Advice from Successful Savers

Tuan Vu

“If you put $50 or $100 away in a savings account when you have a chance, then when you have $1000 you know you’ve made the best decision. There’s nothing better than free money. Don’t procrastinate. Do it now.”

A freshman studying psychology at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, Tuan Vu feels like he’s made the best decision of his life.

“One mistake I made when I was younger was following the wrong footsteps,” said Tuan Vu. “I hung out with my friends and didn’t do anything. I didn’t realize how important education was. Now I am studying so I can support myself, give back to society, and help young people.”

Tuan is able to attend Marymount because of the money he saved for tuition in an Individual Development Account (IDA). He learned about Capital Area Asset Builders and the IDA program from the Urban Alliance Foundation, a CAAB member organization that helps high school students make real-world connections and learn professional skills. Urban Alliance also connected Tuan with a summer job at the World Bank, where he worked between graduating from Bell Multicultural High School and enrolling at Marymount. His job involved helping the World Bank with network operations and other information technology projects.

Tuan began contributing to his savings account with money he earned at the World Bank, at least $50 at a time until he reached his savings goal. While his parents have been extremely supportive of his college aspirations, Tuan said they just didn’t have the money to pay for him to go. His family moved to DC from Vietnam in 1995. Tuan’s father works in construction and his mother works at a laundromat. Tuan is the first in his family to attend college. He is proud to be able to serve as a role model for his younger brother who is still in high school. “I think he’ll do better than me,” Tuan says about his brother. “He’s very intelligent. Every day I tell him how education is important. I tell him don’t worry about the money for college because there are people out there who care about young people who are intelligent and they will help you.”

Tuan wants to be one of those who helps others, which is why he chose psychology as a major.  “I had problems trying to find out what I wanted to do. I wanted to do many majors and asked people what I should do,” Tuan said. “One day I heard about a personality test about introverts and extroverts. One of the personality types they described matched mine. The test said I would be good at social work and teaching. I thought I am good at those things and they fit my personality. I’m interested in how humans think.” After he earns his bachelor’s degree, Tuan plans to attend graduate school so he can become a psychologist or counselor.

If his family still lived in Vietnam, he would not have had the opportunity to attend college, Tuan believes. “My family was poor and couldn’t support my education. It’s very competitive. People who are educated in Vietnam have a lot of money. There aren’t programs there like CAAB to help you.”

As a saver in the IDA program, Tuan took classes about money management. “We learned how to manage money and how to look at where your money goes, like how much you spent on entertainment, hygiene, and other things and how much you can save when you take unnecessary stuff out,” Tuan said. “When I needed to save money I was very careful about what I was buying. When I was young and I had money I’d go out and buy a game or go to a movie. But when I had a goal to go to college I began to save, slowly, to put enough money away for tuition.”

“I couldn’t go to Marymount without CAAB,” Tuan said. “I really appreciate the generosity and I’m proud of where I am right now.”

Many of Tuan’s friends attend college with money they saved through the IDA program. He tells others about the program as well, emphasizing that even though they might want to put off saving, “If you put $50 or $100 away in a savings account when you have a chance, then when you have $1000 you know you’ve made the best decision. There’s nothing better than free money. Don’t procrastinate. Do it now.”