FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. STUDY - 18:00
The TV is on, reporting the UK budget 2021, featuring a red brief case.
PETER (V.O.): A budget tells us what one can afford or can't afford. Personally, I've never done a budget on paper. I just buy the things that I want.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): At age 20, I bought a colour TV set on credit.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): At age 26, I bought a brand new coupe on credit. It amounted to over two years of my salary.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): From age 29, I began buying my homes - the first one was in NT.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was only 10 years ago that I didn't need to borrow money to pay taxes. Now, I still receive cold calls from lenders.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Phone rings, Peter then engages in a serious discussion.
PETER (V.O.): The caller is a solicitor. I'm still working in retirement.
Later, Peter is attracted to a story in his smartphone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A couple is seeking advice on their retirement plan... Wow, they've saved $10 million!
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But, apart from the cash, they don't have any other property.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I believe one of their fixed costs is rent. A small unit can cost $10 million to buy. And if they do it, they'd be out of cash.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When they retire, they should enjoy themselves. How about living in hotels? Is that sustainable?
Peter does the calculations with his smartphone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Assuming they spend $1000 a day, $10 million should be good for 10,000 days.
Calculating.
PETER (V.O.): That's 27 years and 40 days.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And that's good enough!
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But to see one's wealth dissipating as time goes by can be discomforting.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What if they live long? Hongkongers have the longest life expectancy.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): No one would like to lead a miserable life in the end!
Checking his stock holding list, Peter sees many red numbers and few green ones.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Should they invest in stocks now? If they do that, there's the risk of negative gains.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Today, I've lost a lot on paper.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's natural that "what goes up, must come down". I learned this in my teens.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): There was a hit called Spinning Wheel by Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Peter types on his smartphone. We hear: What goes up, must come down, Spinning Wheel got to go round...
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In life, we go through cycles of events. Just take it easy.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.): Satisfying my wants, I enjoy life while I can. In maintaining my old cars, I've indirectly created jobs for mechanics.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Satisfying my needs, I've bought my premises and don't have to pay rent to accommodate my family and cars.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Before retirement, I didn't have spare cash to invest stocks. Looking back, it wasn't bad.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I worked full-time for over 40 years, creating and delivering value. Although I work less now, the outcome shouldn't be my negative gains.
Peter takes another look of his stock holding list.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And if I subtract the negative of my today's loss by my total gain, the overall result is still positive.
We see some bank statements on the top of a red box near Peter.
FADE OUT
THE END
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