How Jonathan Ho Uses Origin

Welcome to "How I Use Origin," a new series where we speak to IRL Origin users about why they joined Origin, and how it's helping them so far.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, my name is Jonathan. My family and I live in Stamford, Connecticut, and I’m a project manager in the telecommunications space.

What money goals did you have when you first downloaded Origin?

My immediate goal was to have a tool that helped me understand our spending week to week and month to month, in tandem with an Excel spreadsheet that I use, given our busy schedule. My hope was that Origin would provide a quick snapshot of all these high-level habits and budgetary items.

What’s your financial story — what motivated you to get serious about money, and where are you hoping to go from here?

Growing up, I came from a middle-class family where we didn’t exactly have a lot of extra money to spend. I was really driven to have a career that allowed me to have that flexibility while respecting my monthly budget. In my early 20s, I made some questionable financial choices, mostly with credit cards, and my financial picture stressed me out to the point where I couldn’t sleep. I made the decision in 2017 to get serious about reigning in my spending and commit to a better monthly budget.

With the current market ups and downs, how are you feeling about your finances, and what helps you stay steady?

Although there are significant market fluctuations, I feel very fortunate about our financial picture. Tools like Origin help me better understand our goals and how we’re tracking against our budget.

Tell us about a specific win — big or small — that Origin helped you achieve.

Having Origin transparently show us our spending is helpful, so I can’t just put my head into the ground like an ostrich and pretend that we didn’t spend money in a certain category.

What advice would you give someone starting their Origin journey?

I would say take your time to calibrate the space and give thought to how you want to best leverage the tools and insights. Make sure you dedicate time to linking all your accounts to better understand your holistic financial picture.

Anything else you’d like to share? 

I’m really impressed by the Origin team and their transparency and the speed at which they respond to questions, comments, and concerns while delivering a best-in-class product using customer feedback throughout the development lifecycle.