Money money money

There were two articles in last Sunday's papers that caught my attention. The first was a feature on successful hawkers who run famous stalls. The article was written in the light of recent news that the tax man had come after some hawkers who evaded tax, one of whom earned $4 million in 6 years but declared only half the earnings.

The journalists staked out the stalls and did a plate count and going by the count, woohoo, some of these hawkers pulled in more than $100,000 a month!!! Not bad, not bad at all!!!! But it's so hard being a successful hawker you know, not easy you know.... Just listen to what these hawkers had to say - "I don't even have time for my meals", "As a hawker, no day off, no weekends and you have to stand in front of the hot wok the whole time. You tell me, is that easy?" BUT YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS RIGHT?!!! YOU MEAN YOU CAN"T CLOSE YOUR STALL AND GO ON HOLIDAY MEH?!!! IT"S YOUR CHOICE TO WORK THESE MANY HOURS AND EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, SO WHO"S THE SLAVE DRIVER HERE?!!! Pity the less succcessful hawkers. They are the ones who have to work long hours and every single day to make a decent living and feed their families. And lest you think the grass is greener on the other side, instead of standing in front of a wok all day, try sitting for hours in front of a computer, dealing with crazy deadlines and endless problems.

The second article was about puting aside funds for your child's university education. It said that in 15 years' time, the cost of a local university education would be $81,000 and the cost of getting a degree in Australia, including living expenses, would be $341,000. No problem here for some hawkers, but for the rest of us, it's going to take some serious financial planning. I can't imagine how I would be able to fork out that much money and times three. When I pointed out the article to KK, he had the perfect solution - the girls can just be hawkers lah!!!!