Dear Aja, Today I just paid off my student loan debt from Undergraduate and Graduate School!! It took me 2 years after I graduated grad school to do this, and your videos/debt free journey really pushed and motivated me to work on my own #FinancialFreedom. Now that I have paid of my student loans, my next step is to pay off my car, build my EF and save more money for my wedding in October ! (depending on how covid pans out). Just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing your journey and inspiring people like me.
Ms. Aja Dang, You have inspired me to talk about my finances and how having financial freedom is our choice. Thank you for the tenacious, consistent, no filter, no bullshit way of being your true self. I admire you for your bravery of putting yourself out there about your debt. Thank you for choosing financial freedom and don't listen to those people who wished they had your income; you have worked hard for the income you have earned. Thank you.
You have been such a inspiration. I’m 26 and as of last week.... I am debt free for the first time since turning 18. I’ve always owed money and I’m finally done. Life has always been so challenging but I’m so happy to move forward and try to set a different path for myself moving forward.
I paid off over six figures of debt in 2 years, working like crazy for that one goal of being debt-free. I'm on the other side of debt, and I have to tell you it's definitely worth it, especially in our current times. Now, I'm working towards increasing my emergency fund. I've got so much respect for people who are able to consistently stick to their financial goals. It's difficult, it's against the norm, but it's also possible!
Congrats!!! When you talked about not being sure how much to save up for a house because you weren’t sure where you wanted to live, I heard online for that situation, you should save up money for the the most expensive place you have on your mind. The reason for this is because it will make you save up more money. If you do choose to buy a house in a cheaper area like Houston instead of LA, having that extra money will help with unexpected house issues, such as flooding, real estate taxes, and renovations
That wasn’t my mindset at all when buying my first home. I bought my first home in a place I knew I didn’t plan to stay in long term, but could commit to owning the home for at least 5 years. It became a rental income property once I was ready to move on and I’ve repeated the same process 3 more times. It was always more worth it to me to buy a home versus pay someone else’s rent and then whenever I’d move out or move on I could sell it or rent it without any issue. I’ve since has to sell all properties because of a divorce but my goal is to get back to that spot on my own and continue to invest in real estate
When you say you rent it out do you mean that someone else took over your mortgage payment? You rented out your first home and it was paying itself off?
Congratulations on funding your emergency fund!! With regards to moving, I totally understand not being sure about where to set down roots (even for the next step of your life). I am in Charlotte now, and for me, this is everything I was looking for in a city. I moved here right after I turned 29 and I love it here. What helped me was making a dream wish list of what I wanted (even really frivolous things) and looked for cities that aligned with it.
Congrats on funding your emergency fund!!! 🥳🥳 Would Brian be willing to do a video with you to talk about finances? My boy and I have been together 9 years and looking for different methods of discussing and managing finances. xx
agreed! i would love to see a video like this. My bf and I have been living together for over 2 years and would love to learn different ways to manage finances as a couple.
I have been following you for a few months now and you have empowered me to take control of my finances. You are a great female role model in finances. So, thank you!!
I love seeing Aja Dang more and more financially stable as the years go by! Its truly inspiring, but also just glad she's feeling lighter! You worked so hard for this and I am proud of you girl.
Aja you and everyone else who've navigated this path are such an inspiration. I'll be completing BS2 after over 5 years in 3 months. This is so awesome!!! Congrats!
I'm so happy for you! I want to thank you because since I found your budget videos I have a budget since January. I was always afraid to do one. Now I actually have a emergency fund and savings and that is a BIG step for me. I paid off my home in 2018. Now the only debtI have is a car payment and I have started paying extra on that. I love your videos they really get me motivated. Don't let anyone tell you that what you did was not that great because it was a long hard journey and inspired many! Thank you
I’m almost at the end of baby step 3! My end date will be the first paycheck of December though I’m going to do as much as I can to get it done sooner. After this is to fund my smaller emergency funds aka car maintenance/deductible and then my health deductible. As a single mom I have to put myself in a more secure place before I start saving for a house. But also I’m going to get a Roth IRA and a 529 for my son once I get the funds funded!
congrats aja!! I stumbled upon your financial journey when I first began Physician Assistant school 3 years ago and have been loving your channel ever since! You have inspired me to make a very realistic and balanced budget. My husband and I have been able to pay off a decent amount of our debt despite being a one income household while I went to school and now as I am having troubles finding a job in our tiny town (+ covid19). Keep up the good work! Also, I love hearing about the things you've decided to treat yourself with now that you're financially free!
