HALF A MILLIONAIRE

The physician: I have spent twelve years in high school, four years for undergraduate study, four years in medical school and two years in residency, so I have the right to charge you whatever I want. My student loans total about $300,000, so I have the right to charge you whatever I want. This clinic costs me thousands to operate, so I have the right to charge you whatever I want. My malpractice insurance costs me about $100,000 per year, so I have the right to charge you whatever I want. If I make a mistake, you can take me to court. And, probably, you will be awarded millions. I did have passion when I was in school. But, in the real world, I must protect myself. And, I have the right to make a lot of money because I am a licensed professional. Not everyone can do what I do. You pay a high price to see me because I am one of the best. That is how capitalism works. You can seek another doctor if you want to save some money.

The patient: (silent)

The insurance company: If you read section IV, Part 3, Paragraph (i), Point (a), it tells you that your condition is not covered by your current plan because it is classified as a pre-existing disease, meaning you had had it for years before you bought our product. We understand that you possibly did not know about it. Or, perhaps, you did know about the disease but lied to us when you purchased our product. Honestly, had you told us about your condition, I am assuming that if you had known, we would not have sold our product to you in the first place anyway. Sorry, we are in this business to make a profit. 

The patient: That is ridiculous. I have been paying a very high premium. And, now, when I need it most, you deny to take care of me. Honest to God, I did not know anything about the condition. I am not a doctor, you know. But, the reason I buy insurance is to protect me in a situation like this one. Is there anything that I can do? Can I appeal?

The insurance company: We have to charge you a high premium to cover our costs. Again, we are a publicly traded company, so we must make a profit. Also, when you have time, take a look at your bill, last month you had a cataract surgery on your left eye, your doctor charged us ten thousands dollars. There are doctors out there who are very greedy and dishonest. They overcharged us. And, many of them even charge money for procedures that they do not perform. To answer your question, I do not know exactly how the appealing process works, but I will be glad to find out. Can I call you back in a few days?

The patient (confused and lost): Yes, please. Bye now.

President Obama: I am deeply sorry to hear your story. I know that many others are facing the same problem as you are. I want everyone to have health coverage because I believe that it is one of the fundamental rights promised to us and that is that we all have the right to pursue “happiness”. To be happy, we must feel secured about our job, our family, our retirement, our health, etc. My idea is to insert into our current healthcare system a public option that is more affordable and most importantly covers all members and their dependents without the pre-existing condition bull, please excuse my language. But, there are many cowboys and hotshots in Congress who oppose my plan because they think it will cost too much money to run. They are afraid that the government will fail because everything the government touches turns into cow dung. I just want to do it because we have been waiting for too long. So many have been suffering. Let us use tax payers’ money to take care of tax payers. I know the line will be long when you go to the hospital, but at least you know you will receive care. The doctors might not be the best and brightest, but they would be good enough to get the job done. I know that many will abuse the system to steal money from tax payers. But, hey, no system is perfect. I will fix it as I go. I hope I will be re-elected because there are so many things that I want to do for you. And, I need more than four years. And, I need your support to bring changes to America. I promise you that.

The patient (smiled and felt comforted): Thank you.

My personal opinion

I support the public option because my heart tells me that it is the right thing to do. I am willing to pay higher taxes to take care of my less fortunate neighbors. I am not trying to be a hero. Simply, I just believe that because life is short, we all need to be less greedy and more compassionate. However, I will not stop fighting to become wealthy because although money cannot buy happiness, it can buy me a lot of time. And, time is what I value the most.

About a month ago, I turned my house upside down and still could not locate my cell phone. I used my wife’s to call myself in hope that I would hear it ring, but I got the voicemail box, instead. Finally, I found it in my car, out of battery. I had not touched it for more than three weeks. It revealed to me that if I had been able to live without it for almost a month, then, perhaps, I did not really need it. I communicated my discovery to my wife, and she concurred. She suggested that we should switch to a prepay plan to save some money. I researched on the prepay concept. And, together, my wife and I, happily, entered the stone age. 

When I told my friends–lovers of Apple iphone, Palm Pre and BlackBerry–that I had changed my phone plan to prepay, they replied with silence. Then, they all laughed when one said, “you did the right thing because no one was calling you anyway.” They were right. I looked around the cafetaria, and everyone seemed to have a toy in one hand and a fork in the other. Some were checking their stock portfolio. Some were opening emails. Some were reading the news. I felt so insignificant. I felt as though I was the only person who had nothing to worry about. I was just glad that my name was not Fred Flintstone. Did I oversimplify my life?

Prepay Options:

1) Unlimited Calling Plan: This plan charges three dollars (”Daily Access Fee”) when one uses one’s phone. For the entire day, after paying the $3 fee, all domestic calls (including U.S. territories) are free. We do not choose this plan because we are not phone-talkers.

