[forsale_2007]

higher, but will probably underperform other assets. It’s too late imho. Just like it’s too late to buy energy and international equities.

[forsale_2007]

higher, but will probably underperform other assets. It’s too late imho. Just like it’s too late to buy energy and international equities.

[forsale_2007]

The beautiful irony of all this is that the over-educated Asian's will all end up working for some lazy caucasian with an MBA. That makes 3x as much!

Actually the irony is that those MBA's ultimately drive the company into the ground, only to be overrun by a company overseas in asia. Can you say Huawei?

Meanwhile those MBA’s also piss all their money out the door anyway. I can’t believe how many folks make more than me, but can’t even afford a house….I noticed just because you have an MBA doesn’t mean squat. Idiots are still idiots…BTW: i wouldn't be too happy if I were you with an MBA. They're a dime a dozen these days, and unless you are from top 10, it's pretty useless.

 

[forsale_2007]

The beautiful irony of all this is that the over-educated Asian's will all end up working for some lazy caucasian with an MBA. That makes 3x as much!

Actually the irony is that those MBA's ultimately drive the company into the ground, only to be overrun by a company overseas in asia. Can you say Huawei?

Meanwhile those MBA’s also piss all their money out the door anyway. I can’t believe how many folks make more than me, but can’t even afford a house….I noticed just because you have an MBA doesn’t mean squat. Idiots are still idiots…BTW: i wouldn't be too happy if I were you with an MBA. They're a dime a dozen these days, and unless you are from top 10, it's pretty useless.

 

[forsale_2007]

This trend of "studying what you like" is as cute as the dodo bird. Soon it will bring down the whole country as we lose ground to every other nation on earth. I am talking this as a father of a 4 year old who I dont believe will ever get the education he needs in high school to work his way through an engineering program if things dont change.

 

The way we teach math here is so wrong in so many ways. The bane of why we suck at math in practice imho

1)The concept of "show your work" for calculations

2)The use of calculators.

My wife who was raised overseas can compute most everything in her head instead of on paper. Long division, long multiplication, etc,etc,etc. I can't get beyond a couple of digits without being either too slow or too inaccurate. Given a sales tax of 7.75%, she can tell me exactly how much any amount is within a few seconds.

 

[forsale_2007]

This trend of "studying what you like" is as cute as the dodo bird. Soon it will bring down the whole country as we lose ground to every other nation on earth. I am talking this as a father of a 4 year old who I dont believe will ever get the education he needs in high school to work his way through an engineering program if things dont change.

 

The way we teach math here is so wrong in so many ways. The bane of why we suck at math in practice imho

1)The concept of "show your work" for calculations

2)The use of calculators.

My wife who was raised overseas can compute most everything in her head instead of on paper. Long division, long multiplication, etc,etc,etc. I can't get beyond a couple of digits without being either too slow or too inaccurate. Given a sales tax of 7.75%, she can tell me exactly how much any amount is within a few seconds.

 

[forsale_2007]

I’ll tell you what I found interesting…..When I was in high school (a long long time ago, in a galaxy not far away)….I recall the irony of my Senior Advanced Placement English class….70% of the class were Asians…The overall Asian population in the school was 25%….The second irony was that I was actually in the AP English class. My engrish is horrific, and yet somehow I did ok in that class…

I won’t even talk about the Calc and Physics classes…

Actually in college, my engineering classes consisted mostly of (1)really smart immigrants (asians/indians/russians) or (2) intellectually smart 2nd gen asians but practically stupid..because…the “really smart” 2nd generation asians figured out that is was much better to spend the same time working to be a lawyer or investment banker. Yeah, I fell into the #2 category….

The thing I noticed growing up is that several Americans simply didn’t seem to care too much about education, which I thought was “odd”.

And the thing that drives me up the wall is how bad some people are at math.. I recall being at a store, and the cash register was down. The clerk couldn’t figure out how much 10% off something was, and went searching for a calculator….And when I told that person, the clerk asked me how I figured it out so quickly…..Ok, I can’t figure out sqrt’s in my head like my wife from overseas can. But come on, 10%????? Don’t believe me? Watch that TV show “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?” and see at some of the ridiculously simple math questions that are asked, and see how people can’t answer those questions….