YEAH GIRL! Congratulations! I agree that paying off my student debt felt a bit anti-climatic, but having an emergency fund makes you feel free and so empowered!!!
Aah I'm so happy for you! I paid off all debt two months ago and now trying to save up for my emergency fund. It's soo hard but I'll stick to it! Thank you for the inspiration, Aja!
I bought my house 9 years ago. I always thought we would move. And having that option was what made me feel relaxed about buying. However we recently decided we are staying here forever. I don’t anticipate ever moving. It’s actually freeing knowing this is our forever home. It’s a small modest home. So my advice is buy a house with the mindset that you can always move. Don’t make it more complicated and stressful. Just buy a home that you will be able to sell fast. A first time buyer home, if that makes sense.
Congratulations Aja! So excited for you and I can’t wait to be in that position. Your videos helped me get out of CC debt. Now tackling some other loans. On the path to being debt free.
YES AJA! I’ll have my emergency fund in place in the next 2 weeks. I’m doing a 3 month emergency fund before I start paying off my BIG debt (already done all my little ones) just for my own peace of mind and knowing I’m secure in case anything does go wrong I’ll build it up to 6 months once I’m completely debt free. And then we can start saving for all the big life things!
Where you live will greatly determine where your kids can go to school. So I suggest thinking about where you want your kids to go to school, and then buy a house there. I have spent some time in Houston and overall it did not seem like a pleasant place to settle down. It does not have enough to offer, though it does have great tacos.
AWESOME GIRL! My EF was started a year ago.. and then I was laid off. Luckily I am back on track saving and its providing SO much comfort. I highly recommend to everyone.
Congrats! We just finished baby step 3 too! On figuring out where to settle down. The approach we took was to stay where we were for the first year after having our first child, which was the small town I grew up in. Rural California girl over here! Once we had him I could see what life was like there with a baby. I realized that while it was nice living in a small town for somethings, there weren’t the opportunities for our careers or for our child that WE wanted to provide. We decided before his first birthday to move back to the city. We are so happy with the decision and he loves all of the day to day activities and opportunities we have here. I think it’s ok to wait and see. There’s no “proper” order to do something. Take your time. Loved your video. Best wishes!
My advice for buying a house/home for you is this. You have three states in mind, choose a lifestyle, because these three states offer different lifestyles, choose a city within these states that offer you the lifestyle you want, choose three neighborhoods, choose three streets in these neighbourhoods. Decide if you want a fixer upper or a house that is already made, or buy land and build your own home, do you want to live on a up and coming street, or a street that is already established. When you've decided all of this if you can visit these neighbourhoods different times of the year and spend a week, it will give you a chance to know the area. Hopefully, this will help you, I have friends who have done this and it's helped them discard certain locations. I live in England so this may not be useful for you.
Everyone's different, and the fact that you were able to figure out how to manage your money in a way that works for you, and to pay off the things that were important for you to get out of your life is so incredible! Anyone who ever tries to bring you down for your income should be more focused on their own income than making you feel bad about yours tbh. Congratulations on funding your Emergency Fund, you make me excited to get to that point too!
You are amazing and so inspirational! I started following your journey a couple years back. I followed in your steps and finished paying off $86k in student loans earlier this year! Now I’m working on my emergency fund so I’m so stoked you’ve done it! I’m so grateful for your advice and for you sharing your experience. It’s life changing! I’m also thinking about saving for a house and I still have a car to pay off. I’m more excited and inspired than ever because of you. So, thank you!