2) Mobile to Mobile Plan: The Daily Access Fee (DAF) is one dollar when one first uses one’s phone. For the entire day, one can make “unlimited” mobile to mobile calls. For example, if we pick this plan, my wife and I can talk to each other on the phone the entire day for free after we have paid the $1 DAF because we both use the same phone company (mobile to mobile). If I call my brother and he uses another phone company (not mobile to mobile), then I will be charged 10 cents per minute (a flat rate). We do not choose this plan because we do not use our phones that much.

3) Simple Rate Plan: This plan does not charge the Daily Access Fee. One pays a flat rate of 25 cents per minute when one uses one’s phone. We pick this plan because it is simple. However, the bad thing about this plan is that if I call my wife on her cell phone, each of us will be charged 25 cents per minute separately. So, instead of talking to each other on our cell phones, our strategy is to use our landline phone as much as we can. Why do we still have a landline phone? We have been using it mostly for international calls.

How much do we save? Each of us fills up our own account with one hundred dollars (good for a year). Let us say that if eleven months have passed and each of us has only spent $80, do we lose $20? The answer is “no”. However, if we want to keep the $20 leftover, we must continue to add more money. Each of us can add $100 more to our respective account, and the total amount will become $120, which will be good for another year. One does not have to add $100 for the whole year. Alternatively, one can choose to add $15 per month, or $75 for nine months, and the key thing to remember is that one must continue adding money to keep the leftover money from the previous period alive. The phone company’s strategy is to force the participants to use up their money as quickly as possible. However, we believe that we can still gain from playing this game because our goal is to only spend a total of $200 in one year. And, if we adhere to our game plan, we can save about $760 per year because our current phone bill is about $80 per month. How much is $760? Annually, we pay approximately the same amount for our electricity. We can use it to invest or pay down debt.

Honestly, I did not want to switch to prepay because I thought that the saving would be minimal. However, my wife was right when she said, “saving is saving no matter how small”. I realized that it is not just about how much one can save, but it is more about building a mentality that focuses on saving. I have a plan to become wealthy, and I must execute it. I have to take small steps in the beginning. And, I believe that the ending of this journey will be much easier. I have so much fun playing this game because I am aware of the fact that I can “never” lose.

Baseball is not my favorite sport, but I like its history. The game’s greatest player is Babe Ruth, who in 1927 handed out 60 homeruns or 14% of all homeruns hit in the American League that year. To match this percentage, a player in the modern era would have to hit 340 homeruns in a season. In 2001, Barry Bonds set the single-season record for homeruns with 73 amid the steroid scandal. I am not in a position to judge Barry Bonds and his record. However, I would like to point out that ”steroid” has forced me to divide the history of baseball into two parts: 1) Baseball in its originality and 2) Baseball in the steroid era. Many argue that steroid is acceptable because everyone uses it and that steroid cannot make everyone to become Barry Bonds. For example, I myself cannot even swing the bat although I am on steroid. Personally, I believe that all athletes must resist the temptation to use performance-enhancing substances because they must recognize that sport represents our species’ competitive spirit. We must compete on our own potential without having to resort to dishonesty or any form of cheating that will give us an unfair advantage over our opponents.

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee put Mr. Barack Obama on a “steroid” fasttrack to winning the prestigious award, the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Prize is prestigious because it has been used to honor those human beings (or organizations that) who have worked tirelessly for decades to make this world a better place. More importantly, I want to point out that the Nobel Prize winners make it prestigious–not Norway, not Sweden, not Nobel. We all know that in actuality Mr. Obama has not done anything but talking and promising. Many argue that the prize will motivate him to keep his promises. Truly, I find this argument very insulting to the past winners and to Mr. Obama himself. First, the winners change the world because they choose to do so, not because they want to win the award. In my opinion, they are so compassionate about their work that they don’t even have time to think about the award. Perhaps, they don’t even care about the award. For example, a scientist is about to discover a way to turn water into a useful source of energy. And, he knows that his discovery will greatly benefit our world (his true intention) and that regardless if he wants it or not he will be the most famous human being on the planet. Does it matter if he is awarded the Nobel Prize? Second, let us assume that Mr. Obama will change the world in the next few years. Will Norway win the Nobel Prize for pushing Mr. Obama to do something for the world? What if Mr. Obama has true intention to make the world a better place and he will succeed in doing it in the near future, this hasty award will take away our chance to celebrate his success. My point is that what are we Americans to celebrate about now when our president wins the Nobel Peace Prize? Or, shall we delay the celebration until we see the results? Will the celebration still be joyful and meaningful?

