Q&A: What Nepal Reveals About Wealth and Safety

Paula Pant (0:00)

Joe, this is a very special episode today.

Oh. We're going to talk about retirement, which is our favorite topic. We're going to answer a question about 401k contributions and when you should scale back.

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:11)

Another favorite topic.

Paula Pant (0:12)

We're also going to answer a question about building an ongoing stream of income. There are certain products out there.

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:19)

Also my favorite topic.

Paula Pant (0:21)

Exactly, so we're going to address all of that. But before we do, I want to first talk about the elephant in the room. Oh, wait, first I should intro the show. Hi, welcome to the Afford Anything Podcast. We know that you can afford anything but not everything. So this is a show that's all about making choices and tradeoffs. I'm your host, Paula Pant.

I trained in economic reporting at Columbia. And most Tuesdays, except for when we don't, most Tuesdays, we answer questions from you with my buddy, former financial planner, Joe Salci. Hi, what's up, Joe?

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:55)

Well, I've got the rugged voice going today, Paula.

So people can hang with me. I hope my voice hangs with us. Just coming off the flu. I when I do the flu, I do it right. My spouse gave me the at home test a couple of days ago, and I flew a not a B or not a C, but I got an A in the flu.

Paula Pant (1:15)

Oh, congratulations.

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:17)

Yes.

Paula Pant (1:17)

You had 102 degree fever.

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:20)

I did. And it had said more cowbell.

I forgot.

SPEAKER_3 (1:26)

I don't watch things.

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:27)

You don't know anything. That's a Saturday Night Live skit about, I've got a fever and it says more cowbell.

Paula Pant (1:37)

Speaking of cowbell.

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:39)

That's the weirdest transition ever.

Paula Pant (1:41)

That is the strangest transition.

I want to address the elephant in the room, which is what has gone on in Nepal, the tragedy that just unfolded there. Longtime listeners know that I'm from Nepal. If you're not acquainted with me or with my back story, I am Nepalese. I was born in Kathmandu, came to the United States as a baby, but my whole family remained there. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. My sister is there along with her husband and my niece.

So the whole family is back there. I was a citizen of Nepal for nine years. Technically, my first language was Nepali. It's a technicality. People use the word, the phrase first language as a proxy for language you know the best. For me, technically, my first words were said in Nepali, but I've since largely forgotten how to speak it. I speak it at the proficiency of a drunk toddler.

Joe Saul-Sehy (2:35)

There's a lot of those, a lot of them walking around.

Paula Pant (2:37)

Exactly. But I do still understand it. And I spent many of my childhood summers in Kathmandu.

Over the past several days have been, well, I wanted to address it because so many people have reached out.

I've heard from people who I haven't heard from in years. On the day that it happened, before I even saw the news, that was how I found out as I looked at my phone. And there were like five people who had messaged me within the first hour after the news broke. And I was like, what the heck is going on? And so I reached out to my sister and couldn't get ahold of her, and then reached out to my dad. He had been working the phones. And so anyway, my family is fine. Everybody is fine. And thank you so much to everybody who has asked. For the last several days, I've been thinking a lot about Nepal.

A few things come to mind. And I'm going to do a very in eloquent job of talking about it, but thank you for bearing with me.

So number one, I thought about the fact that Nepal doesn't have a ski industry. I know that's a strange thing. Look at Joe's face. A very strange thing to think. But we are the nation that has the highest mountains in the world. We are the country of Mount Everest. We are home to the top peaks on earth. Why do we not have a ski industry? Why is it that people go skiing in the Rockies, in Japan, in Switzerland, but not in Nepal, which is home to the Himalayas? And it is because we have such poor infrastructure, such a lack of development, that we have not been able to develop one. Despite having all of the natural infrastructure, natural infrastructure, mountains, despite having mountains, despite having the geography that would lend itself to a ski industry, we have not yet had the type of political organization or infrastructure or economy that has allowed us to build one. And that tells you everything about, well, it gives you a strong hint of what the rescue efforts are going to be like. You know, the same challenges that have prevented a ski industry are the same challenges that are going to prevent rescue efforts. And in that regard, it underpins why economic development is so important, because economic development creates infrastructure, both physical infrastructure as well as lines of communication and patterns of coordination, that in the best of times, create jobs, but in the worst of times, can then be used for disaster response. Because here are the things to remember about the rescue efforts. First, this is some of the hardest terrain in the world to navigate. It's the Himalayas. These are the highest peaks on earth. Many of you have probably hiked 14ers in Colorado, 14,000 foot peaks. If you've ever seen the Colorado 14ers, imagine standing at the summit of one, imagine standing at 14,000 feet, and then looking up another 14,000 vertical feet to the summit. That's how high these mountains are. The peaks are at the same level of the cruising altitude of a commercial aircraft. And specifically the mountain where the glacier formed, the glacier was at about 16,000 feet.