About
There's no straight path in finance
I'm Alfredo. My path started with a bad budget and wandered through a lot of side quests. Here's how it went so far.
- 1
Middle school
A first paycheck and the worst budget possible
I got my first paycheck in middle school and made my first budget to go with it. It was terrible: categories that made no sense, numbers that never matched what I actually spent. But it was the first time I tried to see where my money went.
- 2
University
Thinking 12 months ahead
In university I kept fixing it. I started planning a full year ahead instead of a month, and I started taking debt seriously: what it really costs, and how fast it grows when you ignore it.
- 3
With friends
Helping friends build their own
Friends started asking how I did it, so I helped them build budgets of their own. Then I helped them with their first jobs: reading an offer, understanding a paycheck, deciding what to do with what's left.
Where they are now
- Several of them have paid down their university debt.
- Many still use my budget templates to plan each year.
- 4
Early career
Structured finance and transaction services
My first professional years were in structured finance consulting and transaction services. That's where I learned how deals are put together, and how much hides behind a single number.
- 5
Today
Corporate finance
Now I work in corporate finance, using that thinking to help a business decide where its money should go. Tonina is where I take what I learn and make it usable for everyone else.
Where I've worked
- P&G · GilletteBrand Finance & Strategy (now), Supply Chain FP&A (before)
- DilmunStrategic Finance & Fundraising
- MicrosoftProduct Marketing Intern
- Mobius MaterialsBusiness Operations (3rd employee)
- PwCFinancial Consulting, then Project Management
Why Tonina
Finance is a vast world. There are many side quests along the way, and becoming a master of it means something different for each person. For some it's a plan that gets them debt-free. For others it's the skills to run a company's numbers.
Tonina is where I share what I've learned and keep learning in public. It has tools to plan your own path, plain-language explanations of how money works, and case studies on real companies.
And the name? A tonina is a pink freshwater dolphin from the Amazon River. Who doesn't love dolphins?