Miguel Sanchez: 0:00

Welcome to the First Gen 101 podcast. Today I am joined by Edward Disi, a college graduate with over 15 years of experience in the software industry. Additionally. Through CLY coaching, Edward also helps people with their personal finances. We'll discuss his first gen journey, how it shaped his career, and the lessons he's learned. Along the way, we'll hear about CLY coaching and his thoughts on financial clarity. Edward, thanks for being here today.

Edward Disi: 0:33

Thank you for having me.

Miguel Sanchez: 0:35

can you tell us about where you grew up and your family background?

Edward Disi: 0:39

Absolutely. Super excited to be part of your part of the podcast. I'm excited to share my story with your audience. I was born in Nigeria, Africa. I was born to a beautiful family of five and I migrated here to the US when I was 15. So I came with my, I came with my family, my father and mother three other brothers. And we first migrated down to Cincinnati, Ohio and down Cincinnati, Ohio. We came to Texas. I came to Texas as a married man with with four beautiful kids. And living currently right now in Houston, Texas.

Miguel Sanchez: 1:14

Houston is actually one of my favorite places, and I'm not just here. My wife and I have actually traveled there quite frequently. We were there last March for the Houston Rodeo,

Edward Disi: 1:24

It's a beautiful city. It's a really big city. It's one of the cities where I, I truly really enjoy living in. And now we call Houston home. It's brought us a lot of great success when it comes to like family, community, and. Just the atmosphere right now in Houston. It's one of the beautiful parts about Houston I truly love is the weather. Like right now, it's about close to 55 degrees. And it's chilly, but, we've been enjoying a good spur of 80 something degree weathers in, like in, in the heat of winter can't complain. Can't beat that.

Miguel Sanchez: 1:55

you talked about moving to the United States from Nigeria, with your family of five, how was the idea of success implanted on you? Did it come from your parents, from your community?

Edward Disi: 2:07

Yeah it's a good question. Education and success was impacted by my parents. I give credit to, or credit is due. So my parents came from Humbler beginnings and they, like any other immigrant, moving to the US to find, better pastor. And coming from a culture where, it's. From coming from Nigeria where poverty reign and, it's very prevalent. So my parents decided to make that shift to come to the us. And also one of the things about I love about Nigerians is they're very educated. Nigerians are, they're, we are into education and also into success. We believe education can drive success. So it's one of the things that is driven into the minds and into the brains of, younger Nigerians coming up growing up in Nigeria. So that was part of my upbringing. My parents are also, college graduates. And I'll talk about that a little bit later on. But. They knew the value of education, they knew the value of what education can do. It can give you at least a leg up in society. So it was very crucial and they, impacted and pounded that into our heads growing up. The fact that, not only just, getting a degree, but getting a degree that can support you and your family and getting a degree that, that can make a big impact in the society Also.

Miguel Sanchez: 3:28

So I mentioned at the beginning that you have from what I understand, more than 15 years in the software industry. How did that interest start? Did you go to school for for software engineering or did you find that along the way? How did you get into this field?

Edward Disi: 3:44

It did. So I've been in the software industry for over 20 plus years. So I graduated from the University of Cincinnati with the information information systems bachelor's degree. So just shifting back to where it all started my mom was. My mom saw the vision ahead of ahead of us. she saw like technology was the new upcoming industry coming up in the next generation. So she. Encouraged us to shift into learning a little bit more about technology. And when I was in high school, I was one of two, my brother and I were one of the two black students who actually took the gum computer programming classes. So that was that was from the push of my mother. She pushed us into registering for that computer programming classes. And that sparked an interest. That sparked an interest where I really enjoyed it. I. I went home, started my own, first programming classes. Took my first programming languages and started from there. And it's never ended. It's never, it's something that is still ongoing. So those, that was, back in 1997. When I wrote my first vb, vb I think they call it VB net or visual? No, it's called Visual Basic Code. So we, I wrote my first Hangman game and I tried and I tried my best to make it better. But eventually that led into the passion that I have right now. I graduated from University of Cincinnati with the Information Technology Sys degree. And then went into my first internship. Started studying programming. So I started off as a software engineer, and from there I moved up the ladder into management. And now working my way into like more director level and information technologist system I currently am a software consultant. So what that means is I work with a group of consultants who are hired by a software company and then we are consultant. We. We get a project, excuse me. And in this project, so we get hired by other top firm small mediums large scale companies. So we go in there and actually build a software from the ground up and we consult with the companies and how they actual software that we're gonna build, we're actually work for their business.

