Tag: t_w1r9

[20]G7shields@ family_livelihood #severance

Posted on by tiger40490

 

k_tectonic

See also

I now spend lots of time (over thinking?) blogging and analyzing my various protections, which make me feel deeply satisfied (safety).

##layers@ buffer|alternative|batt ⇒security explains the semantics of defense ^ protection ^ buffer^^^ but in this bpost, I prefer the physical feel of a “shield” rather then the abstract concept of “protection”. In this blogpost I will use other metaphors besides “shield”. Pillar and Levee (黄河) each has unique connotations.

Multiple shields on multiple fronts are important to both my heart and mind. Despite their limitations, these shields can even make me feel superior. Together, these protections constitute one of my key strengths, though not competitive strengths per se, as in a scarce-resource context. I don’t need to but often want to compare within my circle.

Note this blog is strictly on livelihood proteciton, not ego protections (like PIP, stigma, trauma,,,) or family pains (like kids delinquency)

— all pillars/levees/shields are precarious, fragile and vulnerable. In a way, human existence is fundamentally fragile, and whatever protections always fragile. A big dose of detachment is needed on a regular basis. Overall, I (and presumably wife) feel less vulnerable in SG than the Chinese immigrants in the U.S.

  • MLP job (not within G5) is the most precarious of all pillars supporting my carefree ezlife. (The tech career longevity shield is better.) Lossing this pillar would expose me to
  • .. large or opaque codebase .. speed of figure-things-out relative to teammates
  • .. painful commute
  • SG citizenship is a stronger pillar/levee because its vulnerabilities are widely analyzed.
  • other vulnerabilities are discussed below.

— legends

  • [4|5|9=among G4|G5|G9]
  • [b=let’s ask those with relatively high branks like Siddesh] — these “Siddeshes” fly high but vulnerable without my protective armor.
  • [d=conscious, active detachment needed]
  • [$$$ etc = value-for-the-family of the protection, and reliability to a lesser extent]
  • [AAA etc = reliability rating of the protection, and value to a lesser extent] — I used to assign higher rating to external protections, but now need more self-reliance and self-confidence. See locus@control:current carefree high ground mostly due2%%effort

==== short-term protections

[BB $] [9d] MLP medbx + sancturary + severance

===== medium-term protections

[B $] [7bd] My growing nest egg and nonwork incomes (beyond rental). Reliability of each income stream depends partly on my active management. CPF-life is more reliable like “A”.

  • Jolt: the investment seminars always exaggerate the value and reliability of this particular protection, which is actually much lower than SG citizenship, wellness etc.
  • 2025 update: To a family on the cashflow low ground (like [39]), a SGD 100k cash nest egg would be an effective shield. For a CMC[ChMidClass], a SGD 2M net (incl some liquid) asset would be a solid shield. See [40]

[AAA $$] [2] robust tech career longevity is arguably the #1 bedrock of my ffree

  • Actually career longevity depends a lot on physical longevity, but in this list, I separate out wellness.
  • continuous, self-driven learning attitude, with plenty of refresh/reinforce, 温故知新
  • [A $$] [b] IV competitiveness including theoretical skills. If I lose my job during covid19, but demand remains, I would rely on IV skills to get another well-paying job.
  • [B] [d] WallSt contract job market — protects against early decline of demand
  • [C] [d] robust demand for java across industries
  • [A $] [b] dev-till-70 as a mentality is an effective shield.
  • [B $] my on-the-job survival skill is slightly less reliable as protection.

==== long term protections

[AA $$] [3b] conserver lifestyle  — good burn rate as Family [6] — protects against many cash-flow threats including job insecurity during covid19.

PERSONAL burn rate would be rated AAA

[A $$$] [4bd] wellness — lifestyle + current condition. title is vague and broad.

  • [A] [d] diet habit, BMI green zone
  • [AA] exercise lifestyle
  • [d] good sleep — protects against workload, ,,,

[$$$] [5d] stable marriage — is a cornerstone and protects against many threats.

  • Is this a livelihood protection? Grandpa would say yes as he pointed out how marriage affects the kids and my own livelihood.
  • How reliable this protection is? Up to me. Grandpa would say you can choose to show more tolerance (包容), more respect,  more understanding, more kindness
  • [$] harmony at home — long term is best, but any harmony is valuable protection for kids and aging parents.
  • This item is an under-appreciated pillar, esp. for the kids.

