I come from a lower-middle class family. My parents are immigrants who came to the U.S. over 30 years ago in hope for a better life for them and especially for me and my two sisters. They themselves had little to no education. All they were ever taught their entire life was to work and exchange time for money. So that’s what they did when they came to the U.S. 

Growing up, my parents instilled in me that to have a life better than theirs, I had to study and work hard, do well in school and get a good high-paying stable job. They always taught me to be frugal, save money, pay off loans and to never be in debt. I was taught to never invest in stocks as it was dangerous, and I could lose my hard-earned money. They told me I was better off saving it in a bank account. So that’s what I did.

My parents paid for most of my tuition for undergraduate and graduate school. I came out with about $25,000 in total loans and had paid them all off within the first 12 months of working, thanks largely in part to living at home and putting all of my paycheck into my loans. After that I thought I could go out and start to do and experience everything I always dreamt of, as my income was and still is relatively good.

However, there are just some things in life that we cannot predict and control.

In June of 2017, my then girlfriend and now fiancé bought our first home together in a city right outside of Boston, MA during a highly competitive market at its peak. It was a decision that nearly made both of us go broke. Between the mortgage and cost of renovating, repairs, maintenance, and essentials, we were well deep into our savings. Then our dog Blue ate rat poison and had to get medically treated. We did not have insurance and had to pay everything out of pocket. 

It was at that moment I realized that I could not take another financial hit. I realized I needed to earn more money so that I could have greater stability – but I did not know enough about money, how it worked or how to earn more other than trading time and energy with a second job. I was not very financially literate. I did not know much about retirement accounts, how investing works or how to reduce the taxes I have to pay – I knew nothing. Just the thought of having to learn and do all those things just scared me. It was overwhelming.

That’s when I decided to become more financially literate. I decided that being in a situation where I was one disaster away from going broke and from living comfortably to living uncomfortably is far more overwhelming and terrifying than having to learn and figure out how money really worked.

I then spent the past two years researching and learning about money. I applied and experimented with what I learned. I first started to invest in individual stocks and ended up losing quite a bit of money. Then I started to spend on personal development. I purchased a course to start a side hustle creating Facebook Ads for small businesses, which ended up as a failure. To this day my fiancé still gives me a hard time for that, but that’s okay. I learned that FB ads were not for me so it’s not really a failure but rather a lesson I learned. 

I then started to learn more about credit cards and how to really take advantage of the things I do on a daily basis such as purchasing groceries, paying bills, dining out, and traveling for work. I opened a few cards over the years and through developing good habits and using them the right way, I was able to pay for things like vacations and clothing using the cash and reward points I earned from paying for everyday essentials and travel expenses I incurred traveling for work. This allowed me to invest and grow the money I otherwise would have spent. At the same time, I learned to be more disciplined and patient with my stocks and they too grew substantially.

The end result is now I have emergency savings of over 12 months’ worth of minimum living expenses, money to contribute to multiple tax-advantage retirement accounts, money saved for my upcoming wedding and honeymoon, all while being able to spend on things I value most without having to feel guilty about doing so.

I still have a long way to go before I can live my dream life, but I am in a much more stable and better financial situation than I was a few years ago. I am in a good place right now, but I recently realized I needed to do something other than being a full-time Chemist to live my dream life (you can read more about my dream life below). I realized I was not having the impact I dreamt of having. 

So that brings me here today and the reason I started Smart Living Scientist. I realized I could have far greater of an impact if I could help people improve their personal finances so that they can also live their dream life. I know I cannot do this alone – but together, we can help create this world where everyone lives their dream life.