Miguel Sanchez: 6:09

That's great. There's a couple things you mentioned that I just want to highlight. One of them, and this is something that we've discussed in previous episodes with other guests regarding career vision and career planning. And it really stood out to me that in your case, in your situation, it was your mother who had this vision for you about a career from something that she had already envisioned as. Delivering value. In other words, your mother saw this great potential in technology and it sounds like. Push your, you and your siblings to pursue that. So I think that's such a great thing to highlight because in a lot of the, a lot of communities we lack, and I say this as, and I include myself, is we sometimes lacked that family support. So we should always be looking, maybe if our parents don't have that for us, but maybe we should look to mentors or other people to help us And speaking of careers Personal finance. Yes. How did that transition happen? What sort of triggered your interest in doing this type of service?

Edward Disi: 7:13

Absolutely. So just wanted to go back to the last comment that you made. Yes. Community was a big role. Played a big role in, in where I am right now. So not only just my mom that, so I had other, I stood on the shoulders of many people to where I am right now. So I can start to name names it never will be enough. But community, as you mentioned especially from an immigrant. Coming into the us there are a lot of things that we don't really understand and we don't really know coming into the system for the first time. So we relied heavily on the folks who were already here. We relied on community who have already, started and, had oh, more like two steps ahead of us. So we followed in their path and and I do know justice if I don't, if I don't mention the community that, that pushed through, pushed us through. And also clear the path to where I am right now. So going back to the question that you asked, as far as, going from technology into personal finance, like what made that shift? So it's a question, that I'm still trying to answer to feel personal finance and has always been a passion of mine. Ever since I got married and this will take me back to my, my story of origin being an immigrant coming into the United States, like we don't really understand the financial system here in the us. So as a first generation American now there are a lot of things that I had to learn and unfortunately I had to learn it the hard way, so I've got myself into a lot of student debt, student loan debt, I've got myself into personal. Finance debt, like any other American debt has, was the first thing that welcomed me into America. The same community that I. Had was also the same community that, drove me into debt is a burden, right? Being in debt is a burden. And the only way to get out of debt is understanding how does a financial system work here in the us. And yes, it could work for your benefit and yes, it could work for. It can also be there's, there are pros and cons and, in, when it comes to the personal finance system here in the us. So understanding that, and when I took the leap of fate and I told myself like, it is time to be debt free. It is time to learn. It is time to make, leave a legacy, for the children that are coming behind me. So one of the things I tell you know, a lot of people, especially first generation is when you come into the US right, you are working against a system that has already been there for 200 plus years. Coming into the US trying to achieve the American dream, in most cases it may never happen for the first generation, but the one thing that you can do is to start planting the seed Now. For the generations that come after you. So who would that be? So your children's children. Because that is how the American dream is achieved, right? And we can see, for the folks who have already been here but the folks who already had the seeds already planted, it's the generation after them that get to reap the benefits of the seeds that are being planted. My wife and I took that leap of faith and said, this is the time to start planting the seed for my children, and not only my children's children. So having them getting out of college debt free, having them getting outta college with, some kind of source of income that they already have already prepared for them to hit the ground running because. That is where that is where success actually starts from. And also just understanding the fact that you cannot go, you cannot go against the headwinds of financial, the financial economy if you're already in debt, because that's already an anchor that's already holding you back. So in order for you to set sale, you have to have the education one. Two, you have to have the community that actually shows you how to get there. And three, again, like you have to have the, you have to stand on the backs of the shoulders of people who have already laid the roots down. And I'm so glad for, folks like us, like we are a first generation. Like we are the ones that are coming in learning. We are the ones that are coming in trying to understand what it takes to, excuse me, what it takes to leave a legacy for the next generation. And that is one of the reasons why I chose to get into personal finance. That is one of the reason why my wife and I said, let's start a company. Let's start a company not only just to leave a legacy for our children, but also start to educate the people from, my community being Nigerians and start to educate them about what it takes to start to leave the legacy for start to leave the financial legacy for the children that come after us. There's

