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I have sad news to share. I came back from an overseas trip to Hong Kong because my dad passed away. It was sudden (so sudden in fact that the police came and required an autopsy before they can clear the case from foul play).
When I heard the news, I had to scramble to figure out how to get back there. Normally, you book the earliest flight possible and you are set. But this year is different because there’s this virus floating around called COVID-19. Hong Kong requires everyone coming from the United States to show a negative test result for the virus within 72 hours of flight departure. And because of the pandemic decimating the travel industry, there are no longer flights every day. To add to the complexity, labs don’t run tests for results every day either, and they don’t really give you an exact time of when they actually test your samples.
Luckily, Emma found a local lab where we were able to actually talk to the people in the lab and they helped us out by running the test that day so I could fly out. And I’m glad we had their email address too because they sent us the result after hours the night of the flight and they left out the middle name, an omission that the Hong Kong government website specifically called out as a reason for the flight crew to deny me onboard.
The test cost $135, but that turned out to be a tiny portion of the expenses. My sister strongly suggested that I fly business class so I don’t get stuck in the middle seat and risk catching the bug. I would normally flatly reject that idea, but then fear kicked in. What if I actually catch the disease? Wouldn’t catching the virus just because I refused to pay more become the biggest regret of my life? I agreed, and then I find out that the business class tickets are no longer around $4,000 but it’s $7,000. WOWZERS. I close my eyes and pay. As it turned out, the flight was so empty it didn’t matter where I was sitting, but fear has a way to grow tiny issues into huge ones. And in this case, it cost me about $6,000. I did get better food though!
Retirement might seem ways away and years in the distant future. But even so, it’s one of those things in life that requires lots and lots of planning.
Retirement can last anywhere from 20 to 30 years but shockingly, a third of Americans have less than $1,000 saved up. It’s easy to see that the sum won’t be enough, but many people still don’t take the time to bump up their savings. If you don’t want to end up like many Americans and instead want to live comfortably in retirement, then you have to start thinking about, and planning for it, right now.
Here are seven questions you need to ask yourself to get started. [ continue reading… ]
We all know that we ought to be paying ourselves first — by building a healthy emergency fund, investing in our retirement accounts, and saving for important future purchases.
However, it can feel like paying ourselves first will end up shortchanging our other financial obligations. How can you pay yourself first when you barely have enough money to make it to the end of each month?
Luckily, saving is just like Lao Tzu’s journey of a thousand miles. They both start with a single (and, in this case, easy) step.
Here are five ways you can painlessly start paying yourself first: [ continue reading… ]
Recently when I treated my mom out for lunch, she mentioned how she treats money a little differently than I do. She said that she is generous to other people but frugal towards herself, while I’m frugal towards those around me and myself.
Now, wait for a second here. Why would you say anything like that to a person WHILE he’s treating you to lunch? At a slightly fancy Chinese dim yum place no less? Which part of I’m buying you lunch is not generous?
I’m just joking about the question though because I actually know where this comment came from. You see, my mom wanted me to buy my sister’s family dinner just a couple of days before, and I got slightly ticked off because I suggested a place we went to for my sister’s birthday a few years back, and my mom just didn’t like the idea. She didn’t say it outright, but I have a feeling that she thought it wasn’t fancy enough. Normally, she wouldn’t have any issue with the price of meals, but there was a family emergency in the Ning household and she helped me out a great deal. She felt like I should offer to buy everyone dinner as a gesture of gratitude.
Here’s the thing though. The restaurant I suggested was a place my sister likes to go to because she was the one who picked that place a few years ago. It wasn’t five star fine dining quality, but it was fancy enough, again, because my sister picked that place for dinner on her birthday.
After a bit of back and forth, I suggested for my sister to pick the restaurant after I tell her I wanted to buy dinner. And guess what? My lucky stars all aligned when she chose that exact restaurant on her own. She defused the situation quite a bit and there was a generally happy ending.
But let’s not explore this question further, as it will steer the post slightly off topic and more importantly, probably get me in more trouble (Hi mom! I know you are reading this!). [ continue reading… ]
For kids, money really does grow on trees. If you’re familiar with basic psychology, you’ve read about a child’s magical thinking stage, their advances to concrete operational thinking, and their propensity for egocentrism until age seven or eight. If you want to learn more about how children think differently than adults, you may want to read up on Jean Piaget’s research about how a child develops. His contributions to developmental psychology are used by advertisers and marketers, pediatricians, psychologists, teachers, and even parents. Here are a few basics that will help you effectively teach your child about responsible spending. [ continue reading… ]
Looking at your finances and figuring out how to manage multiple financial priorities can feel like you’re running in circles. How can you pay off debt and save for retirement? How can you pay for your child’s education and invest in your own future?
It’s tough to manage all your short, medium, and long-term financial goals at once. On one hand, focusing on one thing can lead to burnout and also leave you financially vulnerable. On the other hand, spreading your finances too thin to focus on all your goals isn’t very effective either.
If you’re trying to find balance in your financial life, here are some tips to manage multiple financial priorities without letting your big goals suffer. [ continue reading… ]
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