Many of my friends ask me, “why are you worried about retirement already? You’re only 24 and you have more than forty years until your retire!” The truth is that I don’t think we have forty years until retirement and a lot of us will be forced to retire early. In fact, a recent article in . That only gives me 33 years, which still seems like a long time. However, I think in the future the average retirement age will only get lower and here are my reasons.

cialis 10mg or 20mg — Our generation no longer work at a company for life. I don’t think it means that we are less loyal, but it’s more of a reaction to the profit seeking inhumanity of corporations. There are often mass layoffs and good benefits such as pensions are mostly eliminated. Basically there are no advantages to being an employee for life. I think the only people in the Silicon Valley who have worked for a private company their entire lives are all at Lockheed Martin, and they’re relics of the old economy waiting to cash in on their pensions. The new world order means that we have no job security and one day we may not be able to find a job and be forced to retire.

cialis 10mg or 20mg — The United States population is growing fairly slowly right now, but it is expected to . Why does this affect our retirement age? Well, basically in 15 to 20 years our children will enter the work force and compete for the same limited pool of resources and positions. In China many baby boomers are forced to retire at age 50 so that their jobs can be passed down to younger people. You may say that it’s ageism, but I think it actually makes sense because you can’t let millions of young people run around without a purpose. Our skills need to be passed down to our children, and we need to step aside at some point. I think forty five years is way too long for us to hold on to a job because two generations of people will enter the workforce in that time period.

cialis 10mg or 20mg — We live in an age where so many things are automated and simplified so that it takes much less people to do a job. For example, my parents are accountants, and they all use software like Excel and Quicken to balance their books these days. However, before these software packages existed people had to do everything by hand. It definitely took many more accountants to run a billion dollar enterprise sixty years ago. I imagine that technology advancements will eliminate a lot more jobs in the future. It’s possible that technology related positions will increase, but if you’ve ever worked in the Silicon Valley you’d know that these jobs are dominated by the under 40 crowd. Additionally, not all of us work in the tech industry so as technology phases out more and more jobs some of us will be forced to retire.

cialis 10mg or 20mg — Globalization is something a lot of people fight against. Right now, a lot of manufacturing jobs in America have already been outsourced to other countries. Since technology has expedited the delivery of goods and services around the world Americans are competing with the global workforce for business. High end professional jobs are also being outsourced to other countries because their workforces are cheaper. This all means that wages will probably decrease for Americans in the future. In fact, our generation is the first generation where our wages have decreased compared to our parents. This means that we should save as much as we can now before our earning power is further eroded.

cialis 10mg or 20mg — Corporations outsource because it is cheaper, and they also hire younger workers because they are cheaper. I have heard of stories of where senior engineers are laid off and replaced with cheaper college grads. Ageism is rampant, and in some cases it’s reasonable. For example, an 80 year old probably isn’t as good of a physical laborer than a 23 year old. However, most of the time corporations want younger workers to pad their own bottomline.

cialis 10mg or 20mg– The proverbial “glass ceiling” is reached much quicker by our generation because our parents’ generation is still in charge of the current state of the world well into our middle ages. Generally people work so that they can reach higher places in their career, and if the peak is reached so quickly then work may become meaningless.

This post may seem pessimistic and paint sort of a grim future, but I think it’s what my mom calls “cautious pessimism”. I think it’s highly likely that our generation will need to or be forced to retire as early as 45 to 50 and that only leaves me 20 to 25 years to save for the rest of my life. A lower retirement age coupled with longer life spans mean that our generation needs to save as much as we can during our working years. I am not really worried about retirement because I am taking steps to prepare for it. It’s much better to start preparing for the second half of your life now and not worry about it when you get there. I am also very optimistic about our generation because we may be able to enjoy our lives more if we plan well and retire early. So to my friends, if you haven’t started contributing to your retirement plan you should do it now before it’s too late.