We felt the same. Our first house is the house we will raise our kid (I’m pregnant lol) but honestly, it’s always closer to family. Makes life so much easier!!! 🙈😊 especially with kids, free child care ;)
For me, being near my family is absolutely important! I lived in LA for college but moved back home and settled there. Now that I’m a mother I’m so happy I made that decision bc it really takes a village to raise a child.
Congratulations! I’ve been following your inspirational story for the past two years and have been implementing your advice into my own life. In those two years it seems like my goals were postponed, but I’m still pursuing financial freedom as a single mother in my late 20’s!!
Congratulations!!! 🙌🍾 This pandemic really opened my eyes to trust in my self to get financially secure. I personally stopped step 2 and am working on step 3. I have so much anxiety about my 4 walls due to my childhood so I'll be more comfortable paying off debt with that safety net.
@@AjaDang thank you for keeping us motivated! I know this is older video but I just paid off my car loan early and I thought “ oh I need to tell Aja” lol. I live in Bay Area, as you know the CA rent is ridiculously high, so I am so happy to be debt free. Thx again!
I am sooooo happy for you Aja!!!!!! You have inspired me every step of the way on my debt free journey (half done!). This video comes at such a perfect time because I was just starting to feel down about imagining building up my emergency fund before spending on my dream vacation, but I want that happy freedom feeling you spoke of so much. Sending many thanks and can’t wait to see your next steps. 🙏❤️🙌
Congratulations! Hit 3 months EM and decided to increase it to 6 months now given thr pandemic. Living life on a positive cash-flow with money for emergencies is just so gratifying. I feel rich because I know have a level of safety now. The best form of self love out there!
congrats on getting your emergency fund funded! We bought a house in LA and we plan on moving soon. Still trying to figure out what city. A house is just a house and it doesn't matter. At first it feels like a big deal but once you're in it it doesn't matter so don't beat yourself up. But def don't buy a house if you don't think you'll be there for 5 years. Renting buys you patience as you know. good luck
For me, when I bought my condo, I needed a place that I felt safe and restful. I was looking for something that had ease of access to public transportation so that I could get to work easily. But that was based on my individual needs, so I recommend coming up with a priority list. Generally, it's helpful if you think about am I going to like living here for the next 5 years? Reason being is because if you sell earlier than 5 years, you'd just be losing money in the closing costs. But if you can envision that, also consider, if I buy another place, could I use this property as good rental income? I looked into things like rental caps and making sure there was none, healthy HOA, etc. For you, you'd probably want to look at whether it's a good school district for kids (and for how long - elementary vs middle school vs high school). Good school districts also play into the value of your home if you ever decide to resell so just some thoughts on things to weigh, including resale value. But I always think it's a good idea to build your own home equity instead of paying for someone's mortgage through rent. That's thousands of dollars that could have gone towards a home, even if not perfect, that I could later resell to find the right fit. Just make sure it has good resale value if you're feeling indecisive about the long term investment otherwise you're stuck with a bad property when the economy is low. By no means an expert but just sharing my personal experience.
@@AjaDang OMG, are you going to be a family youtube channel like Ant an Christina? Sharing and vlogging the cute baby memories on youtube? It's going to be so beautiful I can't even fathom.
Congrats on the fully funded emergency fund! I just met my savings goal (that I set for this year) this month too. I decided to pause aggressively paying down my debts due to the pandemic and also the uncertainty of whether or not my contract with my job was going to be extended. It’s been extended until September so I feel a bit more comfortable knowing I have some funds to fall back on if I find myself without work then. Thanks providing me inspiration and motivation! ❤️
Congrats on completing your emergency fund. The 15% recommendation for retirement is so you can use the rest to save for kid's college, where applicable, and save for (or pay off) a house. After that, you increase your retirement savings. Depending on your time horizon, your investment account might be a good place to save for that house.
