Dearest readers, hope you’re caught up in the spirit of the season. Shopping, office parties, Xmas parties with family and friends...it’s all so much fun! Even those of us who work long hours and are entrepreneurially minded let loose a bit when we see joy everywhere around us. Along the lines of New Year’s resolutions though, I’ve been thinking a lot about, well, thinking! This time of year, I like to get in touch with friends and family from many parts of the world. Similarly, many people I know go away on vacations and come back with new ideas and perspectives acquired while talking to international strangers staying at the same resorts. When you start thinking after being exposed to all of these new (or new again) ideas, you realize something you often forget living in North America. The places around the world are infinitely complex and varied, there are many permutations of major regional cultures, and there is legitimately no such thing as globalism or global culture- regardless of how much some politicians and corporate lobbies would like us to think so. With that said, regardless of the fact that not everyone out there as fortunate as we are here in North America, there are still plenty of excellent ideas from around the world that could be very useful here, even if the places they come from are not as well-off as ours is.
Let’s have a look at a few to see what I’m getting at.
Bullying, whether cyber or real life, is becoming more prevalent in North America and especially among kids. Or, more likely, those bullied succumb to it with increasingly severe consequences, and the bullies use that fuel to bully even more, totally unchecked. Kids are more likely to get shocked, depressed or even suicidal when they get bullied because they have no training in coping mechanisms or, better yet, in identifying bullies and how to deal with them. Usually, the kids getting bullied are nerds, shy kids, kids who are a little off (don’t make me get into details, you get what I mean), or chubby kids. So, I have friends who came here from the rougher side of Europe haha, and they can’t believe what bullies get away with here. They tell me that back where they’re from, starting at elementary school, the bully vs bullied dynamic is different. There’s this trick trick kids learn how to use early on. Let’s take the chubby kids, for example. Here in North America, they often get shamed, bullied and then they get horribly down and even depressed, if not worse. In the rougher parts of Europe, the chubby kids know they are usually taller, bigger and stronger than their bullies. Oh, and they meet the bullies head on. When a bully calls them fat etc, the chubby kid says oh yeah, well that’s not what your mom said last night! Or, something else totally offensive to the bully. It has to be so insulting that there are only two outcomes left. Outcome 1- bully deescalates, takes a step back because the only step forward would be the use of violence by both kids. Outcome 2- the bully takes that step forward and gets their ass kicked by the bigger, stronger chubby kid. There is no other outcome, ever. 9 times out of 10, the bully will take a step back to avoid violence. The bullied chubby kid will not go through depression, problems at school, eating even more or getting suicidal. Case closed. Now let’s say we’re talking about nerdy kids getting bullied. In smaller, rougher European countries, kids get chivalrous early on- usually because of a strong ethnic cohesion, national identity and a sense of closeness, camaraderie that’s on a whole new level. When a bully goes too far bullying a nerdy kid, the rest of the class swarms and overwhelms the bully, making the bully back the hell off. I jokingly ask my friends if this has something to do with the socialist heritage of collectivism; they don’t like that haha. Whatever the case may be, bullying gets limited and regulated in most cases before getting completely out of hand.
Speaking of kids, though a little bit older (high school kids), many of them who live in other parts of the world benefit tremendously from the proliferation of trade high school and trades being seen as an excellent, well-appreciated and rewarding fit for many kids. This is something severely lacking in both USA and Canada, and even basic Google news searches will confirm this if you didn’t know it already. Let’s face a few things. First, not everyone is born with the talents, and not everyone excels equally at all skill sets. All of us are cursed with being excellent at something, while completely lacking at something else altogether. Some kids are born to become masters at different trades, and manu places around the world start training them from high school level. Trade careers are highly lucrative, can be done safely for decades without serious injury, have excellent starting salaries, and allow people to start their own businesses often with less money or easier access to loans. Also, many trades don’t require a feverish climb up a career ladder and a thousand certificate courses just so you can keep up with the costs of being a parent or hell, inflation itself. Also, if you have the propensity towards intelligent design, you can invent new ways of doing something in your trade cash it in big time! Sure, some trades are tough and not particularly clean, but how tough and how dirty depends on you and how you position yourself in your workspace- same as in any other sector! And, as long as we can’t outsource car repairs to other countries or bring over enough mechanics (for example), job security and financial well-being is there for the taking if you were born to excel at trades. Not every suit job is good. I’ve seen plenty of people wearing suits offering credit cards at the local grocery store, working on commission, so to me a suit in and of itself means very little without a good story about why you put it on. Other parts of the world that pay more respect to careers in trades are much better off for it, and we need to collectively take notice of that.
