Liza Lee spent her first 15 years in Surabaya – Indonesia, and was taught to only buy foods and things that are really required. Soft drinks, juices, chips, cookies, cakes, snack breads, and other foods in this category were strictly off. She only drank water and ate homemade dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Her mother made all her children school uniforms and clothes, and only bought what she can’t make. There were no new shoes, unless broken.

Her parents’ financial stress and arguments arose due to money issues, and were a large part of her day-to-day life. During that period, her parents had a 22% loan interest on their business and property. When the business was slow, they struggled to meet the loan repayment. However, despite the struggle that they had, they made sacrifices and sent her to Australia for a better education and future.

She started to immerse herself in the world of financial management at the age of 15. Whilst studying in Australia, school fees and board were paid in advance. Her father gave her a $500 yearly allowance for rainy days and she had to produce a financial report that include the details of transactions as well as reasons for purchase. This financial behaviour has become a habit.

When her father passed away from a heart attack, she was 19 years old, she was worried that she would return to Indonesia. This fear led her to look for any part-time job whilst studying, and her mother continued with the business. When she got her first job, she earned $500 to $750 a month, lived through only what’s really required and on a budget of $20 a week. She gradually built her saving and with the help of her parents, she put a deposit to purchase a one bedroom apartment in 1994. She was then engulfed in mortgage, it was so challenging but she worked through it.

Financial management has been part of her day-to-day life for tracking, monitoring, forecasting and budgeting, and so on. To date, at home, she manages their financial affairs. At work, being previously worked as a store manager (hospitality); IT procurement and finance analyst; then as IT project manager where she manages small to complex projects, financial management has been part of the success in operating a business and delivering projects.

Her financial knowledge derived from various sources, such as own experience, knowledge sharing, research, and both academic and self-education. She was engulfed in mortgage at the age of 21 as that’s what her parents’ way of thinking, to work towards owning a home that she is very grateful for. However, with the added financial knowledge and experience that she has gained, it is also important to put thoughts towards growing wealth efficiently for retirement and to look for quality investments. As with the shift in awareness of your objectives, investing behaviour and results differ.

Her child is now 14 years old, and she encourages him to have financial awareness at a young age so that he can choose the right financial path earlier for himself. As with investing, it is always better to start early especially when earning is compounded. She decided to compile some real life projects to share some of the strategy ideas to navigate finances for wealth accumulation including: financial recording tracking, monitoring, forecasting, and budgeting.