Miguel Sanchez: 11:54

a couple things I want to highlight. One of them is what you said about immigrating to the United States. And for a lot of our parents, and I'm not exactly sure if this was the case with your family, but I know in, in, in many families, the first generation is just surviving. They're just trying to, yeah, pay the bills and as they say, living, pay the paycheck to paycheck. And I do believe, just like you said, that it is our responsibility to build the foundation for a legacy because at the end, We're just stewardess of the money we have or the finances. And the second thing I wanna mention that I thought was really compelling is. This is not about now so much, but it's about the future. And just like our parents decided to come to this country for the future we're doing basically or nearly the same thing and also you. Building something for the future. So I like that posture of building for the future. And so with CLY coaching, how do you specialize in certain stages in, in, in a person's life? Like how would somebody know that CLY coaching is right for them?

Edward Disi: 13:05

Absolutely. Let me talk a little bit about CLY coaching. So just for starters my religion my faith, being a Christian has has brought me thus far, right? It has brought me so long down the road. I grew up in a Christian home. I grew up where, my parents, instilled that in us. And also my fate alone has has, is what I, I give a lot of credit to my faith and faith in God and also faith in what he's doing here. In my life. And that's what really started c CL coaching. So c cl coaching is a Christ-centered, dual focus finance and relationship coaching firm. So we focus more on the financial part of a relationship, and we also focus on a relational part of a relationship. So meaning. So we understand, we our target demographics are young women women and young couples. So if young women starting from dating to, young couples from up to the seven years of marriage. So those are our target demographics. So what we do, we focus where we've seen, especially in. Day and age in this community, in this society that we live in, the one thing that couples fight about is finance, right? And it impacts their relationship. So we see where, those, like the relationship part of, relationship and finance, though the two most important bridges to building, a legacy for a family. So what we wanna do, we wanna make sure we focus on the personal finance from. Understanding what debt manages all the way up to like building, leaving, like a retirement or leaving a legacy for your children when it comes to finance. And we also focus on the relational part, meaning. If, for example, a young woman like looking for, looking to get married, right? So we focus on coaching that individual on understanding who they are and making themself like, making themself ready for there's future spouse, right? So from there, and also we work with young couples who are newly engaged, where we're working. We also, we work in a couple, we work with couples who are in a committed relationship, so we focus on building a stronger relationship and also going into, the marital part of the relationship. So couples who are newly engaged too. Premarital and also to up to the seven year of marriage because we know, like when couples become married, the first thing that we're not, especially for first generation or especially for immigrant families, a lot of the things that we learn from marriages are through our parents, right? And we may not. Some parents may not get it all the way. So some of, like they do, we know God bless, they do their best to instill what they know to be successful marriages. And a lot of us may not come from successful marriages. A lot of us may come from divorced marriage. I'm blessed to have my parents still married. So I've seen a struggle. And what it takes to remain married. Remain married, and be married. So and and I've taken that and my wife and I have also, we understood like we've gone through our challenges also in relationship. So we are, we. We want to basically help couples in the two areas where there's a lot of fights, right? From a finance, and in a second we wanna make sure we build stronger relationships like Christ-centered, godly relationship. And the one thing that we truly appreciate in our model, in our, and for CL coachings, is we want to build a legacy through stewardship. So our goal is to make sure we build, we strengthen, we educate families from a finance and also from a relational standpoint to build a legacy through stewarding what God has given us through our finance, through the relationship that we have, through the kids that we have. So again, our goal is to build a legacy through stewardship.