Speaking of starting businesses, another thing that I hear my friends talk about is how people from other countries tell them they think North America is caught up in an entrepreneurship fever- perhaps to the point it got so high it’s giving us brain damage. Canada is still considered the land of entrepreneurs, as is USA. However, the idea of being your own boss and the myths of boundless benefits that entails vs working for someone else has made more people than ever disrespect employment and rush into going off on their own. In many other countries- both developed and developing- people are cautiously optimistic about starting businesses, and that’s that. They know it’s a huge risk, there’s often less access to cheap loans so the business plan needs to be rock solid, you really need to know what you’re doing, you need to bootstrap it almost all the time, and unlike in North America you can truly lose everything if you fail (not every country has equally great consumer protection in place). Oh, and people in many other countries don’t even announce to the world they have a business until it starts going very well and they can invest a lot in it. For example, some person doing gigs online out of a modest home office would not be taken seriously as a business in many parts of the world. It would be classified as something you’re doing to try to get things going. Once you have a nice office and really start raking it in, then people truly begin to take notice. So, the bar for starting a business and being seen as a business person is much higher abroad. Seeing the positives and negatives of entrepreneurship clear as day and having people throw cautionary tales at you all the time is something we can certainly learn from on the continent where 9 times out of 10 we’re inundated solely with success stories. In order to truly succeed, we need to know not only how to succeed, but also how we can fail- the latter is not always obvious.
A final point I’d like to mention that often comes up when you talk about money with people from other parts of the world is that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to save more of your monthly pay so you can invest it and see it grow over time. Some of the biggest savers in the world are in countries like Singapore and Japan. This propensity towards saving is worthwhile. True, our North American consumerism has spurred wealth and development in other countries. We buy a lot, we buy often, and we go in debt over it. Meanwhile, our savings and investment contributions decrease. Some people think that it’s ok to do it for now and start saving when they get a promotion and bigger pay. The problem is, consumerism is like a wheel that keeps spinning faster and faster, and it feels so good you don’t want it to stop. Sadly, the speed at which many of us progress in life and get more money simply cannot keep up. So, out of control consumerism keeps us happy and unhappy at the same time. Still, it doesn’t have to be this way. Countries like Japan and Singapore have strong economies despite the overall propensity of their people to save lots of money. The markets adjust to that and all is well. This is how it should be. The markets should adjust to consumers’ spending abilities; consumers shouldn’t be pushed to adjust their spending habits. Oh, and pushed to spend too much is exactly what we get in North America. But think about it; if more people cooked more often, the number of restaurants out there would have to adjust. If we bought and kept our phones based on how well they work, not how they look, there would be less smartphone companies releasing less flagships. That still doesn’t mean those companies would do poorly just because we buy less. Hell, if you bought a $1,000 smartphone every 4-5 years, you could afford to pay a bit more and then they could even be manufactured in North America! What a radical idea (not, haha). In between selling these flaghsips, the manufacturers could focus on user experience, apps and entertainment instead of incremental updates that we shouldn’t have to spend on every 1 or 2 years. It’s not like us spending hand over fist is guaranteed to result in more efficient and brilliant product research and development (no guarantees there…). Just imagine how much money is being diverted away from savings and investments in North America and your head may spin. As for those who say that investment is risky because of ups and downs, check out the S&P 500 Investment Calculator at https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/ . Do a calculation and you’ll see that, given enough time, you’ll be up way more than the amount you put away no matter what was happening with the economy, no matter the ups and downs… It seems that taking a hint about putting away more money and investing it is far better for our economy and society than creating a consumer purchase habit bubble that will wreak havoc once it explodes.
