Life Expectancy in HK

TheDevil_666 · 31-05-2023, 12:19 AM

I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a curse for ordinary Hong Kong people.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/03/02/h...ntl/index.html

Crankshaft · 31-05-2023, 01:01 AM

Old people clogging the sidewalks, shouting on their speaker phone conversations next to you in the bus and jamming themselves into the train before anyone can get out. They are a curse.

shree711 · 31-05-2023, 01:38 AM

It grinds my gears when old folks jaywalk slowly. I mean come on, you can get hit by a car or bus anytime, why not just wait to cross, why jaywalk?

I jaywalk because I'm fast.

TheDevil_666 · 31-05-2023, 02:36 AM

I'm sure its a curse for the old people as well, living in crowded shoebox apartments. Adult children waiting for the old ones to die so that they can finally inherit the shoebox apartment they're living in with Grandpa/Grandma Wong. A pretty fucked up dynamic if you ask me.

chobochobo · 31-05-2023, 07:48 AM

LOL what an uplifting thread this is turning out to be.

HKthe · 31-05-2023, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by Crankshaft:

Old people clogging the sidewalks, shouting on their speaker phone conversations next to you in the bus and jamming themselves into the train before anyone can get out. They are a curse.

It's not limited to old people!

shri · 31-05-2023, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by chobochobo:

LOL what an uplifting thread this is turning out to be.

Half empty / half full ....

These problems are not specific to Hong Kong, but are perhaps more exaggerated due to property prices and income disparities.

If you're middle class in HK and elderly - life is not too bad.

If you're middle class and a Gen-Xer / Millenium / Gen-Zer ... many of life's issues - health, housing, income are actually quite similar.

Globally, the world is preparing for the greatest transfer of wealth and may be even philosophical and structural changes in life and how we live it.

An intergenerational transfer of wealth is in motion in America — and it will dwarf any of the past.

Of the 73 million baby boomers, the youngest are turning 60. The oldest boomers are nearing 80. Born in midcentury as U.S. birthrates surged in tandem with an enormous leap in prosperity after the Depression and World War II, boomers are now beginning to die in larger numbers, along with Americans over 80.

Most will leave behind thousands of dollars, a home or not much at all. Others are leaving their heirs hundreds of thousands, or millions, or billions of dollars in various assets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/14/b...nerations.html

As usual, the educated, financially literate and the glass half full people are better positioned for the long term - both here and globally.

Randomly, an old friend shared this with me about generational stereotypes and a look back at the time when some of us entered the workforce... (An article written in 1999 about Gen-X and their coming of age..)

“I took the slacker route [to success],” jokes the 29-year-old. “I know there is this cultural stereotype that we’re lazy, but you know all these Internet companies are built on Gen-X kids working 80-hour weeks. We’re a bunch of maniacs.”

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Ever. Earlier this decade, Gen-Xers were supposed to be headed straight for Palookaville. They were supposed to enter a dismal economy with low-wage/low-benefit jobs or to find none at all. And if there were jobs, they were supposed to be too busy playing computer games, watching television or being alienated to earn a paycheck.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...344-story.html

Crankshaft · 31-05-2023, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by HKthe:

It's not limited to old people!

I am aware of that.

TheDevil_666 · 31-05-2023, 01:35 PM

For a lot of the elderly, and the younger ones as well, the biggest issue is outliving their assets. So by the time Grandpa/Grandma Wong kicks the bucket, they've exhausted their savings and Adult Wong who is in his 60s doesnt get the inheritance he was counting on to perpetuate this fucked up cycle.