But this is exactly what happened to 56-year-old Shih Sheng-hui. He was a gifted student as a youngster, won a country magistrate award and later entered NTU’s College of Management and was a classmate of New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu. At 30 he bought his first home, and five years later he joined his wife in paying off their mortgage. By 38, he seemed to have everything in order: a family with three children, a house and a car.
How then did everything fall apart?
Company sheds jobs without severance – “resignation” only option
As the director of the underwriters of a securities firm, 2003 was a year of reckoning for Shih with first the bursting of the dot-com bubble and then the outbreak of SARS. As a result, the stock market took a beating, overall investment climate suffered, resulting to losses for each of his cases. Shih’s superior actually told him caustically that he was better off not finding new clients as a means of stemming losses.
Due to poor economic conditions, the company began to lay off its employees. In July 2003, it was his turn to receive the pink slip. During an appointment with the company’s human resource department, Shih had already contemplated the possibility of a “compulsory resignation” without a severance package, which turned out to be the case. Not wanting to be pulled into possible litigation involved in obtaining the severance, Shih resigned.
Having worked at his job for 15 years – one he had become very familiar with, Shih found himself unemployed at the age of 44.
The suddenness of Shih’s layoff made him reluctant to tell his family members. The next day, he left the house donning a suit and carrying his briefcase. He had borrowed an office desk of his friend’s company so he could continue monitoring the stock market and avoid coming to terms with his unemployment.
But the arrangement could only be temporary as Shih found it increasingly difficult to keep up the ruse of going to work each morning and idling his days away in the park. He finally decided to tell his family members the truth.
Thus started his days spent at home. Initially, he enjoyed the feeling of avoiding dreaded Mondays that start off the workweek. But eventually, with his family members either leaving the house for work or school, he found himself alone. With it came a feeling of emptiness and the evaporation of happiness.
Other than uttering “one lunchbox to go” once a day for takeaway meals, Shih found that he had become separated from the rest of the outside world. He found that his phone could go ten days on a full charge due to the lack of calls. Having always received gifts from clients during holidays and festivals throughout the year, even Shih’s children asked if “no one was currying favor” with him anymore when there were no moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Finally, he decided to leave the house: hiking mountain trails and watching films at the cinema. Without a formal job title, he asked his friends to come up with a temporary one just so he could go to parents’ night meetings for his children’s music classes without losing face.
A last ditch effort to win at the stock market earns him enough to buy a second house
Faced with mid-life unemployment, Shih was not completely helpless. Due to his hard work, he had saved up NT$10 million before he was let go. This capital gave him the means of investing in the stock market, selling insurance and conduct futures and arbitrage transactions – hopefully enough to make the NT$1 million or so necessary to feed his family of five.
Then came another jolt: the 2008 financial crisis, which translated into hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment related losses. The uncertainty made Shih anxious, took away his appetite and made it hard for him to sleep at night.
One afternoon, it came upon him that all would be secure if his investments ran in parallel with the leading stocks. So he decided to invest capital into the “Yuanta Taiwan Top 50” – a portfolio of Taiwan’s top stocks and funds that reflected the gains and losses of the stock market as a whole. The resulting stability paid off and he was able to make good returns, even enough for him to buy a second house.
Inspired to share his experience to everyday investors, Shih started to write with hopes of publishing a book. His investment advice was taken up by the deputy editor of Reading Times Publishing, Lee Chai-hung, with favorable results. In 2013, the company published Shih’s book “Buy just one stock, beat the 18 percent (preferential savings rate),” making him a bestselling author.
“It sold almost 40,000 copies,” Lee said with a smile. And because of the brisk sales, Shih was quickly asked to write more – (leading to two more books) as well as being asked to deliver lectures on his investment strategies.
Shih Sheng-hui says that because he wasn’t earning a monthly wage, home living was made simple. He did not buy a smartphone until 2015. In the rare event of dining at restaurants (only for birthday celebrations), he often shared his meal. On Mother’s Day, while treating his wife to a meal of NT$1,000 or more, Shih himself opts for something ten times cheaper.
Due to household austerity measures, Shih and his family rarely travel. Only in 2009 did the family make a budget trip to Japan’s Hokkaido – which led unforeseen social connections to be made. “I made new friends during the group tour,” Shih said reminiscing, adding that the group still meets to make trips together. Leaving behind his life of solitude during unemployment, Shih now has a packed schedule of lectures and book talks that have in themselves snowballed to create even more personal connections. Attending his daughter’s wedding, Shih realized to his amusement that his friends outnumbered those of the bride.
“If the company hadn’t forced him to leave, would we have the person here today we knows how to enjoy life?” mused a 50 year classmate of Shih’s.
Shih Sheng-hui has experienced unemployment, battled successfully against a feeling of helplessness while also giving inspiration to those who might be caught in the same predicament.
[By Huang Han-hwa/ Tr. by Russ Chiao]