Congrats Aja!! I've followed your journey from the very start and I'm so grateful for all the information you have provided me, It's helped me so much on my own journey. The hardest thing about creating a budget is sticking to it and unlearning all your bad habits you have learnt along the way. In terms of the services you're wanting to provide , I know you're so busy that maybe even creating products such as budgeting / finance templates or trackers that you can download or print out for your planner (HUGE planner community out there), Creating an app, or a finance planner with all the templates needed to reach our goals. I'd love to support you and purchase anything that provides young women with the knowlegde they need to conquer their world.
This has been soooo inspiring. I just recently paid off my credit cards and am credit card debt free myself and seeing your videos have been encouraging and motivating to do the same so thank you for sharing and being such a boss!
I can understand your stress about buying a home. My SO and I bought a house last year because we were committed to my SO’s duty station (he’s Air Force) for 4 more years and he is absolutely NOT an apartment guy and we have restricted breed dogs which made finding a house to rent hard. We just recently found out we are no longer committed to this duty station and immediately he decided that he wants to move back to his home town in 2 years (the time I need to become debt free). In hindsight we wouldn’t have bought the home and just suffered in an apartment until we found someone willing to rent a house to us. But hindsight is 20/20. Sometimes you just have to go with what you feel makes sense for your life at that time.
Congrats! few people get to where you are. I started on my 6 month Emergency Fund and $1000 cash first before my debts. It was due to occupational breaks and unsteady employment.
In response to your buying a property questions, I just bought a condo in the city with my boyfriend who proposed to me a month after buying, we are thinking we just wanted to stop renting and have our money invested in a property. We think we'd live here for at least 5 years but don't think we could raise a family here, our neighborhood is rising in price so we hope to sell it for alot by the time we move out
So happy for you! I will be fully funded by the end of July, but even so far, I feel so relieved that I have a good chunk of money aside and don't fear if something happens! "Minor inconvenience" things become, rather than then feeling like the end of the world :)
Congrats on the fully funded emergency fund! You are radiating peace in today’s video 👏 It would be interesting if you did a video with Todd on what’s his like to work with people on their financial goals or to just do a Q&A with him and have your audience send in questions.
I love your videos so much! I can’t believe people could watch you grind it out so hard and say that they could do the same. You’re a powerhouse, girl! My husband and I just bought our first house this month. We got married young and are still a few years from having kids but we live in Canada and childcare can be really expensive in our area. We made the decision to buy near family members to hopefully alleviate some of that financial stress in the future. We also want our parents to be able to see their grandkids as often as they like. We knew we could be happy almost anywhere as long as we were together, but budgeting has taught me to look much further into the future than I would have before. 💓
I started following you years ago, last year I tried to pay off my cc but I fell in the hole deeper. Thanks to you and your videos I will be debt free next month!!!!!
$160k in debt not including my mortgage. You have inspired me that I can do this! I turn 31 next month and am going to push to be debt free by thirty threeeee!
Take a LOT of time to think about the area you want to live in and what kind of home you want (single family/condo/townhouse). I feel like I rushed because my lease was ending and I didn't want to rent anymore, but now I have a condo in a very noisy building and no backyard. I didn't think I'd care but now being cooped up in here for 3 months due to the virus I see the value in having outdoor space of one's own. I also can't believe I wasn't turned off by the pretty high HOA fee I pay each month. It's going to make it hard for me to profit at all if I move somewhere else but keep this unit to rent out. Hindsight's 20/20 of course! So use my mistakes as your lessons learned!
Congrats!!! We put our emergency fund in a High yield savings account. No fees and it accrues intrest at a higher rate than a regular account. That way your money isn't sitting too idle.
I get the feeling that you want to live in Texas. This is the second time I've heard you mention it. You can always buy a vacation home in Hawaii down the road to visit your family and what not. Congratulations on your finances!
Advice on house buying from parents: Kids grow and rooms and structures of a house are therefore temporary. Eventually and faster than thought, they will leave and you will be in the house on your own again. So in terms of spaces and use, think multi-use shiftable long term not temporary. For example, a Single floor house, so that when old stairs are not a hazard. Or a suite in the bottom for when old.
Congratulations on getting your FFEF. Yes, it is a great feeling which is different from paying off all the debt. It is also a different good feeling after paying off the mortgage.We paid off our mortgage on 5/29. Dave is right, the grass does feel different when it's paid off.