[A $$] [6b] SG citizenship — protects against healthcare inflation, long-term nursing cost, housing cost, general inflation. Some protective benefits of SG citizenship are not measured by money —

  • protection against poor service (common in many countries) when I’m in need of help
  • protective environment for up-bringing of kids — drug-free,,
  • protects against covid19 job insecurity. Job support (Singaporeans’ livelihood protection) wass the biggest medium-term concern of the Singapore government, arguably a bigger concern than 1) outbreak management 2) food supply
  • the middle/low income working families [11th~60th percentiles of SG citizens] are well-taken care of by the nanny state including NUTC union. In the U.S. the church seems to provide a similar (much smaller) safety net
  • See the full list in ## SG citizenship: value imt GC
  • As listed, all other shields require active, high maintenance effort (Nonwork income is lower maintenance). This shield requires zero effort on my part, as the government puts in a huge effort maintaining this shield.
  • This item “defines” and “anchors” the A-rating. This item has lower reliability because it’s beyond my personal control. Singaporeans tend to have too much confidence in the PAP leaders as if they are Gods and never misjudge, mis-calculate, lack strength/vision. Well, there are very capable leaders in other countries, too, but their citizens don’t have such naive perceptions.

##[23]effective endeavors #unexpected

Posted on by tiger40490

 

k_not_only_luck   k_x_mellow_up  k_tectonic

Genesis: After the Sep 2023 PEK trip (aging parents), I realized something that I ignored for decades. Many endeavors are ineffective — either underwhelming, unrewarding or basically fruitless. Their effectiveness can be short-lived, or hard to maintain.

The more we recognize, respect and remember this human reality, the better we would be able to appreciate those effective endeavors, however small.

A Big-scale illustration .. TeamSG [more than PAP gov].. progressively moved up the global city ranking, on many fronts/indicators, and not by luck or historical advantage. Many countries and cities try to copy Singapore’s formula and often fail to get ahead. SG is exceptional. This bpost goes beyond competition or mindshare.

  • [u=not a foregone conclusion, perhaps unexpected]
  • [u] Covid19 .. SG coped better than many cities. I tend to take it for granted, but in 2020 it was by no means a foregone conclusion. SG system’s reputation is always at stake, and risk of missteps is always clear and present.
  • Traffic jams are less severe than many big cities.
  • Housing affordability for young couples and low-income families is better than most comparable rich cities.
    graduate unemployment rate is well-managed even during a down turn.
  • [U] The rise of NUS/NTU ranking is faster than I thought.
  • [u] From nowhere, SG rose steadily as a regional and now global financial center, overtaking Tokyo and HK in many competitions. Not easy at all. Which city can emulate SG?
  • [U] Many China (and India) immigrants have decided to take root here (not “stepping stone”) … much more than I expected years ago. These immigrants could have chosen N.America, Europe, Australia or HK.

Similarly, it’s no mean achievement of me to avoid falling behind on any front, and to get ahead in a few races. Here are some effective multi-year endeavors .

— half ranked by … the most “unexpected” to the least unexpected within each domain. I prefer fresh, specific items. Do not include “effective solutions that aren’t endeavors”

