Monday, July 31, 2017

夜宿倫敦客棧/莊峻華

夜宿倫敦客棧/莊峻華

從法蘭克福機場,改搭英妔班機到法國里昂市,但須在倫敦轉機,
因為天黑,所以需要投宿機場附近客棧,一般說來,我較熟悉海德
公園旁,一家旅店,但是我在發現,另一家在希斯洛機場附近四站
外,價錢更俗,於是掛單投宿,這是倫敦陋巷區,走在街道上,內
心愬愬然。

街頭來往行人,泰半是外國移民,大英帝國幾百年,統治天下,各
地舊殖民地臣民後代,漸漸回流英倫三島,客棧座落大街旁角落,我
仍舊有現金問題,客棧並未領取信用卡訂金,卡號僅防萬一,所以簽
到時需要再刷一次卡片,費用增加百分之十,因為費用不高,此增加
額不甚顯著,倒是房鎖卡片,需要訂金英鎊,經理同意我以美金抵押
,於是他幫忙提我行李上樓。

這時候外頭落雨天寒,我覺得需要沖洗,室友告知浴室無熱水,難怪
投宿費便宜,我讀西班牙語,教科書上提到投宿需知有無熱水,不知
卻在倫敦遭遇,我迅速法揮半世紀前,新兵訓練經驗,沖涼更衣,然
後準備入睡,室外卻有一群人,以非洲語言爭辯,然後是印度腔英語
,一直到凌晨三點,四點許我就可以搭最早班巴士到機場,雖說問路
再三,還是錯過下車站兩次,幸好我有倫敦捷運卡,十幾英鎊在案。

抵達希斯洛機場,在大後機室等候,這是一世界級繁忙大機場,仍然
滯留許多旅客,我選一座位,可以觀看班機指定銀幕,旁邊有兩位機
場工作者,約是提早上班,在後機室等候打卡,也是談話不斷,一直

等到上機,稍可闔目,但又恐誤過簡易早餐。

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Fall trip to Scotland 2017/Carlos Pueblo

Fall trip to Scotland 2017/Carlos Pueblo

A new advertisement popped up late last night for a transatlantic cruise
trip which I was watching for. After the night of waiting, I got a help from
my agent to book this cruise in late September from Southampton,
England to New York City 11 days. I like the price plus that I can fulfill my
wish to visit Edinburgh. Scotland where I have missed several times.

It is a reposition ship which is returning to U.S. for the Caribbean cruise
during the winter and back to Europe next spring. Usually I can get a more
reasonable rate for the trip in compare with the transportation, room and
board etc. in total combination. Especially after 13 times travel with the
same cruise line, I have made acquainted with some staff on board of
several ships. Even though there are only four stops on the way back to
NYC, I feel that I have plenty time to look around Shetland Islands, Scotland;
Reykjavik, Iceland; St. John’s, New Foundland; Portland, Maine. Before the
embark, we shall have two days in London and three days in Edinburgh.

I was checking on several options for this fall trip to Europe. The first one choice
was from Rome, Italy 15 days to Miami, Florida and the rate was gradually dropped
to my expecting level, then another route price dropped to my comfort, from
Barcelona, Spain to Port Canaveral, Florida 14 days. This was the same ship which I
took in 2016 and I didn’t mind to re-arrange my mileage flight round trip back and
forth to Spain; however, it was not convenient and economic in any calculation. Now,
this one come along and I get a chance to understand how the Viking make their journey
to the North America, actually the route is shorter than the previous one from Spain to
Florida which Columbus’.

Southampton is still a major port for cross Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic story started here
and also some more, if I am not mistaken, Titanic is  made in Germany and so were almost
all current day cruise vessels. Interesting to know that the majority of passengers are from
the U.S. yet German put their ship building business in good use.



