Today’s subject is my long-time friend and I found some things in his journey quite insightful. Let’s call him ‘Yede’
Profile
Gender: Male
Country of Residence: Canada
Profession: Architect / Construction Project Manager Turned Business Analyst
Why did you leave your home country?
Honestly, it remains a mystery. At the point we moved there was no pressure for us to do so, in fact, we were doing just fine. Actually, we were doing quite good with no reason to leave.
Two years before if someone had told me, I would move out of the country I would say noway! But the opportunity to relocate to Canada presented itself and we took it. When I say we, I mean my wife, and two daughters.
And so far so good, I have zero regrets about the decision.
Let’s talk about the journey from a money perspective. Funding the relocation of a family of 4 could not have been cheap.
We moved officially in January of 2021. I say officially because a couple of months prior to January we went for something called soft landing i.e we went to Canada as soon as we got our Permanent Residency but for just three 3 weeks to activate our visa and also “spy” the land. On that trip, my wife and I were able to open accounts with some money we had saved and brought with us.
In November of 2020, my wife got a job and left to resume. That way our travel cost was split. Then I traveled with our daughters in January of 2021.
But the bulk of the funds that gave us significant financial stability is the severance pay I got when I resigned from my job. It was quite large and I mean large. For context, we decided to bring the bulk sum into Canada and as I declared it at entry, the immigration officer had to ask me to step aside so they could probe further into the source of the money.
O wow. That much?
Yeah, it was. I honestly didn’t expect it.
But because we came earlier for the soft landing, we immediately decided to save the entire sum as a downpayment for a house. We saved it in a first home savings account (FHSA).
See moves! Even before you landed you had money for a house! But why do you think you were paid so much as an employee?
I can only attribute it to being an employer known to bring value. I was totally committed to making sure my employers could leave me with any task and know it was done. Up till now, and this is almost 3 years later, I still get consulted on things from my former employers.
I guess the one thing I will say to anyone is, whatever job you are in, be that person known to be a value creator.
Good Point!
I am honestly grateful because I hear people’s stories when they land, the difficulties trying to settle, and I really can’t say I understand what they are going through because I truly don’t.
I also brought in some money from the proceeds of the business I set up with my partner before leaving. So while I had the 9-5 job, I also had a somewhat thriving business on the side.
So you could say I was landing with three sources of funds; Savings we had brought in earlier, Severance packages, and Income from my business. We were in such a good financial position that in the first six months, I was living like a tourist until my wife called me to order and reminded me “We live here now”. Anytime we went out, I was shopping! This is even with the fact that I was still converting Naira to CAD. Maybe the weather also caused this because we arrived right smack in the middle of winter so there was nowhere to go really. So anytime we went out, I was compensating.
Thank God my wife called me to order anyway.
For those first six months, I didn’t have a job I was pretty much living the life really. My wife got a job which is why she left before me and so that brought local currency into the household. But I was also still getting money from my business from Nigeria and it was sufficient to pay the bills; rent, utilities, etc and also put our daughters in a Christian private school because that was very important for us. It didn’t leave much after though and this was in those days when it was N262/CAD.
Let’s talk about life when you landed……how was that journey?
I got a job six months post-landing and I decided to work so I could begin to gain Canadian experience plus it also was core to buying a house. Even though we had the deposit, I needed to show some source of income for the mortgage. And of course, I needed to have some extra money. Remember the money I was bringing in prior was just enough for bills and all associated home front costs with nothing to spare.
I stayed at that company for about one year after and I left. I wasn’t enjoying it at all.
We bought our house within the period I was working there though and that is one thing I am always grateful for. It provided the evidence to show we could afford our monthly mortgage debits.
I decided to go back to the drawing board of my career, reskill, upskill, and take appropriate certifications. I pretty much spent the next one year doing that. Meaning I had no local stream of income, I was relying solely on the income from the business in Nigeria. And some grants I was able to access as a student in Canada. And of course my wife’s income for the extra support.
Honestly, I am so grateful for my wife because while I had the money coming in, it gradually became insufficient so she had to contribute much more than usual. She didn’t complain once but from time to time I will hear her just sigh. The financial strain becoming a bit too much for her.
