My short life has taken place in three distinct places separated by oceans. They are China, Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In terms of income, my family has made more money in the Bay Area than any other place in the world. However, I am not sure that our quality of life has drastically improved from the times when we were dirt poor. It is a bit mind boggling, but here is a side by side comparison of the places I have lived, and how my experience of life isn’t really vastly improved by money.

When I was young, China just opened up to the west, but most agencies were still state owned. My parents were college professors so we lived a pretty middle class lifestyle. We lived in a condo provided by their employer and had enough for all of our basic needs. The biggest purchase my parents made was a color television, and it worked quite well for many many years. I remember watching Ninja Turtles, Denver the Last Dinosaur, The Smurfs, and lots of other American cartoons from the eighties. The government also provided health care and schooling so everything seemed quite fine to me. The education I got in Chinese public schools was quite excellent and definitely gave me an advantage in school later. I knew that my parents didn’t have much money, but for the most part I felt that we had everything we needed. As far as I know, apparently many American people my age had the same kind of middle class suburban childhood as I did, and even watched the same cartoons.

Then we moved to Hawaii, and my parents were students and had no money at all. However,we always had a place to live and I qualified for the free lunch program at my school so I don’t remember ever going hungry. Hawaii is also a beautiful place and I loved living there. There was a kid in my class who came from Los Angeles and he hated Hawaii. I didn’t understand why he hated Hawaii, but he said it was because it is an island and it is so damn small. Since my family didn’t own a car, I felt that the island was huge. I didn’t understand why anyone would hate Hawaii, and I still don’t.

After my parents graduated from school we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area because my aunt already lived here and the economy in Hawaii isn’t that good. They both found jobs and we got a nicer apartment, and then a house, and cars to get to work.  In terms of material wealth, we did have more.  However, the entire Bay Area lifestyle was just so much more stressful than any other place we have ever been. People are just much more competitive and aggressive here and even after ten years I don’t think I am used to it. My parents made more money, but I don’t think our family became happier because of money. Instead, I think money actually created a lot more stress and worry for my parents and me. As they say, “mo’ money, mo’ problems”.

So now my husband and I both pull in decent incomes, and to some people it may seem that we make a lot of money for our age, but I feel that our quality of life is perhaps a little lower than my childhood in China. We have to deal with driving , the lack of job security, and potentially substandard education for our future children. We do live a comfortable life, and we are thankful, but I still long for a simpler and less stressful place to live. Perhaps my memories of China and Hawaii are a bit idyllic because I was still a child, but I would seriously give up my income to live in a place where things didn’t move so fast and the basics of quality education, health care, and housing are not so hard to come by.

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Kapi’olani Community College’s Admissions Office is in a building with the backdrop of Diamond Head. I found it quickly and an administrator named Alice started to talk to me. I told her my background, including my experience as a college professor in China, but my English was quite poor and I wanted to repeat college. She listened to my stuttering English and often stopped me and said, “Excuse me, could you repeat? I don’t understand you.” After a bit of explaination, she understood what I was trying to say. She told me that it’s great that I want to attend the school and there are many older adults attending. There are even seniors studying courses of their choice. Additionally, there are some international students. With her introduction, I found out more about the University of Hawaii system. University of Hawaii is a public school system created by the state government, and includes three universities. The largest of the universities is the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It has over 20000 students and has masters and PhD programs for many different subjects. In addition to the three universities, there are seven community colleges on the major islands. These colleges generally have lower requirements for entry and also cost significantly less. At that time, each semester credit only cost 19 dollars and the max you had to pay was 228 dollars per semester. There are many subjects you can study and you have a choice to take classes you are interested in. After two years, you can get an Associate Degree and you can use the degree to find jobs or transfer to a four year university. I personally think that this system of higher education in America is commendable because it suits the needs of different types of students and saves resources for the society as a whole.

After Alice told me the information, she asked me what my English score was. I told her my TOEFL score and she said that I already qualify for the school. So she took out several different forms from a drawer and told me to fill it out. As long as I turn them in within a week I could enter college the next semester. I was extremely excited and took the forms she gave me and hopped out of the school like a little sparrow. As I walked home, my thoughts were like the turbulent waves of the nearby Pacific Ocean. I thought of the words of one of Helen’s friends, “Be not afraid of being slow, but be afraid of being still”. These words contain a deep wisdom.

