 Do Asian men have to make a lot of money in order to live a happy life in America? This is what we're discussing today. Yeah, we got to talk about a viral thread where there were so many different reactions Valid points on all sides joining us to discuss today Is Ronnie Chang's favorite up-and-coming Asian American comedian in the entire world Vic Tran. Hey, what's up? I'm Vic Tran. I'm Ronnie Chang's number one favorite comedian in the world. It was on the list, bro Yeah, and it's a hundred percent true. I uh, yeah, I'm half Vietnamese half Filipino I'm a comedian and I'm broke so I'm ready to talk about wealth. All right We brought in a lot of people with a lot of different perspectives and the first internet comment was that Asians in general And I find that Asian guys are just way too fixated on wealth creation. Is this true? This is kind of a stereotype Yeah, but I feel like and maybe it's being in New York like which is a big city where everybody who moves here or lives here Is it's trying to be successful in some way It's like you can get around a bunch of Asian guys and everybody's like yo Yo, what are you doing for this investment or real estate or you want to do this or you're oh you're flipping that blah blah blah But then no one really asks each other like hey How do you live a happy life? Are we living happy life skies like well? What's going on? Yeah, I would agree that it's an extreme stereotype based on like what city you're in obviously people in the suburbs are probably gonna be More relaxed or maybe more about saving money than making money But I guess Vic do you have any unique insight and do all Asians feel this way or you being because you're half Vietnamese half Filipino Does one side care? Or just value things differently. Yeah, no, I definitely think it's a spectrum and Filipino side of my family I think they got it right, you know, they they're making their money But they also have a good work-life balance and they know how to spend their money and improve their quality of life Right, and you're saying maybe on the v-it side. It's more like just wealth wealth wealth more wealth or is that yeah It's so intense. It's so intense. They're just focused on obtaining wealth and it's like hey the war is over we can relax You can chill Somebody said, you know, I have a family friend who is a doctor who saved his money his whole life And he has a thousand properties when he passed away But he probably lived a very conservative life Do you think that this is something to look up to or not? And then basically there was a lot of people debating about like hey, man, that guy probably lived a sexless no dopamine life It's not worth it just to have a thousand properties and then of course, you know They just exploded because some people are like what are you talking about this guy did a great thing for himself and the multi-generational Children of his family. How do you know he wasn't having sex man? But yeah, I mean, I think a question is just like, you know, I think it's different for everybody Like what makes him click and what was that thing that made him want to to build that much wealth and to keep going is Clearly he felt good about it. It might not look the same, right? It may not be Parties and in hanging out with the family and all these warm moments holding a puppy Maybe you didn't hold a puppy very long, but you know, I mean, yeah, different people are different I guess is it possible that that accumulation of assets made him happy? I don't think the accumulation of it made him happy by the process of going through that You know that that journey may be made him happy But I don't think that's an obtainable goal for anybody else and you were looking sane if you did achieve that It's like, yeah, I'm Chinese. I got a thousand properties What people will people just be mad nowadays that you're pushing up all the property prices maybe Chinese somebody said Yeah, but you know for me making money is fun, but I'm also from mainland China I cannot deny that this cultural program perhaps has an impact on my life Yeah, you mean this guy saying that I cannot deny that the pursuit of achievement and wealth is also making my life possibly Stressful, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think it depends I think some people they're so wired to like love it, but it's it's rare Like you saying the Filipino way of like more balance and this is by the way I'm not saying all Filipinos but like of more balancing it is probably more sustainable for the majority of the population, right? Yeah, yeah, I think it's about sustainability and about balance and it's like obviously yes You need money and you need to achieve money, but it's like that can't be your only thing What about the most sustainable Asians are Filipinos maybe in this sense. I think yeah I'm saying they're the most sustainable and they're the most correct Somebody said the main issue was the previous generation just didn't know how to enjoy the money Do you think this is true? And because a lot of people making assumptions about this Chinese doctor who lived a nerdy conservative life But had a thousand properties. I don't know man I think for a lot of Chinese people the threshold for enjoyment is a lot lower Like you just go out and have a nice dinner and you order like lobster noodles, right? You don't even need to drink whatever you want. You're not getting drunk. You don't got a bunch of like girls around You're just like enjoying the steam fish. Yeah every day. Yeah, I would say every day That's funny the steam fish with ginger scallion I would say that a lot of like conservative Chinese people and there's all types of Chinese people in America nowadays You're starting to see more of the gambler type come in but like the old-school ones They're almost kind of like Mormons without the religion You know like Mormons are also about like probably having a thousand properties I mean obviously not all but I'm just saying yeah, listen. I'm just using archetypes here one property for each wife Somebody said being sexually desirable is more important than being wealthy seriously All right, so actually I was thinking about this and I mean I think in a place like America Especially if you're from a middle class or upper middle class family, let's say your family has enough money, right? So you're not you're not like even a middle middle is enough Yeah, but but let's just say you're not relying on your wealth to support the rest of your family and stuff like that Then maybe at that point being more