My Personal Experience with Chinese Money Habits

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I know I promised a few articles on the different types of self-employed retirement plans, as well as, a follow up post to the ‘fee only vs. fee based’ debate that occurred in the comments section of my Interview with Dylan Ross. And that’s all going to happen this week.

I will post the ‘fee only/fee based‘ article tomorrow, followed by 4 separate posts addressing the pros and cons of SEP’s, SIMPLE’s, KEOGH’s and SOLO 401(k)’s. But first, I wanted to squeeze in a quasi off-topic post, inspired by something that caught my eye late last week.

Last Thursday, I read an interesting article over on Wise Bread titled Chinese Money Habits - How My Culture Influences My Attitudes Towards Money. I thought that post by Xin Lu was incredibly valuable because it shed some light on to something most Americans know little about.

I think a lot of us are hearing more and more about China in the news, but for the most part, the manner in which the average Chinese lives their life remains an enigma to the average American.

I’m not sure why that is, maybe it’s a lack of interest on our part, or the Chinese governments’ unwillingness to openly share information about what happens in their country, or maybe it’s a language issue. My conclusion: it’s a bit of all three.

My personal experience in China

I was fortunate enough to spend 5 days in Beijing, China in November of 2004. It was an eye opening experience and one I thoroughly enjoyed. In response to the Wise Bread article, I added some remarks on my StumbleUpon page that I’d like to share here:

This is a wonderfully educational and insightful article on the way Chinese people view money. Especially interesting was the high regard held for frugality.

I’m not sure if I should be surprised that their views towards money are so different, after all, China has been a poor country for a long time and growing up here (with so much) and a much higher per capita income, as an American you’re conditioned (culturally) to be a consumer right from birth. So many options here vs so few there, I think that accounts for many of the differences; the Chinese are conditioned (culturally) to save, as the author points out.

I was in China in November 2004 and one of the things that bugged me was the haggling you had to do everywhere you turned, in fact, it really took away from my experience of going to the Great Wall. When I think back to it now, the first thing I remember was the 1/4 mile of make-shift shops and hagglers that lined the path all the way up to the entrance, trying to sell you something.

Very interesting country, I brought a football with me into the Forbidden City and I think it was the first time many had seen one, everybody wanted to trade me for it, I ended up running away from all the people pulling at me.

Other things I remember from that trip: there was construction everywhere and a haze over the city, you could see the dust and soot in the air and on people’s clothes, locals had those little masks over their mouths to protect from breathing all of it in, Marlboro lights were $1 a pack, and there was a McDonald’s on almost every urban street corner.

A little background

I went to China because Northwest airlines offered an incredible deal - round trip for $350! (Yeah I know, unreal price -  and we flew Business class on the way back, as well!) My friend (who is Chinese) told a bunch of people about it and a group of us were able to book last minute tickets.

My friend Tony

He and his wife go back to China often to visit family and he told me recently that I wouldn’t even recognize the area we stayed in. He said all the buildings (from back in 2004) are complete and there is a highway overpass alongside the housing complex we stayed in, which I don’t even remember being under construction.

Tony is a top level actuary here and earns a fantastic living, but he recently told me he is entertaining the idea of moving back to China… they are willing to pay him quite a bit more than what he is earning here, wow!

China is growing by leaps and bounds, and after reading the Wise Bread post, it seems the people have a healthy attitude towards money, as well…

Tags: My Two Cents