Miguel Sanchez: 16:50

And one of the best decisions we made was early in our marriage was to attend a marriage conference, so to speak. It was like a weekend. And also Christ centered. We also have a, our faith in Christianity. And then secondly, we had our church, and this is something that I always mentioned not just on the podcast, but just people in general. Is that in my opinion, churches should have ongoing counseling with couples, not just with financial topics, but in other topics because I can tell you in 10 years of marriage and there's always gonna be need for guidance. So I want, I just wanna applaud that you're doing that and helping people from the beginning, but also through at least seven years into their relationship. So in CLY coaching. I was looking at your website and I saw that you deliver different types of specialization, so to speak. Yes. One specialization that really caught my eye, and I would want you to please elaborate, is on financial clarity because I think. A lot of us, it's obvious that we wanna save money, that we want to, buy a house that we wanna save for the future and get rid of that, all these financial goals, but it just seems very messy. So how does CLY help people achieve financial?

Edward Disi: 18:14

financial clarity is different for, different people. So depending on, what your goal is. So it could be, and we take it from based on person to person. So if it's someone who's coming outta college. Financial clarity, maybe I just want to just go through college, or I just want to pay off my student loan. And also coming out of this, debt free, right? So it, it differs from person to person. There's not really one umbrella that covers everything. But if I was to take, if I was to take like a wild of gas as far as what does clarity mean? Financial clarity mean from a, to the general public? It, the first things first is we need to make sure we're debt free. Being debt-free and and the Bible clearly states, oh, no, man, nothing. And and just we wanna make sure that you, whatever whatever goal that you're trying to achieve as far when it comes to finances, that you wanna make sure that you're debt-free, right? You want to make sure that you can, support yourself or support the community around you based on. Based on things that you have planned, based on things you have saved, based on, what based on the goals that you have as far as being debt free. I strongly believe in debt free, so we've been able to pay off$250,000 worth of debt with one income. And based on one income. My wife and I were able to pay all that debt off and. Just the ability to breed after all of that is paid off. The ability to own no one, nothing. We can make decisions that can impact like our future, future generations when we know that we can, go on a vacation debt free. We can go, we can buy our kids cars, we can pay off our mortgage, in the next 15 plus years. Understanding that when we. Leave a legacy, right? We don't want to pass whatever, debt that we have into our, to our children. We don't want to do that. And for us, our financial clarity means. Our children are able to go to college debt free coming outta college, be able to stand on their own and support themself without, without struggling. And again, going back to what I mentioned earlier, like our goal is to build a legacy for our kids' kids and their kids' kids starting now, right? At least. Someone has to put the shovel on the ground. Someone has to first be the first one to dig, be the first one to dig. And whatever, whatever our goals are. And this could be from a woman who is starting off, in the like for a woman who is starting up out of college, who's getting their first, professional job what we wanna do, we wanna make sure that they're able to step into, their new goal, their new career, their new life. With the clarity of understanding this is what I need to do, these are the steps that I need to take in order for me to get there. Now again, it's different from, each person is different, but our goal is to make sure we provide education. Our goal is to make sure we break down any communication issues We wanna make sure, like if there's any tension when it comes to family of origin, when it comes to finance, we wanna make sure we're providing clarity so they can step into, that new goal of wherever they want to go.

Miguel Sanchez: 21:29

Sometimes we'll say to someone or we'll advise someone, Hey, you do X, Y, and Z. Things are just gonna work out. But I do think it's important, as you mentioned, to get a real sense of each person, because it might be clear to us, there might be things or situations with the person we're helping. Yeah. That need to be clarified. And. We talk about personal finance, and we talk about money, but really what we're talking about is behavior, right? It's about being. Consistent. It's about being disciplined. It's about putting off immediate gratification, and a lot of that, it's behavioral, right? It's about keeping yourself restraint. So on that note as you've been working with people in this space, in personal finance. What are some of the behaviors or biases that you've noticed in people that have really surprised you?