  • [v=vague]
  • [u|U=unexpected, Unbelieveable success]
  • [b=good battery, relatively easy to maintain]
  • [Battery status ======== battery (hard) to maintain]
  • [Battery status ] reducing academic expectation placed on my kids.. decade-long struggle, still working on it.
  • [b] my DIYHI learning journey since I bought my first home in Blk 177 #4-116 .. effective by my standard. I’m improving and learning. I don’t compare with the pros.
  • [u] books .. a headache for future relocations .. I have /adapted/ an effective solution
  • [] solo flight [search, prep,,,] .. Over the decades I developed home-grown solutions. Cost-effective.
  • [v] Spouse relationship, intimacy and communications .. requires continuous adjustment and effort
  • —- personal tech # usuallly not arduous “endeavors”
  • [] my home printer and multi-laptop set-up .. effective research and experiment. Cost-effective solutions, much needed in my low burn rate lifestyle.
  • ~~ blogg technique/infrastructure
  • [b] my git-blog and wpress customizations meet real personal needs .. effectively. minor tweaks: gd2, commit hooks, and
  • .. minimize count of “open editors”
  • [b] personal blog _review_ .. Most journal writers don’t re-read earlier writings. We lack an effective system to get anything useful out of earlier writings. My blog has some useful content for the future me. An effective review system is challenging. Am working on it.
  • .. extensive x-ref system based on tags and categories
  • .. short titles
  • .. print out to review en-route
  • —- wellness
  • [Battery status U] The 2018/2019 BMI improvement was unprecedented and unimaginable .. effective for 2 years.
  • [u] 2023 JPM5.6k .. my timing was no mean achievement. My workout regime was proven effective in this decisive test.
  • [bU] liking my own appearance .. to my surprise, i have grown to like my own appearance [face, body shape,hair,,]. Not luck. More like mellow-up
  • [Battery status u] my multi-year focus on chin-up among all muscle workouts .. effective monitoring of weight. Builds my confidence
  • [bU] 5/wk (beyond chin-up) .. rare among my cohort. For years, it has helped my self-esteem, BMI motivation/self-assessment
  • [u] small belly .. not common among my cohort. My lifestyle has been effective in this respect. Important for t2dm prevention
  • [b] lotus ] mrt .. for years, it has improved my self-esteem, helped my git-blogg on MRT
  • [u] stretching 1 minute/D (about half the days).. since 2019 (before Covid), I have followed an effective [sustainable, pragmatic] regime
  • [] left hand practice with mouse/toothbrush/basketball .. I believe this is effective in brain training
  • [u] standing desk at home .. I do stand average 30 min a day at home, sometimes 5H
  • therapeutic blogg as mult-decade endeavor… is effective? See ##[23]coping solutions #R.Teo困扰
  • some of those “faking” efforts are effective self-persuasions practiced over the years
  • car ownership as a wellness issue .. see below
  • —- pff
  • [b] exp recon .. highly effective and fairly efficient
  • [b] deposit-interest optimization using EGA etc and RBBT .. effective, as Linna pointed out.
  • [bu] Over decades, my burn rate is effectively maintained around 5k/M, below half my income
  • [b] insurance .. For decades (since my 20s) I thought insurance was ineffective for my needs, but now I feel my suit of (10?) protections fit my family needs, cost-effectively. My effort? Mostly analysis and experiment.
  • [b] IRS annual legwork .. since 2018, I have effectively adapted and /streamlined/ my process.
  • [v] retirement plann .. (comparable to devTill70) It is a concrete plan based on real evidence + personal research, and an effective road map
  • car ownership as a pff issue .. see below
  • —- gz + xx
  • [bU] Chinese composition ..
  • [bu] English .. overcoming my handicap from 1991 to 1993, and turning a weakness into a strength over the subsequent 10 years.
  • .. English vocab blog
  • MSFM study method .. adapted over 3Y based on results + my limitations
  • [bu] professional trec since Verizon .. effective in personal branding.
  • [bU] branded degree .. i was effective to enroll then excel in MSFM after giving up on “branded degree” in 1994
  • [bu] i am still able to help friends with CIV in my late 40s, though I’m slower than before. No mean achievement. It is not an automatic result of some external “system”. I had to work on it and I will need to continue working on it.
  • [bu] bonus satisfactions in recent years… foregone conclusion after some good years? Not at all. Luck is one minor factor. I’m effective in managing my own expectations.
  • [b] devTill70 plan… Many people dismiss it as a mere plan, but I take my plan seriously. It is a concrete plan based on real evidence + personal research, and an effective road map
  • [U] Unbelievably, no operational error committed by me so far. It’s impossibly hard ot keep 100% record.
  • [uv] My Java (c++ to a lesser extent) knowledge retention is robust
  • —- disqualified items .. not really multi-year endeavors
  • diversification in investment .. despite concentration in rEstate (diversified properties) I score high on asset-class and currency diversification. Effective by common standard

— car ownership .. (multi-year endeavor)

Throughout my career and family-building in Sg and U.S., my personal strategy [decisions, plann/executions, adjustments] about car ownership is .. surprisingly effective. Effective in terms of burn rate, physical/mental wellness, dependency reduction, minimalist living,,,

Most of my peers “need” a car. They give various explanations of personal needs. It sounds like “so hard to cope without a car in this (part of) country”, but I think what they mean is “Since I can afford [1] (to lease) a car, it is proving extremely convenient.”

Many point to their own work/home locations, but hey, look at my choice of locations. I chose them to minimize car dependency.

[1] Affordability is personal. I can afford so I do fly up to 4/year for family reunion. Not essential, but a personal priority.

I did spend about USD 1k twice learning to drive. In 2018/19 I also practiced with zipcar. That’s part of my effective endeavor.

— Q: What strategic progresses are relatively easy to maintain? A similar theme and related to [b]
As stated in the Genesis section, many tough progresses are easy to lose and hard to maintain, and require continuous effort. See bpost on battery.