After I got home, I started to busily fill out my application forms. In addition to the basic application, I needed to prove that I had economic support. In the application there was a section about high school. When the Cultural Revolution began, I was only in the 4th grade, and the schools shut down after I finished two years of middle school. When I was 15 I was sent to work in a factory, so I have no record of attending any high school. Fortunately, I had my TOEFL score and my college diploma, so it didn’t matter. Helen already had a graduate teaching assistant scholarship so she is considered an employee of the University and we had medical coverage. At that time, the most important question is what major I should pick. A Chinese proverb says, “men are afraid of picking the wrong profession, and women are afraid of marrying the wrong man”. From the point of view of a traditional Chinese person, I was already in a stage where I couldn’t turn back. However, I had to rekindle my fire, and I really needed to pick the right career.

I chose to study finance and accounting based on my skills. The main reason is that my English was horrible, but my mathematical skills are quite decent. Second, I already had a background in economics and law, and that could be important in a financial career. Third, many people think that being an accountant is quite boring and tedious so there is a shortage of accounting professionals. In general, accounting jobs are easy to find because accountants are needed everywhere. Recently America added many financial legislation so that auditors and accountants are needed in larger quantities. It is very different from China because in America financial professionals are paid quite well and they are generally respected individuals. Recently, I saw a paper which listed the 25 highest paying professions in America. The first 10 spots were taken by various types of doctors, and the top median salary is around $160,000. CEOs were placed at number 14, and accounting managers are placed at number 25 with an average salary of $100,000.

The things I experienced later proved that choosing to be a financial professional was correct. The year before last I was invited by my alma mater in China to do a series of lectures about nonprofit companies in America. So I created a course based on my personal experiences and successfully delivered a special lecture. Afterwards, I saw one of my old assistants, who is now the dean of the business school. When we had dinner together he asked me what I do in America for a living. I told him that do some financial consulting and accounting. He said, “it’s such a shame that talent like you is being an accountant!” After I have been in America for so long my thoughts and prejudices have changed quite a bit. I remember that the great author Lu Xun once said, “if you don’t have that much talent, just pick something small to do.” I do not regret my choice for a bit. If I didn’t leave my position as a professor, my life would have stood still and living for one day would be the same as living for one year, and perhaps I would still be the same after ten years.

A friend left a comment in my blog that said, “when you are studying you find joy in work. I have once said that if it were possible I would spend my entire life at school, but reality would not allow you to do so.” It is true and I agree with her view. I am extremely lucky and glad that I was able to make a new choice, have a new goal, and live a new life. In fact, when I started college once again, I felt so much younger since my classmates were teens and tweens. How many people have a chance to return to that period of their lives?
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Several years ago, many of my classmates and had hard times finding jobs. It seems that this situation may repeat itself again in the next couple years. There have been studies that state graduating in a recession sticks with a person’s career for a long time. Those who start off their careers in a recession generally has lower pay because they started at a lower point. Here are some tips for my younger friends who may suffer the misfortune of getting a diploma in an economic downturn.

buying generic cialis canada- In a recession, I have seen people accept jobs at firms who paid very little or jobs completely outside of their field of study just because it is the only jobs they could find. I don’t think it is necessary to devalue yourself just because the general economy is in the ruts. Your time could be used to learn things or start your own ventures. If you are not desperate for money it is probably best to continue searching for a job that you want and a company that would value you for your services.

buying generic cialis canada – Recessions are popular times to get more schooling because jobs are scarce. However, a full graduate school program can be extremely costly and you need to It may be cheaper and quicker to get professional certificates. I know there are many different certifications in IT and finance that could enhance a young person’s career without costing an arm and a leg.

buying generic cialis canada- A lean economic period is probably the best time to learn to be frugal and use your money wisely. You may have to and move back home with the folks or , but you may be unemployed for a while and learning to survive on a shoestring is essential.

buying generic cialis canada – Make sure you keep yourself informed about the general economy. The reason is that if you did accept a lower payrate during the recession you should know when your pay should be adjusted to the market rate. Otherwise, new grads who graduate after you may be paid more than you, and that may seem unfair, but you need to be aware when this happens and ask for a change. Otherwise, companies are happy to pay you less.

buying generic cialis canada – There are some people who started their own businesses and never needed to find a job. For example, Ben Chui of was class 2002 or 2003 at my school, and he never needed to find a job amidst the recession because of the success of his website. If you want to start your own company you should go for it while you are young and have nothing to lose. It takes a lot of work to succeed and make a living, but it is definitely possible.

The bottom line is, don’t let what you can’t control discourage you and cut down your future. As long as you are flexible about what you want to do and have a drive to improve your life, you will beat any economic downturn and graduating in a recession would not matter at all.

