Lunar New Year - A Flurry of Ang Pows

It's the Lunar New Year, the time of the year when coffee shops are closed, fast food restaurants are crowded, as are all the fancy restaurants. Calories intake are up. And stocks are stable, only because the market is closed. For that matter, all the markets are closed too!

What does one eat during New Year? Maybe that one buffet orgy at wherever it is you're at. Steamboat, "lo hei", pastries a plenty. All it takes is one meal a day and I've consumed all the intake that I should be consuming.

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to talk about are the "Ang Pows". Every year, my wife and I faithfully give out Ang Pows, as is the tradition and practice from eons. In turn, my kids receive theirs from the married elders. Each year, what they receive add up to tidy sums. What does one do with all that money?

I guess there are three main options:

1.  The parents 'chiong gong' (confiscate) the sum received in exchange for what they've given out.

2.  The kids keep the money and squander it away. Samsung S5 or iPhone 6 perhaps?

3. The parents invest the sum for the kids' future.

I opt for the last. The only sum they keep and spend as they wish are the Ang Pows we gave them.

Happy New Year!