A Little Life Experience

For about a year in my life, I worked with a Taiwanese-American (born in the US from parents who immigrated to the US in the late 1980s).  He was married to a Taiwanese-American as well (same story with her parents).

As each week went by, you'd come to notice little things about economics, balancing budgets, frugal ways, and disciplined spending. 

His wife had him on a simple $10 a week budget...enough to buy a daily paper, a cup of coffee, and on rare occasions a soda (it had to be via our cheapo snacko fund...the 40-cent Coke from the Commissary). 

His wife drove him to work, and dropped him off. 

Nothing was ever dry-cleaned except his combo-one jacket and slacks.  Everything else....the wife washed and pressed for him.

Each morning, she prepared a lunch-bag....some fruit, a cup of noodles, and occasionally some Taiwanese sweet bread treat. 

The family car had been a careful decision.....something without maintenance issues and had to have good gas mileage. 

Any purchase situation requiring more than $100 had to be met upon by the two and mutually agreed upon.  Either could veto the purchase.

After about six months of this....I sat one afternoon and had a 45-minute chat about this lifestyle.  He pointed out....his parents did the same logical sense of economics.  He was 'blessed' as a kid.....getting all of these important lessons.  Via the Air Force college program, he'd spent very little of his parents money on college.  He'd gone to a respectful university but nothing outrageous on cost. 

All of this was built into his thinking process.  He was geared to get ahead.....as was his wife.  I asked if it was possible for a Taiwanese guy to have a high-maintenance wife, and he just started laughing.....for him, this meant the wife buying a single pair of $100 Nike jogging shoes, which was something that she'd never do. 

These are people who'd never waste $200 on a tattoo, $40k on an expensive car, or go on a luxury week-long tour of NY City.  These are also people who'd never spend $300 on a weekend binge of cocaine, throw out $12k on a bass-boat, spend $150 on a hooker, or spend more than $10 on a baseball game entry ticket (taking their own popcorn along to snack on). 

A couple of years later, I came across a South Korean-American, and it was basically the same way.  He'd admit that once a month he'd buy a $3 lotto card....which he never told the wife about (she'd freak out over that habit). 

There is something here that we all might want to learn about, and educate ourselves upon.