desirable and better-looking and more social He's going to do a lot more for your life than even an extra 300k a year Because if you think about it if you don't have even the outlets to spend the money like you're saying how maybe more Filipinos they kind of know what to spend money on even though maybe they're not like necessarily more rich than everybody else But it's just like if you don't even know where to spend your money And you don't know how it makes you happy then really what's the point of having a lot of money, right? Yeah, I could see that for sure I mean, I think that There's at some point in America unless you get to like the billionaire status No amount of extra money can really change the way people treat you like at the store, right? Yeah Yeah, like if you're at a Chinese restaurant like the way that you're perceived It's like if there's some white woman at Chinese restaurant She's gonna talk to the server the same way that she talks to the owner There's no difference in her perception of that person right right no I mean for sure. I think that it depends. I think on the space though. Yeah, like in a restaurant context I would definitely agree with that somebody says it just depends what you're suited for a non-traditional path a Traditional path man. There are ways to succeed and fail in both. Hmm. Yeah, I think that's true I think it's depending on a lot of trust me. I'm failing Hey, you made the list Somebody said it's all about your family if you didn't have money growing up But always wanted money your entire life will become well centric But if you grew up with money, maybe you are searching for meaning basically what I'm saying is your impact Your upbringing has a lot of impact on your hopes dreams and aspirations For sure I mean, I think if you come from a humble background and you saw what money did for your family and even an extra like $1,000 a year can do for your family and it has that much impact Of course, you're gonna want to make more money right because you understand that every like dollar counts But yeah, when you're rich every dollar like counts, maybe less Right. Yeah, I think that the main thing about money is you want to have enough money in any situation to remove suffering Right because I think that that's the main thing that makes people unhappy What makes you happy past once all this maybe conventional suffering has been removed that like varies person to person Yeah, yeah Well, I think there are other ways to relieve suffering outside of just wealth, you know No, that's true because you don't you could be middle-class and all the suffering is well Would you say is there is there a different way that you would say to relieve suffering without well Yeah, like alcohol. I Think evasions weren't allergic to bad. Yeah, if they weren't allergic to alcohol, they wouldn't be so hyper fixated on wealth Yeah, dude, that's a crazy theory Somebody said it's a hundred percent true. Just like Ronnie's list. It's a hundred percent Man lists are true. Somebody said, um, you know, it varies a lot even within a profession For example, let's say for example, you pick the traditional Asian path and become a lawyer But you're a public defendant that gets paid way way less than like a corporate litigation lawyer So basically people were saying yeah the Asian path of like getting a really good stem job or like a law job It still varies a lot like whether you're an accountant at H&R block versus like some billionaires accountant You know what I never understood about the whole whole lawyer and doctor thing for Asians is like I understand doctor because even in Asia being a doctor is very highly regarded But then like being a lawyer, I feel like a lot of Asian parents still don't really even understand what like lawyers do Oh, they don't I think it's just arguing. No, and they just know they just know you have to go to a lot of school to get I think also that you wear a suit every day. Yes, if you get a high degree And you wear a suit then it's considered a noble profession. I know I notice a lot of Asian lawyers They more go into the reading and writing law versus like the in-court debating law though that you see in like, you know The shows and everything that's so dramatized somebody said, you know, you don't really need a life of luxury You just need to be free from any sort of suffering or arguing or stressing about money And you can achieve that through earning a lot spending less or a combo of earning a lot and spending less Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'm a big proponent of that Somebody said it's so sheltered and idiotic to think that somebody from a humble background Should be shamed for just like stopping after they make a hundred K a year Basically, they're referring to the some game Andrew that like corporate yappie Asian guys play where they're like, huh, bro You only make like 80 K and they kind of like, you know, put their nose up at that. Um, Andrew Have you seen that before? Yeah, yeah, we know tons of people like that. I don't really like that attitude I never agreed with it. Obviously, I think you want if you have true desires in your heart And it requires more money than you got to go figure out a way to go get that money This is America. There's a great country to do that in great system, right? But yeah, I mean, no I think if you only make 80 you shouldn't spend money like you make 180, but literally there's nothing wrong with that at all Yeah. Yeah, and also a humble Circumstance or whatever it also depends on your surroundings in your community like you're saying who your reference group of comparison Right. Yeah. Yeah, your reference group of comparison and also just like where you live Geographically, like, you know, if you make a hundred if you make a hundred K in New York You can't live like you're spending 200 you can't spend 200 K, but in Texas you can Which is why a lot of people are moving to Texas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it goes further Somebody said is this all about women because ultimately the pursuit of women and the pursuit of wealth in America are kind of separated It's not like Asia where the more wealth you get automatically you get more women I will say this I think for a lot of guys feeling desired by women can make up for a lot of money It's not it doesn't mean everything and I don't think everybody's life revolves around women. I'm not saying that but I do think like You will feel better in your heart if you know that you're being desired by value that people by