Why Chinese Save More than the Americans 

Yeah the cost of living here in the states is ridiculous. We're truly ruled by robber barons and their pet government

But you can't compare Singapore to China. As Singapore enjoys far more investment freedom and therefore can setup many different pension products.

I agree, it is a culture for Chinese men and women to save money to increase their prospect in marriage as a person that has more money are seen as desirable in the Chinese customary ways. But as China becoming a rich nation and the citizens are enjoying lavish lives, they too will become more materialistic and spend more.

I am looking forward for Cinthia's answer as well, but I guess her main goal is to inform outside world regarding what actually happen in China. There are many antipathy toward China from outsiders due to misinformation/ lack of information and some foreign youtubers who made videos about China didn't help on this as their feed Chinese hate bandwagon to gain popularity. As a foreigner who live in China, I can relate more to this channel contents compared to the ones which made by foreign youtubers who are aiming for popularity only. Furthermore, it's always good to learn things from native Chinese perspective. Keep it up!

I think the goal is obvious....she said it at the end of the video. There are a lot of misunderstanding about China and she is trying to correct the misunderstandings. Western media portrays China in a negative way. Western media never praise China's politics or the people even if something good comes out of China.

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she doesnt need a goal for a channel she can post her personal opinions and that's all.

Hi there~ thanks for the question. Tbh I don’t have the answer myself either. I struggled to find a niche for this channel in the past months, and even stopped posting for a month in November bc of overthinking. Then I realised the only way to figure it out is through trial and error. So moving forward, honest videos about China is one type of content in this channel. I may also share my work experience in financial industry as well, whatever content the audiences will find valuable

Let's say you make $10,000 a year, is it not possible to have $11,000 in your saving account?

That figure is the total saving, not saving per capita per year. China's cost of living is about 45% of USA, so if you are in China and earn $12,000 a year and you stash away 50% of your income, you can easily reach $12,000 savings in two years.

Just want to point out, it makes sense to have it cost more to have two parents working than one if you want to encourage an increase in population. This is also a reason why single people might pay more in taxes than if married.

That's why voting is useless now in America. Whichever political party you vote for it's going to be the same. The only US president that make a big change for a better country is Lincoln and he was murdered. Politics in America is just a scam to generate money for the rich so they can get richer. Also, in America, once you reach 18 your parents would prefer you to leave home and be independent. Some of my American friends who reached 18 and goes to college in the same city as their parents move out rather than live at home with their parents. So college students generate a lot of students loans. Debt is the main reason why people cannot save in US. They start to have student loans and car loans before they start earning. Whereas in Asian countries, especially in China and Korea you usually stay with your parents until you get married. It's not shameful for a single adult in their 30s to live with their parents even with a job. Whereas in America if you are in your 30s and have a job it is shameful. Many graduates starting their careers in Western countries owns over $100k of debts plus interests. So it's very difficult to be debt free and start saving. One of my Korean friends she is in her 30s did all her education in US paid by her parents. Now she is back to her parents home after getting a PhD and working a high salary job. She is debt free and don't have to pay living expenses because she eats and live with her parents even in her late 30s because she told me it is not shameful for unmarried women to live with parents even if they have a high paying job. She will keep saving her salary and will only move out of her family home when she gets married. So culture is totally different.

pipe dream? cant they downgrade to smaller cars 1500-2000 CC? downgrade to smaller house?

@@andia968 You're operating on a ton of assumptions here that are often just not relevant to people's lives

@@McHobotheBobo what I dont understand is cant american choose to stay in high rise flats , 120 Meter square for a family . I mean high rise apartments can reduce housing cost significantly compared to say 400 meter square landed house for a family.

Not true, China’s universal healthcare already covers way more than US’s barely functioning Medicare and Medicaid, also the retirement fund is more extensive

Their kids can't even afford a house in China, how can their parents live with them? What you see now is that the kids go back live with their parents. Please update your mindset now.

@@HermanWillemsif you are saying there are some kids that can’t even afford a home, then how can they save? They have no money to save then. You should be the one to update your mindset

@@HermanWillems actually kids first live with their parents after college. Chinese kids after college are usually debt free so when they start working and live with their parents they usually save 90-100% of their salary. They only move out of their parents home when they get married. When they get married they use their savings to buy a home. And when their parents gets older the parents are welcome to live with them. In US, people after college have over $100k of student and car loans. So graduates who start working use all their money for loan repayments and rent. Chinese graduates usually don't have loans or need to pay rent while living with parents so they save 90-100% of their salary for a down payment for a home when they are about to marry.

