I want to share a story. Our story begins in The Philippines. My parents are from the Philippines - a developing country located in Southeast Asia with almost a quarter of the population living well below the national poverty line. Their GDP or Gross Domestic Product and life expectancy also fall below the threshold for developed country status. Let me put it another way. An income of thirty two thousand, four hundred US dollars per year is among the top 1% of income earners in the entire world. So congratulations, most of you are part of the global 1%.

Because of that economic disparity, my parents came to New York City in the 70’s to start their professional lives - leaving behind any support from friends and family. My Mom immigrated first to study nursing. My Dad followed right after. Regardless of background or ethnicity, we’re all children of immigrants. They all came to the United States and often sacrificed their hopes and dreams so that someday their children could have better opportunities. As a second generation American, I grew up very conscious of the enormous sacrifices that my parents made which is why I pretty much spend every waking moment proving to them that their struggles were not in vain.

My parents, like most immigrants who arrive in the US, had a scarcity mindset - which is an underlying fear of coming up short - whether that was paying rent or buying food. So they worked a lot. Like a lot, a lot. Very long hours and lots of overtime. Although I was really grateful for their work ethic, they weren’t always around - so I didn’t get much financial guidance other than abstract phrases like "save your money!" or "you don't need that!" So this meant I grew up very introverted but with an active imagination. I’d watch a lot of TV, play video games and use whatever I could find in the house to make my own short films. However, because my parents worked all the time and had this scarcity mindset - they created robust savings for my college tuition. They had no special degrees, no inheritance, no land that they could flip, no rich uncle they could call up. Just a straight up immigrant work ethic in one of the most expensive places to live.

In college I studied computer science for a year and a semester which didn't work out - I was too busy DJ'ing, going to clubs and basically immersing myself in NYC culture. So I switched majors and attended a local art school instead. Most of this was motivated by guilt. Guilt that I was wasting my parents hard earned money. Which I was. So I graduated and had a few jobs in New York City from about 2004-2007. Although most of these creative roles had very good financial benefits, I was too immature and restless to take full advantage of them. I wanted to be a fulltime video director despite my parents' protests to keep my head down and work for The Man.

So instead of working for The Man, I went freelance full time as a music video and commercial director from 2008-2013. I was extremely busy around this time, getting awards and recognition but the problem was I was only focused moment to moment and not on a 401k, or retirement accounts, or taxes or saving my money. Retirement was not a concept I could grasp in my early 20’s. I didn’t care. My life revolved around working with celebrities, going to parties and running around New York City as a renegade filmmaker. This is around the time I made "Dumb Financial Mistake #1".

So in 2010 I participated in a Sprite campaign called "The Spark" which was the brand's first-ever global integrated marketing campaign. The commercials featured Grammy Award winner and international pop star Drake, four-time world music award winner and respected Korean actor Jay Chou and uhm..me. Because I wasn't a celebrity they got me for cheap. But cheap was still a lot to me. I was paid $50,000 plus 3 years of royalties for about 2 and a half hours of work. It was the most money I ever made in one day. So how was this my first dumb financial mistake? Well I didn't file my taxes properly and the IRS hit me with an eight thousand dollar bill. I didn't have an accountant at the time which is why I filed incorrectly. It was a lot of money but I was able to pay it off within a few months after a few video projects. Shortly after, my Dad introduced me to an amazing accountant who I still use to this day. But it didn’t mean I was done from making Dumb Financial Mistakes. Far from it. I had to go and make "Dumb Financial Mistake #2".

So I love watching movies. But what I love more than watching movies is making movies. Although my career was knee deep in music videos and commercial pursuits, I didn't really want to sell sugar water. I wanted to make movies. By any means necessary. From 2006 to 2012 I made three independent feature films with the total cost of all three coming out to about $50,000. Now that may seem like a lot but I've heard stories about filmmakers taking out 2nd and 3rd mortgages, using credit cards and even bank loans to finance their films. I was dumb. But I wasn't that dumb. But I was still dumb. I borrowed money from various business partners. So when my films didn't receive distribution, I had to pay back those loans. It was interest free and no dings on my credit rating but it was still a very stressful situation and placed strains in my creative relationships. I was so emotionally invested in making movies I was ignorant about the return on financial investment for doing the work. I'm an artist, not a finance guy, I'd tell myself. I was able to pay off all my movies after numerous video projects but again, I took on more debt than I should have. On the bright side, I learned more about movies on set than paying for film school, so there’s that. But if you think I learned my lesson about making dumb financial mistakes. Think again. Here comes "Dumb Financial Mistake #3".

