Professor's son returns home wit

Retired vice-professor Albert Wang retired a few years ago from Fudan University in Shanghai, but he remained to teach a few courses to MBA and PhD students, basically to continue to earn some money, on top of his retirement income, to support his only son's education in the USA. And for each paper he edits for the PhD students, he can only earn RMB 500! Such a paltry amount for editing a paper that may have up to 100 pages.

The son came back to Shanghai end of July with two masters' degrees, one in Fintech and another in data analysis, after staying three years in the USA, costing the father RMB1.1m. Early 2020, Wang had urged his son to come home as China appeared to be a much safer place than the states, but his son refused and stayed on to continue for another Master's degree in data analysis, hoping to be able to ultimately hang on and find a decent job.

Wang contacted a few of his students who own some companies and they were willing to take his son in, but unable to offer salaries expected by his son. His son disliked the prospect of being commanded about, and liked the offered salaries even less, instead he chose to trade stocks on a computer. He rented a work station for RMB 4000 in WeWork and was there buying and selling stocks every day, although he has his own apartment, which Wang had bought for him a few years earlier. His son, 28, thought that regardless of the spacious home at neglect in day time, an normal office environment is more up to his liking. 

His girlfriend, who is studying for a PhD degree, refused to come back to China, so Wang assumed that sooner or later, they would break up and his son would be, without a job, and without a girlfriend.

Wang asked himself but dared not ask his son: "if you are trading stocks now, why on earth did you have to go abroad to study for three years, at a cost of some RMB 1.1 million?"

This was revealed by Linda Wu, a Singaporean businesswoman who had dinner with me this evening and who had known Wang for more than a deca. He had to lay off his only two workers when he had to move his company from a relatively downtown area to a suburban town in Suzhou in May. One was never able to find a job since May, he assumed, and he had the least opinion of her capabilities, attitude or aspirations. The other was able to find a job but then didn't pass her probabation, so she is unemployed and hopeless of finding another job, she decided to take part in the test for a Master's degree next year.   

Linda has spent more than ten years to be a successful entrepreneur, launching a series of projects I don't know how many. I cannot say which project has turned to be a commercial success. The legend of her making some money dates back to several years ago, happened before I know her in late 2017. But since then I have never known one project that she has launched turning into a commercial success. I was hired to write her business proposals and business plans and other documents. Now she says she is making her last-ditch effort of her entire business life. If the current project cannot come to a good start and fare smoothly, she will officially retire, she has repeatedly told me. 

She was proud of her son, who has worked in a major investment bank in London. Recently her son was about to hop to another company and back to Singapore, for a much better package. Her son is only 31, three years older than Wang's son.

Wang's son formed a stark contract with her son, and she shared Wang's woes and concerns.

"Two or three more years later, he could have forgotten much of his English even, trading stocks alone!" she lamented. "And then, past the age of 30 he would likely remain unemployed for his lifetime! How would you expound the myth of what you have been doing since returning to China for that space of time?"

In a recent gathering of Vice-Professor Wang, Linda, me and a few others, Wang said he has been investing in funds listed in the stock market since 2004, and has achieved 18.4% year-on-year increase in interest income last year. The achievement is rather remarkable but unsurpring for a professor specialising in big data and marketing, when many other people are losing money or earning rather pitiable interest incomes.

Probed by one person after another for his investment genius, the proud Mr Wang revealed that he had only 100,000 to manage. "All my other incomes have gone to support my son's US education." A tinge of disappointment in his tone.

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