#SriLankanSaturday Kick off - Personal Reflections
Aravind Sithamparapillai
Financial Planning for High Earning Sales/Marketing professionals, Incorporated Business Owners, & Midwives
I've been thinking about diving into this topic for a long time. It's about being Sri Lankan & a child of immigrants & adapting to the blended world view I have.
Especially being in a marriage to a white lady and mixed kids.
Today - just an intro/a bit of context. My parents are Sri Lankan (Tamil). They actually didn't meet in Sri Lanka or even in Canada. They actually met in Nigeria. When Nigeria had it's oil boom - a lot of Tamils went to work there.
(They were unable to get jobs in Sri Lanka due to the race war that was picking up)
My parents didn't know each other, they moved to Nigeria separately, met there, fell in love, moved to Canada (Separately so there was a long distance relationship for a while), and got married here.
I and my brothers were born shortly after. Life has been very good to my family.
A few nuggets for future stories.
On the topic of family: I have more uncles and aunties that I am related to or know by face than I have names for. They all seem to remember me or have a story about me growing up. Maintaining those bonds if at all possible is something my family deeply treasures.
These little nuggets are stories to unpack another time.
The reason I write this is out is each of these nuggets from the race war to buying a house are rich with context and they drive a lot of the relationship & money dynamics that exist today for people in my generation.
Some personal examples:
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There are two reasons I finally have chosen to dive into this.
First off for me (and other immigrants) - our parents mean well and have raised us well. But they don't know everything and sometimes well intentioned advice may not be "right".
(Especially in personal finance).
Second - in today's world of bi-racial couples, common language is needed. The mix of money, expectations, embedded cultural norms, and clashing of world views can be extremely complex.
It can lead to confusion and resentment on both sides.
So I want to shine some light here...So we begin this journey.
I won't be writing about this every day. It'll likely be a weekly.
The marketer in me wants to coin this #srilankansaturdays because I'm corny like that.
Either way - follow along, ask questions, share your perspective.
Nothing is off the table.
With an extensive background in software development and a keen interest in finance and investing, I am passionate about harnessing technology to shake up the traditional approach to financial planning!
4 个月Aravind Sithamparapillai this is a GREAT idea! Good for you for being “brave” enough to follow your heart on topics that are near and dear to you, even if they may be tough to talk about. It seems your series will be very interesting! You are right that they usually mean well but don’t always have the tools or resources to present this is in the right way. Because who properly taught them or showed them the right way? It’s very honourable that even coming from very humble beginnings that your parents worked very hard and even left from Scarborough to Markham. I assume that must have been sometime in the 2000s when a lot of immigrants left the inner core of the city for the outskirts. Markham is pretty much “unattainable” now for the typical immigrant, so good for them! Your nuggets and topics have piqued my interest, especially “Racism exists - just deal with it”. Interracial marriage and having a common language of terms especially around finances and the “clash” of cultures , is very interesting indeed. Needless to say, yes Sir, please do this series! I’ll be tuning in for sure.
Estate Planning Specialist, Senior Insurance Advisor
4 个月This is a great idea, Aravind Sithamparapillai
Helping wealth managers future-proof their business with innovative marketing solutions. | Co-founder @ Finnect
4 个月As a fellow Sri Lankan. I’m looking forward to following this Aravind Sithamparapillai !