  • [Battery status ] diet experiment, learning .. I think the self-knowledge (and to a lesser extent, the scientific knowledge) is a battery I can build up.
  • [Battery status ] yoga self-practice .. I wrote many bposts and practiced many times. Hard to maintain
  • [Battery status ] coding drill .. battery holding OK
  • div stock picking
  • [Battery status ] rental property … maintenance effort
  • ? r-ikigai planning and research
  • ? parenting .. experiment and discussion. So far, this is not an effective, strategic effort
  • — disqualified items

— unbroken suprisingly.. a related but loose concept. I feel lucky to find many things unbroken. Some of the “unbroken” are excluded from the “effective endeavor” list and “exiled” here.

  • — gz
  • no major compliance issue
  • — parenting and family
  • Boy is showing some control on diet, not getting out of control
  • Kids’ television time is not growing worse
  • — devices
  • pad lock
  • home routers and printers
  • Laptops (Lenovo$399, Dell$250, HP…) + phone no major issue after so long. A95 is slowing down esp. during restarts but fine.
  • — pff
  • HDB home few issues. I had more issues in the past but no details needed
  • BGC rental
  • Energy12 reliable monthly income
  • USD and SGD both staying strong
  • — wellness
  • boy’s myopia
  • ED pills .. continues to be effective
  • eyesight, hearing still holding up
  • blood pressure, and blood sugar …
  • cholesterol, myopia stablized ..
  • my health condition during long flights
  • Dental condition
  • Health of everyone in the family

碌碌无为^successE^successZ #xpSelf

Posted on by tiger40490

k_Kahneman k_def_of_success

See also

Executive summary of a paradox

  1. 碌碌无为 can imply laziness i.e. failingZ. This is a real concern to me (and many people around me), requires active intervention.
  2. 碌碌无为 most often means failingL, but this is a non-issue to me, at this stage. 99.9% of us are actually 碌碌无为. YY.T agreed with me on successL
  3. 碌碌无为 , but with successE and successZ .. is pretty good, even admirable!

Influenced by my dad, I often feel 一事无成, 碌碌无为, 胸无大志 in terms of successL[lasting achievement]. However, under scrutiny, most of the role models are also 一事无成, as measured against successL. See list below.

  • your tech innovations .. (even patented inventions) most of those in my domain suffer tech churn, in the ruthless march@technology. Similar situations:
  • .. innovative financial products, financial services
  • .. marketing innovations
  • your math discoveries.. tend to last generations and bear the mathematicians’ names. Math is the extreme case in terms of long-lasting legacy
  • your literary works .. mostly get forgotten in a sea of similar publications, after waves and waves of new publications. I think electronic publications, often in video or game formats are crowding out the traditional literary (print) publications.
  • if you build a company .. then how long can it last? Biggest lasting impact would be job creation.
  • if you build either a publisher, a broadcast platform, a social media network, or an advertising network (Goog, FB, Baidu etc) then what innovations do you create? The more digital, the worse you will feel in terms of competition, shelf-life and lasting value.
  • OC-effective guys .. are 一事无成 by default

Now I think 碌碌无为 mostly refers to successL and successC.

— xpSelf ^ rmSelf… The rmSelf’s life evaluation is usually 碌碌无为 , based on exclub (peer benchmark), but I think such an evaluation ignores the xpSelf. The xpSelf can experience a boring, uneventful decade, which is not easily achieved and requires lots of karma + non-trivial effort.

I really want to celebrate uneventful 碌碌无为 lives. Many parents want the same for their kids when they say “I just want him/her (xpSelf) to be happy” rather than “great”.

— My Shiyan + WallSt peers may point out that my evidence of personal success (re letter to wife) is a glorification of mediocrity, 胸无大志, in comparison with the semi-highflyers in terms of successC [income, brank]. I reject those yardsticks. My “personal success” was based on other yardsticks such as successE and successZ [自强不息 self-improvement]

  • How about ERE author Jacob?
  • How about Rong.Zhu?
  • How about XingHe vs WQ.Luo

How about an average general practitioner (or a board-certified lawyer/accountant/engineer) of my age? Mediocre, 胸无大志,,, but the Chinese conventional wisdom regards him as somehow more success than me .. why? Largely because of income exclub i.e. successC.

— battery .. is related to 碌碌无为 because successL requires accumulation.
— Q: is it shameful (for me or my kids) to end up 碌碌无为 but stays frugal and healthy, take care of the body given by our parents, enjoy a relatively uneventful life (at least for the 2nd half)? Is this successZ?

I guess my wife’s cousin Zheng might be one example. I guess his parents wanted it this way and had no regrets. Ditto my parents.

