Historical article note: This article was originally published on 2018-12-06. Rates, policies, home prices, statistics, product names and qualification standards reflect the environment at that time and may have changed. This archive is for historical record and general education only. It is not mortgage approval, investment, legal or tax advice.
Opening this public account article to read it shows that you are a friend in my life, or a reader who is interested in my journey. In addition to imitating Teacher Wu Xiaobo in writing a half-life review at the age of 48, I also really have something to share with my friends, just like gathering with friends at home while drinking foreign wine and cooking hot pot to talk about the fate of those of us born in the 1970s, overseas wanderers and finance. At the same time, I also made a self-made bookmark to mark my 48th year.
At the beginning of 1995, I had just passed my second year of my life and was working as a saver at the Harbin Branch of the Bank of China. I had no idea about the future. I had no idea how many years or months I would have to work as a saver before I could succeed. The monthly manual banknote counting test drove me crazy. At this time, I accidentally bought a booklet, "Echoes of Finance", which is a series of diaries of contemporary Shanghai celebrities published by the Shanghai People's Publishing House. The author was Liu Jinbao, then president of the Shanghai Branch of the Bank of China. This book is like a light in the dark night, illuminating my heart and future. In September this year, I actually found this little red book at my home in Harbin. As a 25-year-old saver at that time, I longed to have a role model, a mentor who could follow the example, and find the footsteps to follow, just like a soldier who wanted to be a general longed to know what the general was doing and thinking every day. This diary tells me how a banker should view the world, how to face challenges, what insights and knowledge, courage and courage, foresight and practicality a banker needs. The preface before reading the main text gave me a feeling of electric shock, and all the worries at that time disappeared: "Finance is a reality within reality...there is no room for daydreams." I, who had been dreaming all day that I could be lucky enough to reach the sky, immediately returned to reality.
People who work in finance must be honest and dare to tell the truth. In the past career, I have learned to be loyal to my conscience, share what I have learned, understood and thought, and the reality in reality with clients and readers without reservation, even if I encounter personal attacks from the Internet, I am not afraid. "Depositors put money into the bank to support borrowers in developing their own careers and purchasing their own assets. Over time, the depositors and borrowers will become rich together." This is textbook logic, but in real life, it's just the opposite. The reality is this: depositors are usually low-income people, and borrowers are mostly people who got rich first; depositors are trying to accumulate wealth, and borrowers are taking risks to win wealth with small gains; depositors are people who embrace new ideas, but in the end most of them freeze to death in the snow. Legend has it that the rich rarely pay taxes; the reality is: those who pay more taxes borrow large amounts, and the interest on borrowed money for investment can be tax deducted. Smart investors end up paying less taxes than workers who lack financial intelligence. This is true, but public opinion has simplified this process, making it sound like the rich evade taxes. The reality and truth seen in the financial field are diametrically opposed to the prejudice and ignorance in life. Once the truth is told, many people will be angry and angry. I have always felt professional pride for daring to speak out the truth. Whether it is slander or praise, it will not affect me.
The most inspiring thing about my career from President Liu, and what I often say to those who come after me, is: "Life is a process of constantly searching for oneself, discovering oneself, and realizing oneself." Life is composed of countless such small cycles. On any career platform, no matter how big or small, only through in-depth work can you find the direction of your efforts, discover your own comparative competitive advantages, and realize your self-worth. When I was working at the savings bank, my ability to count money was really poor, but my goal was to do Bank of China's most advantageous business - international settlement, so I stopped practicing counting money and studied English hard. The opportunity finally came. The newly established Education Department organized a bank-wide English proficiency test. I was among the top 10 in the bank and was transferred directly from the savings bank to the International Settlement Department. After working in international settlement for more than three years, the opportunity came again. I passed the exam and got a one-year training opportunity in Hong Kong. After returning, I worked in auditing. I also spent one year to obtain the American internal auditor certificate. With this certificate, I was transferred to the North American Audit Center of Bank of China in New York. Later, due to restructuring, I was merged into the New York Branch of Bank of China. I was 34 years old when I was assigned to work in New York. I worked until I resigned from the Bank of China at the age of 38 and immigrated to Canada with my wife. I spent my third year in New York. The by-product of my in-depth work, "Bank English Vocabulary - Understanding American Commercial Banks from the Vocabulary" was published by the Machinery Industry Press in 2009. It has been printed for the second time and has a favorable rating of 98.8% among readers of Dangdang.com. When I was working in New York, many of my expatriate colleagues chose to pursue graduate studies or MBA degrees. I still believed that in-depth work and mastering the skills to survive after immigrating were the most important, so I did not go to school. Instead, I chose to travel and work overtime when I had time, learn from work, and find skills that can help me settle down in the future. Practice has proven that my choice was correct. After immigrating to Canada, I found a new job and continued to work in depth, growing, accumulating, and sharing at work. My experience from my career is: look for yourself, discover yourself, realize yourself, go to a new platform, then find yourself again, find yourself, realize yourself, and then go to a new platform. . . The highest level of career is not to be a big official, but to experience the ability to survive through in-depth work. Only when you have the ability to leave the current platform at any time can you be fearless of the ups and downs in your career. In the words of Zeng Guofan: I vow not to make a fortune by being an official, and the longest-lasting life is to cultivate and study. You must be ready to leave your comfort zone at any time, be ready to return to zero and start again. When a new platform appears, you must be fearless to choose a higher and broader platform. Previous success is only a milestone in growth, and refusing to grow means death.
