Nadia Lee :: Author

mood: upbeat
current workshop: Margie Lawson’s Defeating Self-Defeating Behaviors
bought yesterday: Philips Sonicare R732 HealthyWhite Power Toothbrush

Went to McD for a Big Mac. It was that or cooking. For whatever reason, McD in Japan tastes better than McD in America. I think it’s due to the fact that Japanese franchisees use fresher veggies, etc.

Yesterday, I bought Sonicare. I’ve been thinking about buying it for a long long time. It’s less than $150 in the States. In Japan, it’s $200. (For those of you who think protective tariffs are great, this is the result — paying 25-50% more for the same stuff, just because it’s made by a non-domestic firm.) Hero Material and I used it last night, and we decided that it is indeed excellent. My teeth feel extra clean.

This Christmas / New Years, I’ve mostly bought books, some stuff from VS and so on. For whatever reason, I’m not really interested in shopping. This month I’m also going to close my HELOC account the second I pay off the balance. I don’t see any point in keeping it since the bank won’t let me withdraw any money out of it. So yes, my bank did lose a customer, but I don’t think it cares. Oh the joy of modern banking.

Hero Material and I’ve been watching The Closer recently, and who would’ve thought it would manifest in my subconscious?

A couple of nights ago, I had this weird dream that Kuro committed some kind of crime. I don’t even know what he did, but that’s not the point of my dream. The poor hamster was arrested, complete with teeny handcuffs. Shiro, with her litter, came to the police station to defend him. I was playing the Brenda Leigh Johnson character (the investigator, if you’re not familiar with the series), so of course I asked her lots of difficult questions. The poor hamster squeaked in distress, hopping around on the table, but I didn’t believe that she was telling me the truth. Meanwhile the infant hamsters were writhing on the table, blind, deaf and hairless. It was just really surreal. Kuro told Shiro he loved her, and the dream more or less ended.

On the non-weird-dream / hamster front, the weather’s been odd. The temperature plunged suddenly, and it’s freezing here. The big news here is the “massive” layoffs of maybe 2,000 workers or so by several local corporations. In Japan, there are two tiers of employment: seishain (full-time regular company workers) and contract / temporary workers. The latter category is broken down into two categories: shokutaku shain and hakken shain. Shokutaku shain is someone employed directly by the company on a short-term contractual basis, usually for a year. Hakken shain is what most Americans consider temp workers, meaning the company got them through temp agencies. When companies decide to cut costs, they usually let go of their contract / temp workers first. Currently Japan still clings to lifetime employment, and companies have certain obligations to their seishain. That includes not firing them first, paying for their health and pension insurance premiums, giving perks, bonuses, etc. (Contract / temp workers do not receive any bonuses or pay raises, etc.) Due to all this inequity in employment, a lot of non-seishain have been protesting the recent layoffs, etc. Furthermore, IBM Japan laid off its seishain (gasp!), which created even more drama. Oi.

BTW — The Big Three bailout is a huge conversation topic in Japan. After all, it does affect Japanese firms. Auto suppliers hope for the bailout since many of them have contracts with the Big Three. I enjoy reading financial analyses, etc. but if I read another person write that Japanese firms have a huge cost advantage because they get free health insurance and pension, I’m going to scream. I’ve been in two countries with nationalized health care. It is not free. Everyone must pay. People pay about $400 or so per month, and if they’re seishain, companies pay a big chunk of it. Companies also pay for their pensions. If that’s not bad enough, Japanese companies must ensure that their workers aren’t overweight or overly rotund around the middle or pay an enormous fine to the Health Ministry for overburdening the national health insurance system. Furthermore, the government had a huge screwup with its pension funds, and since Japan has too many retirees and not enough young workers, it’s planning to double the sales tax. So please, stop with all this “free” stuff.

Happy Veteran’s Day! No matter how you feel about the current war, please do thank them. They’ve served our nation with their lives so we can enjoy our freedom.

