I'm moving back to California. I'm done.

Hey guys, so this is definitely not the video I was planning to make, and it's certainly not a video I want to make, but I think I owe you complete transparency to tell you what happened and why I'm back in California.

First of all, you probably already noticed that since I moved to Las Vegas, the quality and originality of this channel has been slipping. It's not a surprise. My views have been declining. I've kind of run out of things to talk about, and I've resorted to talking non-stop about the stock market because creatively, like, what else is there to talk about? I've tried to make up for that by overcompensating on my thumbnails, but that's got to stop. Unfortunately, this has been going on for a while now, and I really thought that changing locations and going and buying a Ford GT would help get me out of this rut, but it really just made things worse.

As I'm sure you've probably already noticed, at the time we were in the middle of a lockdown. Macy and I were stuck non-stop inside, and after eight months of doing nothing and feeling drained, we really just needed to change. Now, I know I made a video a few months ago explaining why I left California and how that decision just made the most logical sense, but honestly, truth be told, a lot of that video was just what I thought people wanted to hear and not the real reason why I wanted to leave.

It really all started from what we thought was just going to be a quick weekend trip to Las Vegas to get out of the city and go relax. We figured while we're up there, we would meet up with a close friend, Jeremy. You've probably seen him from the financial education channel here on YouTube. I've known Jeremy for a few years now, and he has been constantly trying to get me to move to Las Vegas ever since our first interaction.

He's always told me how great it is there, how there's no traffic, how there's no state income tax, and how happy I would be if I go and move there. He really just tried to push me to leave, and really, for years, I just kept saying no. I even made a video about why I'm not leaving California just to prove to him that I was firm on that decision. But that one time that Macy and I went up about eight months ago, I don't know, something was different. He showed us around a few areas and really made some compelling arguments about why we should completely uproot our lives to go and move there, and how we could hang out all the time, and how another YouTuber, Andre, Dick lives nearby, and we could all just like mastermind together and share ideas.

Looking back, I really don't know if he just saw a moment of weakness in me or I don't know what happened, but in that moment, I believed him and I just felt like, "Hey, you know what? This is the right choice. I should probably just go and do it." Almost immediately after that, he started showing us homes, almost like this was something he had planned on happening. But there was one home that we really did like, and the problem with that though was that there were a few other buyers who were also interested in it at the exact same time as us, and I was afraid of losing it. So, kind of in a spur of the moment decision, I went and put down a five percent deposit to go and buy this house, where three days later that deposit became non-refundable.

I gotta say, you should really listen to your intuition on these things because deep down, I knew it was the wrong choice, and I knew I was overpaying for a house that was never worth that price. It was way bigger than what I ever needed, but I kept thinking that was the right choice and I should just try it out, which is stupid. Unfortunately though, by the time we got back to Los Angeles, I had changed my mind, and I felt like I just got caught up in the spur of the moment and I had a lapse of judgment.

But the problem was that by that time, my five percent deposit was non-refundable. I fully realized and own up to the fact that I didn't fully think things out, but I was also worried about losing my deposit, so I figured I may as well just go along with it and give it a shot. Now, in hindsight, that was obviously a very rushed decision that I didn't fully think through, but that was where the beginning of the problem started.

To help offset the cost of the house that I knew I overpaid for, I began making a few videos about it, just showing you around and what you could buy living in Las Vegas. But you guys know me, like, that's not me. I don't need that much space, and it just felt like a lie and a waste to live in something that big. The more I talked about and filmed that house, the more it just felt like I was digging myself deeper into something that was going to be really hard to get out of.

Now, by the time we moved there in December, I will admit the first few weeks were actually pretty nice. I really did feel like the new house in the new area was going to give me a new level of excitement. Plus, I was close to all my friends, and I was saving a lot of money in the process. Although really just after a few weeks, things got so much worse, and I don't even know where to begin.

In terms of the weather, people kept warning me about the scorching hot summers or extremely cold winters, and I heard that, and I just chalked it up to jealousy or maybe they couldn't handle it and they had to move back. It's weird for me to say this, but they were right. I don't know if you know this, but Las Vegas gets extremely cold at night, to the point where a few weeks ago it was literally snowing in the backyard.

Listen, I moved to Las Vegas not to have snow like that, and snow like that, by the way, is an anomaly to the point where I just felt like this was a sign from above telling me, like, "Graham, don't move to Las Vegas. This is not the right choice. You're making a mistake. Here is snow to literally prove to you that the universe does not want you to be here."

This isn't right. The snow is really just the beginning of it though. The weather up in Las Vegas is also extremely dry, to the point where like multiple times throughout every single night I wake up with a dry mouth, and that means I get a horrible night of sleep every single night, and that then impacts the work I do the next day. Now, you've probably already noticed.

I've also gone out of my way to go and meet the neighbors and people who live close by, but for some reason, every single time I tell them that I've moved from California, I get this really weird suspicious look, almost as though they're resentful of me living there. I mean, really, it's not my fault that there's a housing shortage; it's not my fault that everything there is so affordable. And yeah, compared to California, I'm willing to pay way more than what the house is worth just because I think I'm getting a good deal compared to what I could buy here, but that is really not a reason to treat me like an outsider.