There you have it, dearest readers- a couple of ideas that pop up when I get into smart conversations with a diverse group of people. Until next time, stay warm, happy and have fun :)
Let’s have a look at a few to see what I’m getting at.
Bullying, whether cyber or real life, is becoming more prevalent in North America and especially among kids. Or, more likely, those bullied succumb to it with increasingly severe consequences, and the bullies use that fuel to bully even more, totally unchecked. Kids are more likely to get shocked, depressed or even suicidal when they get bullied because they have no training in coping mechanisms or, better yet, in identifying bullies and how to deal with them. Usually, the kids getting bullied are nerds, shy kids, kids who are a little off (don’t make me get into details, you get what I mean), or chubby kids. So, I have friends who came here from the rougher side of Europe haha, and they can’t believe what bullies get away with here. They tell me that back where they’re from, starting at elementary school, the bully vs bullied dynamic is different. There’s this trick trick kids learn how to use early on. Let’s take the chubby kids, for example. Here in North America, they often get shamed, bullied and then they get horribly down and even depressed, if not worse. In the rougher parts of Europe, the chubby kids know they are usually taller, bigger and stronger than their bullies. Oh, and they meet the bullies head on. When a bully calls them fat etc, the chubby kid says oh yeah, well that’s not what your mom said last night! Or, something else totally offensive to the bully. It has to be so insulting that there are only two outcomes left. Outcome 1- bully deescalates, takes a step back because the only step forward would be the use of violence by both kids. Outcome 2- the bully takes that step forward and gets their ass kicked by the bigger, stronger chubby kid. There is no other outcome, ever. 9 times out of 10, the bully will take a step back to avoid violence. The bullied chubby kid will not go through depression, problems at school, eating even more or getting suicidal. Case closed. Now let’s say we’re talking about nerdy kids getting bullied. In smaller, rougher European countries, kids get chivalrous early on- usually because of a strong ethnic cohesion, national identity and a sense of closeness, camaraderie that’s on a whole new level. When a bully goes too far bullying a nerdy kid, the rest of the class swarms and overwhelms the bully, making the bully back the hell off. I jokingly ask my friends if this has something to do with the socialist heritage of collectivism; they don’t like that haha. Whatever the case may be, bullying gets limited and regulated in most cases before getting completely out of hand.
Speaking of kids, though a little bit older (high school kids), many of them who live in other parts of the world benefit tremendously from the proliferation of trade high school and trades being seen as an excellent, well-appreciated and rewarding fit for many kids. This is something severely lacking in both USA and Canada, and even basic Google news searches will confirm this if you didn’t know it already. Let’s face a few things. First, not everyone is born with the talents, and not everyone excels equally at all skill sets. All of us are cursed with being excellent at something, while completely lacking at something else altogether. Some kids are born to become masters at different trades, and manu places around the world start training them from high school level. Trade careers are highly lucrative, can be done safely for decades without serious injury, have excellent starting salaries, and allow people to start their own businesses often with less money or easier access to loans. Also, many trades don’t require a feverish climb up a career ladder and a thousand certificate courses just so you can keep up with the costs of being a parent or hell, inflation itself. Also, if you have the propensity towards intelligent design, you can invent new ways of doing something in your trade cash it in big time! Sure, some trades are tough and not particularly clean, but how tough and how dirty depends on you and how you position yourself in your workspace- same as in any other sector! And, as long as we can’t outsource car repairs to other countries or bring over enough mechanics (for example), job security and financial well-being is there for the taking if you were born to excel at trades. Not every suit job is good. I’ve seen plenty of people wearing suits offering credit cards at the local grocery store, working on commission, so to me a suit in and of itself means very little without a good story about why you put it on. Other parts of the world that pay more respect to careers in trades are much better off for it, and we need to collectively take notice of that.