Such a life meets my successE criteria, iFF you can achieve it. I think this life is not easy to achieve, esp. “healty” and “uneventful”. Every life is /punctuated/ with tragedies, swans+missteps, wasted potentials, unfair treatments,,,,

[19]ComfyPosition]cohort #priorities

Posted on by tiger40490

 

k_tectonic .. k_X_FOMO_v_livelihood

I have spent too much time trying to make the title more identifiable. The precise meaning of “comfortable position in my cohort” is crucial to this blogpost. Without a precise meaning, this blogpost will gradually but inevitably lose its relevance among multiple similar analyses like

Comfortable position means “well within the green zone and in no danger of drop-out.” Note green zone can be minority or majority. We instinctively know, to varying degrees, where we stand among our chosen peer group. On some games I feel unlikely to improve my relative standing, so I need to reconcile with these “amber zones”. They include:
* kids academics
* double income, white-collar wife
* brank — OC-effective leadership .. I didn’t say “income”. Consider the Siddeshes in my circle.

On other “games”, I feel confident to maintain my comfortable position relative to peers:

  1. — half-ranked by surprise, beyond the big5 topics like sg citizenship, wellness, cashflow (brbr, Fuller wealth, retirement planning, ffree). It’s important to de-emphasize these big, common factors so they don’t /overshadow/ the smaller, more “interesting” factors
  2. stable marriage, valuable support from grandparents
  3. top college insider insight — relaxed attitude towards and some insight into it
  4. lower fear of job loss, lower work stress .. thanks to contract
  5. HDB home ownership — low maintenance
  6. English proficiency … a growing fountainhead of wellbeing, (stress)protection, a foundation stone for self-care. Writing/oral communication, vocab
  7. coding IV — as benchmarked against my age group on Wall St
  8. QQ IV — coreJava and c++ are both fairly stable and low-churn over a 30Y horizon.
  9. mobility across multiple job markets, work-till-70, life-long learning, access to age-friendly job markets
  10. my primary lang@FT_job has robust demand

The list is similar to [21] G9 short-term factors4ezlife #escape pod

— Q: How did I achieve this comfortable position, this carefree, relatively complete life? (Note “complete” is measured against personal yardsticks.)

Actually, G5 Shields@family_livelihood is a more thorough, more rigorous analysis that’s relevant to this question.

locus@control: carefree high ground mostly due2effort also answers this question, from a different angle.

To further explain my well-protected carefree and ffree that’s uncommon in my age group, I decided to ask two questions below.

Q: how are my chosen priorities “different”, excluding the common, basic ones (like job security, stable family, kids)
A: here are some priorities that my peers don’t give enough attention

  1. career longevity till 80’s — instead of brank, salary bracket (exclub)
  2. healthy longevity — I still need to give more sunshine to my flexibility
  3. current nonwork income — instead of windfall appreciation. Instrumental to my early ffree.

A: here are some priorities of my peers that I don’t care much:

  1. luxury IMO — top schools for their kids
  2. luxury IMO — (usually big) home in a top school district
  3. brank

Q: my strengths?
A: top 3 strengths unranked:

  • brbr;
  • lifelong xx for IV
  • wellness, vitality

Beyond the strengths, here are some advantages:

  • healthcare + retirement provisions I have set up for my family in Singapore;
  • SG citizenship
  • stable marriage
  • property portfolio — including inheritance

— ffree — the poster boy of my comfortable position

Singapore is a success story in many ways. Its position in GDP ranking is the tip of an iceberg. Likewise, My fledgling ffree is the tip of an iceberg. My Fuller wealth rests on a foundation composed of my strengths and my guiding principles (priorities, habits) listed above.

The ffree draws disproportionate attention but is actually less reliable, less important than the G5 Shields@family_livelihood

Humble — My successE is not glorious, but it is rare, commendable, worthwhile. Look at the success of MMM, ERE author and other FIRE legends.

burnOrRot =successZ+C #

Posted on by tiger40490

k_tyrant_of_rmSelf  k_Promethean_struggle .. k_def_of_success

In a way, burn often focuses on quardrant-II [non-urgent-but-important], the tough jobs that deserve lots of sunshine….

When thinking in terms of burn/rot, there is always a harsh, imposing self2judge at the back of my mind. This self2judge maintains a destructive self-hate, and implicitly considers self1 too lazy and weak… No surprise, because by my superhuman standard every human shows visible weaknesses.

  • I beat myself up over coding drill
  • I beat up my son over his math practice
  • I beat myself up over fried potato chips

(I also demonized masturbation, egg yolk …. all based on unfounded health theories.)

