Born in Portland, Oregon, I was the only child of a single mother for most of my childhood

I joined the military right our of high school because I didn't have the money to go to college

Using the GI Bill, I was able to attend college later, but found it to be a poor fit for me after 1 year

I lost everything and had to start over when the Dot Com crash happened in 2001 and I lost my job

I used Debt Reduction Services (similar to a Chapter 13 bankruptcy) in 2003 to get out of debt

I lost jobs again in 2008 and 2009 when my employers went out of business

In 2009, I was able to start my own business using my last employer's severance pay

We paid off all our debt and purchased our first home in 2011

We continued purchasing properties as rentals over the following years

I started coaching families and facilitating Financial Peace University classes in 2012

We paid off our home and became financially independent in 2018