We waited to get financially stable before you are born. So, you will hopefully not experience any financial difficulty.
Well, to be honest, my family was always rather wealthy, and your dad’s family was always above the average line of income. But each and every family has its financial ups and downs. Your dad and I had our financial ups and downs as well.
We came to Canada on January 22, 2002 with just $12000 US. At the time each US dollar was traded for 0.68 canadian dollars. Our parents had more to give us. We didn’t want to accept money from them, though. We were stubborn, or we wanted to get independant, or…Today, I can’t be sure why we didn’t ask for more. But that is what we chose. The point is, deep down in our hearts we knew that we would have support if everything fails, even though we did not have it in our minds to rely on that support. We wanted to stand on our own feet.
We started off with $12000 US. We rented a basement in Richmond Hill for four months. I got my first job with Bell Canada on April 8th, 2002. The pay was rather decent, at $62500 annually. We moved to a rental apartment in Mississauga. It was on Bloor street. Well, to be accurate at 1055 Bloor Street (can’t remember if it was east or west!! I guess it was on Bloor Street East).
Your dad registered in Seneca college. He didn’t have enough self confidence to apply for a job, even though he was great. It was some time in early 2003 or late 2002 when I took him to a pizza store, and made him apply for a pizza delivery job. Well, he stayed in that job for 8 months. Now, when I look back, I have mixed feelings about what I did. My perception of that job was nothing like the perception I have today. Today, I sometimes feel really ashamed of myself. I feel guilty because of making him work as a delivery guy. On the other hand, I think may be that job helped him gain some confidence to apply for a professoinal job. Anyways, one night he came home and said that he didn’t want to stay in that job. He had an interesting reason. He said, the job had brought him down to pennies and loonies, type of the tips that people were paying him. At this time, he had already dropped out of college for Ryerson university. He was a brilliant student. He got a job as a Java developper. My friend Maryam gave your dad’s resume to the manager of a small-size company. The pay was not that great, but was definitely better than pizza delivery. He was paid almost $30,000 annually. We moved to a nice condo appartment at Yonge and Sheppard in 2005.
Your dad changed his job again after two years in 2005. He came home one day and told me that he had a very hard time with his boss. I told him that he had 3 months to get himself a new job. Again, I feel so guilty about putting him under so much pressure; yet, again, I sometimes think, may be this was what he needed to take himself serious and overcome his fears. (I will never ever do it again, and if I had a second chance to live again, I wouldn’t put him under pressure, no matter what). I am hoping he was strong enough to forgive me. Anyways, he got a better position with a higher pay in another company. His salary was $70,000 in this new job. We were being paid almost as much as one another.
In 2007, I was fed up with my managers at Bell. I changed to a new position at TELUS, with the same pay that I had at Bell. Soon, your dad changed to a new job, with a decent salary of $120,000. We had already bought a house. The same house that you will be raised in. We bought it for $478,500. We are as of this month (and before you are born) spending $100,000 for renovation and new furniture. We can afford it, hon. This is the sweetest part.
But this is not the end. From an annual income of 62500 in 2002 to an annual income of almost 250,000 in 2012, and we will be doing our best to keep the trend.
So, down the road in the future, if you face some financial hardship, just focus on your capabilities, focus on what you can do, and the skills that you can develop. You will be able to make it. Believe in yourself, your capabilities and your skills.