Hi Reader,
I hope you had a nice weekend and a chance to celebrate your mother for Mother's Day. Parents are one of life's obvious blessings. It's also important however, that you allow your own personality to develop and flourish; and it's even better when you have parents that aren't overbearing and are generally understanding and supportive of that process. Shout out to mothers both alive and no longer with us. And if you're a mother I hope you enjoyed your day and maybe got a nice bouquet of flowers. And if not...
Over the course of the rest of this month we are featuring articles and videos on Life with Ken that focus on our core tenets. We are releasing content related to this series every Tuesday. Last week we published "Quality of Information," in which I discuss the value of receiving and seeking out information that is as accurate, insightful, and diverse as possible. We strive to do provide that in everything we do to stimulate in you opportunities and the capacity to become the best version of yourself possible. Click here to check out the What Makes what we do Matter series on the main website. This week's subject is "success."
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What I am Interested in This Week:
Do You Plan on Retiring Anytime Soon!?
A new report has come out suggesting that Americans are choosing to retire early. The official retirement age in America is 67, however, in research done by the New York Federal Reserve they found that people are favoring early retirement by 9.5%. This means that more workers would at least like to retire as early as 59-60 years old. Some of the reason for this early retirement comes from the covid-19 pandemic. During the height of the pandemic people nearing retirement age may have been forced to retire for one reason or another. The pandemic also led the charge of the Great Resignation where several work forces saw relatively mass departures, one notable one being teachers and educators. The sentiments around work have been changing since 2020 and are likely to remain in flux for some time.
The catch for me is that the people who are retirement age are baby boomers. In addition to already being close to retirement, they are receivers of benefits and an economy that may never exist again. All of the retirement age women in my immediate family for example, collect a pension for the rest of their life. Social security is on track to being insolvent for anyone born at least in the 1990s if not earlier. Early retirement is feasible for a group of people about to retire. And what's a few years anyway? I would imagine that while rhetorically a millennial in their mid to late 20s would like to retire early, the reality thereof is not the case or at least not the norm. Though this doesn't mean it can't happen. Click here to read an article on this story.
China Reclamation Efforts
We've been following this story for a little while, ever since the release of China's 9 dash line map. In recent developments the Philippines have announced that it will be stepping up naval security of its sea territories, due to illegal activity from China in the South China Sea. Philippine officials say they have noticed man-made structures in their marine territories near the Sabina Shoal. While China has been engaging in developing various man-made islands in the South China Sea to mark their "territory," Chinese officials have said that the claims from the Philippines are baseless and rumors. Nonetheless the Philippines are committed to protecting their territory and will be investigating these potential provocations further.
The world community in the recent past has also condemned China's reclamation efforts. China has been in dispute with India over a mountainous area on their border for years; China has claimed that area by redrawing their map. And in response to the 9 dash line map, Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States, while on a diplomatic trip to the region said, "These unlawful claims have been rejected by the 2016 arbitral tribunal decision, and Beijing's actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations..." Click here to read an article on this story.
iStrike
On Saturday May 11, 2024, a unionized Apple store in Towson, Maryland voted in favor of a work strike. This store is the first Apple store in the United States to become unionized doing so in 2022, and it's only one of two unionized Apple locations in the nation, the other being in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This decision has come after a year of negotiations and deliberations over work-life balance and scheduling conflicts, and pay issues. The union has not decided to actually go on strike and if anything this is a warning shot. The world's second largest company by market capitalization (worth $2.6 trillion) has said that they plan to engage in discussions in good faith in hopes of reaching a resolution. This could be a canary in a coal mine. In other Apple news, per Bloomberg, there could be a collaboration coming between Apple and OpenAI. They could announce ChatGPT on new generation iPhones as soon as this week. Click here to read an article on this story.
Honorable mention - Ongoing Election in India
India is entering phase 4 of it's 7 week general election. As it's doing so rhetoric around religion and other cultural inflection points are heating up. The incumbent party is facing a challenge from an alliance of several other opposition parties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term and he and his surrogates are advocating for and campaigning on a decisive and unified government. Under Modi there has been a prosperous economic boom in India as well as favorable welfare programs. But there has also been anti-Christian and anti-Muslim hate crimes in the mostly Hindu nation under a Hindu government, as well as widening social and economic gaps and disparities. Click here to read an article on this story.
Word of Encouragement
This week I want to Encourage you to be the best version of yourself possible. Tap into the spirit of excellence. This means doing things at the pinnacle of your capacity. You don't have to be perfect but you can put your best foot forward. Don't phone this week in. When you do and be the best you can you create opportunities for breakthrough moments to manifest in your life. Position yourself to receive a major breakthrough this week!
Have a momentous week!
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