Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shang Saavedra. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shang, appreciate you joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents grew up in poverty but never believed that poverty was our destiny.

I’m a personal finance educator focused on changing the mindsets and behaviors that keep you stuck in your ways. My parents grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution – a time so chaotic, all the schools were closed, there was widespread famine, and people were afraid of being thrown in jail. My parents had very little food – a pound of meat a month was their ration. Sometimes all my father ate was sweet potatoes for a whole month.

My father studied in secret and tested into a top college in China, on a full scholarship. He and my mom left China (and left me with my grandparents for a few years) to get established abroad, and then brought me with them. For many years I know we lived in rented homes, my mother was a stay at home mom because she didn’t know the local languages (we lived in Switzerland then Netherlands then the US). My mom pinched the pennies and my dad worked hard. They never made hard work to be something to be afraid of. They encouraged me to study hard, aim high (literally it was Harvard/MIT or bust).

As a teenager I also noticed that my parents were very conscious about budgeting. They had a paper budget on the kitchen table where they tracked money going in and out. My mother always couponed, and mended our clothes on a sewing machine. My father wasn’t present much, because he took on additional consulting gigs (his main job was being a professor). And as soon as my parents felt comfortable leaving me home alone at 10 as a latch key kid, my mother went to work as well.

As a result of this and investing, my parents were able to send me to Harvard (yep I made it in) full ride, so I could start my life debt free. After that, I too followed a path of working a lot, spending very little, and investing, such that I reached the ability to be work optional at age 31.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I help people understand how their mental health and mindsets impact their personal finances, and I teach people the key concepts they need to know to save for a dignified retirement in the United States.

I first started by blogging about my own personal finances. Over time, people got intrigued in my story and I would help out an acquaintance here and there with a debt free plan. Then I thought, maybe I should use Instagram to share my learnings. Eventually demand for my services got so big – and I was miserable in my corporate job anyway – that I decided, heck, I’m work optional, let’s just do something I love regardless of whether I made money or not.

Products / services:
– Private coaching – custom and highest end service where I help households 1:1 to forecast whether retirement is secured
– Courses – I teach multiple courses, the marquee course being a video based course called Save My Retirement Masterclass that helps break down complex topics like the 401(k) and IRA into plain English, and gives students the ability to learn how to save and invest for retirement without knowing much about finance or math
– Free downloads – I provide free downloads like a basic budgeting tool, a free 30 minute class on investing, workshops on career development and other personal finance topics (taxes, love and money, kids and money)

I am most proud of the forever impact I can create. Because mental health and mindset is at the core of everything that I do – I know that if I can change someone’s beliefs and mental health, I can change them forever – REGARDLESS of how much money they make now. Just like how my parents never believed that poverty would be our destiny, I too believe that any client who has the desire to change their money lives, and is willing to do the mental work to do so, can see 6-figure changes, even 7-figure changes, in their lifetime when working with me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In a previous business I was a wedding photographer. About 7 years into the business I got married into a family who kept a religious sabbath on Saturdays. As a wedding photographer that’s a devastating blow to the business – as most people work on Saturdays. I eventually realized that it just would not be a sustainable full time career to photograph weddings. While I did have the skillset to do other type of photography, I was already making a lot of money from my main job (I was a management consultant), so I eventually closed this business. Upon closing this business, that’s when my current business, Save My Cents, became my next idea.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Giving value through free downloads and free classes. As my business is built a lot on interactive education, it’s important for my potential clients to see not only my financial rigor and experience, but also get a sense of who I am as a teacher via video. So my free Zoom classes are very popular in this regard, as well as my free email based financial downloads.

Contact Info:

• Website: savemycents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savemycents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savemycentsfb
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@savemycents