other people that you value Right. Yeah, you're saying anybody. Yeah, anybody, but I think often for I guess straight guys It comes in the form of women, right? Right. Yeah well I mean just the amount of extra money and extra hard work that I would need to become desirable to the average woman is like Is the average woman even worth that? I mean, they're worth a lot, but is it worth $270,000 more than the average And maybe that's leading to the whole passport bros thing a whole international arbitrage and everything like that I mean listen guys this thread went on and on and on I think there were so many good arguments either way But I think ultimately my main takeaway from this Andrew is that life is sort of made up of different buckets, right? And once one bucket is full you can't like fill a bucket more than it's already full You know what I'm saying? Yes, like it just overflows at the top and you can't hold anymore So I think the key is like the one thing I'll say is that not everybody's buckets are the same size Like you know what I mean like different buckets of metrics in the life like social life wealth Family life spirituality everybody has like different sized buckets But I think the key is a lot of men not only do they not know what buckets what size their buckets are I don't even think they know how much volume of liquid is filling those buckets Like I think a lot of guys are not like analyzing their own specific unique equation that makes them happy Yeah No, I think a lot of guys just they wake up and they grow up and they're just like yo I just have to make money because I'm like man, right? That's what I'm like told to do and that's what everybody else is doing But they're not actually analyzing themselves as people because every person is different I guess they're either taking instagrams like bucket ology or they're taking the bucket ology from their parents Which is the cultural programming or family programming, but they're not thinking about the buckets that make up themselves Like how how does one guy know? How much money he needs to make to be happy like do you ever know or how do you how do you come about to know? Like you're like I'm okay here for now I think in my case I would like some money Some money would be good right now, but yeah big for more gigs guys Yeah, I don't know I think I Think it depends on how they search for that if they if they just keep trying to reach like a higher and higher and higher Number until they're happy they're never gonna find it I think they just have to remove money from the conversation and figure out what makes them happy and then however much that costs That's how that's their bucket Yeah, and I think one other thing is Andrew the buckets multiply against each other So if one bucket is super empty that's gonna fall into the like an algebraic equation That impacts the health of the other buckets too It kind of reminds me of when I was in sales in college and we would have all these different buckets that were like Accelerator decelerator on your like total final like algorithmic like paycheck output, you know, and it's like that's kind of like Actually how life is yeah, dude Vic what I will say is though Dude stand-up comedy is one of the best business models You literally walk on a stage no cost. You just say some words you can get paid some money Yeah, you know real cause zero business expenses Yeah, no work no riding and your number you're running change number one comedian in the whole world. I Guess ultimately what should Asian guys do should they be frugal? Invest in assets like real estate that are very safe or is it a changing world now? Should we all try to be crypto bros that whole thing kind of worked for a while until exploded? I don't know. What should people do? I mean it is tough because I think there's a lot of pressures when you're an Asian guy and let's say you want you desire Nice Asian women and obviously a lot of like nice Asian women They are gonna prefer you to have like a certain type of job or at least a certain security You know, I don't want to say there's a certain number and I'm not saying women are like only money-centric or anything like that I'm just saying that most women obviously want a guy who is stable in some sense, right? So of course you need to reach that stability level But I guess like you know for Asian guys just kind of get to know yourself and I wish that more Asian friends would have this conversation And maybe it's a little taboo. Maybe it's a little embarrassing But like yo, what makes you happy bro? Oh, are you feeling alive every day? What if we looked at it we could see somebody's chest, right? And there's all these buckets on their chest and the buckets are different sizes and they're full at different levels Oh, you mean different gauges like yeah, like sims I mean our humans not like so like cyborgs, but just like the more I'd be like yo David David. Let me see your uh, let me see your white health buck Yeah, look see my advanced metrics. Yeah, let me see your puppy bucket Anyway guys, let us know what you think in the comment section below. I mean ultimately Any final words on this big? No, I think Andrew hit it on the head. I think you got a you got to figure out what works for you and Learn more about yourself. I also think Asian culture can sort of you know Are we a little bit like Kardashians that are always chasing that like perfect look and we'll just like do whatever You know what? I mean like look wealth. You know, like you see I'm not saying just women But like you know what I'm saying is to be like they're just doing like the most. Oh, David Yeah, but even Kardashians know what they like black guys David Asians Are about money as the Kardashians are about looks and gravity and black guys. Yeah All right guys, we're just gonna leave it there. It's all jokes Thank you Vic for joining us when we have a comedian on here. Everything gets more comedic But yeah, hopefully this conversation was helpful, you know and just hopefully you guys all learn something and There is no true answer. You just got to get to know yourself and try things out Asian guys Yeah, there are cultural patterns, of course in family patterns But you have to know your own individual pattern and accept if it does deviate even though most people are an amalgamation Of everything that they've been coached to like in life. Anyway guys, make sure you like subscribe turn on your notifications Keep it civil in the comments until next time with a hot pot boys. We out. Oh, yeah, check out Vic