Who am I? What is one of my Greatest Financial Acheivements?

My name is Andy.

My family and I immigrated from Vietnam during the late 70's to pursue the American Dream. We came over on a small fishing boat, braved harsh elements, and escaped the clutches of communism.

I'm fortunate to say that today, we're all living the American Dream. As I've mentioned in my first blog, I've been in the marketing field for about 8 years now, a job that challenges and excites me. At the same time, I'm getting my MBA degree from USC in the evening time to further enhance my career so I feel that the best years are still ahead of me!

To get to this point, however, it wasn't without some bumps along the way. My greatest financial achievement, which I'll get to later, could not have been obtained until after one of my "lower" moments, which was moving back home after my undergraduate experience here at USC. It definitely wasn't one of my prouder moments as a lot of my friends lived in awesome apartment locations throughout the city. Oh, and moving back home didn't exactly enhance my dating life either. ;)

Thinking back, moving back home was one of the best things I did. I was fortunate that my parents didn't rent out my room and kept it as I remembered it, only to find that it was quite an adjustment moving back. We essentially had to learn how to live with each other all over again, with my fight for independence and freedom seemingly always being an issue.

I try to think in longer terms when planning things. I knew that there'd be no way for me to save up enough money to buy a home if I jumped into renting after graduation. It took a while for my career to take shape as I paid my dues. Fortunately, there's no longer a stigma to moving back home.

So this comes to my "greatest financial achievement," purchasing my own home. I was fortunate that I purchased it a few years back and that I was ready to pounce on the moment when it became available and within my budget. Had I not lived at home for a while, surely the opportunity would have passed me by. I would've never been able to afford it had I started renting right away after college.

As you weigh your living arrangement options after graduation, just know that you have choices. Setting a goal for yourself and make decisions that are consistent with the goal will help you achieve them. Because I was able to follow-up with my goal and plan that I set up for myself, I'm able to achieve the American Dream of owning my own home.