In 2016, I had a choice to make: go to my dream college, a school I had fallen in love with but which had come up drastically short of my financial aid need, or attend a school closer to home that was far more affordable. As a naïve 18 year old, I made the choice to go to the more expensive school that I could not afford in the hopes that it would provide me greater opportunities (read: I didn’t think about it at all). For the next 4 years, I borrowed $30,000-$40,000 a year to afford tuition.

It was not until my sophomore year that I realized the true magnitude of what i had done. two years into school, I had already racked up more debt than all my closest friends combined. when I finally graduated in 2021, I was personally responsible for nearly $150,000 in outstanding debt, charging interest at nearly 8% per year.

this debt and my relationship to it has shaped my life more than I could quantify. It drove me away from dreams i had, and pushed me to search for careers and pathways to understand it and rid myself of it faster. i turned into someone i did not recognize (read: nyc finance bro), but despite my hardest efforts and riskiest investments, I thought it would be a decade before I even got close to paying my debts off.

but something shifted last year. I grew more diligent with my saving, my salary nearly doubled, and i received an unexpected donation from someone close to whom i often expressed my indebted anxieties.

as a result, over the last few months, I have closed the gap between my debts and my assets. for the first time in 8 years, my next worth crossed the $0 threshold on November 14th. And that, I think, is worth celebrating.

So I’m inviting you, and anyone else you can convince, to come to new york and celebrate glorious worthlessness…