Be it the cost of living continuing to climb while salaries remain stagnant, or the hope of owning a house and retiring becoming more far fetched, managing our personal finances feels like an incredibly daunting task. We are told we need to prepare for the future with its abundance of confusing options while trying to also account for unforeseen circumstances. But with the lack of early education, few of us actually come into this system knowing anything about it. That’s why our guest today is here to ease the stress. Alok Deshpande educates us on how with baby steps, one can grab hold of their finances with better understanding of their decisions and capitalism as a whole.  After earning degrees at Emory and Harvard University, Alok began working at Bain & Company as a consultant and later manager. Recognizing that only 4 of 50 states require financial education to graduate from high school, he eventually left his job to follow his passion of teaching personal finance.  Inspired by his mother, who immigrated to the US, and watching her grow her $8 into a million, Alok published his own system called Financial Fuel and the 7-Tank System, which has since transformed into what is today SmartPath, where he is Co-Founder and CEO.