From Poverty As a Refugee To Financial Freedom with Phong Nguyen

Stepping out of his dusty truck in a blue t-shirt and khakis, you'd never imagine Phong Nguyen to be a financial wizard. Why not load up on a Lamborghini, or at least a pair of leather lace-ups? But that’s exactly what is so humbling about Phong -- he didn’t build his wealth with the intention to flaunt it or to shove it down others’ throats. He spent it on necessities and his passion for gardening.

Most importantly, Phong understands that his financial wisdom comes with great power. His mission is to add value to as many lives as possible, helping more and more people get to a place of financial stability. Already Phong is contributing to that goal -- he spends many of his hours coaching people through an investment club and creating free financial workshops for young children and parents to attend.

Coming to the US as a refugee in a huge family of 9, Phong’s journey is nothing short of a bumpy ride. But what you’ll discover as you read Phong’s story is that his mindset in the face of challenges is what brought Phong his biggest wins. So excited to be sharing this interview -- enjoy the read!

Interview Transcription

Phong's background

I went to school, graduated as an engineer, and worked for some time. It was as I was working that I realized there was a lot more than just the typical go to work, go home, and collect your paycheck. While I was an engineer, I searched for and tried out practically everything else I came across. 

A few months after I graduated I got a real estate license, bought a lot of properties, went to auctions, flipped properties, fixed them up, etc. I also tried stock trading, day trading, shorts, commodity trading, you name it, I tried it. I learned that I loved real estate a lot. My friends at one point caught on to the fact that I didn’t need a 9-to-5 job to be financially stable and suggested that I teach people on how to do what I do in real estate. 

In 2018 I formed a club and since then we saw 20 million growth in investments. Walk into Charles Schwab and ask, “I would like my savings portfolio to grow at 12% per year.” They’ll laugh at you. Ask the next question: “I would like my savings portfolio to grow at 10% per year at the minimum and be as stable as possible.” They’ll kick you right out the door. But that’s what our club does. We strive to give people 12% or more and make sure it’s as stable as possible. Nowadays, my goal is to take this club and make it available to anyone and everyone. We cannot do much with income inequality, but the least we can do is give anyone who has a regular job financial stability.

Why everyone needs to be more aware of their finances

Our society is focused around making money. When it comes to making money, everyone has a way of making it. The problem with the financial equation: income - expenses = savings, is that the majority of us are not trained on how to save money properly. I’ve seen a lot of intelligent people, who are extremely bright and successful, who have absolutely no idea what to do with their savings. If you don’t properly invest your money, you will be working for the rest of your life. Your investment vehicle will determine your financial freedom, regardless of how much money you make. Knowing what to do with your money is what counts.

Phong’s approach to tackling fears

At around 30 I started thinking that I needed to address my problems. I usually try to jump headfirst into a bunch of things not knowing if I’m going to be able to do it or not. I really embrace change and dealing with my problems directly. 

For example, I’m afraid of heights. And you know what I did? I took a flying lesson. When you’re afraid of heights and you go into this thing that is smaller than your car and you go five, ten thousand feet, it’s crazy scary. On my first flight, the flying instructor said, “Why don’t you fly on your own. Just do whatever you want to do.” I took control of the airplane and flew around the San Mateo bridge. I flew low and high and got pretty comfortable.That’s what I do. If I have a fear about something, I like to find things that can cure my mind, my fear.

Poverty and culture shock as a refugee

I have persistence and resilience built into my blood. I’m a refugee from Vietnam, a boat person. I came here at 14, floating on the ocean before my family got picked up by the US Navy. We lived in the refugee camps for a long time. In my family there’s 9 of us. We came to this country empty-handed, in poverty. I had no idea about the language, or the customs. 

Though we weren’t exactly starving, we didn’t have proper meals. When you have to walk a mile and a half as a high school student with a backpack full of books every day, it takes a toll on you. That was a lot of hardship to deal with. After high school I went to a junior community college in San Diego and again the same thing happened. I had to walk a mile and a half, take the bus for an hour, take the bus back, and walk a mile and a half to get back to my apartment. That was a constant struggle.

When I transferred to Berkeley on a scholarship there was a restaurant called Top Dog. My favorite thing on the menu was the Kielbasa. At that time it cost a dollar for a hot dog. Only once a quarter I treated myself to order this one dollar hot dog. I’d just sit there, eat the hot dog, close my eyes, and enjoy the food. I was in heaven. 

Phong’s inspiration

I was extremely rebellious when I was a kid, but even though I didn’t follow all the rules my mom taught me everything I know. She always finds a way to do things, dealing with the struggle of raising 9 kids. My dad was an army officer and made decent money, but not a whole lot. My mom had no education -- she can read and write that’s about it. We are what we are because of her resilience and her refusal to take no for an answer. She refused to accept failure. That’s how we came about. 