[forsale_2007]

I’ll tell you what I found interesting…..When I was in high school (a long long time ago, in a galaxy not far away)….I recall the irony of my Senior Advanced Placement English class….70% of the class were Asians…The overall Asian population in the school was 25%….The second irony was that I was actually in the AP English class. My engrish is horrific, and yet somehow I did ok in that class…

I won’t even talk about the Calc and Physics classes…

Actually in college, my engineering classes consisted mostly of (1)really smart immigrants (asians/indians/russians) or (2) intellectually smart 2nd gen asians but practically stupid..because…the “really smart” 2nd generation asians figured out that is was much better to spend the same time working to be a lawyer or investment banker. Yeah, I fell into the #2 category….

The thing I noticed growing up is that several Americans simply didn’t seem to care too much about education, which I thought was “odd”.

And the thing that drives me up the wall is how bad some people are at math.. I recall being at a store, and the cash register was down. The clerk couldn’t figure out how much 10% off something was, and went searching for a calculator….And when I told that person, the clerk asked me how I figured it out so quickly…..Ok, I can’t figure out sqrt’s in my head like my wife from overseas can. But come on, 10%????? Don’t believe me? Watch that TV show “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?” and see at some of the ridiculously simple math questions that are asked, and see how people can’t answer those questions….

[forsale_2007]

What we did.

1)2004:

Sold house and bought anotherplace in Carmel Valley with 20% down and 5.7% fixed 30 year loan.

Pocketed $400k and bought boring index funds Vanguard Total International, Vanguard Precious Metals, Vanguard Energy, Vanguard 500, Vanguard Large Cap, Vanguard Mid Cap, Vanguard Small Cap.

Also gave $100k to a financial advisor.

Left remaining funds in a short term corp bond that returned 6.05%

2)Beginning 2005:

Sold bonds, converted to Chinese currency.

Also bought a townhome in China.

Gave some money to a relative to speculate on the chinese stock market.

3)End of 2006:

Sold all of energy fund, sold 1/2 of precious metal, and 1/4 of international.

Converted more money into Chinese currency.
Increased positions in Vanguard 500 and Vanguard Growth Large Cap.

Created an educational fund for my kid. Bought term life insurance. Increased liability insurance and hired a lawyer.

4)This year (plan).

Sell total international to 1/2 original investment and buy more Large Cap Growth.

Bring rental income back from Chinese currency.

Wait for the Chinese gov to float the currency (any day now….Ok, maybe not….)

Possibly sell home in china.

Give an additional $100k to financial advisor (part of this from a forced stock option sale).

We thought about paying some more of that the mortgage. But it seems like so far, it doesn’t make sense to do this since we so far have been able to beat 5.7% each year. Also, we need as much tax deductions as we can get without being limited by AMT.

[forsale_2007]

What we did.

1)2004:

Sold house and bought anotherplace in Carmel Valley with 20% down and 5.7% fixed 30 year loan.

Pocketed $400k and bought boring index funds Vanguard Total International, Vanguard Precious Metals, Vanguard Energy, Vanguard 500, Vanguard Large Cap, Vanguard Mid Cap, Vanguard Small Cap.

Also gave $100k to a financial advisor.

Left remaining funds in a short term corp bond that returned 6.05%

2)Beginning 2005:

Sold bonds, converted to Chinese currency.

Also bought a townhome in China.

Gave some money to a relative to speculate on the chinese stock market.

3)End of 2006:

Sold all of energy fund, sold 1/2 of precious metal, and 1/4 of international.

Converted more money into Chinese currency.
Increased positions in Vanguard 500 and Vanguard Growth Large Cap.

Created an educational fund for my kid. Bought term life insurance. Increased liability insurance and hired a lawyer.

4)This year (plan).

Sell total international to 1/2 original investment and buy more Large Cap Growth.

Bring rental income back from Chinese currency.

Wait for the Chinese gov to float the currency (any day now….Ok, maybe not….)