I used to set an self-expectation of such high self-discipline that every human would Fall short, including grandpa, Wenqiang, .. but I thought my standard was normal and achievable if I simply Try Hard. Now I’m older and wiser. I know these standards are too hard for mere humans. We humans are not machines.  No one has such strong will as to force the body to do all the painful things. In real people, the strong motivation comes from within, from a desire, not from harsh self-discipline.

If the wellspring, the flame, the pulse inside a student is insufficient, then neither parent, teacher or herself can force it with willpower.

— successZ+successC => burn = materialisticRoti+selfDiscipline… I think this is a pretty good characterization of the vague concept of “burn”. Now I think my sense of ‘burn’ is always a mix of strenuous [1] self-discipline over the lazy self + [2] materialistic ROTI.

As a consequence, when I’m focused on successE [carefree ezlife, wellness, harmony…], I don’t feel the burn.

Note successZ is more than zqbx! Therefore, t_zqbx has a only a partial overlap with t_burnOrRot.

[1] Without the self-discipline, I don’t feel the burn.  Absorbency and zqbx are similar phrases
[2] I didn’t say “strategic”
— Bigger Eg: My diet is arguably the best eg — so tough, unenjoyable, b
ut I could put up with it because my level of suffering is lower than other people feels. If you ask me to cut further and further, I will experience too much “pain” in terms of self-deprivation.
— Bigger Eg: Yoga is another unimaginable achievement — a physical shortcoming, painful, hopeless, no visible progress, No hope of sustained improvement, therefore a /Promethean torment/

In lower-middle school, I beat myself up over stretching. One of The earliest and most painful experience of my life. Today, I still hate myself frequently because I couldn’t get myself to “practice yoga at home everyday”. Well, those (mostly women) who can are probably too weak for daily exercise, continuous learning, …See  girls with Grade-A flexibility

Now, against all odds, I did 2 sessions a week for 8 months in Bayonne.

Willpower is NOT the catalyst.
— Eg: How about early rise? In 1993 I once beat myself up for not getting up by 6am. For 25 years since, it was impossible to keep up early rise beyond 10 days. Now I have lasted about 2 months !

Self-discipline and brute force willpower has Never been the turning point in early rise.
— eg: jolt: self-care blogging under stress — requires effort to become effective, but I often think of it as indulgence. It has high ROTI (just not materialistic).

Self-care blogging often generates self-hate ! Unfair. I deserve more tender care and sympathy.
— eg: coding drill: I guess many of my friends don’t enjoy it as they feel high effort low chance of ROTI.

Contrast Ashish and Deepak who keep practicing. Even if chance of passing is rising slowly, thhe practice slows down the decline.
— eg: reading about Sec1 posting — feels thankless and no “burn”. Requires effort but there’s no materialistic ROTI !

[20]G5 WinnBets :long-term impact@ livelihood[def2]

Posted on by tiger40490

k_X_power_descriptor  k_tectonic

See also

Distinct from those above, this blogpost focuses on big personal “bets” — the big decisions we make throughout our career, with profound long-term impacts esp. on family livelihood. (Singapore government used to make technology bets). A few of my winning bets discussed here relate to ffree, carefree,,

Granted none of these wins is eternal, but they stand out from smaller wins. This Group of bets had a /disproportionate/ contribution to my precious carefree life (in the current phase), and my family long-term security in livelihood [1].

Note the risk of oth. This risk would be acceptable if this list is kept below 5.

Note the pff big bets are now moved to 20-punch card .

  • — the biggest winning bets. The more specific the better
  • chose ZLH as wife — 勤俭, 不苛求, 本分. This bet is beyond ranking and should not be ranked.
  • #1 citizenship — chose SG citizenship for all family members, giving up China citizenship
    • bought enhanced medishields + elderShield early, before the offerings became less attractive.
  • #2 U.S. — chose to enter U.S. and WallSt, even though rather late in the game. I chose U.S. as my 2nd “frontline”, rather than HK/China, Canada, Australia, UK. Switching to WStC + real-time Trading tech in 2010.
  • #3a WStC — chose to remain in Wall St contract path for longevity, rather than the traditional VP career path
  • #3b coreJava — more robust (longevity) than c++, jxee, web dev,, Better marketDepth. Plays to my advantage of theoretical, low-level QQ.
    • in 2006 I bet on java .. branching out from Unix/DBA , perl, LAMP, web java -> coreJava4trading
  • #4 in 1999 (decisively) branching out early to dotcom SWE, leaving the engineering sector, then to Unix admin (non-coding). SWE earn more than semiconductor engineers.
  • — other winning bets
  • in 2010 chose to resign from GS, ignoring deMunk’s departure
  • 2017 re-entering U.S. .. leaving the comfort zone, choosing Jay.Hu and getting priority date done
  • MLP job .. was a tactical choice, but it turned out to be a big winning bet (in terms of work-life balance etc)
  • Chose to give my kids a Chinese language education, saving a bundle compared to the Chinese American families.
  • chose to buy overseas properties with current yield
  • NUS — chose NUS, a growing brand
  • UChicago — I chose to invest hugely into my UChicago credential and gained a lifelong prestige , but “livelihood” impact is limited to the CV.
    • To a lesser extent, my NUS credential also appreciated in value over the decades since I “bought”.
  • chose market data domain + bond math domain — almost evergreen domains
  • English — in 1992 (and even after A-levels) I chose to embrace English as a lifelong skill despite insurmountable challenges

