http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9787999/Chinese-millionaire-street-sweeper-refuses-to-give-up-work.html


After nearly four decades of hard labour as a farmer, cook, lorry driver and street sweeper, a sudden million pound windfall might tempt sweet thought of retirement.

But 53-year-old Yu Youzhen has a rather more unbending work ethic.

Five years ago, her family land in Donghu village, near the city of Wuhan, was bought by the government for a property development.

She used the compensation money to being building a property empire which now includes 17 apartments worth some 10 million yuan (£1 million), according to the Wuhan Evening News.

Nevertheless, six days a week Mrs Yu dons an orange coat and goes to work as a street sweeper, earning a monthly wage of £142.


Work is not just about the salary, it makes one focused. Laziness gives rise to all sorts of bad habits," she said, to the Chinese newspaper.

The head of her cleaning team, Fu Guoju, noted that Mrs Yu had never been late for work and had only asked for three days off in the last 14 years in order to attend the funerals of her mother-in-law and father.

Mrs Yu's dogged attachment to her orange jacket appears to stem partly from habit and partly from a nagging worry over her feckless children.

Her 33-year-old son, Liang, has had a chequered career, working selling lottery tickets for a while and spending long spells at home, lounging on the sofa.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9787999/Chinese-millionaire-street-sweeper-refuses-to-give-up-work.html


"I want to be a role model for my children," said Mrs Yu. "I do not want to sit around idly and eat up my fortune".

"My son once stayed at home for two months, and I kept scolding him during that time. Now he is doing pretty well. He said to me later I was right. I was worried he would hang out with bad people and ruin our family."

Her son is currently working as a driver in her home village for £120 a month while her daughter mans the kiosk at a cinema for £200 a month.

Since the Chinese newspapers revealed Mrs Yu's work ethic she has become a minor celebrity. The Communist party's propaganda machine has also been quick to pounce on her as an example of a model worker.

"Starting from loving labour and living a meaningful life to make her feel at ease, Yu Youzhen gives us a good starting point," said the state-run Beijing News in an editorial.

Additional reporting by Valentina Luo

http://gawker.com/5973734/chinese-millionaire-keeps-street-cleaner-job-to-set-an-example-for-her-children



A "millionaire woman" from Wuhan City in Central China has spent the last 15 years working six days a week as a street cleaner in order to show her kids the value of a hard day's work.

Yu Youzhen, a former vegetable farmer who made her fortune through real estate development, has been employed as a sanitation worker since selling her land to the state in 1998.


Though she owns 17 apartments and has the net worth of a millionaire, Yu insists on waking up every morning at 3 AM to work a job that pays a meager 1,420 yuan (~$230) a month.

Yu, who has become something of a celebrity in her homeland, told local reporters that she was motivated after witnessing many of her fellow former landowners squander their earnings on gambling and drugs

http://gawker.com/5973734/chinese-millionaire-keeps-street-cleaner-job-to-set-an-example-for-her-children



I want to set an example for my son and daughter, a person can't just sit at home and ‘eat away' a whole fortune," said Yu.

Whether they want to or not, her kids are falling in line: Yu's son is currently employed as a driver and earning just over 2,000 yuan (~$320) a month, while her daughter is an office worker with a 3,000 yuan-a-month (~$480) salary.

emmanuel ewumi: http://gawker.com/5973734/chinese-millionaire-keeps-street-cleaner-job-to-set-an-example-for-her-children



I want to set an example for my son and daughter, a person can't just sit at home and ‘eat away' a whole fortune," said Yu.

Whether they want to or not, her kids are falling in line: Yu's son is currently employed as a driver and earning just over 2,000 yuan (~$320) a month, while her daughter is an office worker with a 3,000 yuan-a-month (~$480) salary.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0628/opinions-rich-karlgaard-digital-rules-millionaire-cop-next-door.html



The Millionaire Cop Next Door


It’s said that government workers now make, on average, 30% more than private-sector workers. Put that fantasy aside. It far underestimates the real figures. By my calculations government workers make more than twice as much. They are America’s fastest-growing group of millionaires.

Doubt it? Then ask yourself: What is the net present value of an $80,000 annual pension payout with additional full health benefits? Working backward the total NPV would depend on expected returns of a basket of safe investments–blue-chip stocks, dividends and U.S. Treasury bonds.

Investment pros such as my friend Barry Glassman of Glassman Wealth Services say 4% is a good, safe return today. But that’s a pitiful yield, isn’t it? It’s sure to disappoint the millions of baby boomers who will soon enter retirement with nothing more than their desiccated 401(k)s–down 30% on average from 30 months ago–and a bit of Social Security.

Based on this small but unfortunately realistic 4% return, an $80,000 annual pension payout implies a rather large pot of money behind it–$2 million, to be precise. That’s a lot. One might guess that a $2 million stash would be in the 95th percentile for the 77 million baby boomers who will soon face retirement.

That $2 million also happens to be the implied booty of your average California policeman who retires at age 55. Typical cities in California have a police officer’s retirement plan that works as follows: 3% at age 50. As the North County Times of Carlsbad, Calif. explains: “Carlsbad offers its police and firefighters a ’3-percent-at-50′ retirement plan, meaning that emergency services workers who retire at age 50 can get 3% of their highest salary times the number of years they have worked for the city. City officials have said that in Carlsbad the average firefighter or police officer typically retires at age 55 and has 28 years of service. Using the 3% salary calculation, that person would receive an annual city pension of $76,440.”

Who are America’s fastest-growing class of millionaires? They are police officers, firefighters, teachers and federal bureaucrats, who, unless things change drastically, will be paid something near their full salaries every year–until death–after retiring in their mid-50s. That is equivalent to a retirement sum worth millions of dollars.