As I’m myself the kid of British immigrants, I’m naturally sympathetic to these courageous or determined sufficient to go away their properties to search out alternatives in North America. Which is one motive that over the previous 12 months, I’ve been corresponding with an fascinating blogger and former monetary advisor, Alain Guillot. He sometimes 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 difficult
Guillot writes at the least one weblog put up every 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 acquired my consideration after 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 folks.” He wrote that the intention of the director of the film Wall Avenue was to indicate the greed and ills of capitalism. Nevertheless, it “had the alternative impact: extra folks have been drawn in direction of funding banking. In my chapter about entrepreneurs being mentally unstable folks, 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 a giant 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 first $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 wedding 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 purchasers by being a fee-for-service planner, and he discovered it was laborious to make a enterprise case out of that mannequin. Subsequent he positioned himself as a private finance coach, however finally stopped as a result of he found “nobody desires to hear.”
Nonetheless, he’s personally obsessive about cash, so he’s attempting 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 depend your blessings: “I used to be drastically influenced by films, the place I typically noticed common households proudly owning a home, having a automotive and having fun with their disposable earnings. They might go to eating places, have a number of 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, folks have been all the time battling shortage and poverty.”
Intent on discovering a wealthier nation, he thought of Spain, England, Australia, the U.S. and Canada. He most popular North America, because it’s in the identical time zone as Colombia, making communication together with his household simpler. “Ultimately, I selected Canada over the U.S. as a result of I believed immigration to Canada can be simpler. I settled on Quebec, as a result of I used to be interested in studying French in addition to English.”