Possibly sell home in china.

Give an additional $100k to financial advisor (part of this from a forced stock option sale).

We thought about paying some more of that the mortgage. But it seems like so far, it doesn’t make sense to do this since we so far have been able to beat 5.7% each year. Also, we need as much tax deductions as we can get without being limited by AMT.

[forsale_2007]

I doubt the issue would be with the builder. I’m sure it has to do more with the individual sales rep. Personally, I don’t think it’s a smart move because it’s not like new homes are really moving. Perhaps the sales rep is still caught up in the idea that buyers are lining up left and right and still feel they can treat people that way.

In more recent times, when my wife and I walked into new developments I tend to feel that the sales reps are nicer to us because we are minorities (asian).

My wife and I occasionally walk into some of the new communities in Carmel Valley (Saratoga, Derby Hills, Carriage Run). The sales reps seems to jump to us and ask if we need anything, show us floor plans, take us on tours, even though we say we’re just browsing and not seriously considering switching homes at this point. I would think the sales reps wouldn’t want to waste time on people like us, especially when there are other people there that look like they’re more serious. (We usually show up looking like we just woke up from bed, wearing sweats and t-shirts.)
One time in another community, I had an eerie feeling that a rep just kinda followed us around a bit for no reason whatsoever.

My wife thinks it’s because we’re asian. I don’t know. Any others had similar experiences?

[forsale_2007]

Information Tech, to be more specific, software engineering. The 70K entry Fresh grads aren't coming in at $70K. Try $50K. Here's the salary range for a Software Engineer I in San Diego.

 

Actually, that figure is correct for B.S. Not for masters new grads.

And there is a fine line between software engineer versus and I.T. "programmer" that mistakenly is classfied as  engineers". BTW.  I.T. workers aren't typically considered high tech/engineers. Programmers are easily replaceable. If you're in the field and you don't know the difference, that's part of the problem. And if you work for a company that doesn't know the difference, that's also a problem: Part of a well run company should know when do do things here, when to do it overseas, and when to hire a contractor(s).

 

 

[forsale_2007]

Aren't many engineers contractors anyway? I know in software it's more and more that way…

I always thought of options as more of an incentive to account for the risk in a new company, more so than a standard reward for working at a big one.. I don't foresee many front-line workers getting much of the pie, this seems like more of an executive thing once the company is established..

 

We hire a lot of I.T. contractors to get the grunt work done. But for more things like design/prototypes/first gen stuff, we typically use internal hires. Outsourcing is no longer as cost effective. It's like $50/hr for some folks some places like Bangalore for contracting, plus you have to deal with the time differential,language issue,etc. Also, contracting work quality tends to lag in house (especially overseas). It's just cheaper to open an office there.  I.T. typically is easier to outsource/contract. Other things like high tech r&d has challenges. You can't exactly outsource designing the next broadband protocol. 

The lesson I learned is if you're planning to stay in tech, don't stay in areas considered "engineering labor". 

[forsale_2007]

(No i don’t work there anymore).
Peon engineers back in the mid 90ies started in the $40k/$50k range, and granted roughtly 1600-2000k options. Split adjusted since then that would be about 16:1.

But the latest batches of hires at tech companies are more patent layers instead of just pure geeks (they had a a tech background). I’ve also “heard” Broadcom in Rancho Bernardo is extremely generous, offering both option grant and actual shares. But I have not yet confirmed.
Buddies of mine are saying entry enginerds are offered roughly $80k (100k+ for phd). Mileage will vary depending on department,etc. Also, legal departments are sort of out there in pay scale. The days of the high flier stock options are over, but still we’re not talking about starving engineers (at least not the ones that I’ve seen).
Can’t say that about I.T… It’s not really tech, although it gets lumped into tech.

One thing for sure, I know that defense companies pay like crap (no I’m not employed there either).

[forsale_2007]

I didn’t say housing was going to rebound. But a amagadon housing slump would have been nicely accelerated if you had an employer(s) like QC dump. It hasn’t, and will probably take some time for this to happen.

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