Duc Pham started training at the bank and is now self-employed as a financial coach. Duc Pham
Duc Pham is 31 years old and describes himself as financially independent. After training at the bank, after which he later rose to the position of branch manager, he became self-employed as a financial coach.
In an interview with Business Insider, he explains why he decided to become self-employed and why he thinks a 40-hour week would not be enough in his early 20s.
Duc Pham is 31 years old, works as a financial coach and describes himself as financially independent. “I’m the hard-working kind,” he tells Business Insider in an interview. His attitude towards money was shaped by his upbringing. “Money fascinates me because it was a scarce commodity for us,” explains Pham. His mother comes from Vietnam and barely knew German when she moved to the country. “We lived in a prefabricated apartment and on social assistance. That shaped me, which gave rise to the feeling of never having enough.”
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While his mother wanted him to become a doctor or lawyer, Pham decided to take a different direction. “The numerus clausus in medicine was simply too high and being a lawyer wouldn’t have been for me – learning by heart isn’t my thing,” explains Pham. So after school he started training at Volksbank, where he later rose to branch manager. “The desire to become a banker is also something that I picked up from my upbringing. “I was very strongly influenced by my mother,” he says looking back.
“My mother then said: Oh boy, why are you throwing everything away?”
At the bank, Pham earned around 2,000 euros net per month. About five years ago, Pham became a full-time financial coach. Independence was the first thing he did to rebel against his mother: “My mother said back then: Oh boy, why are you throwing everything away? – which didn’t motivate me very much.”