Last year when I went to China to visit my grandparents my granddad presented me with an old essay book from the year right before I left for America. In it there were weekly essays written by me for Chinese class. One of the highest scoring essays in the entire booklet is titled “Savings Jar”. I seriously did not remember writing any of the essays in that booklet, but I really enjoyed reading this particular essay, and it really shows that I have been saving ever since I was a kid. Since the original is in Chinese, I am translating it here for your reading pleasure

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I have a pretty savings jar made out of colorful porcelain. It has a small mouth, but its tummy is quite large. It is rotund and has a hemispherical cover. It looks just like a fat child wearing a set of flowery clothes and a multicolored hat. Its black bottom has drawings of large pink flower buds and tiny yellow blooms with blue and green leaves and a yellow stem. The jar’s rim has a decorative border that looks like lotus flower petals that are blue, green, and red. Its many colors look as if they’re dancing and it’s extremely beautiful.

Its large stomach can hold many things. Originally It was used to store stamps, but when my first pig-shaped coin bank broke, my mom gave this jar to me for saving money. The money in the jar is all saved by me on a daily basis. Whenever I am given a coin I would put it in. Just like this days turned into months, what was small grew large, and grains of sand became a tower. After several years, the jar now contains more than ten yuan, and it is quite heavy when it is held.

One day, I was showing off my savings jar to my grandmother. Because it is very heavy I accidentally dropped the cover on the ground and it broke in two. I was so sad that I almost cried. Then I heard that my uncle has all purpose glue in his factory, so I carefully put together the pieces of the cover and wrapped it up with paper. Afterwards, my uncle used the glue and repaired the cover, and my jar was perfectly restored.

Savings jar, you are my little bank. You are not only beautiful on the outside, but you also are training me to maintain the good habit of saving money!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed translating it. The teacher underlined some of the poetic parts indicating that she liked it, and she didn’t edit this essay at all. If you’re curious, the ten yuan I collected in that jar was worth about $1.60 back in the early 1990s, but it was possible to buy quite a lot of things in China with it back then, at least from an eight year girl’s perspective. The lowest scored essay in the booklet was titled “An Event I Found Deeply Moving”, and it was about an old woman barfing on the street non-stop. That essay seriously made my mom choke from laughter when she read it. Do any of you guys remember your piggy banks? Was it a fond memory?

In a perfect world, everything is priced at the most reasonable amount a customer wants to pay and haggling is not necessary, but unfortunately, most of the time the sticker price on products are meant to maximize the profit of the seller. When I first came to American I lived in Hawaii. My parents were graduate students and they worked part time at the tourist shops near Waikiki. Sometimes I would go there and do homework while they worked, and they talked about how much the tokens they sold cost the shop, and how much they charged the tourists. Most notably, my mother sold many fanny packs with tropical prints that cost $4.00 each wholesale. She was able to sell them for anywhere from $40.00 to $90.00 to tourists all around the world. She basically taught me that no matter where you are, you have to get the lowest price as you can as a buyer, and get the highest price you can as a seller. Since we are Chinese, we are very familiar with negotiating for a better offer when it comes to purchasing things, and it really surprised us that most people do not question the pricetags in America. It seems that culturally Americans are not accustomed to asking for discounts, and some people are even embarrassed to do so. From my experience, most sellers are willing to yield to the customer and give discounts if the customer just asked politely. There is really no shame in it, and on big ticket items you could save thousands of dollars by simply opening your mouth. Anyway, here are some stories from my family and I hope that they demonstrate why you should always ask for a better deal:

cialis 10mg or 20mg — A few years ago I went to Macy’s with my dad, and he really liked a couple pairs of shoes which were already on sale. He tried them on and decided to buy them. He went up to the saleslady and asked, if I buy both pair of shoes could I get a discount? The saleslady actually was really nice and smiled and took 10% off. He didn’t have to sign up for any cards or deals and he bought the shoes. So you can haggle at department stores.

