My name is Suba. I live with my husband in Southern California and I blog at WealthInformatics.com. I am not a great writer, I have never been deep in debt, I love my career and I am not even the most frugal person in the world. So what am I doing in the personal finance blogging world?
The Beginning
The origin of my blog “Wealth Informatics” is in an immigrant’s experience. I came to the US about 8 yrs ago to study, without a scholarship and very little money. Until that point I had been financially supported by my parents. So it was quite a rude awakening when I realized how little I knew financially and how easily I could get into debt. Here I was, in an unknown country with very little money and no knowledge about how to handle money. So I took it as a challenge and decided to teach myself about finance.
What started off as looking for ways to stretch a dollar with frugal grocery shopping and sharing a room, grew over time into things like looking for the best interest rate for my small rainy day fund, investing and other aspects of personal finance. I graduated with $5000 in my name, with $0 debt.
The revelation
Fast forward to 2008 – I was happily married, both my husband and I working full time jobs, we had progressed professionally and personally. Then I had the desire to buy a home. The housing market was coming down and we were earning well, everything was great, except – we still had the same amount of money in the bank that we accumulated during our poor student days. Even though our income had increased significantly we had $0 to show for it.
We were trying to keep up with the Joneses and were living a paycheck to paycheck existence. We were disciplined enough to not get into debt, but our efforts stopped there, we were not saving anything. When I was in school I had a goal – graduate debt free and have a small emergency fund. But I had let myself go after getting a full time job. I always wanted to buy a house, at some point of time; I didn’t have any specific goal or a vision. That mistake caused a big hole in our financial health. But that is ok, mistakes make our life interesting.
For the first time after graduation, we looked at our spending and diligently tracked everything to know “where” our hard earned money was going. Turned out it was not where I wanted it to go. We were spending a lot on things that really didn’t give us any satisfaction. I didn’t want to cut down everything and go back to a student’s lifestyle. I wanted to cut down the spending on things that didn’t give us any pleasure and channel that money towards something that has value in our life and made us happy. For example, I wanted to cut mundane expenses like gas or phone bills to an extent that would not cause me misery while allowing me to have more money for vacations and charity.
It was not a smooth ride, but after doing this for a couple of years, I am happy to say that we have now found our balance. I have learned a lot about myself in this process. I have learned a lot of different ways to do the same thing. I made a lot of mistakes and learned (and am still learning) things the hard way.We have not achieved our goal to accumulate a 25% down payment for a house yet and we don’t always stay within the budget, but now we have control over our money. If I wanted to take an extravagant vacation I know what else is at stake and can make an informed decision.
The Blog – Wealth Informatics
With my renewed passion for Personal Finance, I started (re-started) searching, taking notes and reading every personal finance article or book I came across. At that time, I stumbled upon MyOpenWallet.net. Ever since then I have been hooked on personal finance blogs, some days even neglecting my husband, who needless to say wasn’t very happy about it :). Surprisingly, he was the one who asked me to start a blog. He later admitted that one of his motivations was the hope that if I had another outlet, we would not spend all our time together talking solely about finance :). Thus was born Wealth Informatics.
I started this blog so that I can share all the information I learned, strategies I have tried, successes I’ve had and the mistakes I’ve made so that people who are starting out will not be as intimidated as I was. I have to define the meaning of “Informatics” here. Informatics means using data to establish information which in turn leads to generation of knowledge. Wealth Informatics seemed to be an appropriate name for my blog that strives to provide – financial freedom through information. Some of the areas I post regularly on are – information empowering debt reduction, financial planning, informed consumerism, savvy investing, fun & frugal living leading to financial freedom.
The Yakezie
I was a regular reader of Financial Samurai but never paid attention to the golden flower on his sidebar. One day I clicked on it and stumbled onto – The Yakezie. By that time it had already been a few months since the challenge started, but I was welcomed with open arms. Yakezie introduced me to a lot of amazing blogs & friends. The comments I get from my fellow Yakezie members make my day and keep me going. Thanks to all of you! I really appreciate it. I feel incredibly honored to be a part of such an amazing network of people and I am excited to start contributing to Yakezie in anyway I can.
The future
As I admitted in the very beginning, I am not a great writer. Additionally, English is not my first language. My fervent hope is that through feedback from readers and pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, I will be able to tackle complex financial topics and learn to express them in a simple yet engaging manner.
I’m excited to be a part of this group, and hope that we can learn from each other, and that I can help each of you when needed as well. If there is anything I can do to help or make your life easier, please do let me know!
Suba, Thanks for sharing your story. I think your sincerity comes through with your writing. Good luck with your goal of buying a home.
Thanks Dr. Dean. We are saving little by little for a house. Staying in CA sure make it difficult.
Way to go Suba! That was a lovely read. I didn’t realize that English wasn’t your primary language, so I’m impressed :). Another thing that makes me happy to hear is when you came over here, you weren’t sucked into a debt trap. That is one thing that I’ve heard people complain about is that as soon as they got here, people were throwing money at them trying to get them into debt. Congratulations and good work!
