Samy Sasoun
Two parking tickets and an iPhone SE. The nurse I had been handing pints of my father’s favorite pistachio Häagen-Dazs to daily for two weeks gave me these items in a biohazard bag with her condolences. It was time for me to pick up my father’s belongings from his pockets before the hospital disposed of them.
Samy Sasoun
I logged onto Zoom at 10am in April 2020 to attend my bio lab as a college sophomore during the beginning of the COVID era. Roughly 20 minutes into the lab, my phone rang. As I listened to the doctor on the other end, I felt my body go numb and disconnect. I could not hear anything past the first sentence—my 49-year-old father, hospitalized with COVID-19, had just passed away.
My tongue found a way to break my family’s heart with the doctor’s news. Having a stay-at-home mother, I panicked about our finances. Our family was already living paycheck-to-paycheck with over 75% of my college tuition subsidized by need-based aid and scholarships. My part-time job barely covered the remainder of my tuition, and I was now supposed to provide for my family while I learned to be a father figure to my 13-year-old brother.
Seventeen days after my father’s passing, I received a funeral bill north of $10,000. I began accepting my fate of quitting the university and working full-time to support our family, but my mother had other plans. She talked me out of this, insisting that although she had been a homemaker for 25 years, she would seek employment to carry our family’s financial burden while I completed my studies. Watching her leap into the job market for the first time as an immigrant with poor English skills broadened my eyes to my parents’ sacrifices to award us with educational opportunities.
I decided to continue my education while working every available hour at my Boost Mobile job to help our family through this adjustment period.
At that point in my life, I knew nothing about finances. The only places I thought my father could have money were in his bank account or in home equity. But we’d been long-time renters, and his checking account had $687 for us to overcome this obstacle. After weeks of research, I came across multiple podcasts and subreddits regarding personal finance that I would soon begin to follow, including The White Coat Investor. I learned about life insurance, 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, 529s, individual brokerages, and more. I rejoiced, thinking my father must have had one of these accounts.
Spoiler alert: he knew less about financial literacy than I did. Back to square one.
At 19 years old, I began to navigate the probate process. After contacting my father’s friends and chasing leads for weeks, I learned about a small stake in a property he had in Florida. I soon discovered this property had been vacant for five years while in a possession battle with its previous owners. My father was awarded homeownership two months before passing but not without baggage. Due to the ownership disputes, the mortgage had not been paid for years. In total, the property had two mortgages, with one of them weeks away from entering foreclosure.
After running the numbers, I discovered I could sell the property and pay the debts and fees while securing around $20,000. Most of this money would go toward rent and bills my father didn’t pay for months before his passing, but at least Con Edison and National Grid would stop threatening to cut our power and gas. I began teaching myself everything I needed to know about small estate proceedings and probate administrations. I had to re-certify my parents’ marriage certificate, file a probate administration in New York and Florida, clear the liens on the title, and hire lawyers in three different fields between the two states to process everything.
With government facilities shut down during COVID, this task proved more difficult than usual. I looked back at my organic chemistry class, thinking about how I would do anything to return to my tiny dorm, where my biggest worry was an upcoming exam.
Throughout these proceedings, I felt a clock ticking. I attempted to keep my family afloat by applying for relief through FEMA and NYS Emergency Rental Assistance programs. However, government programs are designed to make applying as difficult as possible—even when you qualify. I eventually received funds from those programs after a mountain of hoops to jump through. Still, by the time everything went through, I was so deep in unpaid bills that it no longer covered the balance. Instead of clearing our debts, I just reset the “threats clock” (and not for the last time, I might add). This cycle repeated every few months for nearly two years while my mom jumped between jobs and I juggled my responsibilities as a student.
When I received a check after selling the house, I felt at ease, knowing we could catch up with our debts and turn things around. I used some of that money to help my mom begin her own transportation business, giving her much more freedom than the initial job she obtained. This was the moment I knew my dreams of becoming a physician were still alive, and I could allot time to pursue the extracurriculars needed to become a strong applicant.
My mother and I were finally in a position not to be drowning in debt collections, but we were still living paycheck-to-paycheck with very little to spare every month. What a luxury it was for us to reach that position of barely being able to afford our frugal lifestyle. At least I learned from my father’s mistakes—I opened a Roth IRA for myself and a custodial Roth IRA for my brother. Half of every surplus dollar goes to an emergency fund, and the other half is split between these two IRAs for my brother and me.
It wasn’t much, but it was the discipline and understanding of compound interest that mattered. When my father passed, I was 19, and my brother was 13. We are now 24 and 18, and we ensure that a percentage is put away every month for as long as we earn income. While sparing my brother from the stories of financial hardships my mother and I encountered, I knew I would fail as his older brother if I didn’t put an end to our family’s pitfall with money and make sure he understood the importance of financial literacy. One day, I hope to share this story with my brother and protect our children from catastrophes like ours.
As I embark on this journey through medical school, I continue to stress over my family’s financial situation. While my finances in the present are uncertain, I know my financial future will be full of riches—not because of a physician’s high salary, but because of the steps I am taking now to maximize my financial abilities in the future and make informed financial decisions to keep my family safe.