David, in August 2005 I moved with no family or friends from Rome (Italy) to Los Angeles. My first year was tough. I shortly ruined my credit, I was missing payments on several credit cards and I was living paycheck by paycheck. I always been a planner and a dreamer, but I completely lacked any education or role model on personal finance. In Italy my family, once millionaire, arrived at the edge of bankruptcy and I was probably going to face the same destiny if my friend Amy did not lend me your book in October 2006. It was truly God-sent. Everything started when I asked Amy to go out for a latte, she refused with a smile and explained me your theory! In a few minutes I was on board. I sounded so simple! Your books (I read them all) save my life and are still helping me to achieve my dreams. When David and I got engaged we had no idea on how we could possibly afford to pay for our wedding. Eight months after reading the Automatic Millionaire we set a plan and wrote down a specific date for our marriage: June 10, 2007. We worked as a team, automated our life, packed lunches, rent movies from a public library, got rid of a car and saved enough to get married in Rome. We married among my family and friends in a church that has a very profound meaning to me. The party was celebrated in a gorgeous villa in ancient Trastevere. We did our honeymoon in Positano – one of the world’s most romantic places. Nobody could believe that with our modest salaries we could pay for our wedding and honeymoon with no financial help from our families. We used all monetary gifts that our generous friends gave us to buy furniture for our empty apartment. (Because of the conversion Euro/Dollar our gifts almost duplicates in one day with a simple automatic transaction!) That was only the beginning. When we came back to L.A. we decided to save 12% of our salaries in the company 401K plan, we kept the same lifestyle and automatically saved a large amount every month in high-interest saving account. At 28 I was a manager but a dropped off. I always dreamed to complete my education. Without quitting my job, I enrolled at an online completion degree offered at Boston University. I will be graduating in 2010. With this year’s salary increase we are paying the school tuition fees by ourselves without taking a loan. Our next dream is buying a house in North California. We are now expecting our first child and know we will need to readjust our dreams accordingly. We are not scared though as we know that together we can do it! I have no words to tell you how grateful I am you have entered our life. I talked about you to my family and my coworkers: now strangely they are all packing their lunches! Thank you David, you must have a good heart. “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
May God keep blessing you abundantly!
Ella Heath – California