On the writing front — I’ve given up on NaNo. It’s not that I hate it or anything…well…maybe. But ultimately it just wasn’t working for me. The current project requires a bit more thought from me, esp. because I’m dealing with a brand new world and characters. Besides, I can’t write the middle section unless I’m fairly satisfied that the opening’s more or less on the right track. Why? Because I don’t want to throw away the entire manuscript and start over. So currently I’m trying to get down about 1,000 to 1,500 words a day, five days a week. I’m not aiming for a super clean first draft, but I want to be able to keep a big chunk of the storyline and so on. Already I cut about 1k from the opening I wrote during my NaNo attempt because it was just…bad. So I’ve started a new progress table (see below):

Moving on to general life matters — DD asked me about my dwarf hamsters. Shiro and Kuro are doing great. Hero Material and I spent over $100 on new cage expansions and toys for them on Sunday. They have tubes to nowhere, two wheels, a heated nest, a wooden arched bridge, a new feed box, a sand bath, a litter box, hanging wood blocks they can chew on, etc. They’re so happy in their little heated nest unit because it keeps them very warm, esp. in winter. Japanese apartments don’t have central heating, so it can be fairly cold at night. (May is convinced I’m going to be one of those hovering mothers who’s going to spoil my children rotten.)

Some pictures –

Hamster ball:

A brand new water dispenser:

A newly decorated old cage (contains: a heated nest, a water dispenser, a toilet paper core, a sand bath, a litter box):

An expansion cage / secondary unit (contains: two wheels, a water dispenser, a wooden arched bridge, a new feed box, hanging wood blocks, an L-tube):

Two wheels (one new, one old):

Tubes to nowhere (they connect the cages actually):

A bonus pic — Kuro in her brand new litter box!

Speaking of Kuro — as much as I find Shiro and Kuro adorable, I have a small…err…issue. The problem is that I cook, and sometimes even after a vigorous washing with soap, my hands smell a lil like food, so Kuro — she’s the glutton of the two — nips or just outright bites my fingers. But she climbed onto my hands last night and sat there for a bit. So for that, I’ll forgive her for trying to eat me. I even wrote a haiku dedicated to my hamsters’ uber-cuteness:

The haiku critiquer told me that maybe I should expand my imagination since mine only described something as it was. Maybe next time I’ll write about the man-eating Kuro.

BTW — The Big Three begging for $50 billion from the U.S. government made the headlines in Japan. Japanese people are astounded that the Big Three want to use $25 billion out of the amount requested on health care.

I’m usually against bailouts in general, and I’m not sure if throwing money at them is going to solve the real reason why they’re so cash-strapped: they are losing market share, and their operation is extremely inefficient.

The Big Three seem to believe it’s fashionable to blame the subprime crisis / credit crunch for their cash problems, but even when the economy was doing great, the Big Three weren’t raking in dough the way Toyota, Honda and Nissan did. Since Ford has just decided to ramp up its gas-guzzling F-series truck production (hey, the gas price fell!), I’m not convinced that the Big Three will use any of the money to build more fuel-efficient environment-friendly cars. Also I don’t think the Big Three will be able to survive even after the $50 billion bailout. Why? Because they can’t force people to abandon their Japanese and German cars and buy the Big Three cars. Legislating people to buy American cars would be the least American thing to do, and unless the Big Three can make stylish, fuel-efficient and reliable cars that American public wants to buy, they will continue to burn cash at an exponential rate and ultimately fail. There’s a reason why Deutsche Bank downgraded GM target price to $0.00 / share yesterday.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a haiku I wrote a couple of weeks ago in my Japanese class. The topic was seasonal joys.

Andrew Lahde is a hedge fund manager, in case any one’s wondering. His letter really resonated with me.

October 17, 2008

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list of those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they lookforward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life – where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management – with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant – marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say goodbye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

From today’s New York Times comes this gem:

…an American Express cardholder whose maximum has been reduced to $1,000 from $1,200 has that much less to spend on clothing or meals out, purchases that lift the economy.

I really hope the New York Times business section gets better writers.

An American Express cardholder whose maximum has been reduced by $200 and thus is unable to spend that amount on clothing or dining out has no business buying clothes or dining out in the first place. An economy floating on debts that people can’t pay back can’t sustain itself. That’s the main reason for the current financial crisis. People in America are generally overextended. That’s why when they lose their jobs for even a couple of months, they’re unable to pay their bills and fall behind.

It’s astounding that some people are still advocating unsustainable consumer spending as the primary means of “fixing” the economy.

