Monday, December 22, 2008

There's more to life than making money

Article below is taken from The Standard (Monday, December 22, 2008). I think this article is insightful.

Success is measured by how much you earn. This is sacred principle in Hong Kong that nobody dares to challenge. People who pursue their own ideals, rather than money, are regarded as a minority.

Talking with youngsters including teenagers and university students, I found most were quite concerned about their future career and were also bewildered about the purpose of their lives. Some wonder why they have to struggle throughout their life for a few hundred square feet of land.

Look at the graduates' job hunting phenomenon, for example. Despite the financial tsunami, countless high-caliber university graduates flock to apply for jobs in the financial market. The majority do not even have a clue about the nature of their work and, more importantly, whether these jobs suit them.

The key reason to compete for a place in the financial industry is income and, perhaps, peer pressure. Senior management in the banking sector rarely live in places other than Mid-Levels and West Kowloon, and they are big fans of Porsche, Mercedes, and Jaguar as well as regular consumers of luxury products. Any one of these factors is enough to lure the graduates.

Have any of them considered pursuing their ideals instead of entering the financial arena? I am sure at some point it crossed their mind but not for very long.

From many Hongkongers' perspective, US President-elect Barack Obama's story is unbelievable. Upon graduating from Columbia University, he worked in community service for a couple of years instead of entering the lucrative business sector. With a second degree in law from Harvard University, he stuck to his principles in serving the public and chose to focus on human rights ligitation. Again, a much less profitable area compared with commercial and corporate practice.

Obama went his own way because of his values and faith. He believes he needs to look after the less fortunate and capable. He sets an example for others on social responsibility. He gave up lucrative opportunities and committed himself to community service at the start of his career.

Another example is our Legco president Tsang Yok-sing. He graduated with first-class honours from Hong Kong University in the 1960s. Back then, university graduates were scarce in the job market and were sought after by leading companies offering tremendous prospects.

Nevertheless, to the surprise of many of his schoolmates, Tsang chose to embark on a teaching career straight after college.

In the following decades, he witnessed many of his fellow alumni becoming senior managers, some making a fortune. Perhaps he was taunted by some of them, but this has by no means shaken his belief in the course of his career. It seems to me that if he were to choose his way again, he would do the same thing.

Obama and Tsang might be viewed as a minority in Hong Kong as will, say, others working for nonprofit organizations. If you are a competent person, parents and peers will convince you that you shouldn't waste your potential in matters other than chasing money.

But is this the only thing you seek? We have only a short lifespan, and we all attempt to pursue our own happiness.

Although money does matter, one's accomplishments ought not to be measured only in terms of money.

Athletes are not rewarded by cash, but by pride in winning and satisfaction from their efforts after tough training. Teachers are rewarded by the satisfaction of educating students. Being brought up in a society engulfed in materialism, I fully understand the difficulty in not following the mainstream. But ask yourself: how much money do you really need in life?

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

How low can you go?

The Federal Open Market Committee of The US has cut its target for the federal-funds rate to between zero and 0.25%, the lowest on record. The US interest-rate is getting closer to its of Japan.

This situation means that US Federal Reserve has almost no room to boost the economy through conventional monetary policy.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A Simple Idea of Saving

Saving is important for many reasons, such as paying school fees, paying monthly installments, retirement, etc. Basically saving is one tool that an individual can use to smooth consumption over time. Though everyone knows it is important, it seems 'not that easy' to do it. With money in hand, you have the consumption power. More things are suddenly added in your shopping list. Anyway, I am not going to talk about saving in consumer theory. I only would like to provide a simple idea of saving.

Start categorizing items in your consumption bundles into 'wanted' and 'needed'. 'What you want' is generally not equal to 'What you need', although for some items (the want = the need). After categorizing your wish list, try to reduce the consumption of items in the 'want' category bit by a bit, until you could eliminate them all. As you learn doing this, you will find that you have much more money in your bank account than before.

Happy Saving!!!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Spare the rod, spoils the child

In the ongoing financial crisis, we saw stories of bail-outs. It started with bail-outs to financial institutions. TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) is 'designed' to help financial institutions with 'toxic' assets. But as we see recently, not only financial institutions are asking for government help. Now the next consumers of this scheme are carmakers, General Motors and Chrysler to name the big players. Their requests have not been granted yet, but they have 'the power' to make it granted.

The powers they have are in form of employees, in form of market share, or even in form of political reason (and many more). When the big guys collapsed, it will increase unemployment rate. Increases in unemployment rate may make the market unstable. Market confidence will be shaken as well, which will lead to slower growth. It also possibly lead to endogenous shock of supply of goods and services. Political reason may play role in this too. Some politicians may be afraid of losing its sponsors. By this assumptions, big players will possibly acts less careful in managing their finances. They will take risks as much as they could, in hope of getting the highest possible return. They believe that, in the end of the day if something bad happens, they will be 'rescued' by the government. Government should not bail-out all troubled big firms, government should signal the market that 'I will not always help you if you are in troubled'. This will make every players be more responsible of their acts. Otherwise, if the government is too 'soft', it will only induce other big players to do the same thing.

Who will request another bail-out? Just wait and see.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

God is my Strength and my Hope

Now, I want to testify again another God's Grace in my life. Tonight, I just had one examination (Macroeconomics Theory). The course is PhD level course and it was a difficult conceptual course. It used abundant mathematical methods. For the last 2 days, I was a disappointed with my Microeconomics Theory paper (another PhD level course) because I felt that I did not do it well. It was so disappointing that I was not being able to concentrate on anything until this afternoon.

Again, I believe there is no such coincidence thing in our life (at least, it is true for me). This afternoon, I chose to sit in the common room and to watch TV in order to relax my mind. While I was sitting there and was watching TV, my friend from India suddenly came and as usual he opened our conversation with spiritual matters. He started with topic of that human never get satisfied in anything in the world. Then, the conversation goes. Until there was a point, when he mentioned that humans never get satisfied because they do not have the peace. When I heard this particular word 'peace', somehow I felt it stabbed deep inside my heart. I instantly realized that probably this particular thing called 'peace' is the one that I am lack of. After that, I went back to my room and pray to God to express my gratitude for reminding me of this thing. I asked Him to grant me the Godly peace that I am lack of. I would like to tell you that I have kept worrying for the last 1.5 to 2 years for whatever reasons. I know it was not right, but I just cannot keep out of it. But today, I believe that Jesus has restored the peace in me. He has been my shelter and my salvation, and He will forever be. I believe that I have been saved by His sacrifice on the cross. My debts have been paid and devil does not have any right on my life. I am truly His and His only.

The story continues, then at 6.30 pm, I entered the examination room. I felt very worried that I will do bad again in this paper. But, no. That was not the thing that happened. I opened the questions and I felt I did it well. I firmly believe that God has again (and again) shown His Love to me.

Jesus once said, 'I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' (Mark 10:15). Children have pure minds. They are not corrupted by the worldly thoughts. This is the right state of mind, mind that is pure, to receive the Kingdom of God.

God bless you all readers. God loves you.