Thanks, Wealth Artisan. I cannot take credit for not getting into debt, I think that was planted by my parents. So even though I signed up for credit cards to get free tshirts, I was “afraid” to use them because I wasn’t sure if I could pay it back. So for me fear kept me out of debt… whatever works I suppose…
great story and one that i can personally relate to. so when we moved to the USA, my parents got 8-10 pieces of mail daily that would say “sweepstakes” or that they won this or that – but they had to pay for X service to claim Y prize. gimmicks and scams to take money away and put you in debt lol. from a lending perspective, WA is right in that they do (or did at least) throw money at you left and right.
Luckily I never got those sweepstakes, they don’t send those to students I suppose. I only started getting those after I started work, may be they track if you can pay? Don’t know.
I agree with Dr Dean that your sincerity shines through your writing. That factor alone entices readers. I have already appreciated getting to know your through your comments and blog. This post fills lots of gaps. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot, Joe. I really appreciate your comments and the interactions we have had. You are one of those people who got me out of the lonely blogging world. It is an amazing feeling everyday to see the comments. Thanks.
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I think you are a great writer. Actually, I would have never guess that English is your second language.
Enjoyed getting to know you better. I have been reading your blog for awhile now, and have always been a fan!
Thank you, EverydayTips!!! I love your blog! And I can’t thank you enough. You were the first to comment in my blog and you won’t believe how happy I was to see your comment. You kept me going, you still do… Thanks a lot!
Great introduction Suba. I’m pretty impressed that you were able to make it through school with 0 debt while starting with no financial knowledge. I wish that I could say that I did that. I think I thought I had financial knowledge, but I actually didnt. I see that now. Your story makes it hard for me to pity the people who spend foolishly and “cant seem to make ends meet”
Thanks, Jeff. Necessity and fear of being in a new country teaches a lot of life lessons I suppose :)
Hello Suba! Great intro…those Joneses sure do lead people down the wrong path!
Your writing is just fine by the way. ;)
They sure do Mike! And the worst part is, we end up spending on what the Joneses like, not what we like and what is important to us…
I really like that your goal is not to simply cut spending, but to cut spending that does not benefit you in some way. I agree 100%! I am sick of people telling us to cut spending for the sake of it. I just spending for the value of it. Good to meet you and I look forward to more great posts in the future!
Thanks, Eric. Yeah, I have a problem with the flat frugality. There is no point in earning if we don’t want to spend on things that are important to us. People say money doesn’t bring happiness, but it sure does for me, when I spend on things that means something to us.
I think your English is just fine. :) I think you’ve been doing a great job, and I enjoy reading your posts. Great to learn a little more about your backstory!
Thanks for the great words of encouragement, Kevin!
I enjoyed your story and wod not have been able to tell that English wasn’t your 1st language if you hadn’t said so.
Thanks, Jackie. As we don’t speak English at home, I am always doubting how to say things the right way, all the different ways of interpreting my sentences… Thanks for those encouraging words.
Don’t know if I missed it but where are you from? Your English is great and I am sure I can speak for everyone and say we think you are a great writer. I doubt my own ability too but having a support like Yakezie really helps you keep your game up.
I can’t believe you graduated with cash in your hands, you could blog forever just on that alone!
Thanks, Forest. I just replied to your comment in your member post regarding that, good timing :) India. I sure can write a lot of posts on all the mistakes I did ;)
Suba – great intro post. I respect the sincerity that I see coming through, and your efforts to get a foothold in a new country. All the while, you have been learned from your experiences and seem to have gotten yourself established. What’s really impressive is that you have done this within 8 years. There are people here that are not immigrants and have been here their whole lives, but can’t grasp these financial realities that you do. Congrats. By the way, I have visted/commented on your blog, and like what you write.
Thanks, Don. There are soo many awesome blogs it is difficult to keep up.
I wrote this reply to Money Reasons, no idea how it ended up here ;)
Thanks, Squirrelers. I was lucky to have not made any major mistakes, so that helped. We are still not where we want to be, but at least feel we are in the right track to get there. Thanks a lot for visiting my blog! Hope you will continue to read :)
Ad no clue that English wasn’t your first language either! Thanks for the personal story, Im a softee for them.
Wow, for a 2nd language, your English is great!
It’s good to hear the additional background about you… I’ve always been curious, but blogging time when you are in the Yakezie network is always scarce. So I’ve just realized it but didn’t push it further.
Great intro! :)
Suba, you are a much better writer than many of us whose English is a first language. (or is it whom’s or who’s? I dunno, my English stinks). Anyway, you are also amazing at thoroughly researching every topic you write about….either that or you already know EVERYTHING and don’t do any research at all, but either way, your blog is a great resource!