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I read the news almost every few hours, and here are some of the highlights of the business news that made me spit out my tea this week.

buying generic cialis canada – Bank of America is taking over Countrywide Financial, and they will be disbursing “stock valued at $10 million for chief executive Angelo Mozilo and $9 million for President David Sambol”. Gee, lets see what the performance of the company was. The stock price went from over $40 to around $6. The entire time the stock was in free fall Mozilo was dumping his shares. There are over by Countrywide currently listed on their site valued at nearly 3 billion dollars. My only question is, how can I find a job where I can be a royal screwup and still get rewarded $10 million? Then maybe I could .

buying generic cialis canada – Apparently Walmart’s health plan states that if an employee gains healthcare money in a legal settlement, they are supposed to pay Walmart back. So a woman who suffered an accident that made her brain damaged and disabled is being sued by Walmart for half a million dollars. All she has is 277k left in her settlement and there is no way she could pay Walmart back. It is pretty sad and the case is inciting a lot of public outrage. Walmart makes billions of dollars a year, and they have a clause in their health plan that says employees have to pay it back if they had the money? That is a ridiculous health plan. The employee in this case paid for her insurance, and isn’t the point of health insurance to cover accidents? I’ve never bought anything from Walmart, and I probably never will.

buying generic cialis canadabuying generic cialis canada – According to the article, “The Fed has worked some positive magic.” That phrase just invoked an image of Bernanke in a pink tutu flying around spreading wads of cash. I wonder when this fairy dust is going to come back and bite us in the rear.

buying generic cialis canada – Apparently some supervisor didn’t like the long bathroom breaks his reports were taking. So he distributed urinal bags! Wow, that is really .

buying generic cialis canadabuying generic cialis canada – It is kind of funny that the 10th birthday of this little blue pill made national headlines. I don’t see anyone celebrating the birthday of penicillin or digitalis. Anyway, I don’t have anything against Viagra except for all those annoying spam messages that say “xxVIAXXgra”. Oh crap, now my blog is going to get Viagra ads.

I wonder what next week will bring.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Even though this is old news, I couldn’t believe what I read.  A company in Oak Park called Chicago Spectro Service Laboratory Inc. created phony statements every year and lied about the contributions they made to their employees’ profit sharing plan.  The result is that an engineer who worked for them for 30 years found out that instead of $200,000 he had nothing in his retirement fund. The engineer had to endure five years of litigation to get a settlement that paid him $3000 a month.  Apparently theft from 401ks and other pension plans is quite common in small companies where the plans are not audited. So what can you do about it?

buying generic cialis canada – Obviously, when your company actually fakes the statements this would not help.  However, you can still check for irregularities.  For example, does the contribution on the statement match what is deducted on your paycheck?  Some companies steal money by withholding your contributions.  Basically, they deduct the money from your check and never deposit it.

buying generic cialis canada – No matter what you invest in for your retirement plans, you should know approximately how much you have.  It could fluctuate according to the market, but any fluctuations that are larger than normal should be looked at.  It could be possible that your company withdrew money from your account.

buying generic cialis canada – Some shady companies do deposit their employees’ money, but they do it very slowly and collect the float on the money they take.  By law your money should be deposited into your account by the 15th of the month following the deduction.  Federal regulators are thinking of shortening this deposit period to seven days after the deduction because too many companies are waiting until the last minute and shafting their employees.

buying generic cialis canada- A recent case where an employee sued his company for mismanaging his 401k is due to the company’s negligence in carrying out his instructions to move his investments.  This kind of incompetence is pretty common, and you have to check that your retirement plan administrator follows your instructions through statements and paystubs.  For example, my hubby had to bug his HR repeatedly to get his 401k contribution percentage changed. The process should have taken just one or two paycycles, but instead it took about 3 months because his HR just neglected his request.

buying generic cialis canada – It seems that quite a few companies raided their employees’ 401ks due to their own financial troubles.  If it seems that your company is dying out, it might be best to leave the company and take your money with you in a rollover IRA.  You have more control of your money with your own IRA and you have more investment options.

The good news is that most companies with more than 100 employees generally have their retirement programs audited yearly.  If your account is in a reputable financial firm such as Fidelity or Vanguard you also have less to worry about because these financial firms will do a lot to protect their own reputations. It is a shame that some employers would betray the trust of their employees and raid their nest eggs, but stealing and embezzlement is against the law  and if you discover such illegal activity you should blow the whistle for the good of your retirement.