In this episode of #HustleStory, Gbenga relocated to the UK as a dependent with his wife as an international student. He talks about living in the UK working for £11.5/hour. Now in Canada, his job as a Software Engineer makes it easier to afford a decent life earning 200,000 CAD/per year. 

The Hustle Story series is a dedicated effort to capture and share the financial journeys of immigrants in the UK and Europe. By highlighting the diverse paths immigrants take to achieve financial stability, OhentPay aims to empower and support prospective immigrants. If you want to share your Hustle Story with us, click here.

How did you financially prepare before moving to the UK?

Gbenga: I was in love when the Naira was not so high, so because of love I stayed back to be with my now wife. Before I met my girlfriend now wife, I was planning to move to another country and had already submitted applications for my Masters program before I met my wife. I was seriously in love with her, and she wasn’t ready to move then because she had just finished her NYSC. I totally understood her perspective. Then Buhari got a 2nd tenure in 2019 and she wanted to leave immediately. That was her motivation, so we did our court marriage in Nigeria and started applications.

I work as a Software Engineer, so I used my salary account for my proof of funds, my parents also sent a huge sum of money to start us up in the UK, while my wife’s parents decided to sponsor her education as a wedding gift to us. That was how we financially prepared for the UK. My good friend also paid for a house in the UK as a wedding gift to us, and he paid for it 3 months in advance. My wife came to the UK for school, while I came in as a dependant. I abandoned my Master's project because I didn’t need it at first. 

Financially, moving to the UK was soft for us and pretty swift. Thankful for the gift of family and friends. 

Can you share your experiences with your first job and the salary they offered you?

Gbenga: When I came here, I wanted to make more money for the sake of it, not that I really needed it. My job as a Junior Software Engineer was still paying me well from Germany and my wife’s parents had already paid for her tuition. Some days I was bored at home when my wife would go to class and I’d cleared all my tasks from work, so I decided to get a physical job in the UK because of boredom. 

After 2 months, I resigned because it was getting me sick with stress. From that, I was paid £11.5/hour, and everything I spent it on taking care of my wife and me. I focused on my remote job after I stopped working physically in the UK. 

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What are you currently doing to earn a living and support yourself?

Gbenga: Currently, we are now in Canada. The UK was great but almost everyone we knew left and it was so boring. Immediately after my wife graduated, I had the company I worked for send me to their office in Canada, and my wife followed.

Also in the UK, I realised that my wife would have to work to earn peanuts so we decided that the best thing was to weigh our options and Canada tipped the scale in many areas. Now, I work as a Senior Software Engineer and my wife works as a Social Media Manager in her company. I earn over 200,000 CAD in a year, while my wife makes 50,000 CAD in a year. We don’t have any children and it doesn’t look like a plan till maybe the next 10 years. My wife and I work together to support ourselves and our home. It's better this way.

What do you allocate to bills (rent)? How has this changed over the years?

Gbenga: When we got to the UK, my friend had already paid our 3 months rent for the house we lived in and we loved the place. We were paying £1,500/month for a 2-bedroom space in Leicester for the entire year.

We currently live in Ottawa, Canada and the rent there is not for the fainthearted. We pay $2,800+ for our 3-bedroom apartment, which is a jump from what we used to pay in the UK. Thankfully, my job pays very well to cover the realities of renting in Canada. Now, my wife and I are looking to buy our own space permanently and the place we live in currently is looking to sell, so we want to buy it too. We want to secure our future in terms of money because it is easy to go bankrupt in this place, no thanks to taxes.

How do you go about savings and investment, how much are you able to save, etc?

Gbenga: In terms of investments, I have stocks in the company I work for because I have been with them for up to 5 years now. I have some flats back in Nigeria managed by my parents on my behalf and I run a business with my sister in Nigeria. She runs it fully but I come in to do a few things when she needs me, and my salary from there, I save it in a domiciliary account in Nigeria. 

In the UK, I was saving 50% of my salary and dividing the other 50% between rent, household items, and our upkeep. I can’t do the maths now but now in Canada, it’s almost the same thing except where our bi-annual vacations come up. My wife and I have this bi-annual vacation thing and she pays for it all the time. All I have to do is pack a bag and follow my wife around the globe. The last vacation we had was in South Korea and I think the only thing I paid for were the gifts I bought for my friends. We are very flexible in terms of how we spend money but as much as I can, I try to make sure that she doesn’t spend from her salary. She insists on spending, so when she can she pays.

Also, we have a joint account where we send money in case we get pregnant so our child’s future is secure. I send about 10% of my salary there and we’re both signatories.

If you could go back, what would you do differently in terms of money?

Gbenga: The only thing I would do differently is have a proper wedding ceremony. Although we plan on doing a proper ceremony for our 10th anniversary but, I wish we did that initially. Also, I wish I had gotten a Master's degree whether in Nigeria or online because that set me back a bit at work.

But all in all, I wouldn’t change anything. I can't imagine leaving Nigeria earlier and not meeting my wife!

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Now that you’re in a different country from Nigeria, how do you feel about black tax?

Gbenga: I have suffered from it and I’m past that stage at the moment. When I first moved to the UK, posting on my Facebook was like sending out a call for financial help so I stopped. People in Nigeria think that once you relocate, money is like water because of the exchange rates and I wish it was true. But people have their lives to live here and things are very tough, especially for people who come to school and have to survive alone. 

Nigerians have the mentality of helping their family and friends back home, and it’s very admirable because people abroad really don’t have that communal spirit. But that same mentality can be a good and bad thing, and as far as black tax is concerned, it is very bad. I’m really grateful to my parents, my wife's parents, my siblings, and my friends who ensured that we were good to go in the UK. Fortunately, no one in my family or my friends asks for money, we’ve been blessed to be well-educated and doing good for ourselves financially. 

The black tax that happened to me was from friends I wasn’t very close to and I always had the option to say no, so it was better for me. 

Do you have any advice or insights for prospective immigrants in terms of financial preparation and job-seeking?

Gbenga: Please come with your wife, husband, partner, or somebody else because you will need someone to support you financially and emotionally. In terms of jobs, get a degree that will make you employable, don’t get a degree because you want to japa because it will haunt you. 

Have I said people should come here with their significant other? E get why!

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