Thanks a lot, Coach! That was an ego boost ;) Thanks for having me as a guest in your blog (my first guest post!), I really appreciate that.
Thanks for sharing Suba!
I think your writing is just fine, Suba! Looking forward to meeting you at our first So. Cal bloggers group get-together in October!
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Thanks, Len. Looking forward to meeting you too!
Thanks, Daniel
Great Story Suba! Ever check out Ramit’s stuff? Like is generalizations of the Indian peeps?
I do read Ramit’s stuff Evan, but don’t agree with all of it though. For example, he has a whole chapter on negotiating like an Indian in his book, may be I am different, but I am really bad with negotiating, esp. face to face negotiation. I could do reasonably well using email, but phone and face to face, I am horrible. Same with some other traits he mentions… but it might be me messing up :)
Thanks for sharing your story, very inspiring. Don’t worry about hubby getting tired of PF talk, that’s what you have us for! Best of luck! Barb
http://barbarafriedbergpersonalfinance.om
lol, Barb! I talk a lot you might regret that you said this ;)
Such a unique story you shared with us. It is such a different perspective you shared. I appreciate where you are coming from big time, because my parents were immigrants to this country almost 30 years ago. My parents made a ton of mistakes during their time here dealing with credit card debt, mortgages, and refinancing home loans, but they were still able to do everything they could for me. So more than anything, I appreciate what you are trying to do. Especially when you acknowledged “I didn’t have any specific goal or a vision.” That is huge because without that, you have nothing to work towards. Great story and love the title of the blog. Informatics… its such a modern term that gives the sense that the ideas are continuing to progress with time….or is that just me? Either way, keep it up.
First of all I love your logo. And second if I hadn’t read it in your post I’d have no idea that English was your second language – that’s awesome. I wish I was better at foreign languages. I’m always learning or reading new words, but my memory fails me most of the time and stumbling with grammar. Congrats on your blog and be proud of your writing- you’re doing a great job!
Great story Suba and really interesting background. Pretty impressive that English isn’t your first language and your courage with the blog is awesome! Your blog is very engaging…keep up the great work!
Thanks a lot, doctor_s, Charlie and Andrew!
Charlie I LOVE your gravatar! I was curious when I saw that in Samurai blog, it is sooo cute!
Your English is amazing! Better than many Amerians’. ;) So interesting that, even coming from a different culture, you still managed to get sucked into “keeping up with the Jones'” — perhaps that is a universal tendency? So nice to meet you! Looking forward to furthering our acquaintance! Yakezie!
Thanks, Jolyn. Joneses have their way with everyone I guess ;) Looking forward to working with you in the future!
Hey Suba, thanks for sharing your story! I’m glad you were able to overcome your desire to “keep up with the Jones” so early in life. Now you can recover and teach people to avoid it altogether!
Oh, and you write very clear – better than many writers that I’ve come across in my life!
Yes, if I can help even a single person do better, I would feel I have accomplished what I set out to do :)
I actually love your writing style and the fact that you are an immigrant makes your words even more powerful! Great intro. It’s cool that your husband is supportive of your blog life :)
Suba,
This quote was very insightful, “Surprisingly, he was the one who asked me to start a blog. He later admitted that one of his motivations was the hope that if I had another outlet, we would not spend all our time together talking solely about finance :) . Thus was born Wealth Informatics.”
Good idea! I think I can relate! Everybody needs a hobby and an outlet. Glad you found yours!
Thanks Jesse & Sam. My husband has been incredibly helpful from the start. He is my venting and motivating machine too ;) those days when I have super low traffic…
[…] Suba at Wealth Informatics […]
Suba, I enjoy your blog and am like you, excited to see comments from other Yakezie members (like you!) on my blog. Like others, I’m impressed that English is your second language. I never would have guessed!
Thanks, Penny. Those comments keep me going.
Suba:
Wonderful write-up. While you claim not to be a great writer, you put lots of emotion behind your words, and it was an engaging read. As another big proponent of education & information, appreciate the creation of Wealth Infromatics and what you seek to achieve.
So do you still foresee a home purchase in the near future? Did I read that correctly and your goal is to save the 25% down? Good luck!
Thank FinEngr. Yes we are still saving for the down payment, slowly…. We will start looking when we have 20%+all the fees and try to buy low to make that 25%, or keep looking until we get to 25% We would like to buy a house that we can pay off with just one salary (right now both of us work) but that would make it 3.5-5x my husband’s salary within 1 hr of my husband’s work. So we want to put as much down as we can.
Suba, I think you do write well and I would never guess that English isn’t your first language!
You are inspiring and I’m looking forward to meeting you at the SoCal blogger meetup Len’s organized.
Great story Suba! Good luck with saving for the house :) Looking forward to reading more posts by you in the future!
Hi Suba,
It was great chatting just now. I just finished re-reading your Member Post. Hopefully we can create a long and lasting partnership and friendship. I truly believe the key to success with anything is focusing on doing things long term!
Best, Sam