Speaking of starting businesses, another thing that I hear my friends talk about is how people from other countries tell them they think North America is caught up in an entrepreneurship fever- perhaps to the point it got so high it’s giving us brain damage. Canada is still considered the land of entrepreneurs, as is USA. However, the idea of being your own boss and the myths of boundless benefits that entails vs working for someone else has made more people than ever disrespect employment and rush into going off on their own. In many other countries- both developed and developing- people are cautiously optimistic about starting businesses, and that’s that. They know it’s a huge risk, there’s often less access to cheap loans so the business plan needs to be rock solid, you really need to know what you’re doing, you need to bootstrap it almost all the time, and unlike in North America you can truly lose everything if you fail (not every country has equally great consumer protection in place). Oh, and people in many other countries don’t even announce to the world they have a business until it starts going very well and they can invest a lot in it. For example, some person doing gigs online out of a modest home office would not be taken seriously as a business in many parts of the world. It would be classified as something you’re doing to try to get things going. Once you have a nice office and really start raking it in, then people truly begin to take notice. So, the bar for starting a business and being seen as a business person is much higher abroad. Seeing the positives and negatives of entrepreneurship clear as day and having people throw cautionary tales at you all the time is something we can certainly learn from on the continent where 9 times out of 10 we’re inundated solely with success stories. In order to truly succeed, we need to know not only how to succeed, but also how we can fail- the latter is not always obvious.
A final point I’d like to mention that often comes up when you talk about money with people from other parts of the world is that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to save more of your monthly pay so you can invest it and see it grow over time. Some of the biggest savers in the world are in countries like Singapore and Japan. This propensity towards saving is worthwhile. True, our North American consumerism has spurred wealth and development in other countries. We buy a lot, we buy often, and we go in debt over it. Meanwhile, our savings and investment contributions decrease. Some people think that it’s ok to do it for now and start saving when they get a promotion and bigger pay. The problem is, consumerism is like a wheel that keeps spinning faster and faster, and it feels so good you don’t want it to stop. Sadly, the speed at which many of us progress in life and get more money simply cannot keep up. So, out of control consumerism keeps us happy and unhappy at the same time. Still, it doesn’t have to be this way. Countries like Japan and Singapore have strong economies despite the overall propensity of their people to save lots of money. The markets adjust to that and all is well. This is how it should be. The markets should adjust to consumers’ spending abilities; consumers shouldn’t be pushed to adjust their spending habits. Oh, and pushed to spend too much is exactly what we get in North America. But think about it; if more people cooked more often, the number of restaurants out there would have to adjust. If we bought and kept our phones based on how well they work, not how they look, there would be less smartphone companies releasing less flagships. That still doesn’t mean those companies would do poorly just because we buy less. Hell, if you bought a $1,000 smartphone every 4-5 years, you could afford to pay a bit more and then they could even be manufactured in North America! What a radical idea (not, haha). In between selling these flaghsips, the manufacturers could focus on user experience, apps and entertainment instead of incremental updates that we shouldn’t have to spend on every 1 or 2 years. It’s not like us spending hand over fist is guaranteed to result in more efficient and brilliant product research and development (no guarantees there…). Just imagine how much money is being diverted away from savings and investments in North America and your head may spin. As for those who say that investment is risky because of ups and downs, check out the S&P 500 Investment Calculator at https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/ . Do a calculation and you’ll see that, given enough time, you’ll be up way more than the amount you put away no matter what was happening with the economy, no matter the ups and downs… It seems that taking a hint about putting away more money and investing it is far better for our economy and society than creating a consumer purchase habit bubble that will wreak havoc once it explodes.
There you have it, dearest readers- a couple of ideas that pop up when I get into smart conversations with a diverse group of people. Until next time, stay warm, happy and have fun :)