A little story

Since I was small, I'm known in my family as a great money saver. I always good at managing my own money and keep track with all the expenses. I bought my first motorcycle with my own saving when I was 15 years old. I moved to U.S. when I was 17 and due to financial problem within my family, I have lived all by my own when I was 20 years old exactly in 2002. Although this is common for most American but it's uncommon for people from my own country to live by their own before they are done with school.

Since I was not a citizen, I'm not eligible for student loan. I started my own online business with my limited skill of HTML and running an online business. However, my business grow steadily and I was able to cover all my expenses which includes: rent, food, tuition, etc. Tuition is the hardest financial hit during that time since as a non-resident, you generally pay around 3 times more than the resident. Despite all that, I still manage to finish my education in community college and public university. As a reward to my self, I upgraded my car to a nice 1999 Acura 3.2 TL from 1996 Honda Accord in 2005 when I graduated from the university with a bachelor of science diploma in Computer Science. During that time, I also received one international immigrant scholarship which helped me a little bit with my tuition.

I bought my first house in 2006 when I was 23 years old during the booming market after start working in an IT company for 6 months. I've been wanting to get my own house since in 2005 when I just graduated from college, but due to lack of job history, I have to hold that thought for a year. Although now the housing market is not appreciating as rapidly as before, I still think my house still gaining a pretty good momentum in price.