As I’m myself the kid of British immigrants, I’m naturally sympathetic to these courageous or determined sufficient to go away their houses to search out alternatives in North America. Which is one purpose that over the previous 12 months, I’ve been corresponding with an fascinating blogger and former monetary advisor, Alain Guillot. He often republishes his weblog posts on my website Findependence Hub. His personal weblog is named merely AlainGuillot.com.
Incomes, saving and spending in Canada: A information for brand spanking new immigrants
The wealth paradox: why saving $100,000 is tough
Guillot writes at the least one weblog put up per week and has 600 subscribers on his YouTube channel. He lately wrote a brief e-book entitled The Wealth Paradox: Navigating Cash, Free will, and Success (self-published, 2024). Its subtitle explains extra: “How unconventional considering influences your monetary and private life.”
Guillot first received my consideration once I discovered that he emigrated to Canada from Colombia, a spot I as soon as visited. He felt he had little selection however to turn into an entrepreneur right here, though chapter 5 of his e-book is titled “Entrepreneurs are mentally unstable individuals.” He wrote that the intention of the director of the film Wall Avenue was to point out the greed and ills of capitalism. Nevertheless, it “had the alternative impact: extra individuals have been drawn in direction of funding banking. In my chapter about entrepreneurs being mentally unstable individuals, I had a little bit of the identical reverse-psychology intentions. I trash-talked the psychological state of entrepreneurs as a backhand praise and admiration for what they do.”
If that’s not unconventional sufficient for you, know that he’s an enormous believer in self-insurance (placing cash away for wet days), versus proudly owning speculative belongings like gold and crypto, and makes the case that the primary $100,000 of wealth is the toughest to build up.
From aspect hustles to monetary punditry
Initially Guillot tried numerous aspect hustles in Canada. He was a salsa and tango teacher, a photographer and knowledgeable marriage ceremony witness. Truly, he nonetheless dabbles in every of these. He needed to turn into a monetary advisor in Canada, however he felt he might solely do justice to shoppers by being a fee-for-service planner, and he discovered it was exhausting to make a enterprise case out of that mannequin. Subsequent he positioned himself as a private finance coach, however in the end stopped as a result of he found “nobody desires to pay attention.”
Nonetheless, he’s personally obsessive about cash, so he’s making an attempt to make a exit of running a blog about private finance and releasing video podcasts about it.
In an prolonged e-mail interview, Guillot says he left Colombia as a result of he needed to have extra alternatives. If you happen to’re lucky sufficient to be born in Canada or the USA, he says to rely your blessings: “I used to be significantly influenced by films, the place I usually noticed common households proudly owning a home, having a automobile and having fun with their disposable earnings. They might go to eating places, have just a few drinks in a cool bar and go on trip at the least every year. For me, in Colombia, that was a fictional world. In my surroundings, individuals have been at all times fighting shortage and poverty.”
Intent on discovering a wealthier nation, he thought-about Spain, England, Australia, the U.S. and Canada. He most well-liked North America, because it’s in the identical time zone as Colombia, making communication along with his household simpler. “In the long run, I selected Canada over the U.S. as a result of I believed immigration to Canada could be simpler. I settled on Quebec, as a result of I used to be inquisitive about studying French in addition to English.”