秋遊蘇格蘭2017/莊峻華

秋遊蘇格蘭2017/莊峻華

昨夜查閱郵輪網頁,發現一則特價,是一回美航線,從倫敦經一蘇格蘭
港,冰島,北極海,到紐芬蘭,緬因州,抵達紐約港,我喜歡此郵輪,
剛好順便秋遊愛丁堡市,上午迅速訂妥機票和船票,英國內旅館,則將
稍後請琳兒代訂,回紐約後,將拜訪親戚,希望他也從亞洲旅行回來。

去年秋初,我到歐洲旅行,主要是德國,最後有機會拜訪愛丁堡,鄰居
告知,蘇格蘭秋天多雨潮濕,不便旅遊,於是我逕自更換到法國里昂市
,不料在法蘭克福旅店,遇見一位香港小姐,剛從愛丁堡旅行過來,遇
到天晴日,於是更堅定我之志向,此番郵輪旅行,特別安排三日行。

冰島推廣觀光旅遊,剛好有機會逛到此島國家,然後就是大西洋北端,郵
輪廣告曰維金人航線,這是格林蘭之外海洋,鐵達尼號之航行海線,快速

班輪約七日,紐約到倫敦,每週一班次。

Thursday, July 27, 2017

On my way to Lyon, France/Carlos Pueblo

On my way to Lyon, France/Carlos Pueblo

Finally, I left Istanbul, Turkey and was on my way to Lyon, France via
Frankfurt International and Heathrow Airport, London. It was Turkey
Airway and British Airway in combined. At Frankfurt waiting for the
flight, I met 4 passengers and had a good conversation.

I was waiting in a gate for flights to Shanghai, London, and Moscow
while I first ran into a man from my hometown at Yunlin, Taiwan. He
used to grow up in a village about 3 miles from me yet couldn’t recognize
all the names which I brought up from his township. He proudly announced
that he only had had elemental school education. He didn’t answer my question
what brought him to Germany. He did make it in Germany as a restaurant owner.
He estimated his asset of two houses, one in Frankfurt and another one in Shanghai
, for above two million Euro and gained my respect. This is why he travels back to
Asia every year, Shanghai and Taiwan.

Another couple from Shanghai joined us for conversation. They were in Germany
to visit their son who was in Stuggart for graduate study in engineering. Stuggart is
the headquarter of Mercedes-Benz and that is why his son selects the study. I asked
about the ownership of property in China and he didn’t have enough time to explain
how that worked when the government required the land to build a new infrastructure
in Shanghai for instance, how to procure and resale the property. He did mention that
some farmers were making a fortune when sold their farms to the government. I thought
that the communist regime owns all the land, all land in China. Very soon, they left for
their destination.

The fourth man was another Chinese passenger waiting for a plane to go back to his
hometown Hefei, Anhei, China. If I was not mistaken, he should fly to Shanghai and
transfer to Heifei. He took a different route via Moscow, Russia to make the transfer.
He was a manual laborer in Trinidad and Tobago for new residential construction. His
Chinese employer obtains a building contract with a local builder to build a public
housing project, as a matter of fact, he was a labor of a subcontractor. He said that
his employers, a Chinese couple, recruited him in China for a term of contract for a list
of duration, pay, and airplane ticket etc., yet he felt that he was lucky to get off that job
after 18 months with a pity of the owner’s wife. He worked like a slave with a vivid
description. I didn’t know how to comfort him. The slave system in Chinese society is
still existed as I understand that the system in history still affect all the world’s poverty

in fact, no matter how much progress a nation is to be.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

飛往法國里昂市途中/莊峻華

飛往法國里昂市途中/莊峻華

終於結束伊斯坦堡行,搭機回法蘭克福轉機,這是經濟旅行,我
需要在法市停留,這是土耳其來回票,從法市搭英航經倫敦過夜
,再飛里昂市,這是哩數票,比較便宜,然後搭機經倫敦,赴西
班牙巴塞隆納港,搭船回美國,我在飛往途中,法蘭克福機場停
留,遇見四位華人旅客,有趣交談。

第一位是一與我年齡相仿者,來自我台灣故鄉雲林縣二崙鄉,我
去過兩次二崙,就在西螺附近,我和他提起幾位二崙相識,他均
不知曰,自幼輟學,大膽移民德國,也未多言關係,我猜必是經
營餐廳,於是我提起法市車站前之台灣餐廳,其實是日本菜單,
價格高昂,他說是相識者,他已結束餐業,有房兩棟,一在我去
過之奧芬巴克鎮,就是緬因斯河東向有防洪花園處,他在中國上
海也有房屋出租於是屈指一算,約有兩百萬歐元資產,於是我好
生羨慕,旁邊剛好有一對上海來夫婦,來史塔格勒市,探望讀書
之兒子,太太聞道德國有房屋,問曰可否租房?不久,他們共同
登機飛上海。

