Hello from Japan

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Hi everyone,

First of all, I want to say thanks to MJ and this community. Because of these awesome books and everyone's advice, I have learned a lot for a last few days. That's why I decide to take first action to create an account and introduce myself here.

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Background:

I came from Vietnam and am living in Japan now. My family is like middle class level. We are not rich but my parents had supported me for my education so I didn't have to worry about money or food.
I was fortunate to have opportunity to learn in one of the best high schools in Vietnam and also finished my college degree without any student loan (the fee is cheap in Vietnam and thanks to my parent help, I didn't need to work park-time job). I was also lucky to major in software engineer and that opens a lot of opportunity.

As you know with Asian's parent, they just want their child to have high salary and stable job, get marry, etc. (SCRIPT 101). At first I just blindly follow that way and think that not very bad. I worked for outsource company in Vietnam after college's graduation. But deeply inside, I wanted more and wanted to improve my life's winning odd. That's why I decided to move to Japan by applying for Japanese Language school. I saved some money while working at that company and borrowed a lot from my parents to pay the high school's fee. I was excited when I first put my feet on Japan's land.

Well, that's plan sucked. I had bills to pay and must work part-time job to pay that. I went to school in the morning and learned until 3pm, then ate some thing and worked for boring, soul-sucking part-time job. You can imagine working with some old strict Japanese boss while you understand a little Japanese to know that she was scolding you. But I am grateful for that experience. It makes me stronger and make me understand what feel like to have debt on my neck. (Actually, I think that I was lucky. Most of my pals in Japan had to work much more pay debt and some has died because of overwork. They hope to make some spare money to bring back to Vietnam, they trade life for money and have to pay the price.)

With enough Japanese and programing skill, I applied to a Japanese game company and started grinding. The pay is just enough for living cost in Tokyo but I had chance to change my life for a better. I read in my free time, I improved my Japanese and programming skill. And after two years, I changed to one of the biggest company in Japan.

I thought I have made it. This is the first time in my life that I feel like I don't have to worry about money. The pay is can pay all my expense and still have some left for investing. I started to read about cryptocurrency, and that's lead to investing in index fund. These advices say that balancing between index stocks and bonds and I can retire in 20-30 years depend on my retire location. I thought I was set for free and started drifting into slow-lane life. I planned to buy some consumer's shit like video games, new computer, etc. (But I buy none because of the change)

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The change:
I am an introverted so I read many books. While browsing Reddit for improvement advice, I stumbled into "The millionaire fastlane ". I read this while still in college but I mostly ignore the advice because I didn't understand it at that time (or maybe I was scared to follow the advice). So I give it a try again and it opened my eye. I never be a side-walker because I always care about money and debt. But I realized my retirement dream was falling apart. It based on hope and that hope is fragile.
I dreamed in retired in Vietnam when I was 47, living a simple life without worrying about money. I am just 27 years old but I feel old. Even if I "made it" with index fund, it is not very exciting and feel like wasting my life. So I decide to make a change to move to fast-lane now.

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The conflict:
My current job is very simple and stable. Even though I just joined a few months ago, I learn fast and can finish my job faster than some of my colleagues. I work for few hours and have some times left for my personal things. Actually I just bought "Unscripted " today on Audible to listen while staring at my computer. With 7 hour and a half + 2 hour train commute, I have a lot of free time for my business. The job is also not stressing so I can keep my brain power.

But I also had job invitation from my old boss for his start-up company. The pay is like previous company so it not much. But I can learn a lot from him about web development and business. This will be stressful and I will not have many free time.

I was thinking a lot between choosing these two options: have a stable job, dump extra money and free time for my side business or have stressful job but many learning opportunity. But after reading free pdf book for joining this community, I don't want to feel regret like Clooney. I will choose the start up company and make it work.

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The plan:
Finish "Unscripted ". While reading this, I realize that I have a lot of bullshits. "What if I fail?", "I am an introvert", "How I can I make sales with these strict Japanese customers?", "I am lazy", "I cannot communicate well", "My English and Japanese skill sucks", "I am not enough", etc.
These beliefs are bullshit and I have to fight it. I have to win it for my dream to live.

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The end (for now)
My head is more clearer while writing this.
If you read this far, thank you. Have a nice day and keep your dream burning.

 

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