Today at least 2 people raised the alarm to me : THB is so expensive now!!! Shopping will be more expensive! That's so true, and I have missed the boat again, sat on the thought of looking at stock/funds in thailand but never acted on it.. oh well. My colleague in london is also lamenting that housing and everything else are getting very expensive these days he might need to fly to New York to shop... GBP hits 26 yr high againest the USD!
Beside lamenting, I don't really have a lot of good tips to share... especially when I don't have much to invest in.... sigh.
Just saw a notice in TODAY soliciting nomination for a "Life Long Learner" award. That instantly reminds me of my mother. Not only is she wise, kind, and loving (all the grand children adore her!), she demonstrated the traditional (and fast disappearing) qualities of Chinese women -- Hardworking, sacrificial (always putting the needs of family ahead of hers), and showed us the spirit of life-long learning despite obstacles and hardship. The early part of her life must have been a familiar story... eldest of 7 children, she could only afford a few years of primary school education before she had to work and take care of the whole household (cooking,cleaning, tailoring, etc) at the age of 12. Married and started a family at 21, she never had comfortable life... imagine selling Pisang Goreng at a street side push-cart, through her third pregnancy...
I remember during my secondary school days, she bought a set of English-tuition cassette tapes and learned English by the Cassette player every night after all the chores, and finally qualified for some quality-control post in a micro-chips factory. Not only that, she had to learn about book keeping, journal entires, ledger posting so she could help my dad with his part-time accounting work. And through her last few years of working (when I was in the University), she persisted through a long and tiring routine everyday : waking up at 4+am every day to do laundry, prepare breakfast, then leave for a 7am-3pm shift work, sweep and mop floor after she reached home, and cook dinner. Her day only ends after she washed all the dishes (we help occasionally, but she insisted we focus on our studies and rest), ironed some clothes, read the newspapers. She is finally retired now, but she has found new focus in learning about investing in the stock market, frequently attending seminars organized by the SGX, and also took up computer/internet lessons at the CC... truly a life-long learner...
I think I am really lucky to have such an admiring mother... and I doubt I have achieved half as much as her (hardship-adjusted speaking)...
No comments:
Post a Comment