Status: Am feeling a bit better about life in general. I realized that I had a little more cash than I initially estimated, so that makes me feel relaxed about it, somewhat. (see below for why)

I’m convinced that there’s some kind of evil retrograde somewhere.

Why?

My RAM died. The merchant’s being as difficult as possible with the return.

My dishwasher died. It needs to be replaced, most likely, since the current unit’s old. This is a completely unexpected and unplanned expenditure, but it must be spent.

Yesterday, my site died. It was the new plugin I installed for WP, and it killed my blog. MySQL refused to import my back-ups. I almost died until I found a file that it would import. If you see any errors on the site, please let me know!

Despite it all, I’m trying to stay optimistic. I’m going through the latest draft of Slayer. I can’t believe I missed some of the continuity errors that occurred when I made some changes to the story. I was 500% embarrassed when I discovered them.

One thing that’s really difficult for me is the amount of work that is required for the newly added materials. Unlike some writers who I envy, I’m not the most polished writer. It takes me a while to get it to flow just right. So the new materials take several days before they’re on par with the other more polished scenes.

Currently I’m using iPod Touch to review my manuscript. I downloaded an app called Files. It works great for me because it can read *.doc and not destroy all my formatting. (I’m very particular about formatting.) So I’m saving money on paper & printer cartridge. The price of paper went up about 50-100% in Japan, depending on what grade, size, etc. So I’m trying to find ways to reduce the amount of paper, etc. I use as much as possible. Does this mean I’ll never print my entire ms? Nope. I like to see stuff on papers. I catch different things on different medium. But Files is one of the tools I can use.

The New York Times published an article titled “Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt”. I think everyone should read it. It’s a sobering look at what happens when you finance your lifestyle with credit cards and other debts.

However, before you read it, I must warn you that the article’s author is somewhat…financially illiterate. For example she wrote:

Household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, represents 19 percent of household assets, according to the Fed, compared with 13 percent in 1980.

I hate to say it, but “household debt, including mortgages and credit cards” cannot be called “assets”. They’re liabilities. Anything takes cash and/or other assets from you is a liability. And it sucks and must be avoided at all costs.

The article also comes with some videos. They’re very sad, but they don’t always illustrate exactly what is driving the engine of over-spending and over-consumption. The people featured have absolutely no savings or assets to fall back on. They’re living paycheck to paycheck, and they’re unable to do anything about it. That’s why even a minor disaster can hit them hard and push them into foreclosures and bankruptcies. The absolute tragedy of it all is that it’s not uncommon to see people like this in America.

One of the videos features an old lady who didn’t save any money because she wanted to give her children better clothes and so on. But she’s never given a thought about her financial future. I’m not sure if that was necessarily wise, although I’m sure her children appreciated the lifestyle she’s given them.

My parents were the exact opposite. My closet was woefully empty of pretty clothes. I think I had mostly jeans and t-shirts, and to be honest, I hated shopping for clothes because I knew I wouldn’t get the kind of stylish clothes my high school friends had. I also owned about four pairs of shoes. But right now, my parents own their home outright (they bought it in 1999) and have some savings to fall back on in case of emergency. They helped me pay for my college education, and with the financial aid and my summer jobs, I graduated without any college loans or credit card debt. They taught me the danger of relying on credit cards, and I wasn’t allowed to use mine except for the most extreme emergencies. They also taught me how to balance my check book, how to save and how to manage cash flow. Their mantra still is “hoarding cash or cash-generating assets is the best; borrowing is for the weak-willed”. They think that people who cannot delay gratification or deal with their emotions make poor purchasing decisions and use credit cards to buy non-cash-generating assets (meaning cars, clothes, shoes, handbags, etc.) they cannot afford in the first place.

Although I hated their extreme frugality when I was growing up, now I appreciate the fact that they taught me the value of money. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to survive this long as a non-income generating writer without the financial discipline they’d taught me. And after reading the article, I feel like I’m one of the rarest breed of American women who don’t get the therapeutic effect of shopping. I usually find shopping highly stressful because I see it as a cash-flowing-out-of-my-bank-account-and-I-feel-poor event.

How about you? What do you wish you knew about personal finance? Do you have any cool tips and tricks on how to manage money better?