Now, the title is NOT true. But if I am to become rich, I would undoubtedly be travelling the world, eating fine cuisines, drinking fine wine, accompanied by world-class beauties. Money, woman, food, and wine. Everything a man wants. By now, you are probably thinking what a superificial douche bag or perhaps, this materialistic son of a #@$%!. I hope you didn’t take me seriously.

The truth remains, that I am not filthy rich like that, yet. Most unfortunately. So here I am trying rigorously to get there, like the majority of people out there, ever so diligently, with so much discipline, day after day. Though I can probably be a much cheaper person than I am now, so cheap that I can save so much today and by the power of compounding, become multi-billionaires with a “B.” Then I’ll finally be able to do what I want… perhaps some of the stuff I mentioined at the beginning :)

So I will spend all the coming years chasing and chasing after this destiny. Who knows how long it will take for me to save? Probably will take awhile. But I will finally be able to do all the things I wanted! But likely in lesser health. And likely with less enthusiasm. I may even have saggy, flappy skin by then, yikes! Then I’d realize I’ve wasted all those years not living at all, being a cheapo, which defeats the purpose of all the effort on making money and saving so much. This makes me think of the ambitious fellas out there relentlessly accumulating wealth solely for that purpose, meanwhile forgetting family, friends, and utmostly themselves. Then there are those who consistently work ungodly amount of hours each week. I feel kinda bad for them. Those poor things.

I like to keep myself in perspective, though I admit these thoughts sometimes make me wonder why the heck do I work so hard and then I may feel like giving up. Those are brief moments. More importantly, by seeing this, it helps me to maintain a balance in life and stay sane in this crazy world, though I could be the mad one instead. I would say that my entire wealth accumulation process best serves to eliminate money as an issue to give me freedom to do other things.

As such, the following story is what strikes a chord in me to write the above.

An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

“How long it took you to catch them?” The American asked.

“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.

“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.

“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”

“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?”

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, senor? Then what?”

The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”

We all like to spend money. Let’s admit it. It’s such an enjoyable experience to fork over the green paper for the things that we have always wanted, whatever it may be. Sometimes with saliva dripping out.

If I know when exactly I’m gonna die, I’ll probably time it exactly when to quit my job with enough savings, then use that money optimally on the remaining days, and then make sure to spend the last dime I have on the last day of my life. Heck, a better idea would be to take out the largest permitted amount of loan when death is around the corner (one that will cancel upon death).

Unfortunatley we don’t know when we will die. Rather sad.

Precisely because of that, the fever is ignited around personal finance blogsphere to talk about saving, budget, and retirement. From those topics, frugality is often talked about, a term for which I define as finding ways to spend money efficiently. A side effect could be the fact that some of us may become borderline-cheap, or worse yet, plain-cheap. So cheap that once it took me forever to decide to buy a simple blender.

It is important to find a way to balance between spending and saving. One helpful way of thinking is to treat every spending like an investment. In fact, I’d take out the word “like” and say that every spending is an investment.

There are so many parameters involved in life – happiness, comfort, convenience, family, stress-level, health, financial security… The list goes on and on and they are all inter-related, which makes finding a balance extra important. Now imagine that in each unit of time, each of those parameter becomes an individual stock. Now we have a stock market. We can pick which stocks and whether to invest short-term or long-term. You decide!

As such, I’d say I’ll splurge on Starbucks at lunch sometimes, despite I do have a mini-coffee-machine in office. And yes, I did read about the latte effect, and in fact, way too many times because everyone talks about it on their blogs. Currently, I switch in between Starbucks and making my own coffee. Why? I work hard to make money, and I’m ready to spend it to enjoy a Starbucks specialty drink for few moments working in the office and also for convenience because I can be quite lazy (to make my own coffee). This is short-term investing.

And then there are other things that I splurge on too, like furnitures because I prefer to be comfortable at home. And did I mention I like gadgets? These things are middle-term investing because I will enjoy these things for couple years at least. I always try to get the best quality with respect to pricing of course.

I consistently contribute to 401k, “spend” money to my high yield saving’s account, “spend” money to my Vanguard account (for index funds), “spend” money to my brokerage account (for individual stocks). These are long-term investing.

I don’t keep a budget because I like to keep it simple, though I’m sure it’s useful to a lot of people. I use software to track my accounts and expenses, and by doing so, I hold myself to follow the rule to spend less than I earn. Numbers don’t lie.

So essentially, you can spend less or earn more.
Or perhaps, spend less now in order to earn more for future!
Or perhaps, spend the same and work hard to earn more for now and future!
Or perhaps, earn more to spend more now!
Ahhhh, so many combinations…

What ever you decide to do, you are investing in SOMETHING whenever money is flowing out your pocket, whether you are conscious about what that SOMETHING is or not, like people splurging on fashion trends to compare and feel good about themselves. Not suggested but many people do it.

With this post, I can modify the said rule to something like spend less than what you earn while investing in both now and future evenly. To do so evenly, you will need to get your values in life clear, so go read my post on Understand Yourself.

Go.