— [1] livelihood – 生计

In this context, “livelihood/生计” means … Survival, making ends meet, including those common disasters like job loss (including involuntary retirement ) or medical bills, but there are many derailers too big to protect. See t_ffreeLimitation.

[17]HIS19[def] = hibernate-in-sg

Posted on by tiger40490

In 2017 I made a “Proposal HIS19” to my family — return to SG in 2019. Later I made a “Proposal HIS3” — stay for 3Y in SG.

  • #3 J4 [HIS3]: kids — longer time for Chinese learning
  • #1 J4 [HIS3]: kids — bad influences (such as drugs in U.S.)  are more dangerous to my son before he becomes more mature. See separate blogpost.
  • #2 J4 [HIS3]: four grandparents to see us and grandchildren more …. derailed by covid19.
  • #4 J4 [HIS3]: wife — higher chance of longer working history. More convincing track record. However, she stopped working at end of 2019.
  • J4 [HIS19]: wife — I can help relieve wife of her total “workload”
  • —— negative
  • #1 risk [HIS19]: painful perm jobs, _b_u_t_ I hope the pain is reduced by the temporary context — light at end of the tunnel. As it turned, my EPA perm job is a blessing.
  • #2 Risk [HIS19]: Priority date portable?
  • Cost [HIS3]: SgNS… accepted.
  • Cost [HIS19]: low chance to try various interviews — my way to stay motivated
  • Cost [HIS19]: low chance to try something new like c++. See t_tsn

##[20]won%%battles against FOMO[def2] #mellow

Posted on by tiger40490

k_tectonic k_mellow .. k_X_FOMO_v_livelihood

See also not left-behind on Any front: real feat. I will keep these two blogposts separate for now. This blogpost is more about a list of big battles.  Every battle is a peer competition! In each battle, I had no choice but fight (I think my son may not want to fight). In 2019, I told grandpa that I felt having won the war so my fear of left-behind has /subsided/died down/ but not dead.

FOMO is an alias for kiasu and FOLB i.e. fear-of-left-behind, but for ease of searching I will keep FOMO unless FOLB is clearly less ambiguous.

[w=won or gone completely]

— In Singapore, the “kiasu” mentality is similar, as most of the battles are about peer-comparison or about “limited resources” such as education resources.

— [w] battle of 自己考进名校 — throughout my pre-U years, I shared the common fear that I might fail to get into a good-enough school

— [w] battle of mate-selection — For more than a decade in my younger days, I shared the fear (common among young men) that I might fail to find a good enough women… Consequence is quite serious.

I nearly lost this battle and was ready to live and die a bachelor. My winning chance on this battle dropped progressively to 20%.

— battle of start-up or tech career — fought in my 20’s and 30’s. XR still feels the FOMO vs the web2.0 guys.

— battle of body-building — QQ, CIV etc

— [w] battle of leadership career — either as architect or mgr. Until my 40’s, I have dreaded I might fail to climb up the management career high enough

One of the few battles I have lost and given up. Now I’m /mellow/.

— battle of academic kids — Now I still worry about my kids not growing up “academic” enough, or achieving enough.

This particular FOMO drives the (heavy-weight) housing decisions, esp. in the U.S. context.

— [w] battle of asset accumulation — From my 20’s till mid-forties, when I hear of other people’s property assets, I experience a FOMO anxiety.

Now I realize I have more than enough passive income.

— [w] battle of early retirement — including college funding + medical costs till twilight years.

— [w] battle against rising home price — mostly in China. I feel the pressure on the Chinese young professionals.

— [w] No battle of wellness — Somehow, I never needed to fight a battle of wellness. This real priority never rose high enough to become a visible battlefield.

