{"id":877,"date":"2020-01-15T17:28:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T17:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/?p=877"},"modified":"2020-01-16T21:25:11","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T15:25:11","slug":"are-you-a-slave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/are-you-a-slave\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You a Slave?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oh no, here we go again\u2026 Another click-bait title. After that vegan piece<\/a> you probably don\u2019t feel like reading this. I get you. I feel the same. Too bad, you’re here now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this is a serious question I\u2019m asking you. Now before you remind me that slavery has been abolished a couple of years back, let me tell you a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sit back. Relax. Make yourself a nice cup of hot tea. Maybe some Sencha tea or some gunpowder green tea. Whatever enlightens your day. Let it infuse 3 to 5 minutes at 70-80 \u00b0C and close your eyes. Take some deep breaths and put aside your reality and who you are. I\u2019m giving you a new personality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine you\u2019re this young little Asian girl, Yu Yan, born in Nashville, Tennessee. The state that has more than 3,800 documented caves and birthplace of Miley Cyrus. You\u2019re 16 and your parents are asking you to pick which college you\u2019d like to attend. Being born from an immigrated family, your parents always put a lot of value on hard work. \u201cCollege will open many doors, you\u2019ll see\u201d<\/em>. Maybe you could become a doctor? Or a banker?<\/em> Your parents have big dreams for you. They believe that if you go to college you\u2019ll have a nice and happy life. You won\u2019t have to worry about anything. You\u2019ll be able to max out your 401(k) and retire on a nice income at age 65. Lucky you. Now again, you\u2019re this 16 year old girl and you don\u2019t want to disappoint your parents. After all they have sacrificed a lot for you. Your dad was not around much, but that\u2019s because he was saving for you to be able to go to college. You\u2019ll probably end up going for a finance degree, even though, deep down, you wanted to become an artist and pursue your passion for drawing. But as your parents told you many times, drawing is a hobby and won\u2019t provide food for your family. You need to be serious about life and the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since they are your parents, they\u2019re probably right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward a couple of years. You graduate from college. Not an Ivy League school, but a well respected community college. In your hand you hold a fancy piece of paper. Your degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adult life begins. Your bank account displays: -$56,000. It\u2019s fine. According to the plan laid out by your parents and society, you should be able to reimburse it in 10 years give or take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok let\u2019s take a short brake now. Your tea is getting cold. Have a sip of your fine tea. So far, it\u2019s going well. You graduated from college. You made your parents proud. Now time to enter the corporate world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close your eyes again and please don\u2019t fall asleep (hence me wanting you to drink tea).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You graduated two weeks ago. You went on a short vacation to Cancun, to celebrate<\/s> get drunk. Now your objective is to apply for a job. What do you do with a finance degree? Wall Street baby! You write your resume, your best cover letter and start sending your application to top firms. JP Morgans, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley\u2026 After the big banks, you send it to many more investment firms out there. Out of the 88 (lucky number) applications you\u2019ve sent you\u2019re confident to lend a job pretty quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month later, out of the 88 applications you got 32 rejections and 1 potential call with a lesser known firm. Your enthusiasm dissipates. You start to think that you should maybe not aim so high and start at a more junior position and work your way up. You check your bank account. -$58,344. It\u2019s really time to get a job. The call is tomorrow. Stress is building up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next day, 10:56. 4 minutes till your call. You’re sweating like crazy. This is your one shot. Your only option. You have your parents in mind. They love you. You don’t want to disappoint them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily for you, the call went well. They\u2019ll update you by the end of the week. They asked you for a salary expectation. Since it\u2019s your only option you went with a low offer. $32,000 + benefits. You could barely survive with this in New York and you know it. But you\u2019re still confident that after a year or two you\u2019ll get a raise. Maybe you\u2019ll be able to get a better job with the experience. It\u2019s not so bad after all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good news. They decided to hire you. You have 2 weeks to move to New York. Welcome Big Apple. The city where dreams come true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your first day is tomorrow. You found a place in Brooklyn, 1 hour and 35 minutes away from your work as you have to change subway lines at the Atlantic Terminal stop. You\u2019re pretty far out, but New York City is expensive. You share your flat with 4 other roommates. They all have big hopes as well. Think about it. You\u2019re in New York. You got a job. And in 45 years, with the compound interests, you\u2019ll retire with 1.3 Million dollars! The future is bright. You just need to hustle a bit and keep the end goal in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First day. Your boss is an a**hole and hates women. You\u2019re the only woman in the office. And you\u2019re Asian. Things might not be so easy for you after all. But you still sign the contract. $32,000 + benefits. 