A boba a day keeps financial goals away

“I don’t care about others money unless it’s mine” – Yenicall (*)

May 19, 2024

Dear friends,

Being thrown into a clash of ideas is unavoidable if you spend more than 3 hours on the Internet.

12 hours of my day are spent online, 8 for work, 4 for personal errands, which put me at the crossroads of capitalism subscription and jobless liberation.

For some time, my Youtube feed has been flooded with “quitting job at [age] to reset my life”-kind of videos. The thumbnail template consists of a character (that very Youtuber) and a hint of nature, either a grassfield or an actual forest. The main message, as you can guess, is how they are tired of the hustle culture, desperate, burnt out and eventually decide to leave to find their true self.

Meanwhile, as Michael Tatarski pointed out in his latest newsletter, Vietnam media’s obsession with the ultra rich has reached new heights. Early May, the government set a goal to have at least 10 USD billionaires and 5 business people listed as most powerful in Asia by “reputable organizations” by 2030.

PM Phạm Minh Chính, on the National Student Start-up Day May 12, expressed the hope that Gen Z would start up their businesses and foster innovation with courage and patience while embracing risks.

Chính also admitted that Vietnam’s start-up ecology was still lagging behind in comparison with other countries, blaming local educational institutions on being too cautious and inexperienced in consulting students on their business ideas.

What can 10 billionaires make difference in the population of 100 million people with the GDP per capita of just slightly over $4,600?

There are a lot of mixed signals regarding young people’s career prospects, finance and well-being in one of the fastest growing economies in the world. They are repeatedly advised on how to save, spend and invest money.

Nguyễn Hữu Quang – General Manager of digital bank Cake by VPBank – constructed a scenario in a TV program on financial freedom that if a young person resists having a daily cup of boba (around $1.5), instead, puts the money in a saving account or invest, in 40 years, they would have VND2.4 billion ($94,300). What Quang forgot to mention is that Vietnam’s inflation rate has reached 3.7 percent and the currency value has been constantly sliding down.

Imagine living in Hanoi or Saigon, working a 9-6 job with a monthly salary of $1000, you might budget to spend $500 on lodging, food and transportation which leaves you with $500 – half of the income, impressive!

However, that amount of money is just enough to be an emergency fund or afford you a couple of retreats and concerts but not a considerable asset, an apartment or a house, in the local common sense.

Vietnam is going through a testing time of its own hypocrisy.

It’s easier to get dreamy about being a haven for the rich than open eyes to look straightly at the messy pile of to-dos – a drainage system that works, for example.

With that being said, I went out for a can of beer.

Till next time,

* The Thieves