About

Where It Started

In 2007, I arrived in the USA with two suitcases and $100 to my name. I got married that same year, started a master’s degree in engineering, and took on my second student loan. My wife and I furnished our first apartment almost entirely from thrift stores.

I grew up in a middle-class family in India where my parents stretched every rupee to send me to a private school. They didn’t give me pocket money. I earned it by keeping the change from shopping errands. I saved those tiny amounts until I could buy a bicycle, then kept saving until I opened my first CD account. Those early lessons in patience and delayed gratification stuck with me.

Every Mistake in the Book

After arriving in the US, I made every financial mistake in the book. I misread my bank balance (those brackets around negative numbers caught me off guard) and overdrafted three times. My credit score sat in the low 600s for years. I once had to put car tires on a credit card during a snowstorm because I had zero emergency savings. I borrowed money from friends regularly. I was, in my own words, “spending like a king but turning myself into a pauper.”

The Turning Point

But I learned. I cleared my master’s loan within two years, started my first 401(k), and began tracking every dollar, first on paper, then spreadsheets, then proper budgeting tools. Being new in this country, I had to figure everything out from scratch. No parents with experience in the American system. No mentors. The financial advice out there didn’t cater to immigrants navigating work visas, cultural money habits, and the constant uncertainty of whether we’d be allowed to stay.

That uncertainty was real. For 15 years, until I got my Green Card in 2022, the fear of losing my work status shaped every financial decision. I realized early that the sooner I achieved financial independence, the more security my family would have.

Where I Am Today

Today, I’ve achieved Coast FIRE in my 40s. My existing investments will grow to fund a comfortable retirement even if I never save another penny. That realization changed everything. Career decisions became less about money and more about fulfillment. I invest systematically in low-cost index funds, own rental properties, and maintain a 30-50% savings rate without burning out. I still love my job as an engineer, I teach as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado (the same program where I earned my master’s), and I mentor others through a non-profit.

My wife and I are raising two kids and teaching them about money the way I wish someone had taught me, through an allowance system, a parent-match on their investments, and open family conversations about finances.

Why This Blog

I started this blog because many times I wished for a mentor. Someone who understood what it’s like to start from nothing in a new country, navigate visa uncertainties, and build wealth without a safety net. I experiment with various personal finance strategies firsthand and document what actually works. This isn’t theory. It’s a real journey with real numbers, real mistakes, and real results.

My approach to FIRE goes beyond just hitting a number. I believe true financial independence requires a balance of financial, emotional, and physical well-being. I maintain that balance through clean eating, regular workouts, yoga, and spending on what genuinely matters, like family travel, quality time with my kids, and the occasional premium experience.

Learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to make them on your own.

Happy reading!