While reskilling and getting certifications, I tried applying for jobs too but nothing was clicking! And this was even with my documented Canadian experience. For better context, I was reskilling and getting certifications in business analysis from core architecture/construction but it took a very long time.
In that season you waited for the job to come through, how did you manage money? Did you cost cut etc?
No, not really.
Aside from the mortgage, the major other cost for us was the children’s school fees. And we were not ready to take them out of the private school.
When I was newly married, one of my cousins gave me some advice. I dont agree with a lot of things my cousin says but this one particularly stayed with me: ‘Yede when you start having kids make sure you give them the best, education-wise. Make sure you send them to a school that will help build your financial muscle right from day one. My advice is that you always send them to a private school. Always.” I really took it to heart. We did this in Nigeria and we continued even when we got here.
As immigrants, it is quite easy to just put your kids in state or public schools because we might want to believe schools in Western countries are good. But there is the question, “What is the lasting cost?”. I must clarify this statement because I can hear people already saying ‘Well are you trying to delegate your responsibility as a parent to the school’?.
That is not the case but the key interactions they make at school also contribute largely to their lives. Let’s look at it wholistically, in a day the children spend less time with you as a parent; in the morning you wake up say 6:30am, you get them ready for school and by 7.30am you are out of the house, they are back in the evening, do a few lessons and then they are back on their beds. So give or take they spend 7 to 8 hours in school and less than 5 waking hours with you as parents.
It is therefore critical you make conscious and important decisions of where they are spending most hours. I agree it doesn’t have to be a private school because all school have their issues. Let’s not digress……….
Before we move ahead, people leave their home country and they shut down their businesses or anything. But it seems in your own case it continued to be a stream of good income for you and the family……
Yeah, that was the other advice my cousin gave me years later. He told me to find a way to have a business or income stream that can continue to feed you in respect of the location or season in life. In fact, in his words “Do not give up your business or the things you’re doing in Nigeria, make sure you still have a foot in because as a man things can change quick! That money that comes in, is still extra even if it adds as little as a hundred dollars.”
I am grateful for my friends and my partner who is holding down things at home. Because these are people of integrity. I am also grateful that I was able to establish some very healthy relationships in Nigeria that are still opening doors for me today. I must admit it’s not something that happens instantly, it took me years of building relationships and consistency of being a valuable asset in whatever business or relationship.
Interesting. Let us come to how life has evolved. You got another job now in 2023 and so what has been the financial journey since then? I am sure your wife is relieved!
O yes. Very relieved. To be fair I was also relieved.
In the course of starting that job, I also set up my business this year. It’s in the first year so it is taking a lot of what should be going into savings at this time because this is the building phase. But if we were to take the business out of the equation for sure we’re saving more. Thankfully the business has been doing well.
I like the fact that you are not allowing the nine-to-five job to deter you from starting a business. The last question is, what is next for you as a financial goal; Do you have a job, a house, and a good business?
That’s a good question and as familiar as the term financial goal sounds, it is something I do really think about if you get what I’m saying.
I would say it is building my business to a point where the business is a valuable entity that is very solid. Right now I see the 9 to 5 job as a means to an end but once the business gets big enough or more like successful enough to allow me to quit my job, I will do so.
That is the one big thing for me.
That’s very very solid actually. On a very last note, what is the financial advice you will give to any immigrant right now?
The very first thing, and this is one piece of advice my director gave me back when I was leaving Nigeria, is to familiarise yourself with the credit system but avoid credit card debt as much as possible.
So let your use of the credit card pay for things you can afford and simply take advantage of the system to build your credit understanding that you pay for things with your credit card but you have the money in your hands to pay back immediately.
I guess related to that is, living within your means! I can’t say this enough. Buy only what you know you can afford. Do not be under any societal pressure to drive any particular car, live in a particular area, or wear designer items. Those things will come but not at the detriment of building a long-term financial legacy for you and your family.
The last one is building a business is the way to wealth. There are many things the government does to encourage businesses, grants and stuff like that so take advantage of them as much as possible. Let that be a focus; open new businesses as much as possible. Not just for the sake of it but as a solution to a problem you have found in your environment and for building long-term wealth.
I am not the best person to teach finance; you know we are learning but so far that is what I have learned.
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