有位面目黝黑者,似乎言語有困難,與中國航空職員商談,後來
坐到我旁,原來他從加勒比海之千里達來,準備飛到俄羅斯莫斯
科然後轉機到上海。他是安徽省合肥人,先前在千里達當泥土工
,做超過一年,始得辭職返國,在他描述下,他像是過去之奴工
,受到中國雇主之剝削,講好待遇不故,扣押護照,拳打腳踢,
無行動自由,我聽述後,內心淒淒然,後來回國,看到一些中國
古文學紅樓夢講解,講到奴隸,講到家生,講到社會階級,不覺
毛骨悚然,美國社會仍舊有奴隸之後遺症,幾百年延續。

他仍然同情台灣處境,他相信台灣獨立之不可行,於是我安慰他
無需為台灣人擔憂,準備在中國努力工作,無需淪落海外受苦,
於是我告別,繼續我之浪迹天涯。


Young bicycle riders/ Carlos Pueblo

Young bicycle riders/ Carlos Pueblo

I ran into three long distance bicycle riders at my hostel room in
Istanbul, Turkey where they were waiting for their visa to pass through
Iran to the east. One of them were from Sweden waiting in the room most
of the time while I did have time to chat with him and hear his traveling
experience. He was just graduated from high school and was on his yearly
ride across the world. The other two were from Germany and Australia
and both freshly minted college graduates.

He is a tall strong red hair beard handsome man with a very good knowledge
of his life. He knows what he like to do early in his life. After learning that I
was from Houston, Texas, he told me that he just finished his ride in Austin.
I understand that camping facility in the United States are very comfortable
and plenty. He explained that how he packed all his necessity into 4 baskets
hanging two each in the front and back which included spare folded tires,
dry foods, cooking utensil, tent, etc. I could see the volume when those were
spread around his bed in the room, of course, he had had a i-phone type of
computer at his hands all the time.

He was interested in what I brought up to our conversation subjects such as
the Obama’s not that covert actions in Iraq and Sudan which was a headline
news on New York Time European edition and caught on my eyes. U.S. Army
special force in bed with the Kurdish force advanced and beleaguered the Capital
city of ISIS and, US Army force also consulted the African Union to manage a
war in Sudan. The article indicated the African union force were mainly from
Kenya and Uganda. He was interested and I also mentioned how Clinton and
his administration to end the aggressive of Serbia toward Bosnia and Kosovo.
He said that he knew Kosovo because that his brother was on that Kosovo
Mission represented European Union force of Sweden Company to help Kosovo
after the war. It was a good story of modern history in Europe where everything
were related, Ottoman, Prussia, Balkans, Islam, orthodox church, and Albania,
etc.

His Iranian visa was granted, as a matter of fact all three of them in the same week
at the end of my departure. We said farewell when I left Istanbul. The other two
young riders were a German and an Australian both were just graduated from college.
I admired all of them to have such adventure at a young age in their life.





Saturday, July 22, 2017

鐵馬騎士旅行者/莊峻華

鐵馬騎士旅行者/莊峻華

我在伊斯坦堡旅店,巧遇三位歐洲青年,鐵馬騎士旅行者,他們
存放坐騎鐵馬,於一樓儲藏室,隨身行李,放在寢室,有一位瑞
典高中畢業生,正旅行在鐵馬全球行,一位來是德國大學畢業生
,這是就業前之休假旅行,第三位青年,我已忘記其所來自,三
位均在等候車伊朗入境簽證,一般說來在伊斯坦堡,需要兩週時
間。

這位瑞典青年,也是每日呆滯寢室,使用手機電腦,我剛好旅行
過丹麥哥本哈根,他就在哥市過橋之南瑞典,已經在美國旅行半
年,到過我們德州奧斯汀,十分親切,高中剛畢業,高頭大馬,
紅髮赤鬚,英語流利,知識豐富,剛好我在法蘭克福機場,讀到
兩則美軍新聞,一是美軍顧問協助庫特軍,準備攻入伊拉克第二
大城,另外一張相片是,美軍顧問協助非洲聯盟烏干達軍,在索
馬利亞,與政府叛軍作戰,這是歐巴瑪政府國防部策劃,小本顛
覆,比起當年科斯輔,美軍轟炸塞比亞貝爾格來特市,別具一格
,這些都是人道軍事行為,他迫不及待附和曰,彼長兄就在當年
服兵役,隨瑞典軍隊,進駐科斯輔,如我沒記錯,當年歐盟包括
德國,都派兵進駐科斯輔,協助科斯輔戰後秩序,這是克林頓時
代之美國,於是我又介紹奧圖曼帝國,剛好我們都在土耳其,我
又提到古中國突厥,東土耳其斯坦,他準備鐵馬遠征之古絲路。

