hey everyone welcome back it's Tom. If
you're new to the channel welcome! So
today we are live streaming hopefully
we're live right now and I wanted to do
something a little different. Let me put
that like that a little way. I look
orange today just a lighting. Okay so I
wanted to do things a little different
today, and I wanted to talk about my life
story. Now I've been told about my life
story is very motivational to some
people and I wanted to tell the tell you
where I come from and a little bit about
me because on this channel I haven't
made a video specifically about me. All
the other videos on my channel are just
financial education, personal finance,
credit cards and I wanted to change it
up. So you wanna know a little bit about
me so sit back relax find a snack get
some water.
You know I'm drinking some water back
there and I'm gonna tell you my life
story so I hope you enjoy! I didn't want
to sit there and make a video about it
because I didn't think there would be
much point in just editing it in a way
it's just kind of a podcast but it's
live, by the way,  I'm working on a podcast.
I want to release it this summer and
just let me know below if you're
interested in seeing that. Okay so let me
start from the beginning with my life
story. I want to start before I was born.
Now with my parents they were born in
South Africa. They were born and raised
in South Africa, and they got together
for a few years and they were together
for many years before they got married
and when they got married they lived in
Cape Town. Now my dad was always a good
college student and he was always a good
student. He didn't really you had to try
hard in school and he got good grades,
but my parents both wanted to get out of
South Africa.
The problem with South Africa and I'm
not going to go into it too far right
now
is there's just a lot of issues and it's
falling apart and it's really sad to see
that and they wanted to get out this is
in the 90s in case you all wondering. So,
back in the 90s my parents had three
options on where they wanted to go they
wanted to go to Australia, they wanted to
go to the United Kingdom, or they wanted
to go to the United States and they
applied everywhere.
They tried getting jobs and when they
tried to get jobs there was a job that
came up in the U.S. in California and
they offered my dad H1B and green cards and
everything they offered to move him and
mom home from South Africa to America
for pretty much free as long as you'd
worked for the company and he did. And so
both of my parents thought going to the
US was always the dream and they wanted
to do the American dream when they came
here they decided to come here and they
were decided to leave their families and
when they were on their way here they
came with two suitcases pretty much full
and two young puppies and that
was it they came to San Francisco
California with two bags two puppies for
a life ahead. When they came to San
Fran compared to South Africa, San
Francisco life was actually pretty
similar to Cape Town. You know 70 degrees
blue skies the people there were really
nice and they shared one car and he
lived in a small place
and they really enjoyed it. Now as time
went on this was back in in 1997 as time
went on a year two went by and they
realized that living in California was
expensive, especially compared to other
states, so they started looking into
other states or other places to go and
they started applying for jobs again and
when they applied for jobs my dad found
a really great job in Florida. so
they moved there. Well right when they
moved to Florida, which Miami Florida if
you all are wondering, I was born I was
the first generation American born in
my family. My family has never had in any
American born inside my family and I was
the first and I was the only one born
for my side of the family because I'm an
only child. and so when I was born my dad
was working a lot with this job and it
kind of left me and my mom at home a lot,
because of course I was just born
so I couldn't do much but my dad was
with this high paying job and it
required a lot of time at his work, so he
would spend so much time at his working
not really with me and my mom. Over the
time that I was born and I was so young
then my family from South Africa flew in
and saw me a lot.
It was very frequent we did a lot of
things in my stage in Florida. Whenever I
was there because we went on cruises and
we went to Disney World and we did a lot
of things then a few years down the road
my parents become unhappy in Miami
Florida.