In my opinion, Norway made a big mistake when it irresponsibly handed out the award to Mr. Obama because the action ruined the image of the award. It should only be given to one who has a track record of doing ”great” deeds for this world. Talking about doing good is wonderful but not enough. The award would have been more celebrated by the world had Norway waited for the results. Besides the “to motivate him to do good” excuse, why did Norway do it?

Many speculate that Norway just wanted to humiliate Mr. Bush because he waged wars against other nations. How can one promote peace by humiliating someone else? Let us assume that this speculation is true. Do you think that the action will affect Mr. Bush? His father, Mr. Bush, Sr., was also the president of the United States. The Bush family has its own tradition and values. Do you think that they really need Norway to approve of their actions? When one is elected to be the leader of a country, one has to do what one believes to be right for one’s country. Of course, one can always argue that war is never good, but what if war or conflict is just a part of life. When resources are scarce, nations compete. One day, when the world runs out of oil, Russia will probably conquer Norway for its oil, disregarding the Nobel Peace Prize.

My own speculation is that Norway just wanted to signal to the terrorists that it is a peace loving country to protect its citizens from harm. Basically, Norway knows that it does not have the capability to defend itself militarily, so it resorts to promoting peace to protect its territory and people. Unfortunately, in the real world, nations compete, and sometimes the strong bully the weak. Personally, I have great love for Norway. However, I am worried for her because the terrorists will exploit her weakness.

Although I know that dishonesty exists in sports, I still love them because they represent true competition. In the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup, the United States tied Italy (1-1) on June 17, 2006 at Fritz-Walter Stadium, Germany. I was so proud of the American team because we fought hard. Personally, the result did not matter to me because I wanted to see my national team fight to win. I wanted to see them work hard to achieve their goal. We did not win that game, but I felt inspired by the national team. I believe that if one wants to hit a baseball out of the ball park, one must do it on one’s own power,  without assistance from steroid. I believe that if Mr. Obama is destined to be mankind’s greatest leader, then we must let the results speak for him, without extra motivation or assistance from an award.

Reference: www.wikipedia.org; www.baberuthcentral.com; soccernet.espn.go.com

My personal challenge is to amass $500,000 in cash, and I call it “the game” (please read the June 14, 2009 article: “The origin: A game within the game”). Although it has been only three months, I feel as though it has been three years because I have financially scrutinized myself. It has been very difficult, but I am determined to win it because I know that the greatest reward is waiting for me at the end of the rainbow.

My Expenses

Overall, everything has stayed the same except for one unexpected event that occurred in July when our air conditioner broke down on a Saturday. I was charged a total of $300 ($125 for emergency service and $175 for labor and parts). The technician advised me to trim the bushy shrubs surrounding the external unit because they were blocking airflow. The obstruction forced the unit to work harder and ultimately caused it to crash. 

My wife understands the reason why I am saving money, and she is very supportive. However, because she is a serious believer of branded products and organic food, it is very difficult for me to convince her to go with the cheaper ones. For example, we buy organic milk, eggs and cheese that cost twice as much compared to the regular products. I disagree, but I am willing to compromise because I simply believe that nothing in life is more satisfying than knowing that my wife and daughter are happy. I just have to find other ways to increase my take-home money.

My Income

About a month ago, I accepted a new position that would allow me to pocket $1200 more per month. The bad thing about this new job is that every morning I have to drive 25 miles to go to work (50 miles both ways). Usually, it takes me about 35 to 45 minutes depending on daily traffic, and I don’t drive fast at all. So far, I am happy with my decision because the new working environment is very good, and the company’s benefit is more lucrative. Also, I have a chance to see a larger and more technologically sophisticated operation that will definitely broaden my experience.

To create more money, I continue to invest in dividend-paying stocks because I believe that the stock market will bring me home in the long run. Currently, the total number of shares is 1505 compared to 1192 in June, 2009. My goal is to reach 2000 shares by the end of 2009, and I am waiting for the market to correct itself in the coming months.

On the other hand, my rental unit has been vacant for about two months. Basically, I am giving back the profit that I have collected when it is occupied. My goal is to hang on to it for five more years, and I will sell it. One can make money in this business, but it requires that one must take control of it and devote one’s time to it. And, time is what I don’t have because I am holding a full-time job. I believe that if one has money and wants to invest in real estate, now is the time.

My Debt

In June of 2009, the total debt was $365,485, and as of today it is $361,657, a 1% decrease. I know that I must be more aggressive in paying down my debt because it eats up a big chunk of my income. However, currently, I am favoring the stock market, so I am keeping my cash and waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger. Although I don’t believe in ”good debt”, I understand that it is alright to carry the debt because it is tax-deductible.

My Self-evaluation

Progress is slow, but I am getting closer to the finish line. I must keep on fighting to win, and I know that I will continue to fight because it has been fun for me. In the end, it is my game, and my enemy is myself.