@@SimonCU Ok thank you for explaining, im from Europe. And yeah i also am debt free. And didn't have any debt, yes i got a mortgage. But that's it. Here a lot of countries you can study for free, so also no debt. And parents mostly contribute to their kids and pay for things around their study. But if they save up to 90 or 100% of their salary for down payment for a home... in an overpriced market in China and then the housing bubble collapse it's still a bad thing. If i where there i would wait for the bubble to collapse first instead of paying way too much. In my country we don't have downpayment for houses. So after my study i directly bought a house and started paying off the mortgage.

In the Chinese culture, parents and their children don't really separate their finances. The parents use their savings to help their children buy houses. And when the parents are too old, if they need money the children help their parents back financially. But this is not just between parents and children, it also extends to the immediately family. This is why there are less homeless people in China and the Chinese households are more robust to economic shocks. In contrast, the western culture doesn't have this type of family value. So the governments are forced to take on the burdens of unemployed and aging population and they have to spend a lot of tax payer money on it. As a result, the western population expects the governments to solve every problem and there are more homeless people in the west. You might say you have the pension system, but the problem with the western pension system is you can't touch that money until you reach retirement age. But in the west the houses are super expensive so you are likely to have a 30 to 40 year mortagage. This means if something happens to you before you retire and you can't get a job or get a job with the similar pay, then you are screwed. Also since the property prices in the west is still skyrocketing, home ownership is in declien and more and more people still can't pay off their mortgage by the retirement age. So there is a new trend where old people still can't retire. Not to mention, when people get old they are more likely to become seriously ill, and medical treatment is very expensive. In Anglosphere countries, medical treatment is better in the private sector, but it is super expensive. So more and more people in the west can't retire anymore. In other words, the western households are more vunlerable to economic shocks. Also Chinese people actually have more freedom than people in the west. The reason is very simple, Chinese people have more savings which they can use at any time. This means they have the freedom to change their lifestyles like changing a job or start a business and so on. But western people typically have a large mortgage, student loans and what not, and their money are locked away in pension which they can't touch until they reach retirement age, so they are locked into a lifestyle they don't want and they don't have the freedom to change it. That's the hard truth my friend, the west claims to give people freedom but in reality its system shackles most of its populace in slavery.

Upper class in America always bailed out by the government when they have bad investment. In 2008 for example. Lazy beggars.

Upper class in America always bailed out by the government when they have bad investment. In 2008 for example.

I'm Chinese American too (but was raised in England).. both my British and American friends who are not from Asian decent don't save as much as me. I actually only spend the money I earn from investments and save 100% of my full time salary. My non Asian friends cannot do what I do because majority don't know how to save it invest. I think Asians culture raised or brainwashed their kids with money. We work/study in hope to earn a lot of money whereas non-Asians work and study for enjoyment. Many Asians want their kids to become doctors or lawyer for the money reason. Non Asians has more freedom to do whatever makes them happy even if you don't earn much. That's one reason why there are so many homeless drug addicts in America. The culture is different.

@@SimonCU Rightly or wrongly, my own observation is most Americans of recent generations live for the moment and many have no logical thoughts of their own, These individuals' values are copies of the media and showbiz world. I don't want to use this phtase but, when I was growing up - the majority of non-Asian Americans had many of the same cultural values as Asians. That has changed , I think that Asian Americans, being somewhat separated from, has been able to maintain some of the past values. Not enough space here to go through all the examples. Saving money is more Will than know how. My 3 chuldren grew up much more privileged than I. Yet they atr savers. One son is like you - although he only manages to save 80%. On the subject of homelessness - most of them have mental issues and should be in an institution. In my generation the State maintain sanitariums to take care of them Unfortunately like American, the state government also didn't manage finances properly and the institutions were cloded.

Yes but im not Chinese, im Dutch and i have a savingsrate of towards 50%. But i do invest that money again in things to lower my expendure. In the end the most important is lower your expendure, increase income. And invest and grow wealth. Saving money, and let it evaporate with inflation = dumb.

I wonder about that too, being Singaporean myself -- if it's cultural. Hardships and challenges differ from those on the mainland, but there's still probably a greater inherited cultural trait contributing here. I recall my unexpectedness too when I first learned (years ago) how little saving took place among populations in Western economies, as compared to the ones in Asia.

Chinese people don't get babies anymore. It cost too much for them. They need 80% savingsrate in order to pay for babies. Hence nobody is getting babies anymore in China.