In Miami Florida there's this thing in
southern Florida there's this thing to
where if you're white you are not really if you're if
you're white you're not really accepted
there you have a lot of violence between
the Latin communities over there like
the Puerto Ricans don't like the the
Puerto Ricans don't like the Cubans and
the Brazilians don't like the the
Dominican Republic and things like that
and you get a lot of in a white turf
wars of who doesn't like who and it's
just not it wasn't a good place. I
remember when I was younger it was it
was always hot is always steamy and it
was always stormy like it would rain
slash storm every day in afternoon after
it would storm it would be some hazy
steamy from the rain and humidity
and my parents just didn't didn't enjoy
it. My dad was always working and I think
he got a little bit burnt out in a way
and my mom was just not happy there, so
they started looking into other places
again. When a couple years before they
left South Africa they had a friend who
moved from South Africa to the US and he
moved to Tennessee when he moved to see
he's actually moved to Gatlinburg and he
started his own business so they went up
and saw him and stayed with them and
they loved it here and with them doing
that they heard about this place and
they decided to move from Florida to
good ole Knoxville, Tennessee.
and when we moved here I was five years
old. I just turned five when we moved
from Miami Florida to Knoxville
Tennessee and when we moved I hated it. I
could not stand it because I felt we
were in the middle of nowhere. I mean I I
knew we had all these stores back in
Miami and even though I wasn't that old
I still remembered having like a lot of
stores around and everything and I went
to preschool.
I finished my preschool in Miami, so by
the time I started school here I was in
kindergarten. Now when we got to our
house here in Knoxville we had to
completely redo everything in the house,
so my dad had stock options from his old
company he changed jobs because they
were unhappy in Miami and he sold all
the stock options and we used it on a
house and this house that we moved into
was just old. It was the older lady
had died and I think the house went
under foreclosure and so we decided to
renovate it and we were innovated
everything the carpets just everything.
The bugs were terrible. We took
everything out and made that our house.
It was a lot of land is four acres. It
had the most beautiful view of the
mountains and it was just a really good
house. The location of it was amazing at
the time. There wasn't many stores around
at the time, but now today there are tons
of stores around it and the good
location of it is amazing. Let me Segway to
this, so once we get it moved into that
house and everything becomes normal.
I start elementary school and when I
start elementary school everyone else is
just different to me. Like I spoke
differently everyone, everyone smelled
differently, and everyone just acted
different than I did. Maybe it's because
I was born in Florida. As if I was a
first generation but everyone else just
acted different and you know when I
started out I made friends pretty easily
that's just my personality, but I knew I
was different.
My mom was still at home and my dad
found another job here and he was
continually working here with a
different job, so my mom was a stay at home mom,
but she sometimes I would go to daycare
and she would try and do her own stuff
without her own businesses or jobs
things like that. A few years down the
road I actually complete my elementary
school and it's the only time that I
actually completed going to a school
without moving hint hint. Elementary school
was it was it was good to go K through
five, but my sixth grade year I got into
middle school and halfway in my parents
tell me we are moving to Chattanooga,
Tennessee, which is a couple of hours
down south from Knoxville. I took
that pretty hard because I made a lot of
friends here I got used to the way he
ways of here and I had to move in the
middle of the school year and I hated
that. You know I'm just getting used to
my people my friends here and then I had
to move again and that kind of crushed
me.
My dad couldn't really find a job here
in Knoxville so he had to look for
Chattanooga to find it and that's what
we had to do we had to move down there
and we moved into the house down in
Chattanooga and the house was terrible.
It was in the middle, we call it in the
middle of the bush a trees everywhere, it
was a rental house. It was filled with bugs
carpet. we don't like carpet and it just
had a lot of issues with it and I know
at that point I was probably at my
lowest in my life. I lost all my
friends. I'm an only child. I went to a
school that I hated, in the beginning, and
it was rough. I know my hormones were
changing a lot and there would be nights
where I just wouldn't sleep. You know
when I went to school there it was a
brand new school and everyone else was
different. I felt like no one else was
like me I really struggled to make
friends there in the beginning and I
hated going there and I didn't have a
brother or sister or anyone to talk to
and I just wished I could go home as
soon as I my parents dropped me off from
school and even then like I didn't get
to see my parents too much because they
were working so I just had myself and
that was it. Looking back at it now I
wouldn't take it back, because it really
developed me as a person but it was
rough I had a hard time with it
and I was at my lowest point of my life.