— [w] No battle of dev-till-70 — my personal “endeavor”. No peer comparison

“spare”time allocation history since 2006

Posted on by tiger40490

To compensate for historical comparison, I count time required by family commitment as spare time. (Otherwise after 2012 my total spare time probably reduced by half…) Don’t ask me to elaborate…

— period: bachelor. I feel this is an important period that shaped my belief and habits. I think many peers moved in their directions at this time. I found myself lacking some fundamental skills to move up the corporate ladder, so I decided to try the start-up route…Poor choice.

1) XXXXX (i.e. learning) without accumu 🙁 … not only technical subjects
2) Socialize/volunteer, often required by my (full time) job, but not sustainable cos not gaining traction
….) exercise 4 times a week 🙂

— period: 2006 – Aug 2008.
1) XXXXX required by IV or job
2) OT (Strategem, NBC, Verizon, GS)
…) family i.e. wife. No “contention”
…) socialize? Much lower

— period: when family was away in SG
1) XXXXX required by IV or job. I found my edge and traction. By self-learning I quickly moved up in that job market
2) OT (GS overnight! MLEdge, Barc)

— period: baby boy on Wall St i.e. the 3 months + 14 months boy was with me on Wall St.
For a while (Oct 2010 – Jan 2011), GS pressure was so high I wanted to quit US in despair:(

1) FFFFFFamily. Didn’t have enough time for baby boy and my wife…Sigh
2) XXXXX, IV
…) OT not required in Citi 🙂
…) exercise much less

–period: q3SG
1) FFFFFFamily including boy’s study, outing, dining out, renovation
2) XXXXX including MSFM, c#, cpp.
** I think this will decrease gradually
** I didn’t fully anticipate that MSFM study is a discontinuity, with no positive feedback loop whatsoever.

** even the tech learning I couldn’t apply in my job search as I could as a Wall St contractor. Much lower motivation and positive feedback. This reminds me reading books on how to date a Caucasian woman, while the Asian women around you don’t react the same way as Caucasian women.

3) OT (stirt,)
…) personal investment 1H/day too much, low ROTI
…) socialize? No time at all
…) exercise much less

4) financial management
** bx — average 5 discussions each with Colin Lim … Anna Ong .. AXA .. Manulife .. Lee Peixian .. TokyoMarine .. Loh Junli
** real-estate investments
** FSM
** online personal trading
** expense tracking (about 2 full days each time)
** mortgage management including family loans

— period: c++US
1) XXXXX c++QQ, CIV — muscle building .. effective
2) WWWwellness — including yoga, chin-up,,, highly effective
3) u.s. housing research

— period: Hib19

  1. FFFFFFamily esp. boy — to be reduced
  2. XXXXX localSys, QQ, coding drill — to be increased
  3. WWWwellness — to be increased
  4. personal investment — to be reduced

— period: covid19 working alone

  1. reflective blogging — across many topics like long-horizon per-finance, wellness, parenting,,,,, to be reduced in some topics
  2. FFFFFFamily time — including DIY home repair, outing, and some parenting
  3. WWWwellness — including food shopping, research, workout
  4. XXXXX for tech IV
  5. emails, calls with friends and family
  6. curiosity reading — including covid,,,, to be reduced

3temptations=key challenge4BMI

Posted on by tiger40490

Shock Opener — 95 to 99% of the time when I feel the temptation, there is no homeostatic hunger… See fullness^availability: hunger

In my analysis since my teenage years, Temptation is the eve-growing focus for many years and there’s no easy solution. I have identified two common scenarios of recurring temptations —

  1. family dinner — wrong time, wrong quantity
    • Living alone in Singapore, I face only the wrong-food temptation and I have better control.
  2. office free food — wrong food, wrong time. However, I could not go take a small chunk every 10 minutes.
  3. A /distant third/ is dining out, including street food and buffet

— 3 common “flavors/genres/species/varieties” of temptation

  1. wrong time — eating when not hungry. This is THE impactful temptation in terms of weight, BMI and calories.
  2. wrong quantity — keep eating when I should stop. The 2nd impactful temptation.
  3. wrong food — high-calorie and low nutritional quality..  This is the most common meaning of “temptation”, but in my case not the most impactful temptation.

Availability i.e. WrongTime seems to be the biggest of the three. See availability=#1 temptation. When I face these temptations, how recently how much I just ate doesn’t matter. Instead, Availability is the main factor. Mental Stress is another key, but much less frequent.

Nowadays. I try to stay away from family during family dinner time, fending off the wrong-time and wrong-quantity temptations.