I use credit cards for almost everything these days, with the exceptions occurring in Asian restaurants mostly. I like to avoid them because the few times I have to stop by ATM during the year are their fault. Paying with credit cards makes it easy to account for expenses, earns at least 1% cash back, and keeps coins out of my pockets. If you know me, asking me if I have coins is like asking your boss for a raise nowaday (you ain’t gonna get it).

So I was amazed as I stood in line at Target today. All 3 customers in front of me paid with cash, with the first one taking a good chunk of time for trying to gather an exact coinage of 88 cents. Yes, I grumbled and cursed under my breath. Given someone with basic self-control and discipline on spending, I wonder the reasons for not using credit cards.

Now for your curiosity, I was in need of a blender. To supplement my rigorous gym routine and help my muscle growth and recovery, I got this sack of whey protein powder. It is impossible to mix these powder with liquid evenly by hand, as they stuck in small globs. That’s where a blender comes in. While I could suck it up and swallow those protein globs, I am most certainly willing to pay $29.99 for a blender because protein is as tasty as Bush is pacifist.

Let me repeat, Mother Earth and Nature are precious. Sometimes we all get so caught up with our busy life and we forget. We forget that humans are part of the animal kingdom. We forget the existence of nature that sustains our livelihood. We have come to act like we are separate and bigger than nature, while the entire time…

We human beings are a part of nature…
As the air we breath.
As the water we drink.
As the ground we walk.
As the sun that shines.

Upon expressing my sentiments, a colleage shared with me a poster on his wall. It is a wonderful piece written by Chief Seattle, as a letter in response to President George Washington’s offer to purchase his tribe’s land. Upon research, I found that it is not the authentic writing. Nonetheless, I love the messages brought to life by the words.

THIS EARTH IS PRECIOUS

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

ALL SACRED

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.

Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

The white man’s dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man.

We are part of the earth and it is part of us.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers.

The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man–all belong to the same family.

NOT EASY

So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves.

He will be our father and we will be his children. So we will consider your offer to buy our land.

But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us.

This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors.

If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people.

The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.

KINDNESS

The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs.

The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on.

He leaves his father’s graves behind, and he does not care.

He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care.

His father’s grave, and his children’s birthright, are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads.

His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.

I do not know. Our ways are different from your ways.

The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand.

There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect’s wings.

But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand.

The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand.

The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond, and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with the pinion pine.

PRECIOUS

The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath–the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath.

The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes.

Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.

But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh.

And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow’s flowers.

ONE CONDITION

So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition: The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.

I am a savage and I do not understand any other way.

I’ve seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train.

I am a savage and I do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.

For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

THE ASHES

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin.

Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

This we know: The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know.

All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.

Man did not weave the web of life: he is merely a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny.

We may be brothers after all.

We shall see.

One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover, our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white.

This earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator.

The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.

But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.

That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.
Where is the thicket? Gone.
Where is the eagle? Gone.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.

Whatever we do to nature, it will come back to us. If we don’t live to experience it now, then may our children do so in our place. People can keep talking about going green. People can market about carbon offsets all they want. People can keep urging for lower emission cars. People can keep arguing. People can keep asking for more and better evidence.

In the end, if people truly care for nature and the environment, they will come to understand that we are part of nature and their action will speak such understanding. If their intention is pure, it will be clear in their action. The same for ill intention.

Everything’s connected. What we do to other things on earth will be done upon us eventually. If our doings cause fast extinction to other species, then so shall be our fate. We are part of nature. If we are harming it, we are harming us. We are all one.

Two days ago, January 3rd, my colleage talked to me about a drought in California if rain doesn’t come. We need water! Without water, none of us will live and guess what, we got what we asked for. All in one day. This makes me think, “Be careful what you ask for.” Check out this CNN article. The storm has created is so damaging that even my Comcast cable got knocked out, so no TV, no internet last night. Alright, my problem is completely minor compare to what else happened, though it did make me miss a not-so-stellar Warriors game.

Yesterday in the morning, I drove to work because my laptop was in the office. The driving condition is the worst I experience in this area. I’ve driven across country, from Bay Area to Seattle, from Florida to Michigan. The only thing worse I remember is iced and snow-filled roads in the mid-west.

Many of the highways in California are not in their best conditions, so there were a lot of puddles. I was literally hydroplaning left and right, figuratively, and let’s add gusty wind to that. It’s no wonder there were a lot of accidents, most of them due to hydroplane. For that, I will share my advice base on my driving experience.

When you hydroplane, you must steady the driving wheel. Let me repeat, you must steady the driving wheel. Only then, you steadily (slowly) turn the car back on track. Do not jerk the wheel. Again, do not jerk the wheel. Because any sudden movement to the driving wheel to change direction, your car will easily spin out of control. The key here being steady hands, and this implies that you will need to stay loose. By that, I mean relaxing and having less body tension in order to react steadily. Think martial arts, because that’s what boxers and martial artists have to do in fight.

On the other hand, you can always slow down, especially in my area because the slow lanes are safer without as many puddles. I wonder if they built the roads like that intentionally. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to drive at a snail pace once to stay out of accidents, or certain death.