It has been eight years, but I still remember a lot of details from that tragic day of 9/11/2001. I was barely 18 and just moved into the dorms at UC Berkeley. My roommate was a jovial Arabic girl from San Diego trying to be a doctor and a lawyer. It was just another day of school.

Before class started, my roommate told me that someone bombed the World Trade Center. All I thought was, “well, that seems like a popular target”. There was a girl in our hall that came from New York, and she was watching the small TV in the lounge. I walked past her and she seemed somewhat petrified by the images on the screen. Columns of black smoke replaced the once gleaming towers. It wasn’t a bomb that did this, it was planes. I had to go to class.

In class I saw a friend from high school, and he told me that the towers completely collapsed and there were simultaneous plane attacks in other parts of the country. He laughed and said that at least the terrorists will not try to bomb the World Trade Center anymore. Details were still streaming out, but we weren’t exactly concerned. We were 3000 miles away in California. How could this affect us? All we saw was the constantly pristine blue California sky outside.

When I got back to the dorm for lunch I saw that my mom left me a message on the answer machine. She insisted that I get an answer machine before I moved into the dorms. All she said was, “Xin, AMERICA UNDER ATTACK. BYE” My roommate and I cracked up at this message because it was serious and yet at the same time so comical. How could America be under attack? How much damage could this event possibly do? It was incredulous. It was just a couple buildings that got destroyed? Right?

For the most part that day was almost like just any other day for me because New York was a world away. It was the days and years to come that stirred up fear and unrest in everyone. The death toll in the attack and the constant warnings of further attacks made everyone on edge. Even my granddad in China told us not to go outside to public places, because he was afraid for us. The entire world changed for the worse on that day. The safety that we took for granted was no longer a guarantee.

Now eight years later America is still fighting the terrorists and Ground Zero is still vacant. I would say that wounds caused by 9/11 definitely have not totally healed, and for some the scars will be permanent. When I look back on that day I see how naive and immature I was about the whole event, and I wonder if the hijackers who died on that day now see what a mistake they made.

Finally, I hope that those who remember the events of 9/11 teach their kids never to hate something or someone so much that they are willing to destroy themselves and others. The senseless deaths on that day also remind me not to take my life for granted no matter what, because each day is a gift from God.

Today the White House released a on September 8th.  This is a speech that caused a lot of uproar amongst many parents because they felt like Obama was becoming a bit too Big Brother.  I think a lot of the controversy could have been avoided if the transcript were released earlier and the by the DOE was scrapped.  Anyway, I read the entire speech and here are some of my thoughts.

First, the main theme of the speech  is that staying in school and working hard is the way to success.  I agree with that 100%.  If my parents did not pursue their advanced degrees here in America then I would not be here at all;  if I did not finish college I also would not be where I am; if my hubby did not get his engineering degree he probably would not be making video games now.  I definitely believe that education is the way to upward mobility here in America, and I am actually glad to see a lot of people I know going back to school this year to improve their skills or learn a new trade.  Although I have forgotten a lot of the details of things I learned in the 16 years of schooling I had, I  think I will be using the basic math and language skills for a lifetime.

Obama also gives a fairly good reason for kids to stay in school.  He says that in school you can discover what you are good at by trying out different classes.   I think that is somewhat true, but not always.  I went to  before going to a public state college for 4 years  so I can say with confidence that NOT all schools give kids the opportunity to discover what they are good at due to resource constraints or institutional requirements.  Public secondary schools in general are extremely structured and you have to take a core set of classes to graduate.  I have known some kids in highschool who were really talented in things that the schools just did not teach at all.  Obama is right in saying that school is where you can discover if you are good at things like writing or math because every school teaches those subjects.  However,  it is not necessarily a good place to discover if you are a good cook or great artist because not all schools have the bandwidth for those “extra” programs.  Kids still have to discover their talents on their own,  so I think college is really where people can freely experiment with a huge variety of subjects.  However, finishing secondary school is usually a prerequisite for college and not everyone could afford to go to college.

Another fairly hefty message in the speech is that failure is acceptable and the way to success always contains some stumbles along the way.  That is obviously pretty cliche, but it is also true.  Obama suggests that students should overcome failure through hardwork, practice, and seeking for help.  All of those are sound advice for kids.  Of course he had to throw in that you should not give up on yourself, because “when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country”.

Obviously this was a positive message meant to inspire kids to work hard in school and become successful.  However, I felt that it did not really clearly define what success is.  There is one short paragraph where Obama said that kids might think that it is easy to become “rich and successful” without any work because TV shows rappers and basketball stars living it up.  Honestly I think it is kind of sad that he disparages entertainers and sports stars because many of these people work pretty hard at their professions, too.  Also there is another section that talks about how kids need to be able to fight the challenges of this nation with the skills they learn in school and also “build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy”.  So is success financial? Is success fame?  Is success being more educated by your parents?    I don’t think that was extremely clear.  To follow the theme of the message, I guess Obama wants kids to figure out what being successful really means.