遠征用鐵馬,比一般自行車大,行李零件工具,放置在前後輪四
帶,包括帳篷炊具,平素需要夜宿荒郊野外,我聽他們比較鐵馬
價格,數目我已忘記,但似昂貴,德國青年所購者為二手貨,他
是大學剛畢業,已有電腦工作等候,也在旅店等候伊朗簽證,第
三位騎鐵馬者,晝寢夜出,鮮少交談,另外一位是可倫比亞國青
年,莫斯科留學生,理論物理專門,也在旅店等候俄羅斯簽證,
因為旅行中遺失護照。我聽聞他們口述中之伊斯坦堡餐廳市場故
事,非常有趣。

我在旅店經驗,非常局促,每日均步行到塔克辛廣場,一家漢堡
王早餐,因為餐廳接受信用卡,然後就是過午不食,也有一兩次

,到雜貨店,補充水果,這次歐洲行,非常克苦。

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Two topics from Turkey’s ancient capital/Carlos Pueblo

Two topics from Turkey’s ancient capital/Carlos Pueblo

I did briefly drop by Topkapi Sarayi, Topkapi Palace of Byzantine on
the morning when I ran into that con-artist to steal my 40 US dollar.
Byzantine Empire was before Ottoman Empire and before that my
knowledge could only track to Roman Empire. This is the history of
current day Turkey while developing the second of my topic the race
of Turks.

Topkapi Palace is located on the shore of Marmara Deniz, the sea of
Marmara on the European side of Istanbul. Not far away, you can take
a ferry across Istanbul Bosphorus strait to the Asian side of Istanbul.
Topkapi is a Palace of Byzantine era. There have been four different
Empires, Roman, East Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman since the beginning
of the century. Topkapi is a beautiful museum at present with a beautiful
garden and I regret very much that I don’t take advantage to visit on this
trip.

I am very curious of the Turks, the people of such rich heritage. I thought that
the Turks were originally  from current day northern China, north of the great
Wall of China called Gokturks, a branch of the Huns. After thousands year war
with Chinese,  they were pushed westward to the north of Altai Mountain.
Eventually the Mongolian pushed these people further west along the ancient
Silk Road to the current day Middle east. They got a final break in current day
Turkey after the Mongolian stopped at Baghdad. In 1299 A.D. they formed a
Kingdom and conquered Byzantine in 1453 A.D. to set up the Ottoman. This
Ottoman went up north through the Balkans to reach to the wall of Vienna.
During 600 years, Ottoman Empire was a center of Africa, Asia, and Europe
and Istanbul was the capital city attracted so many different kinds of people,
the black from Africa, yellow skin Asian, and  white skin Caucasian. Caucasia
is nearby. According to my classical Chinese history knowledge, Gokturk are
color eyes and white skin like current day Uyghurs in  the east Turkistan, western
China. I am not quite sure if Turks and Uyghurs speak the same language; however,
Turks, Mongolian, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, and Finish are all Altai linguistics.

Immigrating to the U.S. helps me to understand how people immigrate especially
when people move in order to find a better place to live. Now Turks move to
the western Europe and I understand because people move to America as well.






  

Thursday, July 13, 2017

土耳其古蹟/莊峻華

土耳其古蹟/莊峻華

我在伊斯坦堡塔克辛廣場附近,居住一週,並未遊覽任何土耳其
古蹟,僅在第二日,嘗試走到海邊,是無意間,窺視到托普塔畢
宮,在搏斯普魯斯海岸,現在已是管制之花園博物館,非常美麗
之拜占庭帝國宮殿,網球伴羅吉斯感嘆,到了伊斯坦堡,未得參
觀奧圖曼帝國古蹟,真是遺憾,遑論拜占庭和東羅馬帝國,我僅
在宮殿前座椅,望遠鏡眺望海峽,憧憬渡輪紅茶,朋友所介紹,
此為歐亞兩洲之海界,小時候世界地理讀到之,博斯普魯斯海峽。