Congratulations on having a fully-funded EF, Ms Aja! Because of you, I also have this as my goal of the year and I am half-way there!!! Thank you so much for the inspiration. Love from the Philippines!!! Looking forward to you and Brian talking abt your views on finance!! Stay safe you guys 💕
My partner and I bought our first house at 23/24. We bought a fixer-upper which we plan on living in for 5 years or so, and are fixing up. For us, in the area we love, it's far better than renting, especially as house prices are rising so quickly, and doing it up will hopefully mean we make a decent profit on it. It's very much an investment, but our mortgage is less than our rent used to be and we overpay it every month to get the interest down. When we buy our next house (probably in the same area), it will be a bigger, longer term home we plan to at least start raising kids in.
Aja! If i was in your position, I would personally move to Hawaii! Not only you are from there, but it is also literal dream to be at! And I’m assuming you have family there? Kids are not easy to rase, family is always nice to have by your side in that case! 😇 LA is stressful and just as expensive if not more expensive then Hawaii! But soul is at pease in Hawaii 😌
Congratulations!!! This is so heart warming. I’ve heard it makes financial sense to buy a house as long as you plan to be there for 3 or more years, so there’s no reason you can’t buy a house in LA or even a nice condo and then sell it later or turn it into a rental property. If you wanted to get a start on rental property, you could do house hacking- where you buy a duplex and rent out one side that mostly or entirely covers your rent and then you and Brian live in the other side. (It’s no different than apartment living except your earning equity in your duplex)
I saw you talking about Vancouver in your podcast! I feel like Vancouver would be amazing for you, Brian (huge dance community here) and your doggos 🐾🥰
When we bought our house we knew we would want to be here for the next 5-7 years, but not necessarily forever. We were in our late 20s and also were planning to start a family in the area, which was close to our family. It is also worth noting that rent is often more expensive than purchasing in the area we live in, so it made sense to buy here. The DOM in this county is often less than a week so we had the option to sell a few years after if needed fairly easily.
girl same! I've moved like 3 times in the last 5 years and I have no idea where I want to put down roots in. I don't want to commit to a place I'm not sure of.
We built a house in a rural area outside of Houston 8 years ago, and we completely paid it off this year. The security of being in Baby Step 7 at age 38 is beyond amazing. We picked this area to raise our kids because it was close to family, 30 minutes from our jobs, great schools, and room to breathe. We also did a TON of planning before we built. We made sure the property was at a good elevation (tropical storm area), and we still did more dirt work to build it up. The planning definitely paid off because we didn’t flood during the recent disasters. Right now I’m focusing on putting more money in our kids’ 529 accounts, future family travel, investing, and giving. I think it’s really cool that you want to help other people reach their goals too!
Approximately one hour away from Houston. We like living in a rural area, but it is still easy to go to Houston for zoo/ museum outings, physician specialists, and shopping.
Baby step 2 here! My husband isn't fully onboard with it all because he's a spender but it's not stopping me! We bought in Charleston SC but it's not the forever home or city. (I'm 35 and 3 kids). We knew itd be a resale bc of market value here.
when you said people make more than you, but haven’t accomplished what you have you were right. my parents are part of the 1% and are struggling financially. they have never paid off their debt. they have horrible credit and they have to sell their house and move into a small apartment.
Don't waste your time and effort on a "starter" home if you don't have to. I say approach your home purchase as if you'll be there for a while and know that you can always sell if you need to.
My mindset when buying a house was that “I plan to be here for 3-5 years” and we moved at 3 to our forever house, we were able to use equity from the first house for the down payment on the forever house. We were fortunate to live in a thriving real estate market.
I took a job offer in Chattanooga, TN and moved there from 3 hours away. I researched the areas and decided on my town outside of Chattanooga based on crime rate and school ratings. Remember, you can always sell a house :) don't think of it as permanent. I would visit some places and get a feel for the areas you would consider moving to and list pros and cons.