cialis 10mg or 20mg — Recently my fubby and I went couch shopping for our new apartment. We decided to buy a leather sectional with a sticker price of $1799. I said to my fubby, “Lets see if they can give us a better price.” The fubby said, “okay, you do the talking. I know you’re shameless.” So all I said was, “what is the best price you could give us on that couch there?” The lady recognized us from a previous visit and actually cut down the price to $1499. If we didn’t ask at all they would’ve just sold it to us for $1799.

cialis 10mg or 20mg– My parents bought their first home in the East Bay back in 1999. It’s kind of funny because we moved to the Bay Area from Hawaii, and real estate in Hawaii was much more expensive than the Bay Area back then. So my parents thought everything was so cheap around here and found a house we all really loved after months of searching. So did my parents get into a bidding war for the home? Nope. They offered for slightly lower than the asking price. After the offer was accepted, my mom wrote another letter to the sellers about the condition of the carpets, and reduced the price a little more. I personally think that the American culture of not haggling contributed to the housing bubble at least a little bit. The artificial housing bidding wars of the past few years really inflated housing prices and in turn people had to borrow more money. What if everyone negotiated and offered reasonably? The current mortgage melt down might not be so bad if the fundamental housing price wasn’t driven up so much.

My fubby hates haggling because he thinks it’s a waste of time and he doesn’t really mind paying more. I agree with him that there is no point in negotiating prices for groceries or very small things. However, when you are purchasing something as large as a car or a home then you should never pay the full asking price. Negotiations may take time, but they can be as simple as asking, “What is the best price you could give me?” If the seller is obstinate and don’t give you a discount, you don’t lose anything, but if the seller opens up negotiations you could be saving some of your hard earned money. I really see haggling as a win-win situation for the consumer, and I hope more people just invest a few minutes in saving their money through haggling.

The last time I visited China, the tour guides tried to tell me that that I am fat with a phrase that roughly translates to “as round as pearls and as shiny as oil”, which is meant to be complimentary to the beauties of ancient dynasties. When we visited the Stone Forest attraction in Kunming, the tourguide related a story of a Chinese American couple who couldn’t fit through the spaces between the stone pillars, and could not enjoy walking through the natural wonder. In America I am considered petite, being only size 2, but in China I couldn’t even zip up the extra large pants. That experience is what led me to research fat in America, and it’s alarming how much we spend on obesity-related issues. This is not a post meant to belittle overweight people, but simply a small compilation of facts and figures about the cost of our collective fat.

Fat Healthcare Costs — You may be amongst the 40% of Americans who are not overweight, but you are probably still paying a percentage of your taxes towards treating the obesity of others. According to the , the approximate cost of obesity-related healthcare is an incredible 78.5 billion dollars in 1998, of which 37.6 billion were paid by Medicaid or Medicare. Adjusting the total cost for inflation using the CPI calculator, it’s about 100,000,000,000 dollars in 2007, and the actual cost is possibly even larger since healthcare costs have risen much more than the average inflation in recent years. The put this in perspective, our fat-related health costs beat

Fat Insurance Costs — The above healthcare costs only account for the money spent for healthcare and not the insurance. Obesity is considered a payout risk to insurance companies and health insurance could be a lot pricier for an obese person.

Fat Fuel Costs – It makes sense that it takes more energy to move more weight. An article last year states that Americans are consuming each year compared to 1960 due to the extra weight. Similarly, airplanes are also using more fuel because people are getting heavier on average.

Fat Death Costs– This may seem morbid, but those extra pounds of the deceased can increase the funeral expenditures of those left behind. The BBC reported that larger coffins is becoming more prevalent and some crematoria actually .

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Mandated Exercise — I remember that in school I always had PE classes where I had to exercise approximately one hour a day. After I graduated college and started a job where I sit all day and type, I gained approximately fifteen pounds. It also didn’t help that there were tons of free snacks and sodas in the office kitchen. If the government or work place has some kind of mandated exercise, then perhaps a lot of extra love handles can be shed.

Eat More Healthy Food — High calorie and fat foods generally appear cheaper, but considering the long term health, energy, and social costs of being overweight, it’s probably more financially prudent to eat fresh and healthy food.

