No kidding. The Hong Kong government is giving away HK$6,000 to every Hong Kong resident over 18, because the government monetary reserve is overflowing with money. With the top-of-the-line iPad 2 priced at HK$5,688, the $6K will be more than enough to cover the cost of a new iPad, with spare change for the Smart Cover.
Then of course some of us will use the money to help alleviate the rapid inflation on food and other basic necessities.
It’s near Chinese New Year, and if you think the global recession is affecting consumers and businesses in Hong Kong, you’d be wrong. Everywhere I go, there are tons of people. I’ve been trying to get tickets to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for two days in a row, but they’re sold out, even for a matinée. I have to wait to be served to buy underwear at Calvin Klein, and it’s not even on sale. Even Pacific Coffee at Festival Walk was full when I walked in, and this place is huge. To be fair, I read that fewer people are traveling during CNY because of the economy, so that could account for the crowds at home. Anyway, it’s great to see that things look booming during the new year, and I hope it can keep it that way throughout.
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It’s a new year. A new day. Though 2008 was a year of losses, I’m still thankful for the much that I have left. I am also thankful the global crisis hit early in my life, where I can still recover, and learn the signs to stay away from the next one. Not so lucky are those who are near or at retirement age.
Finally, I am thankful that my losses are only financial, which are not nearly as important as losses that are personal and dear to my heart. To put things in perspective, 2008 was a year of big losses, but also a year of big personal growth and gain. I am forever wiser for it.
Happy New Year! Happy 2009!
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2008 has been a year of big losses for me, at least financially. I lost big on my properties, and even bigger on my stocks. Yet, I am only one of the many casualties of the global economic crisis. Never have I experienced anything that hit so swiftly, so hard. Sure, I read about it in books, and heard from elders who lived through it, but it never registered, as though it could never happen to me.
Now that I have experienced it first-hand, I can learn to respect its ferocity, its impartialness. Everyone is a target. We can’t stop it when it hits, but we can try to get out of the way early, to cut our losses.
Patience is a virtue, not a cliché. Don’t rush into decisions when they are money decisions. If you spend more time picking clothes than you do stocks, then that says a lot about your lack of taste in stocks.
Love your investments but don’t fall in love with them. It clouds good judgement. It makes you hang on when it’s time to let go.
Those are the rules I shall live by to prevent myself from becoming a casualty again when the next crisis hits.
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