President Liu’s words in his diary are engraved in my mind: Bankers’ vision should always be farther than others, and bankers’ courage should always be greater than others. He was inspired to look back on the history of 1989 when, when the international community blocked and sanctioned China, he signed and approved an infrastructure loan to support the construction of a five-star hotel in Shanghai with a stroke of a pen at the Shanghai branch. If a banker has no foresight, he is not worthy of being a bank. I moved my family from New York to Toronto at the end of 2008. At that time, Lehman Brothers had just collapsed, and the impact of subprime mortgages was rapidly spreading around the world. Local newspapers in Toronto were full of news about the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. The "bricks" overwhelmingly believed that Canada's real estate market had fallen even worse than that of the United States. If house prices fell by 30% in the United States, Canada would have to fall by 50%. . . Looking back now, everyone may find it funny, but what about now? Aren’t there still people who are badmouthing real estate? I chose to engage in the mortgage loan business in 2009, when the real estate market was at its lowest. I was 39 years old at that time and it was a turning point in my career. This choice would determine my fate for the rest of my life. I was almost semi-employed from the end of 2008 to January 2010, concentrating on planning and preparing for the next step in my career. It was my wife who worked three jobs to survive. During the most difficult moments of my career, I chose the right direction because I kept the word "vision" in mind. My wife understands my thoughts and believes in my choice. She is reluctant to let me work in a restaurant and shoulder the burden of the whole family by herself. Without my wife’s support, I would not have the smooth development of my career today. Mortgage is a banking business that combines finance and real estate. When the market was at its lowest, I unswervingly chose to engage in the mortgage business because of my long-term plan and confidence in real estate. Mr. Zhang Wuchang's view on wealth accumulation in "Economic Interpretation" is: Wealth must find a warehouse to accumulate. Throughout the ages, real estate has been the best warehouse. Tulips once served as the wealth warehouse in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the tulip warehouse could not withstand the wind and rain and quickly collapsed. For thousands of years, there has been no collapsed wealth warehouse, only real estate. From a historical perspective, the noise of "bricks" in newspapers is just the noise of a frog in a well. People who truly understand history, finance and economics will not make judgments based on noise. Bankers must not only have vision, but also know history. Teacher Wu Xiaobo concluded in the book "Two Thousand Years" that the change of dynasties was all caused by the crazy land annexation that led to the people's livelihood and the uprising of warlords or ordinary people. Only by owning land and capital can we control our own destiny. There is also a sentence in Mr. Liu’s diary about his views on history: “People without a sense of history are shallow. I don’t want to be shallow.” If I could start my career over again, my choice would be to do finance and real estate-related work earlier, so as to accumulate wealth earlier and faster for myself and my clients.
Mr. Liu Jinbao was once awarded the title of China's Ten Outstanding Youths. His highest position is Vice Chairman of Bank of China and President of Bank of China Hong Kong. In 2005, he was sentenced to death with a two-year suspended sentence for economic crimes. In the past, penalties for economic crimes in China were very severe. In 2008, private business owner Du Yimin was executed for illegally raising RMB 700 million. In 2009, Wu Ying, a private business owner, was also sentenced to death for illegal fund-raising. Because it caused an uproar in the legal community, and scholars continued to protest against "the use of the death penalty to maintain financial monopolies," the sentence was later commuted to life. In early 2018, the sentence was commuted to 25 years in prison. Compared with the current P2P explosion, the scale and influence of illegal fund-raising by private enterprises pale into insignificance. It is believed that with the improvement and development of China's legal system, the conviction and sentencing of economic crimes will become more accurate and appropriate. Mr. Liu’s personal experience is a question that I have been thinking about for a long time: Should professionals pursue professional careers? I once held a management position, but I felt extremely uncomfortable. "Meetings" were the norm at work, and the time wasted in "meetings" made me feel uneasy. I found the answer after reading "The Biography of Franklin" written by Isaacson: As long as a person maintains a free mind and an independent spirit, creates value for society, accumulates wealth for himself, strives for his ideals when he is young, and remains tolerant and generous when he is old, he will be able to achieve "my heart is bright" in this life. Unless you become the president, no one will remember when and what official position you held during your lifetime. In the next animal year, I should be 60 years old, and it is time to enter the ranks of old age. The first chapter of "Poor Charlie's Almanac" is Charlie Munger's views on old age. The title is "In Praise of the Elders". In the article, he doubles down on Cicero's "On Old Age". Cicero believed that: Too much poverty will make life difficult in old age; the best protective armor for old age is a life that has been carefully lived before it; a life that has been used in the pursuit of useful knowledge, glorious achievements and noble conduct. Cicero, who had a profound and wise understanding of old age, finally died under the sword of his political enemy Mark Antony. The risks involved in working in politics or being an official are difficult for professionals to control and predict. You are lucky enough to have wealth and wisdom and the opportunity to live to "old age", so why force yourself to hold an official position? Why should we cling to political ideals? There are three immortals in life: meritorious service, virtue, and reputation. In peacetime, it is the most difficult to make meritorious deeds. If not, you may die before you achieve meritorious service. It is better to cultivate your character and family by establishing virtue and reputation.
At the 2004 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting of Shareholders, a shareholder asked Buffett how to succeed in life. Munger interjected, "Don't take drugs, don't jaywalk, and avoid contracting AIDS." Respect yourself, stay in awe, keep yourself clean, success is that simple. If you want to live a successful and happy life, you also need to find a lifelong partner who can share adversities together, keep learning, think of others when you see good people, reflect on yourself when you see bad people, and become a person with the soul of a businessman. I read a book when I was 25 years old. At the age of 48, I still think about it very much. I lamented that "it is rare to come back from thousands of miles away. This is my hometown." Although I have been away for half my life, I still look forward to returning as a young man. Only by not forgetting my original intention can I always achieve it.