardest and the most terrifying part.
SELF-IMPROVEMENT, RELATIONSHIPS, MENTAL HEALTH
I grew up very introverted and shy, and have always had social anxiety. As I grew older, I learned that incrementally challenging yourself out of your comfort zone built confidence, while also improving your life. I've taken on jobs I thought I wasn't a perfect fit for, took on public speaking, and learned to take calculated risks when investing.
I've learned the importance of not dwelling on what you don't have control over, to be self-aware enough to always grow and improve yourself, to always try to understand the intentions of "the other side", constantly analyzing how your actions affect your life, and looking at food as fuel for my mind and body.
Although I have had both failures and successes - financially, 2 divorces, one dealing with severe mental health and abuse, depression, and anxiety - I get a lot of joy talking to others, especially younger people open to hearing and learning from my own life experiences.
Current goals are to write a memoir about my experience with mental health and relationships/divorce, and to start a a Financial Coaching business.