On the other hand, when I'm in Los Angeles and I tell people I'm from Los Angeles, it's almost looked as like this badge of honor that unfortunately is useless anywhere else I go. Then there's also the HOA. I don't know why, but it seems like almost every area in Las Vegas has an HOA. In the house that I bought, I didn't fully research it, and this is my fault, but it's in an HOA within another HOA, and I don't fully understand what I'm paying for.

They don't seem to serve any actual purpose besides just costing me money for ridiculous reasons for things that I believe they just come up with on the spot. For example, they fined me seventy-five dollars for leaving my garbage cans out over a weekend that I was out of town. They also told me that the front-facing solar lights that I bought out of the house were the wrong color temperature and were too blue when, instead, they should have been a lighter shade of yellow. I kid you not!

They also said I wasn't able to start up the Ford GT or drive it around the community after ten-thirty PM because the exhaust wasn't up to code, even though it's a stock exhaust. And the worst of it was when they told me to stop playing music in my own backyard after twelve PM midnight when I was entertaining a guest from the podcast because it was disturbing to other neighbors—even though I don't have any neighbor on either side of me and I have no idea who would have ever complained.

And really, the hardest part, I think from all of it, was just keeping away from the nightlife. Like, here in Los Angeles, everything is shut down, so there's no temptation to go and stay out late or do anything like that. But in Las Vegas, that is literally the only thing you could do for entertainment. Anytime someone wants to come and visit, I feel obligated to go with them to the Las Vegas Strip and try to win some money.

Now, at first, I was actually doing really well, and that kind of made me want to stay. But after a few weeks, I just kept losing, and it seems like every time going to the casino was worse than buying into tech stocks at their peak in February. But that's really where the problem begins because there's nothing else to do there. My choice is to either go and work more, but there's only so many hours in a day that I could work, or I could go outside and freeze, so that's not an option.

Or I could try to go and win some money, but lately, I've been losing. Listen, I've seen the comments saying that I look tired, that I need some sleep, that I should go and get some rest, and the reason I have not responded to those was because I know I've been embarrassed. What do you want me to say? I agree. I just feel like I've let you down in the process because my content has not been up to what it normally is.

It's also really difficult because when we do go out to dinner, we only have a few friends that we see, and Jeremy is one of them, and Jeremy just keeps wanting to go to expensive restaurants that I agreed to go to really just out of politeness. But then we end up splitting the bill, and it's just way more than what I ever wanted to spend. And here I am telling everyone to be frugal and save their money, and meanwhile, I'm out there splitting like a three hundred, four hundred, five hundred bill for a few pieces of fish. I just feel like a hypocrite.

But once all of that really began to stack up, we just decided it was best to come and move back here to California. I realized my tax dollars are much better spent here instead of going to an HOA who's going to tell me that I can't drive my own car after ten-thirty PM for a stock exhaust. And thankfully what really solidified this decision to move back was when I received an offer to buy my house from Jeremy. I know I'm selling the house below what it's worth, and I know Jeremy is getting a really good deal on it, but at least I trust him, and I know he'll close on it, and I know at least I can get some of my money back.

Part of me thinks Jeremy purposely tried to get me to buy that house just knowing that I wasn't going to be happy there, and then he was going to make me an offer to buy it back at a lower price. I have no proof about that, but that is a suspicion because of how quickly he made an offer to me when I was saying that I wanted to move back to California. I don't know if that was just weird timing between the two, but it did make me think. But I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't do that on purpose.

On the bright side though, I'm really happy about being back in California. I think you're going to see a brand new side of the channel that you haven't seen before, and there's something about it here that's just peaceful. I don't know what it is; I enjoy hearing like police sirens and helicopters and ambulances drive down the street at all hours of the day and night.

You know, I just don't like the feeling of it being eerily quiet all the time. I'm just not used to it. It just feels like home when I drive down the street and hit a pothole because the city is taking too long to take care of it and hasn't fixed it for years. Hold on one second, I forgot something. One sec.

[Applause]

Sorry guys, I had to do it. It's April Fool's, but if you believed any of it, or at least if you found it entertaining, just do me a favor and hit the like button. But, no, I did not move back to California. Still here in Las Vegas! But how about this, to make it up to you, I'll be giving you a free stock worth all the way up to fifty dollars when you use the link down below in the description and sign up for Public.

They're a totally free stock trading company that I recently invested in. They don't route your order flow, and the free stock you get is pretty much like free money, so enjoy that free stock. Thank you so much for watching, happy April Fool's Day, and I'll come back to you with the regular content shortly.

So, with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it, as always. Make sure to destroy the like button, subscribe button, and notification bell. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram; I post it pretty much daily, so if you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me there, as my second channel, The Graham Stefan Show. I post there every single day I'm not posting here, so if you want to see a brand new video from me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that.

And lastly, if you want that free stock, the link is down below in the description. Enjoy, let me know which one you get. Thank you so much for watching, and until next time!