Then,
a year two after that we stayed in rental
house. We actually custom-built a house.
we didn't build it ourselves. We got a a
we found a new neighborhood and we found
the Builder and we said can you do this
and we'll buy it and he did most of the
things we wanted and so a year year and
a half after we rented the house we
moved ten minutes away. I still went to
the same school and into another house
and this house was a lot better. There
weren't as much problems and things in
Chattanooga got a lot better for me. I
was playing sports. I didn't have a best
friend that I started making friends and
things got a lot better than what they
were. I still wasn't seeing my friends
back in Knoxville. Some of my best
friends do come every now and then, but it wasn't the same and I missed that
but things were getting better for me.
I finished my whole middle school
after I moved to finish from my home
middle school and actually started my
freshman year of high school and
completed that and then I remember this
one summer day I believe it was in June.
After my freshman year in between my
freshman and sophomore year of high
school, we have dinner at my table and my
parents said they want to talk to me
about something, so I said okay what is
it and then they tell me we're moving
back to Knoxville and I was crushed. I was
crushed because we constantly move. Like
I can't get settled. I can't keep friends.
and I feel like I just constantly have
to start over and I knew my parents
weren't really happy in Chattanooga
either because in a way it was kind of
like Miami there's a lot of violence
there and they just felt like they
didn't fit in and Chattanooga my dad
got another job back in Knox. When I was
a lot better than what was in
Chattanooga and they've always wanted to
move back to America and so they did
but they said when we move back that I
get the decision into deciding which
school I want to go to. In that decision
was hard because they said who do you
want to graduate with because we won't
move you after that we'll let you finish
high school and you can choose where you
want to go and they gave me three
choices and it was tough and I'll come
back to about that choice but we decided
of my sophomore year to start my
sophomore year to start school at my
chosen school. I started at the beginning
of the year and it was all easier to
move then because it's starting out. It
wasn't a problem and I got used to it
but the problem was our house in
Chattanooga did not sell. So my dad has
an apartment that we are renting in
Knoxville that was 30 40 minutes away
from the school
and we had to drive that every day and I
couldn't drive at the time so my mom did
and that part was rough living 30-40
minutes away from the school you're not
in the district and you had to drive so
far away going there every day was hard.
Then on the weekends I would stay at
the apartment Monday through Friday and
then Saturday Sunday we'd go right back
down to Chattanooga. This I believe was
in 2015 and October 2015 we actually
rented a house closer to the school and
so we didn't have to rent the apartment
anymore. I rented a house closer to
school and that was easier but the
problem was or house still wouldn't sell.
So I ended up going back and forth
between Chattanooga and Knoxville every
weekend my whole sophomore year and it
was terrible because
it in a way it felt like I had a divorce.
Like I had some clothes there at the
rental house and that some clothes then
my Chattanooga house and I slept on air
mattresses and I missed it all my stuff
and I hated it and I'm getting to my
parents about it because you know I just
turned like 16 and I was in the middle
of that and it causes a lot of bickering
with us and arguing. I think it's
just because we were all stressed but
that point that point in my life wasn't
the best either.
Finally, after my junior year of high
school sorry
finally after my sophomore year high
school, we sell the house in Chattanooga
and when he looked for a house to move
in and Maryville and that summer and
right before the school year started we
did and we were finally moved here to
where this house right here in Knoxville
Tennessee. What you're seeing now but my
junior year was not all perfect. When I
was born my doctors found that I
had a heart murmur and I get it from my
grandfather and they always thought as
time went on they'd go away.
Well I start returning to sports for my
school and I wanted to play soccer my
junior senior year of high school and
before the soccer season begins you have
to do a physical. I remember the day I
was going to do my physical I was
nervous I always hate going to the
doctor's it's not fun and I was really
nervous and they were checking my heart
rate and they kept on checking it and
they found that I had a heart murmur.
Which I knew about but every time I went
to the doctor no one would say anything
about it until then and they actually
failed me from a physical because of it.
They said I needed to go get testing done I
needed to make sure it wasn't that bad
and I missed a lot of time in my junior
year for soccer but mentally kind of
crushed me that I mean your heart's
pretty important to you and mine was
messed up and I love playing soccer and
I couldn't really until I got it checked
out and thankfully when I got to check
down tested and everything there's not
much they can do but it wasn't like the
worst possible murmur heart murmur there.