Edward Disi: 22:29

You know what? Family of origin plays a big big barriers when it comes to a lot of people we speak with and especially the community that we serve. We, we we serve an immigrant community. And also we've seen where there's been generational barriers, first of all, coming to a financial coach or a financial counselor to say, Hey, I need help. That itself is the first barrier that, a lot of people have to step over. And it's more like I saw my parents do it this way. I saw my dad budget, my dad took over the budget and my mom never really knew about it. Like I, those are the stories that we hear, family of origin plays a big role. And, it could be like, we've also seen where families are. Coming to us like my dad did it, so I need to do it because, I am, I'm the man of the house. In those cases I take a step back and let people know like where I am right now being a, being in financial counsel and being a financial coach and if you told me. 10 years ago, like, how do you balance a budget? How do you create a budget? I would say, I don't really know. I've been married for 16 years and for, for the greater part of our marriage, my wife was the one who led, She was in charge of our finances. and this is something that I see and, in a lot of immigrant families, right? So where the man thinks like I'm the one that's supposed to do it, but has no idea how to create a budget, right? So understanding the strength in marriages, right? Understanding if you like brother, if you cannot do it, and your wife can like. Give it up. Let your wife handle the budget, and then when you're ready to take over, she would gladly give it over to you. And that's what happened in my own case, so there's a lot of barriers that we've seen from family of origin and there's a lot of barriers that we've seen from just a lack of education like folks were in, they don't know. So you do need to understand, you do need to know. You need to know, understand what financial what financial education can do to your marriage, can do to you as a person. Understanding, what credits are, understanding what debts are, understanding, how to get, pay for, college and coming outta college debt free. Understanding what scholarships are, based on those knowledges, based on the knowledge that you un, that you read, maybe from chat, CPT, maybe from Google, maybe from the, trusted sites. Knowledge is never lost. Only gained. And when you gain those knowledge, you can take advantage of it. Because that's the exact same thing, the rich folks are using, right? They have the knowledge on how to, how the financial system works and they're just taking advantage of it. And I believe it's. Time for us to start to take advantage of that knowledge and empower ourself through education and through financial education also.

Miguel Sanchez: 25:13

I'm so glad that you're doing this work, truly because you're not just doing it because you benefit. And your idea is not just to get more, but your idea and your heart is to share. Your knowledge and empower your community, which I think we should all be doing that. Doesn't really matter from what, faith or background you come from as a community, living in a community, we should always be looking to empower community. Absolutely. And as we come to an end how can people get in touch with CLY coaching? How can get, how can people learn more about your services?

Edward Disi: 25:47

So you can always reach us at CLYcoaching.com. That's CLY coaching, CLY coaching.com. So we're also on the social media, Instagram, TikTok LinkedIn, you name it, to search for CLY Coaching. You can also do a Google search for CLY coaching.

Miguel Sanchez: 26:02

Edward, is there anything else that you wanna mention? Anything that you wanna highlight for our community here?

Edward Disi: 26:10

I thank for, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to your community. It's really great to see, this pod, see what this podcast is doing for our first generation Americans here or first generation, wherever you are, in the world. I'm sure your reach is gonna be, is also global. But I one thing I do wanna mention is there is life after. There is life when it comes to, if you feel like you're in, in, in a pickle where you're, you say, Edward, I have too much loans, Edward, I don't even know where, my right foot is for my left foot. There is, there is something after this. So talk to seek help. Go to a professional, seek a professional. If it's not client coaching, go to someone that you know, go to and don't go to your uncle. Don't go to your uncle. That's, being, managing. And his finances for, for 20 plus years, go to a after professional. A FC has professionals out there, you can also, talk to go online and research, financial professionals out there and seek help. We've gone through, we've gone through training, we have various level of expertise and there is definitely someone that can help you out. So don't live life alone. Don't live life in a bubble. And. If you like, you take your cars out there to go get an oil change or you may do it yourself. Same thing with your finance. Take your finances to someone else. Let them help you navigate the water. So there it's a big ocean out there and there's always someone with a boat that can take you from one channel to another.

Miguel Sanchez: 27:35

That is great advice. Edward. Thank you very much for all of you who are listening or watching. We are going to leave the links to CLY Coaching on the show notes. We'll also have the link to the website and you will see it on the screen. So make sure you get in touch with CLY Coaching. As Edward said, look for professional, look for client coaching. Edward, thank you for being here today.

Edward Disi: 27:57

Thank you, Miguel.