2012 is when freelancing started getting really stressful. I had a young daughter to support and my wife Nancy and I were moving from a nomadic, struggling artist lifestyle to a somewhat domesticated lifestyle. Because of my financial ignorance, I was convinced by a former business partner to invest in a rental property in New Jersey for $200,000. It seemed like easy money and a way to create passive income while I focused on music video directing. So the property was transferred to my name and we took out a HELOC or Home Equity Line of Credit to make home improvements. While I managed the video business, my partner managed the property - including making timely payments on my behalf and general maintenance. A series of unfortunate events happened a year later - the property was vandalized by the tenants, they stopped paying rent and the property got hit with immense damage from Hurricane Sandy - a category 3 hurricane that smashed the East Coast in October 2012. Individually, these are issues that are usually bound to arise with an investment property. I just wasn’t prepared or mature enough for all of those issues to happen all at the same time. This was the final straw. Now stuck with a terrible investment property, I decided freelancing was not a stable lifestyle option anymore and so I had to make some moves. And I had to make them quick. If I continued down this path I would walk right into bankruptcy. I knew I had to embrace the scarcity mindset.

In 2013 I was hired as a Senior Video Editor at PopSugar New York, a prominent digital media publisher that specialized in women's culture. While it wasn't exactly my dream role, I knew mentally I had to humble myself and get back into the workforce. This was the major step in taking control of my finances. Eventually I worked my way into a more lucrative role as Creative Director of Marketing Video at Complex Media which fit into more of my expertise. I worked crazy hours. Sometimes 14-15 hour days and even weekends. Because of that scarcity mindset instilled by my parents, and refined by Nancy - we used this time to pay off all our outstanding debts. We paid off all loans from our movies, paid off all our credit cards, kept our 2004 Honda CRV beater car to avoid auto loans and generally lived below our means. Also Nancy is very skilled at moving money into savings before I even know it arrives. Nancy had another idea - a very drastic way to decrease our cost of living. Move out of New York City. I thought she was nuts. Shortly after, we relocated to Ann Arbor in July of 2015 and I joined Duo. Not only did our cost of living decrease but our quality of life increased and I knew we were getting closer to achieving financial peace.

But there still was that last debt standing. At this point the investment property in New Jersey had become a huge liability and a major blow to my credit score. This became months of frustrating back and forth between my former business partner and the attorney handling the property. Because I was already living in Michigan, I wasn't able to expedite the process or routinely check on the condition of the house. Months turned to years as my credit continued to plummet from 2015-2019. There was no chance of buying a house because my credit was now in a dumpster that was set on fire and placed inside of another dumpster that was already on fire. Finally on February 1st, 2019, the property was sold after numerous delays to a Japanese Executive who wanted to do a complete rehab of the property. This was a blessing in disguise because if we tried to sell sooner, we would have lost money in a short sale. I dodged a huge financial bullet and narrowly avoided a foreclosure. But just barely. At this point, any money that could have been made from the property was used to pay off interest rate fees, bank fees, legal fees and taxes. But I didn't care, I just wanted out. Shortly after I got a satisfaction letter from the bank and my credit score miraculously rebounded back up. A huge weight was lifted from my shoulders.

Without a doubt, this was the most stressful and emotionally draining process I ever dealt with. I made a mistake during a vulnerable time in my life as a freelancer and trusted people close to me who I believed had my best interest at heart. But this isn't an excuse. It was 100% my fault because I was ignorant about money and had no real goals on what to do with it. If you aim at nothing, you hit nothing. It wasn’t until I was able to talk openly about my debts that I began to realize how important it was to lock it in the past and move forward. A big shout out to everyone here who listened to me and gave me a shoulder to lean on while I was going through this issue.

From getting back into corporate life in 2013 up until now, I had to play catch up to many of my peers who had a more stable and linear path in their careers. My financial stress was affecting my creativity which made it difficult to perform consistently at a high level. I had mood swings, I became too emotionally invested in my work, I got upset at critical feedback and I would spend frivolously on tech gadgets, clothing and restaurants. So I had to go back to the basics and remember the kid who made movies with his Dad's camcorder. Working hard, honing my craft every day and providing value is what made me a professional video director. It was about storytelling and being at service to the story. Having true empathy for the people I worked with. Here’s the thing. I was chasing the wrong parts of the entertainment industry. I was chasing an image of myself as a big shot director rather than chasing the human stories I wanted to tell. After all these years I've realized that being a Producer will always pay the bills but being a Director will always support my dreams. And sometimes vice versa. Sometimes I’m able to switch those roles or do both. Having that perspective really opened up my eyes and brought opportunities that are very rare - such as serving my community because generosity builds wealth.

