rameshmishra
New member
Hi Guys,
Today is my first day on this thread, and honestly I wasn’t sure if I should write this or not, but here we go.
My name is Ramesh. I live in California and I’m currently doing my Master’s in Data Science from San Jose State University. I came here from India in 2019, full of hope, with two suitcases and some big dreams. I thought I had a plan — study hard, work part-time, get an internship, and slowly settle into the finance world. That was the idea.
And then, 2020 happened. Everything shut down. Campus closed. Part-time jobs disappeared. It was just me, my savings, and a whole lot of uncertainty. For a few days, I honestly thought I might not make it. Rent was due. Groceries were expensive. And I had no income coming in. The worst part? No family nearby, no one to fall back on.
That’s when reality hit me hard — I realized I had been treating money like an afterthought. I used to think budgeting and investing were for people who already had a lot of money. But that year flipped everything. I had to learn quickly. It wasn’t a choice.
So I started reading — blogs, YouTube, Reddit, anything I could find on personal finance. I wasn’t looking for the fastest way to double my money. I was looking for survival. And that’s how I stumbled onto the idea of “liquid funds” — at first through Indian websites, and then realized in the U.S., people use money market funds, high-yield savings accounts, and other low-risk tools for the same purpose.
I had maybe 800 bucks left. I split it — kept some for day-to-day stuff, put a bit into a money market mutual fund, and the rest into a savings account that gave better interest. Not gonna lie, I was scared. But I knew I had to do something smarter than just letting that cash sit idle.
A few months later, things started getting better. I got a remote research assistant role. Classes resumed online. But the one thing that stayed with me was the mindset shift. I had stopped spending blindly. I had started thinking in terms of buffers, not just budgets. And those small steps gave me some breathing room. Having access to liquid funds helped me feel less trapped — even if the amount was small, it felt like I had control again.
I’m not a financial expert, and I’m definitely not rich. But I’ve realized that investing isn’t just about returns — sometimes it’s just about having options when things go wrong.
If anyone else here has gone through something similar, or if you’ve used things like liquid funds or other low-risk tools to get through tough times, I’d love to hear your story. I still have a lot to learn.
Thanks for reading.
Ramesh
Today is my first day on this thread, and honestly I wasn’t sure if I should write this or not, but here we go.
My name is Ramesh. I live in California and I’m currently doing my Master’s in Data Science from San Jose State University. I came here from India in 2019, full of hope, with two suitcases and some big dreams. I thought I had a plan — study hard, work part-time, get an internship, and slowly settle into the finance world. That was the idea.
And then, 2020 happened. Everything shut down. Campus closed. Part-time jobs disappeared. It was just me, my savings, and a whole lot of uncertainty. For a few days, I honestly thought I might not make it. Rent was due. Groceries were expensive. And I had no income coming in. The worst part? No family nearby, no one to fall back on.
That’s when reality hit me hard — I realized I had been treating money like an afterthought. I used to think budgeting and investing were for people who already had a lot of money. But that year flipped everything. I had to learn quickly. It wasn’t a choice.
So I started reading — blogs, YouTube, Reddit, anything I could find on personal finance. I wasn’t looking for the fastest way to double my money. I was looking for survival. And that’s how I stumbled onto the idea of “liquid funds” — at first through Indian websites, and then realized in the U.S., people use money market funds, high-yield savings accounts, and other low-risk tools for the same purpose.
I had maybe 800 bucks left. I split it — kept some for day-to-day stuff, put a bit into a money market mutual fund, and the rest into a savings account that gave better interest. Not gonna lie, I was scared. But I knew I had to do something smarter than just letting that cash sit idle.
A few months later, things started getting better. I got a remote research assistant role. Classes resumed online. But the one thing that stayed with me was the mindset shift. I had stopped spending blindly. I had started thinking in terms of buffers, not just budgets. And those small steps gave me some breathing room. Having access to liquid funds helped me feel less trapped — even if the amount was small, it felt like I had control again.
I’m not a financial expert, and I’m definitely not rich. But I’ve realized that investing isn’t just about returns — sometimes it’s just about having options when things go wrong.
If anyone else here has gone through something similar, or if you’ve used things like liquid funds or other low-risk tools to get through tough times, I’d love to hear your story. I still have a lot to learn.
Thanks for reading.
Ramesh