Spending secret to help a 26-year-old engineer buy a house for nearly 15 billion VND

Spending tips: Make the most of discount online grocery shopping

Clinton Stamper – 26 years old, currently a software engineer at Google, always tries to keep her dining budget at 5 USD / meal and makes the most of online discounts when buying food at restaurants Or call a delivery service.

This habit of his stems from childhood. Stamper grew up in Rootstown, a suburb in Ohio (USA) and was mainly raised by his mother after his parents divorced when he was 6 years old.

Stamper always remembers the difficult time when his mother – a reporter – had only one source of income but had to take care of his aunt who had cancer. “We could barely afford food. Back then, going to McDonald’s was a great pleasure.”

Currently, just a few years after graduating from college, Stamper has earned an income of up to 270,000 USD/year (more than 6.2 billion VND) as a software engineer for Google in Austin, Texas. However, this is also the time when he tightens his spending more than ever.

Spending profligate after college

Stamper started making money on his own in high school by tutoring and selling stuff to his classmates. In addition, he learned basic economics while playing the game Runescape and developed a piece of code that he sold to other players on the forum. In the end, he earned about $30,000 from middle school to his senior year of high school.

This money, along with the scholarship, could have helped him cover most of his college expenses. But since Stamper was the first member of his family to go to college, he had no guidance on spending. Stamper had to use student debt of $ 45,000 (more than 1 billion), while the money he earned was used for entertainment, shopping and other needs.

After graduating in 2018, he joined Amazon with a 6-figure salary. However, Stamper fell into a period of profligate spending. Accordingly, he rented a larger house than needed and furnished it with things that were barely used. “I got into bad spending habits because I’ve never made so much money,” he said.

“I had to work through my financials because I’d heard so many horror stories about debt that could wreak havoc on my life. I didn’t want my student debt to end up in the same horrible situation as me. so,” said Stamper.

In 2019, he started reading, watching and listening to anything about personal financial management. Stamper’s income has not changed, but he has stopped spending on things other than basic needs and put all the money into paying off his debt, in December 2021, he has paid off the debt.

Since saving two months of living expenses for emergencies, Stamper started investing and focused on increasing his net worth.

Spending secret: Know how to control

These days, Stamper is meticulous about personal finances. He spends on investment service Mint every day, earns 1,500 USD/week on stock and crypto investment through Robinhood, WeBull.

In addition to the competitive salary, Stamper said, the job helps him cut a lot of daily expenses. The company pays his phone and internet bills, subsidizes his gym card, pays for his medical insurance, and he only needs to pay for his dental care and eye exams.

What he likes most is that the company will pay tuition for classes and training courses to improve skills. Stamper says the company will cover up to two-thirds of the cost, depending on how relevant the field of study is to the job.

After investments, Stamper’s biggest spend is housing. In June 2021, he moved to Austin to get a new job at Google and decided to buy a house here.

Buying a home in this area is fraught with obstacles, and he says it’s “crazy”. Stamper and his girlfriend – Lexi Followill went to see about 40 locations, selected 3 apartments but did not receive a discount.

“We had to write a letter explaining that we weren’t investors and had to bid $50,000-60,000 above the list price,” Stamper said.

In August 2021, he moved to a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Pflugerville, Texas, about a 30-minute drive from Austin, where everything is cheaper, with less competition. He bought this house for 638,000 USD (14.6 billion VND), higher than the list price of 63,000 USD.

Stamper lives with his student girlfriend and dental assistant, and her 19-year-old sister going to college. He doesn’t charge for house or electricity and says he wants them to be able to spend that money on education or other needs.

Towards the future

Stamper also aspires to bring his technology and financial knowledge into healthcare.

During his childhood, while visiting his aunt with cancer, he befriended other patients and began to have a passion for research. Before turning to technology, Stamper envisioned himself as a neurosurgeon.

He hopes to contribute to cancer research and treatment in the future by funding developments in automated surgery. Stamper spends about 6 hours a week learning about artificial intelligence and dreams of having a company developing this technology. To be able to fulfill his plans, Stamper thinks that he needs to start saving now.