Savings

Vivian appeared incredulous to my suggestion.

“My dear, if one does not control his desire and spends as much as he earns, it is a mathematical certainty that he will find he leaves for himself no asset or savings by the time he has to retire,” I explained, “That’s why a senior government official got mixed up with a billionnaire family, or a previous CEO of some prestigious bank has to become the chairman of a listed company with a suspicious balance book, or a retired professor of medicine could only afford a small apartment in Tin Shui Wai!”

“Oh, that’s horrible…” my wife gasped – I knew she was referring to the last example that I mentioned.

“But true,” I went on, “As Sima Guang (司馬光) said: It is easy to adapt from poverty to affluence, but difficult to other way round 《由儉入奢易，由奢入儉難》."