k_tectonic

See also

• [20←04]changes: TPY泳池reflection — similar style
• [20]random list@ Protection+reinforcer — more than half the heavy-hitters in today’s soul search is about protections of family livelihood.

The trigger — After revisiting my 2007 email/diary such as big cities more expensive @@ #LS, I wanted to write yet another review of the fundamental factors that Explain (or has Driven) all the  major changes in my life. Not to become yet-another review, let’s focus more on the factors, less on the changes.

Am I exaggerating anything? Any acute attachment to beware? Beware of othRisk. Avoid polishing.

My focus continues to be family livelihood, not FOMO, exclub, peerComparison, brank,,, A second focus in this blogpost is my own American dream as of summer 2007.

• [j] #1 factor — my tech expertise and delivery skill — in the lucrative and prosperous tech (dev+) job market, esp. on age-friendly WallSt.
• [f] #2 factor — my brbr /discipline/ — while witnessing my own income growing so much since 2007. I think this is similar to Singapore government’s discipline.
• #3 factor — SG citizenship — relative decline of America’s appeal to me, and relative rise of Singapore’s advantages. I value my citizenship much more than between 2007 and 2016 !
• factor — wellness — habits, health conditions (体质)…. The absense of health issues is like the absence of family problems, absence of investment woes, absence of career failures. An invisible dome surrounding Hogwarts in the final Harry Potter movie.
• [j] fundamental but minor factor — WallSt trec as a passport through the moat
• [f] minor factor — Beijing + Blk177 property appreciation, rental yield of overseas properties
• fundamental but minor factor — my English skill — helps my job interviews and job performance, esp. compared to my Chinese and Indian peers. English writing skill is instrumental to my self-help while coping with challenges
• fundamental but minor factor — my relatively low racial bias — I think my Indian colleagues like me a bit more than other China colleagues
• fundamental but commonplace — my love[sacrifice] for wife and kids

Now let’s list the major changes since 2007 and try to explain them

• change in my life — confidence in marriage — was untested in 2007, with pretty high inherent risk of failure based on statistics. We have worked on the problems and weak spots.
• [f] measurable change — brbr — Despite my bigger family (with 2 noisy kids), my current brbr and Fuller wealth (ffree) are so much higher than in 2007, partly due to brbr discipline, salary, SG citizenship , nonwork income, ,
• change in my life — livelihood resilience/security — stronger (and growing), with layers of defense, giving my much higher confidence than 2007. I was already healthy in 2007, but now I’m /buffered/ on many fronts such as career longevity, strong marriage, citizenship
• specific change — Green Card dream — is a bit lower than 2007, mostly due to my new view of SG^US. Nowadays, I don’t feel as desperate about GC as my China/India colleagues.
• [j] specific but minor change — c++ in my peers — is no longer 高不可及. Ditto low-latency java
• [j] specific but minor change — WallSt moat — was seen as too deep and wide back in 2007
• specific but minor change — car purchase — was widely known as inevitable back in 2007. Now I know better from experience.
• internal change — target 95 as life expectancy — now I want to live longer. This is exactly where I want to be.
• internal change — internally mellowing up — and more optimistic. Even though my position among my peers is much higher than in 2007, I now care more about family livelihood, less about FOMO, brank, income, net worth, OC-effective, exclub
• [j] internal change — churn, accumulation of experience — I didn’t have solutions, cool confidence… as explained in risks remain high but am calmer
• [j] change — long-horizon income security — was low for decades as everyone around me said developers must move up to management by some age 35, and struggle to keep the job and maintain the income until its eventual decline. Now I have 50% more confidence, primarily due to WallSt experience
• [f] minor change in my life — balance sheet — I am now proud owner of Singapore, Beijing properties + some commercial properties, all in prime locations. We are on track to receive a reliable and high-yield annuity backed by a credit rating comparable to the most trusted insurer.
• [d=detachment needed]
• [f=personal finance]
• [j=career]