Anyway, I will stop writing this essay now because it is feeling too much like I am finishing a school assignment.  The bottom line is that I definitely feel like having at least a  college degree gives people an edge in employment and earning potential, but if you are truly good at something that the schools do not teach then you should go for it.  Traditional structured schooling is not right for everyone, and those who are successful share a passionate drive to achieve their dreams, and they all work hard at their goals.   Happy Labor Day everyone!!

CNN recently ran to purchase a home.  I found the slideshow to be pretty interesting because it featured a good diversity of people, but quite a few of the examples were from California.  Here is a breakdown of the slideshow and my comments.

First,  there is a family of four from Adelanto, CA that is buying a home for $72,000.  Obviously for this family the tax credit is  a great deal.  They can only claim $7,200 because that is 10% of the price of the home, but hey, it is free money.  They are still waiting for approval on their purchase, and I hope they get it because it seems like an awesome deal for a 4 bedroom house.  However, the story indicates that they would have bought the house with the credit or not because they needed a new home and the price was right.

Next, there is a single woman from Michigan  who bought a $115,000 home for herself.  From the description she gave it seems that she has a good head on her shoulders and she has been saving for a downpayment.  This person also said that she would have bought the home anyway, and the $8,000 is really a bonus to her.  I think that is great for her, but this means that the stimulus did not really spur an additional sale here.

The next couple is actually from San Mateo County.  They bought a $750,000 home in San Carlos with an FHA loan.  This means that they put down 3.5% and their loan is somewhere around $723,000.  At 5.5% this is a mortgage of around $4100.  Throw in property taxes and that’s another $600 a month.  They will be paying pretty much all interest to begin with and  it definitely does not cost $5000 a month to rent a three bedroom in San Carlos.   This story makes me worry a bit because this couple is planning a wedding and they said that the $8000 tax credit is saving them.  If you do the math, $8000 is  1.06% of their purchase price.  Honestly $8000 would not even cover their closing costs on this purchase so it would seem that perhaps they are buying too much.  The story did indicate that they felt rushed into the decision because of the tax credit, and I don’t know if that is a good thing.

The next couple is from Baltimore and they purchased a $119,000 home that they fixed up with the tax credit and other grants for historic homes.  Again, I think in this case the $8000 is significant enough that it makes a lot of sense.

Another local couple from San Francisco is up next.  They got a $550,000, 2200 square foot home in San Francisco.  This is actually a pretty good deal if it is in a good area of San Francisco.  They used the $8,000 to partially pay for a $12,000 roof.  They indicated that they waited to buy their home because they heard that a refundable credit was coming out, but once again, $8000 is just a drop in the bucket for their purchase.  It’s great that they were pay for 2/3rd of their roof, though.

The next couple took advantage of the fact that     Essentially they got a 0% down loan from the government.  The home is $257,000 and they could not save up $9,000. It also seems that they got an adjustable loan?  In this case their only equity is the $8,000 tax credit,  so it was definitely crucial in their purchase decision.

The next guy also used the tax credit as a downpayment, but he bought a triplex and is renting out two units to pay for most of his mortgage.  So basically he became a little landlord on the dime of the US government.  That is a awesome deal for him and I hope he does well.

In conclusion, I would say that most of these folks would not have purchased a home this year if the tax credit weren’t there.  The two groups that used the tax credit as a downpayment could not have afforded what they bought.   In the two Bay Area  cases where the purchase prices were $550,000 and $750,000 the $8000 really was just a drop in the bucket so I feel like they shouldn’t have based their purchase decision solely on the credit.  Anyway,  it is nice to see that some people are able to take advantage of this in a smart manner even though I find it ironic that the government is giving out 0% down loans on one hand and wagging a finger at the “greedy bankers” with the other hand.  Honestly  I cannot wait for this credit to expire so that the housing market returns to normal.

Earlier this year , but now it seems that our income taxes will go up a little bit once again. This time it is due to deflation and it is not widely publicized.

This change will pretty much affect everyone who pays any income taxes because tax brackets are being pushed lower due to deflation.  you can see how the brackets are changing this year.    For us the increase will be around $150 on top of the extra 0.25% we are already going to pay.  It is not a huge deal, but it is interesting because this instance of lowering the tax bracket is very rare.

On the flip side, it is possible that next year.    This depends on the California Consumer Price Index numbers in October.  If this happens then Californians may see their property taxes go down a little bit, but it is also not significant considering that the deflation number is around 0.7% right now.  So on a $300,000 assessment with a 1.1% property tax rate, the 0.7% deflation will save a homeowner around $23 for the entire year.

I don’t think most Californians will feel the tax changes due to deflation, but it is possible that deflation could affect federal tax brackets next year, too.  Additionally, the IRS uses annual CPI to figure out limits for things such as IRA and 401k contributions, so those limits may not increase.  Although the deflation rate is quite small now, it is definitely something to keep an eye on.