I don’t know… the French are pretty damned amazing when it comes to what would you call it, topological mathematics… many of the best 3D modeling and visualization methods came out of the University of Nancy, France. Many Russians I have worked with were pretty brilliant mathematically, too.
Comparing Chinese kids vs English… hmmm… unfair. English would be sucking wind versus French or Russians, too. Chinese vs Americans, aw, throw in the towel. First round knock-out.
So true!
We lived in Taipei, across the street from the Wu Shin Primary School. Wife was a special ed teacher in the US, and was given tours. She was astounded at the math classes for young students.
It looked like somewhere between 2/3rds and 3/4th (probably closer to the later) of PhD graduates were international. More than half of MSE graduates were. A less, but still significant number of BSE gradustes were international.
I do know their tuition is more expensive, but I think scholarships may still be available.
Arizona State University’s Ira A Fulton School of Engineering is highly ranked…some of the degrees are Top Tier.
Find contentment. Don’t try chasing after happiness, it’s elusive.
Believing the Dollar is money and that you are safe holding Dollars,vs investing in great stocks,real estate,commodities,etc.I have a friend who lost money during the 2000 stock market tech mania and now he refuses to get out of Dollars.Thinking he is being conservative and safe.Just the opposite.The U.S. Dollar is like the common stock of a bankrupt Federal government.It is far from safe.So,keep enough Dollars for short term needs,but exchange the rest for better assets,like stock in great companies,real estate bought at reasonable price,commodities that will be in demand,etc.You aren’t being safe holding Dollars.
I’m rich at age 64, so I can only answer the question in reverse… what would have prevented me from being rich? But I’m sure these would have affected me:
Multiple wives
Multiple houses
Having a car payment (no car payments since 1993 - if I didn’t have cash, I didn’t buy it)
If I hadn’t been invested in the stock market from the start of my career 1986 until now, I never would have done as well as I have
Now, here are the actions I’m going to take from here on in:
Not be overly invested in the stock market at age 64… have a balanced portfolio with lots of everything, like a salad plate
When I retire, and after my 2012 Kia paid-for-with-$12600 cash-in-2015 dies and goes to car heaven, I won’t replace it. My wife and I will share one car, as we did when we were college students. My plan is METRO bus, bicycle, share one car, or Uber as a last resort. If I start getting too old for longish bicycle journeys, it’s time for an e-bike.
We just bought our retirement home and moved in a month ago, but work continues until Q1 2026.
Owning eight single-family homes as my personal residence helped me. In dollars not adjusted for inflation I paid $19k (zero down VA) for my first home in 1967 and $460k (cash) in 2012 for my current home that Zillow says is currently worth $1.5m. I always used the proceeds from the prior sale to fund the next one. I did have the advantage of moving expenses paid for on all but the last move.
Bull markets help! You were lucky to be born in a certain time window. A Millennial who bought in 2022 might be underwater now in many markets. Austin, Florida, Nashville, Atlanta, North Carolina, Phoenix… same thing for people who bought in 2005-2006, they’re not underwater now, but if they had to sell when they were underwater, that wasn’t nice.
A friend of mine from my my days just after high school apparently became quite wealthy. He graduated from college with a degree in psychology and became a social worker. That usually is one of the lower pay grades but I was surprised to find that he lived in a $4 million house in California and also own a $2 million house in Texas.
So how did he manage to do this?
He married the money.
That always helps. At least one should steer clear of dating people who have large debts, uncontrollable spending habits, vices like gambling (zero dated options included?), no matter how endearing they are.