塔克辛廣場,應該是土耳其後建築,廣場附近有些回教寺院,著
名之中東露天市場,也在附近。奧圖曼帝國幅員廣大,橫跨歐亞
非三洲,土耳其人就是一古蹟民族,融合各色種族,先是東羅馬
,然後就是拜占庭,統治者是白色皮膚,土耳其北連高加索山脈
,是白人,美國至今仍舊規類白皮膚人為高加索人。然後就是傳
說中之突厥語,蒙古王朝定義下之色目族,從絲路到土耳其,一
帶一路,帶來路上各種種族,所以近來網路歷史介紹曰,土耳其
人之基因,已甚少有近代維吾爾人之基因,但無可否認其中外表
之貌似,然後就是比較其語言體系,據說都屬阿爾泰語系,阿爾
泰山在今日中國新疆,據說此種族古居阿爾泰山之北,當今蒙古
語,韓國語,日本語,土耳其語,芬蘭語,和匈牙利語等,都是
阿爾泰語系,所以需要很多想像,包商括歷史和地理。

我在住之旅店,位居伊斯坦堡市古城中心,伊斯坦堡市人口一千
五百萬,連四周圍一共三千萬人口,非常擁擠熱鬧,是一大就業
中心,所以很多人來伊斯坦堡尋覓機會,我因無預備,一下失算
,浪費一週時間,真想沿古奧圖曼帝國,坐船到亞洲伊斯坦堡市
,然後到東土耳其邊界,觀看阿拉拉山,然後北上,經巴爾幹半
島,這些都是古奧圖曼帝國幅員,一直到維也納,奧圖曼軍兵臨
城下,然後才有東歐歷史,波蘭波羅地海,普魯士和奧匈帝國等
,這是人生旅行夢想。



Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Visiting Istanbul, Turkey/Carlos Pueblo

Visiting Istanbul, Turkey/Carlos Pueblo

I left Frankfurt, Germany on October 18, 2016 for a week stay in
Istanbul, Turkey. This is one of a trip in my mind for a long time
even though there is a minor security concern of political activity,
a military coup. There are 3 million Turks in Germany and the round
trip is very convenient and inexpensive from any of German cities to
Istanbul via Turkey Airway. After twice travel to Germany, I understand
why German are so friendly toward Turks that I believe to be back to
the friendly Germany Empire and Ottoman Empire. Albrecht Von Roon
who was one of the figure along with Otto Von Bismarck was an army
attache to Ottoman. After WWI, both empires collapsed.

The second reason of my interest is that I like to see myself of the current
day of the ancient legend Gokturks, one of the old empires north or west
of the great Wall of China. Gokturks were pushed gradually toward the west
along the silk road by Chinese Tang Dynasty and the Mongolian and finally
got a break at the current day Istanbul as the Ottoman Empire. I didn’t have
such romantic trip in Istanbul and let me explain the reasons.

I ran out of my cash for almost a month and refused to get a re-supply from
home that made my trip very hard. I developed a method to get by with a
credit card. I broke my last one hundred dollar bill to pay something in the
hostel and got 4 twenty dollar bills and put them in two stacks in to my wallet.
An old shoe polisher guided me to an inner bay of Bosphorus on the European
Side. We communicated well enough in English and finally at a corner of an
office building ground with trees and green grasses. He gave me a penny like
of Turkey Lira for souvenir, then also asked to polish my tennis shoes. I felt that
I should give him something in return. I opened my wallet trying to find a dollar.
I saw my stacks of twenty dollar bills and opened his eyes in surprise. He asked to
see if he could see the money and I was so stupid to comply. He touched and viewed
those money in the front and back then returned to me. This was all in front of my two
eyes widely opened. After we departed in just a few minutes, I didn’t feel comfortable
and check my wallet and found out one stack of 40 dollars were gone.

I did mention to some for such experience to release my stress of stupidity in this
trip until I got tired of it.


Saturday, July 8, 2017

伊斯坦堡市行/莊峻華

伊斯坦堡市行/莊峻華

 我到土耳其伊斯坦堡市旅行,已是十月十八日,二零一六年晚秋。
前一年在布宜諾斯艾利斯市,遇見德人朱里安,推薦伊市,於是我
安排在此次歐洲旅行行程中,由於江郎才盡,無法實現他所推薦內
容,像是渡海輪上喝甜茶等事,但我確實抵達如此世界大城市。我
搭土耳其航空,從法蘭克福抵伊斯坦堡市,阿塔土克機場,這是歐
洲部份之伊市,然後按說明,搭私營哈巴塔斯到城中,塔克辛廣場
,然後就問路到旅店。

