Building healthy financial habits

Robo-advisors: Your Gateway to Investing

6/16/2020

One of my biggest regrets this past decade was not investing more of my money. I let my irrational fears and risk-averse tendencies get in the way of one of the longest bull markets in history. So when the market took a landslide in late February, it was time to double-down and take revenge!

June Financial Checklist: Financial Independence for Social Good

6/10/2020

Whenever we reach a significant date, may it be a new month, a new season, a new milestone, or a new year, we oftentimes greet it with a fresh start. We put the past aside, set our intentions for this next chapter, and vow to be better versions of ourselves.

The Road to a Rainbow Nation: A Personal Reflection on the Legacy of Apartheid in South Africa

6/1/2020

In light of this week's events, I felt compelled to share a piece I wrote in 2006 about living abroad in South Africa. Over a decade after the end of the apartheid, I experienced what it was like to live in a country healing from systemic racial, socioeconomic, and political divides. While I'll never truly be able to feel what it was like to be a black South African, what I witness had a profound impact on my perspectives around inequality.

What a Pandemic S-Curve Can Teach Us About Building Financial Sustainability

5/27/2020

Inventor and futurist, Ray Kurzweil, once observed that people are, well . . . pretty bad at predicting the future. Why? Because we tend to see the world in a linear fashion. As he puts it, “The future is widely misunderstood. Our forebears expected it to be pretty much like their present, which had been pretty much like their past.”

Maximum Income for Maximum Happiness

5/14/2020

If there’s anything we’ve learned about ourselves during this quarantine, it’s that we crave social connection. Any. Social. Connection. Even the extremist of introverts and homebodies like me are beginning to dream of the day we can hang out with our friends and family again. I no longer question my dog’s enthusiasm to break out of the house each day for a neighborhood walk.

Financial Confessions: 9 Money Mishaps I Made Since the Last Financial Crisis

5/7/2020

As I reset my intentions and plan for the post-pandemic years ahead, I have been looking back on my financial journey since the last economic recession of 2008/2009. From entering the workforce as a fresh college graduate to a decade-long career in tech, there are plenty of mishaps I’ve encountered along the way. To make sure I don’t forget, I’m laying out all of my dirty laundry today and sharing it with you too. May you be wiser in your decisions ahead than I was in my 20’s.

Maximizing Net Worth Part 3: Making Informed Decisions

5/4/2020

Prior to the global pandemic that ensued from COVID-19, I began a series about maximizing net worth. While you may feel like you are in survival mode instead of raising the bar with your finances, the same principles apply to manage your money. Getting organized, knowing what drives your overall wealth, and identifying fluctuations in these underlying forces provides a strong foundation for financial sustainability. But merely familiarizing yourself with your financial picture is only half the battle. You need to decide the appropriate times to make a change or take action.

May Financial Checklist: Planning for the Years Ahead

5/1/2020

Hi friends! Happy May! Although we’re far from claiming victory on this pandemic, the beginning of this month feels like a renewed motivation to start moving forward. We have slowly adjusted to a new normal, accepted a much different future than the one we envisioned before, and are finding our bearings to adapt to the road ahead. The process may be painful, but I am confident that we all are, in some form or another, redefining our meaning of self-worth.

April Financial Checklist: The Painful Nudge Towards Happiness

4/16/2020

Hello out there! How is everyone doing? I hope you are safe and most importantly, staying at home. Over the past few weeks, I have written and rewritten this post several times as each week (heck, each day!) inevitably sparks a new sentiment or perspective. From fear and panic to acceptance and hope, I’ve run the gamut of emotions through this pandemic already. Just like COVID-19, no one is immune to the physical, emotional, and mental impact of a global pandemic. And matter how small or large our personal battles may be, it is a reminder to give ourselves and those around us a little grace.

Maximizing Net Worth Part 2: Diagnosing Changes in Net Worth

3/11/2020

If you have been following along on my blog, you know by now that I am a big proponent of tracking net worth as the basis of managing your money. Once you familiarize yourself with your net worth figure and underlying assets, you may be wondering if there is anything you should be doing differently. When it comes to managing money, you want to make sure every last dollar is working for you optimally.

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