Passing 50

The big five-O, a half century, five decades,...etc. Whatever you call it, I have passed my fiftieth birthday recently.


Turning 50 has not really hit me in any specific way. It's really no different from turning 40 ten years ago. Ten years ago, we lived in Singapore and we spent Xmas in Puhket with everyone including Bob, my brother, and his family. Apart from the changes in venue (living in Taipei and spending Xmas in Moraga), and different participants (minus Bob and my mother-in-law but including Howard's parents), physically I don't feel too different then when I was 40. I still play tennis and golf, not too much better or worse than I did ten year ago. I do workout regularly but have probably gained about ten pounds since 2000. But I feel good generally and look forward to continuing my active lifestyle.

Ten years ago I was with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers working in Singapore but planning our move to Tokyo in a few months (February of 2001). The work was relatively easy and the pay was good. Work wise, Tokyo was more challenging and I was quite relieved to have been offered an early retirement option in Fall of 2002. I was spending too much time on non-investment related activities and I was enjoying work less and less by the day. I was happy and ready to retire when I finally stopped going to the office in February 2003. I am very thankful to have Felicia's support for me to stop and allowing myself time with the boys. While we have always spent all of our non-working hours with the boys, being at home 24/7 was still a real treat. I get to walk Nick to the bus-stop each morning, then Matthew to the NK. Pick-up Matt in the afternoon and play with him before picking up Nick at the bus-stop later in the afternoon. I started biking a lot more, riding to the City and to Choufu (ASIJ).

We are now in Taipei, going into our eighth year. I am still retired. In fact, Felicia also left her job as head of equity at Merrill Lynch in the summer of 2006, joining me in retirement. We both volunteer a lot of our time at our children's school, the Taipei American School, she as a Board of Director and I as a worker in the PTA Bookstore. I still bike, around Taipei and along the bicycle paths near our home. Our freedom has enable us to take better care of our family. I was able to spend some quality time with Bob, who fell to pancreatic cancer in 2005 while Felicia has been able to take care of her Mom who had suffered from a stroke in 2000, a fall in our home in Moraga in 2006 and leukemia in 2007-2010.

My parents have remained in good health with Dad turning 90 in November and Mom turned 84 in August. They do both move slower than they were ten-years ago, but we are thankful that they are still relatively healthy and especially enjoy the canasta games we play when we get together. My freedom from the corporate world has allow me to spend a lot of my time with them and this makes me very happy.

Changes in our children over the past ten years, however, have been dramatic. Nick is now fifteen and a half while Matthew is thirteen and a half. Nick is now bigger than me physically while Matthew has still retained some of his boyish charm. We often have arguments, but generally still enjoy each other companies (though at the age of fifteen, we are seeing less and less of Nick). Both enjoy their experiences at TAS so much that we may be forced to stay in Taipei until they both graduate.



Looking back in my life, I can't help myself to be thankful. I have lived a charmed life. While my parents are not the riches in the world, they have always made me feel good. It was tough moving to Canada at the age of 13 and saying goodbye to Dad. But, it made me stronger, more resourceful and more independent. I have been blessed with the wisdom to have made many of the right choices throughout my life, going to the Graduate School of Business in Chicago, marrying Felicia, moving to Hong Kong, staying with Mercury Asset Management when offered a better job in LA,..etc. My decision to retire in 2003 also felt and continue to feel right to me. Not to say if the right opportunity knocks on my door.....I will know.