15 days of vacation. A 2% annual salary increase. And 39 hours work weeks (which in reality is more like 56). In 2 years, you\u2019ll apply to work for JP Morgans anyway. You just need to be conscious of your spendings for 2 years. No more avocado toast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily for you, since you got a job, your bank decides to send you a brand new shiny credit card. You can spend up to $20,000. Yay! The yearly interest rate is 21.26%. Life is beautiful after all. Sunday is now Avocado Toast day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now fast forward. You had ups and downs. You were not able to secure another job for 5 years but with some small bonuses here and there and a slightly higher salary you were able to reimburse some of your debt. New balance: -$43,766. You start thinking about acquiring a tiny apartment. You should pay rent towards something you own, that’s what my parents keep telling me. The economy is good. You should be able to get a mortgage easily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you go apartment hunting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are your keys. You now own a small 32m\u00b2 big apartment in Brooklyn (sorry but I just love the metric system, here’s a converter for you<\/a>). You manage to reduce your commute to 59min. Just a little under an hour. One of your requirements. And no more roommates. Let\u2019s pop the champagne open. $186 on the credit card. Moet & Chandon of course. You have good taste. Your current balance: -$486,433.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re living the American dream now. You got a new job at a better firm and were able to negotiate a better salary. $86,000 per annum. Soon you\u2019ll join the 6 figures club. You feel lucky. However, you now work 67 hours per week. And you still have your 15 days vacation per year. But you usually only take a couple of days of for Christmas as it\u2019s not well perceived going on vacation in your firm. And you really want to climb that corporate ladder. If you work hard, you\u2019ll get compensated for it. And you\u2019ll be able to sip as many Martinis as you want when you retire with your 1.3 Million dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now open your eyes. Take another sip of your delicious tea (I should really make myself some tea as well). Let me ask you something. How did it feel to be Yu Yan. You had downs but in the end things turned out pretty well, no? You own an apartment in New York. You\u2019re a director of something in a reputable financial institution. You made your parents proud. And in theory you\u2019ll be a millionaire at age 69. Yes it will take a bit longer than planned. But you\u2019ll get there. Asians have good genes and tend to have a long life expectancy. You don\u2019t drink coffee. Only tea. Oh and don\u2019t forget those healthy avocado toasts. At $23 a pop, they are the perfect investment towards a longer life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure you work over 60 hours a week. Your dating life is miserable. And you have literally no vacations. But you\u2019ll catch up once you retire. Oh and did I mention that you own the latest iPhone? I knew I forgot something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, this is normal, as in THE NORM. I have no f*cking idea how it became normal. But this is normal. Really. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We f*cked up as a society, don\u2019t you think? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is not modern slavery, what is it? You give up your life, trading time for digital digits in a bank account. Trying to turn the – into a +. 5 digits into 6. I don\u2019t know about you, but I don\u2019t really like the taste of $100 bills. Even with a nice vinaigrette, it tastes like crap. And colones don\u2019t taste any better. Oh and don’t even think about using it as toilet paper it\u2019s not good either. Single Ply. You\u2019ll end up with the same red ass as my daughter and her nasty nappy rash. Not fun. So why are we looking to accumulate more Benjamins in exchange of time? What are we really looking for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom. We believe that retiring will gives us freedom. Until then we shall remain modern slaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy your day and your avocado toast. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oh no, here we go again\u2026 Another click-bait title. After that vegan piece you probably don\u2019t feel like…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskanze.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}