德國境內,約有三百萬土耳其人,所以任何德國大城市,均有方便
土耳其航空班機,飛往伊斯坦堡市,德土兩國友誼,可追溯到一百
餘年前,奧圖曼帝國時代,我先是對奧圖曼有興趣,然後旅行德國
城市,引起注意。約是28年前,我在玉佛寺圖書室,讀到一本台灣
政大邊政系教科書,作者提到奧圖曼帝國,和原中國對峙之匈奴帝國
關係,最近有些英文出版,也同意奧圖曼來自東北亞,教科書作者認
為,成吉斯汗蒙古人,一直追趕這些人到當今土耳其,這些人喘息後
,滅掉在康斯坦丁堡之東羅馬,拜占庭帝國,德意志帝國和奧圖曼帝
國結盟,第一次歐戰後,德奧俄奧匈四帝國,均瓦解但未滅亡,普魯
士陸軍中之魯恩,就曾任駐奧圖曼之武官。

翌晨回巴士站,經過繁鬧塔克辛廣場,整個廣場擠滿群眾,一位擦鞋
老人,好意帶我穿過馬路,走向海邊路,這就是著名之托卡畢宮,老
人沿途,和我談天,說是台灣好,中國不好等討好話題,令我無疑,然
後帶我到路旁一建築前草地,說是幫我擦鞋,我穿網球鞋,當然無此需
要,他說無妨,要我舉腳站在擦鞋架上,如此左右兩腳,鞋液擦在球鞋
前端,我連道感激,他說送我一當地銅錢留念,約是一分錢模樣,我正
想掏出一美金零錢交換紀念,結果在尋一美元零鈔,露出皮夾中之僅存
兩疊四十美鈔,老人睜眼張口曰美金?可否讓我瞧瞧?我已是放鬆無慮,
他拿在手上撫摸一下,還錢給我,我將美鈔收入皮夾,彼此道別,待他
離去無影後,我心有所思,再掏出皮夾算錢,兩疊中之一疊四十元,已
經無翼而飛,後來我就一直忍痛,述說這段經驗,寫在遊記上,已經是
八個半月後,偶有人稍表同情,感謝我分享旅行經驗。


Thursday, July 6, 2017

Assisting my children to set up pension plans/Carlos Pueblo

Assisting my children to set up pension plans/Carlos Pueblo

Recently, I have watched the debate of Taiwan’s governmental employee’s
pension plan with certain interest. I feel that I must introduce what happens
of the personal retirement plans in the United States for the future reference
in Taiwan. I have been an insurance agent for most of my adult life engaging in
tax differed products such as individual retirement plan and benefit from such
tax and financial strategy very much. I gave such advice to assist both of my
children when they first entered the job market about 10 years ago especially
to my son.

My daughter is an accounting major and only need to answer her original
questions to compare the tax differed character of the pension plans. Her annual
income is in a higher tax bracket; therefore, she is allowed to deduct her contribution
to her individual retirement toward her annual income, for instance, she can
contribute $20,000 a year for her 401k, $5,000 a year for her individual retirement
plan, and she also has a defined benefit plan which is a kind of benefit with no cost
to her. In addition to these plans, she is in a mandatory requirement of contribution
to the social security benefit. The growth of those various retirement plans are
tax differed until you withdraw on that year hence the federal government is a major
partner of your retirement asset.

It takes about 8 years for me to explain such investment strategy to my son who is
not at the same income level as his sister; however, I still believe that he still can be
benefit from such retirement plans. He has his Roth, an after tax income saving,
regular IRA $5,000 a year, and a recent 401k plan with a heavy contribution of 50%
of his annual income and he also has an union’s pension within a small deduction from
his union fee every pay check, of course, he maintains a social security plan. I agree
strongly that a retiree cannot rely solely on social security benefit when he retires.
It has been almost every year that he has a refund of $200 from IRS for his annual
$5,000 contribution toward his regular IRA. 

In conclusion, other than the government’s social security benefit, both of my children
will have their 401k, IRA, company’s defined benefit for her and union’s benefit for him
etc. This is a multi-selection pension plans and nice arrangement for the workers. I
now have an early withdraw of social security benefit and a small company’s defined
benefit and next year I must take a mandatory requirement distribution of my pension
plans, IRA and 401k while after tax Roth is exempt from the MRD. Government of Taiwan
can learn from the U.S. to encourage her citizen to save through various individual

retirement plans to be a partner of the individual citizen’s retirement asset.