Honestly, I learned a lot about generosity by watching Dug Song (founder of Duo) and how he serves his community. With his help connecting me to sponsors, I started the annual A2 Tech Film Showcase for diversity and inclusion in filmmaking - which is now partnered with the Cinetopia International Film Festival. On Friday May 15 (please save the date) over 34,000 people will converge into Ann Arbor during that week to watch over 120 films - 8 of which will be films we are curating. And 100% of our portion of ticket sales will be donated to The Neutral Zone, a local non profit teen center. I'm also on the Board of Directors at the historic Michigan Theater where our primary goal is to preserve the history of art house cinema and increase awareness for public storytelling. Being on the board with Ann Arbor retirees who have achieved financial independence and use their time to serve the community through movies is something I absolutely want to aspire to. If I ever retire, that’s what I wanna be doing with my time. Nancy, Chloe and I also produce videos for the Neutral Zone to show at various events and fundraisers. Helping our community's youth turn their dreams into a reality is something that brings us real joy and connects our daughter to the kinds of values we believe in. We often tell Chloe how generous her Grandparents are - even when they started out with so little to give. Generosity builds wealth. Not in the monetary sense, but in opportunity.

After enduring a mortgage loan roller coaster of emotions, we bought a house. I’m not gonna debate about home ownership - if that’s good debt or bad debt. I’ve rented for most of my adult life. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just a lifestyle choice and don’t let anyone shame you into thinking one is better than the other. We are currently debt free except for the mortgage, along with emergency funds and college savings. If you’re into Dave Ramsey - we are currently on Baby Step #5. We live way below our means. The scarcity mindset means we live pretty minimalist. We live like we’re still in our cramped one bedroom apartment in Gramercy Park. We sell and donate anything we don't use and instead of accumulating things - we gather moments and experiences which actually tie into our creative projects like making videos for the Neutral Zone. These don’t cost a thing. Doing walks in the park together is free. We never take for granted the cost of living here compared to New York. Most importantly, I removed the instant gratification mindset. I’m not spending just to spend to brag about some latest new gadget. Also it's not just about increasing our income, it's about increasing our savings. These days we dial up auto payments incrementally, into our retirement accounts. If we never see the money we aren’t tempted to spend it. I still like nice things but only if it adds value to our quality of life. Like an air fryer is a fantastic cooking appliance that makes me spend less on eating out.

Without financial stress, I enjoy coming to work every day without feeling distracted or overwhelmed. The self consciousness I had about my debt has disappeared and was replaced with focus and concentration. I’m a better listener. I feel more in the moment during meetings and brainstorms. I stopped comparing myself to others on social media. I have screen time enabled on my phone that prevents me from being on social media for more than one hour a day. All of my apps disable from 8pm to 7am. Nancy has the password so I’m never tempted to override it. Now I want you to think about this - what are you passionate about? And can that hustle be sold separately? I started thinking about saving and investing and would seek out information on the Personal Finance slack channel, books and YouTube videos and many conversations with Martin and Pete about managing the money I earn at Cisco. But how do I increase my savings and investments when I’m not at work?

For me, I still freelance once in awhile but only if it makes sense and if it doesn’t conflict with my responsibilities in the office. But after work, I spend about 2 hours every night managing my YouTube channel and Amazon Affiliate accounts. The ad revenue and commissions I earn online are redirected into my index funds and retirement accounts on Vanguard. I do this by creating a seperate savings account in my credit union that receives my passive income payments which automatically pushes it into my Vanguard accounts bi-weekly. I just set it and forget it. That way I can focus only on the stories I want to tell or the knowledge I want to share. Remember how I said Directing supports my dreams? Well now that I made a direct line of distribution through Prime Video, I can calculate the earnings of my films and reinvest them into the next one. On average I earn between 8 to 10 cents per minute streamed and have streamed 4.2 million minutes across 4 of my films in the past 15 weeks. So now my goal is to use that money to make a film every year that provides opportunities for those who need it most while promoting diversity and inclusion in filmmaking. And I can do all of this without ever borrowing money, worshiping celebrities or going into debt. I’m not chasing an illusion anymore and hoping for a big break. I’m chasing generosity and building wealth, on my own terms.

So with this dramatic shift in lifestyle, our goal is to pay off the mortgage within 7 years. Finance experts would be upset and say my money is better spent in high yield investments. But I’d rather have the financial peace of mind first. Without a mortgage, we will continue living below our means while pushing the extra savings into our Vanguard accounts. I’m really excited to see what kind of generosity unlocks when that happens because we’ll be moving from a scarcity mindset to a freedom mindset. I regret the money I lost all those years but I don’t regret the valuable lessons I’ve learned. Now remember, I’m not a finance bro, I’m just a kid from Queens so take all of this with a grain of salt. But, if there’s one thing I want you guys to remember before I finish, it’s to do what my parents did nearly half a century ago when they came to this country to provide a better life for their children.

Take control of your finances. Be generous. And your stories will never be forgotten.

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