My personal finance journey began freshman year at Penn. I had generous financial aid, a part-time job, and dreams of becoming a tech entrepreneur—until my aid was unexpectedly rescinded mid-year.

I thought about transferring, but decided to stay (Penn was my dream school, but also, there may have been this girl I really liked…). I cut costs by overloading on classes, worked side gigs, and graduated early—but still left school with $250K in high-interest debt.

Entrepreneurship had to wait. I took the highest-paying job I could find, lived frugally in a tiny shack with my best friend Brendan, and rode an e-bike to save money. During that time, I became obsessed with personal finance—devouring books, building spreadsheets, and creating a system to accelerate my path to financial freedom.

Eventually, friends began asking how I was making it work. It was clear that traditional advisors were too expensive for them and robo-tools lacked real guidance. This provided an opportunity to share what I’d built.

Years later, with my debt behind me and Brendan, now a talented engineer, we teamed up to build Fifr—a platform to help others achieve financial freedom. Oh—and that girl from freshman year? I am now lucky enough to call her my wife.