So we move on to my senior year of high
school and I think it's my best year
ever. Pretty much I from the very
beginning early on in the senior even
between my junior and senior year and my
summer break I went to the gym and
nonstop I used to hate going to the gym
when I was a freshman in high school,
because my parents never took me and I
could literally barely benchpress the
bar and ever since then like I used to
hate it when I played football going to
the weight room and I used to be so
scared of it. Now I love it but I made
sure that I was ready for soccer season
I worked my butt off to get to the
position that I needed to be and so fast
forward a little bit into my senior year
I started every game. My team wasn't good
but I started every game and I can truly
say I left everything out on that field
I gave everything I had.
Going back to my senior year I also
found my love for business. I had a
really good personal finance / economics
teacher and he really got me inspired
into business and focused into business
that I started reading books and
investing in my financial education and
learning about it and I started loving
it.
I don't know what it was but it just
always clicked for me and I always took
business classes at high school. I took
all the business classes that they
offered and I loved it, but my senior
high school was just last year. I really
got into it and I really enjoyed it
once my senior year ended I graduated. I
turned 18 and I went on a big trip. My
grandfather died almost a year year ago
before that and we went down to South
Africa for his funeral and we both said
talk to my parents about it that I was
gonna fly. Basically traveled the world
on my own at age 18. I was gonna go from
here with them down to South Africa and
then they'll come back from South Africa
forget to the US without me for a month
and I was going to stay off my aunt's. My
aunt that lives in Cape Town and my aunt
that lives in Dubai and I was gonna fly
on my own because I loved flying and
kind of see the world with my own eyes
and so after the funeral I went and
stayed in Cape Town for a few weeks with
my other family for the first time. I
ever really spending time without it
with with them without my parents and
stuff and getting to really know who
they are and I loved it and then I went
and spent a few days in Dubai with my
other aunt and it's the same thing there.
I flew back to Boston which I've
never been to and my flight got delayed
and I still have such a big bummer about
it because I could have just went and
explored Boston in that time that I was
dating but I was so jet-lagged and tired
that I just didn't do it, that's another
story, and then I flew back to Atlanta
and all this was on my own when I was 18.
Like most people my age don't even
travel the world. Most people my age
don't even want to go out and see what's
out there, and there's so much out there
and I think that's what makes me
different is I'm also a first gen
American but I have a lot of traveling
experiences. I've been eight different
countries around the world: Canada,Mexico,
Bahamas, South Africa, Qatar, United Arab
Emirates, South Africa, United Kingdom, and
Italy. I've traveled a lot I have a lot
of perspective in my head and I can't
recommend anyone else
like everyone else should go and see the
world at some point if they have family
outside the U.S go see them. It gives you
a good perspective and it mentally
cleared me a lot when I did that and I
want to go back again as soon as I can
honestly. Once my summer ended I decided
to go to Community College. Now two weeks
before I started Community College this
past year I was originally
gonna do like a bachelor's degree, go to
Community College two years and then
transferred to a university. A few weeks
before that started I changed my mind I
wanted to do an associate's degree. I
didn't want student loan debt because
I'm going to Community College for
nothing, so why not go there get the
degree if something goes wrong. I have a
back-up plan and I can't recommend that
enough. Community College is not bad they
teach you a lot and going there for
nothing was you're a student loan debt
is a win but of course I've decided to
major in business because I love
business and I really enjoyed it.
Now that's pretty much my life story in
a nutshell. There's still a lot of things
that I skimmed over but considering the
fact that I've been on for about 28
minutes explaining my life story it's pretty interesting and I've
had people that tell me that my story
inspires them motivates them. They love
to hear it and I thought why not share
my story but uh I just want to thank you
all for watching and I know this is a
different style of video. If y'all like
this let me know. I'm also wanting to
launch a podcast just talk about random
things talk about things also like this
this would be a good podcast topic but I
wanted to go live about it and see what
you all think but it doesn't look like
anyone's watching right now so that's
okay.
The replay squad let me know if you
enjoyed it and I'll see you on the next
one!