My mom is extremely strong, yet very gentle. I have come to like elephants for a similar reason. There are elephant statues all over my house: elephants from India, from Italy, from Vietnam. The elephant stands for strong and gentle. When I was a kid, I said that’s my animal.

Embracing obstacles as opportunities

My family’s mentality was to embrace change, and thanks to that mentality I was able to blend in pretty quickly and get the best out of this society. I learned that everything has to be worked for. Nothing comes automatically; you can’t have a sense of entitlement. I came out of college with $2,300 in savings. Most of my other friends came out of college with a debt. Yet, I was debt free and bought my first car -- a 1979 yellow Pontiac Sunbird. It was awesome -- a 5 stick-shift. I was so proud to drive my first car debt free!

Once you go through something like what I went through in childhood it’s actually not hard to overcome other obstacles. I lost houses and lost money in commercial real estate as well. Regardless of what happens, I always embrace change. To me change is an opportunity to make things better and become more attuned to what I would like to see later on.

When I lost my home in San Jose in the ‘89 I was determined to buy a property somewhere better, like Palo Alto or Mountain View. I ended up buying two properties in downtown Mountain View and that turned out to be the greatest decision I’ve made so far. You see, your shortcoming, drawback or obstacle is an opportunity for you to do something better. It’s a great lesson. Now I know exactly what I can do better. 

Phong's financial advice turned his friend’s life around

The very first investor that participated in the first property investment was my classmate from Berkeley. He was a very close friend of mine, and I learned that over 30 years after graduating as an engineer he had only saved up $50K. I thought to myself: oh my gosh, this best friend of mine will be working for as long as he’s going to live. 

After I started the club and we closed the first deal, he was a partner. I taught him how to use someone else’s money to invest, because he didn’t have enough of his own. He was able to borrow $100K. We put $100K into the first deal and the month after we closed the first deal the income from the investment was an equivalent of a 17% salary increase for him. Overnight! 

In year number 2 he called me up and said, “Phong, I almost paid off my 100K loan!” He had practiced everything I had taught him to a tea. It was very gratifying to see the stuff that I put out works. It made such a huge difference in his life. At the end of the five year holding period he’s going to double his 30 year savings! And not only that, this income will last him forever. That is the most gratifying component of what I do. I want to be able to touch more people as I continue to grow this club.

Phong’s passion for gardening

I love gardening and my kids always ask me why I like it so much. I asked them, “When was the last time you had the power to play God?” And they looked at me and said “What do you mean?” I’m able to create something out of nothing. It just takes water, dirt and sunshine. 

I bought another farm in Salinas. I’m going to build it up. It’s basically empty land right now, but I’m pretty excited about it. I’m excited because it’s nearby, just an hour away. I’m going to go bananas with plants -- I’m going to plant anything and everything!

Giving back: Free finance workshop classes for kids and parents

I was lucky that my parents set up an environment where I had to learn my finances for myself. There were 7 of us and my mom couldn’t handle all of our needs so she gave us a monthly allowance under one condition: you can’t ask for anything else.

I had to handle everything else on my own. As a kid I managed my money very well and always had the most money. One time we had a school trip that my brother and I went on. When he came home, he was totally broke. When I came home, I brought back gifts for the house and still had more than half of my money intact. The lesson learned is that unless you know how to use money when you’re young, when you grow up your spending habits are entrenched and hard to break. That’s why I started teaching kids how to use money, how to be financially responsible, and how to be financially aware.

We’re lucky because the Milpitas school district adopted our class. I’m going to try to expand to other school districts and hopefully involve the parents in teaching the classes with me. Then they can repeat it for more schools and for their kids as well.

How Phong wants to be remembered

I just want to add value. When I was a Boy Scout I was asked, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “Well if I can add value to every person I touch that’s how I want to be remembered.” 

I don’t want to see a person not use their fullest potential. The biggest thing that I am good at is listening to problems and being able to identify a solution for them. I like to receive someone’s frustration, anger, problem and to make it a success for them. That’s my reward. It’s always fun to watch people and see what they’re trying to do so that maybe I can help them on their journey. It’s along the same line of what I’m doing now.

Phong’s takeaways for you

You have to be persistent. If you want to do something, you have to be persistent in getting it done. That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from other people and from life. 

If you are afraid of something, if you have any shortfalls, any obstacles or weaknesses, that is what you should do. I used to be very impatient and didn’t follow through with a lot of things. I did whatever everybody else was doing. My obstacle was that I didn’t have the knowledge. My weakness was that I didn’t have the discipline or the right character to follow through with everything I did. I addressed those head on by training myself to follow through with things and gave myself more perspective, creating longer-term goals. Address your fears and you will actually come out of it much better.

Don’t follow the crowd. That’s not what you want to do. If everybody followed the same formula, then everybody would be rich. But that’s not the case.