Diet Together — My mom used to be very overweight, but she has lost a lot of flab because my dad loves to go outdoors and takes her hiking. At first, she said she hated hiking, but the more she hiked the more she enjoyed it. It’s much easier to diet with friends and family since you’ll often eat the same food and participate in the same activities.

I will not address the emotional costs of being overweight in this post because those are beyond financial. Some people are really overweight because of medical problems and no matter how hard they try, they can’t lose weight. For the rest of us, losing that extra bit of weight can save all of us a lot of money and stress in the long run.

My frugality is largely due to my education in China as a child. In China’s elementary schools I was always told that saving money and not wasting resources is a virtue. Chinese children are also given cash as gifts on birthdays and new year’s and encouraged to save it. So most Chinese children are taught about the value of money at a young age. The experience is in sharp contrast to the education I received when I moved to the United States at the age of nine. At that time, my parents were graduate students and they did not have the means to purchase a lot of toys and clothing for me. I was actually teased for not having brandname clothing and shoes. When you are a child and you’re ridiculed that way, of course you would go home to your parents and ask for the things you do not have. Looking back, now I realize that American children are taught at a very young age to want cialis 10mg or 20mg, and quite often things they don’t actually need such as plastic dinosaurs and talking dolls. Gifts are rarely just cash in America, it has to be something that has be wrapped up and then ripped open again. Giving cash as a gift in America is even seen as offensive sometimes (my fubby, for example, thinks that opening a big box is just more fun). As a result, most American children do not really learn about the value of money until they step into true adulthood, and by then, many have already contracted a habit of spending money they may not even have.

The present day China is very different from the China of my childhood. American culture is extremely popular and has invaded every province, city, and township. A few months ago my mother and I strolled on Shanghai’s famous Nanjing Street and tried to find an eatery with Shanghai style dimsum. We walked for blocks and blocks and saw signs for two Starbucks, a McDonalds, and a KFC, but no prominent Shanghaiese cuisine. The shopping district had extremely upscale malls where they sold clothing for hundreds to thousands of cialis 10mg or 20mg. Almost every American name brand was present and sold for slightly more than the US retail price. It seems that Chinese people are now also big spenders. What is different from America is that most Chinese people still use cash. Some of the larger retailers do accept credit cards, but the credit card adoption rate is very small. What is more surprising is that mortgages are also not very common. Since the Chinese government once again allowed home ownership, people have been purchasing homes left and right with mostly cash saved in the years when the government provided housing. So even though Chinese consumers are spending much more money now, they buy what they can afford. Hopefully this monetary culture that advocates saving will not change that much as mortgages and credit cards become more popular in China.

The difference in the monetary habits between Americans and the Chinese creates some of the friction between the two governments. For example, the United States is always pushing China to float its currency, the Yuan in an attempt to get the Chinese to spend more on US goods. The Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
cialis 10mg or 20mgaid, cialis 10mg or 20mgThe Chinese government is taking a regulated approach and letting the Yuan go up against the dollar slowly. The US government doesn’t seem to care that if the Yuan goes up, Americans will also have to spend more on Chinese goods. So much of the items that we use everyday is made in China that a sudden and abrupt change in the Yuan would disrupt the lives of almost every American. There are people who argue that if Chinese goods suddenly became expensive, maybe Americans will consume more American manufactured goods and create more American jobs. The bottomline is that Chinese labor will still be cheaper than American labor because they have 1.3 billion people and many are willing to do the manufacturing jobs. Furthermore, a lot of large corporations already have significant manufacturing infrastructure in place in China, and they probably would not move their operations to the United States. Ultimately, American consumers will still have to spend more if the Yuan is reevaluated 40% higher like the article suggests. I suppose the mindset of the U.S. government is that Americans can always borrow more money to spend?

Why should you care about China and its monetary policies if you’re not Chinese? Try reading this book: by Sara Bongiomi.