My story

Table of Contents

Here is my story of how I started my financial journey!

I hope you find some inspiration in it.

Everything started after I had a dramatic realization about my finances and life. One day, I had just gotten out of work and was driving home when a rush of emotions took over my entire body. I started to cry as if I had just lost a loved one. As I was crying, I asked God if this was what the rest of my life looked like. I wake up at 6:00 am every morning to drop my child at school and then go to work for nine hours. Then, leave work, come home to cook, shower, and sleep. Then, repeat the same thing the next day and the next day. That day in my car, I just burst into tears. I felt lost and hopeless. I felt I had worked for most of my life, yet I had nothing to show.

The next day at work, I started to research personal finance, and it was there that God answered all my questions and brought hope into my life. I found a video of Dave Ramsay discussing building wealth and achieving financial freedom. Since that day, I have become obsessed with becoming financially free. I watched several videos, took a finance class, and read dozens of books about finance. As a result, I got out of debt, built an emergency fund, and started investing.

“To achieve what one percent of the world’s population has (Financial Freedom), you must be willing to do what only one percent dares to do. Hard work and perseverance of highest order.“
Manoj Arora

How have I done it?

I discovered I was doing many things wrong during my financial journey, so I had to make immediate changes. First, I didn’t have a budget, so I didn’t know how much I spent every month. Second, I wasn’t investing. To be fair, I didn’t know anything about investing. Lastly, I had no financial goals; I was working to pay bills and buy stuff. Yes, I was saving, but the minimum.

As a result, I created a monthly budget every month and stuck to it! Then, I listed all my debts from smaller to larger. I attacked the smaller debt aggressively while paying the minimum on the other debts. When I finished paying the smaller debt, I took the money I was putting toward that payment and rolled it onto the next-smallest debt I owed. This is called the “snowball debt method.” Using this method, I paid all my debt in about a year.

I also called my phone, cable, and car insurance companies to negotiate my bills. In return, I was able to reduce them significantly.

Once I finished paying all my debts, I started investing. I joined the 401k at work, where I still invest 15% of my income. Then, I opened a Roth IRA, which I have been maxing out. I only invest in Index Funds in these two accounts because they give me instant diversification and the ability to automate my investment. Lastly, I opened a regular brokerage account to invest any extra money I have at the end of each month; the investments in this account are ETFs.

I changed my mindset about money.

“Financial freedom is mental, emotional, and education process.“
Manoj Arora

Changing my mindset has been crucial during this process. I had to transform my thoughts and understanding of money and life. Living in a society where materialism is common, it is easy to lose sight of what matters to us. For me to stay focused, I set short and long-term goals. Every day, I see my goals as a reminder of what is important to me. This helps me not to waste time and money on things I don’t care about.

Implementing Minimalism into my life has been very important as well. It has though me to buy more of what I need and less of what I want. The minimalist perspective has helped me identify what I value most and remove the rest to live more meaningfully. I have adopted the mindset that less is more regarding material things. I have developed the intentional choice to live with less and redirect my financial resources toward my goals.

“Financial freedom is available to those who learn about it and work for it.“
Manoj Arora

Persistence

has been the key to my success. There have been times when I have been tempted to go the other way, but I have stayed focused and continued taking action toward my goals.

My mission

My mission is to motivate and guide you toward achieving financial freedom. I will provide you with the essential knowledge and tools needed to reach your desired future. It is my goal to empower you to live life on your own terms.