Fresh out of fourth grade, my parents made a huge decision. I found out I was moving to Southern California.  My father stayed in Silicon Valley, and my mother traveled to the other side of California towards Los Angeles. We managed to sell our previous home for a little under two million dollars. It sounds like a lot of money, but it was a desperate grab for cash. My family's struggling business led to this huge financial decision. The cost of living in Southern California was much lower than in Northern California. Houses and groceries were less than half the price. 

My father chose not to move down because he wanted to keep his business in one place. Since we sold our house, he moved into a friend's house and paid a small amount of rent. This decision brought down the overall expenses of our family significantly. With money to spare, my parents decided the new house needed some remodeling. We cut down on the size of our backyard and front yard and added new rooms to the house. We also completely removed the garage for a new space. The result was two more bathrooms and three further rooms. The total number of bedrooms increased to five. My mother rented out the other rooms for extra cash to help our financial situation.

Of course, my parents never told me about their struggles to nine-year-old me about their situation. At the time, I thought they were making the smart move and making more money. I was eventually proven wrong. But at the moment, I was just excited to start at a new school, make new friends, and learn new things. For a while, everything seemed perfect. Well, it was until winter rolled around. There was an unusual amount of rain that winter, considering California was experiencing a drought. After the first storm, I noticed something strange on our living room ceiling. Upon closer inspection, there was a sizeable bump right above the armchair. Never having seen such a thing, I thought, “Oh my god, there must be a raccoon stuck in the ceiling! I have to go tell Mom.”

 I hurried to my mom's room and yelled, “Mom, Mom, Mom, there's a raccoon in the ceiling!”

“What are you saying, Anthony? That’s not possible, ” she said between laughter. 

We checked the mystery together; my mother said, “ Oh, that's just a leak on the roof that made it through the ceiling.” I had never seen such a thing, so I dismissed it due to the heavy rain. I was half correct. As the rain continued, more and more leaks popped up on the ceiling. Thankfully, most of them stayed in the living rooms or the kitchen. After the winter season, my mother found someone to fix the roof. With the ceiling set, I thought I could have some piece of mind. However, more problems started popping up around the house. Eventually, the ceiling leaks came back too. The floorboards popped, and sometimes the air conditioning failed. They kept on coming back even when we fixed them. 

As I grew older, I found that this wasn’t a problem with the house; it was my parents. My parents were almost allergic to spending money. People familiar with Asian culture will say we are very frugal. Some call it cheap, and some call it resourceful. Not paying an unnecessary amount of money is generally a good thing. The keyword is “unnecessary”. My parents often bought cheap appliances and services only to spend more money later to make up for it. My parents' spending habits were like eating sunflower seeds. It’s a typical snack for us Chinese, always with a shell on. People would sit for hours eating them, but it was always one at a time. No one would open all the seeds and then eat it. The higher reward came with a more considerable investment. In this case, the reward is not having to pay for repairs. They could have avoided the repairs and replacements if they had invested in the initial cost. The costs racked up to be more than if we bought higher quality repairs.

Perhaps this is hindsight bias. I saw the outcome and decided that we should have done differently. There was no way I could have seen the storm coming; therefore, the cheaper roofing job would have been sufficient. In another universe, that may have been true. Okay, but let's take a look at insurance. People pay the insurance company a premium in case of an accident. Accidents, however rare, do happen. Insurance is an upfront investment that protects people from financial damage. Perhaps an accident never happens, and you lose out on the money. Indeed, I could not predict the leaks, but I can’t expect a situation where there are no leaks either. The reality is that the future is highly unpredictable. Investing to protect ourselves is always better when it’s within budget. 

This wasn’t the only time my parents skimped out on higher quality. My parents always replaced dishwashers, refrigerators, and air conditioning units. The same situation happened when my dad purchased a mobile home. The same pattern occurred when the house needed repairs because my parents were cheap. The floor and the air conditioning often needed repairs. To this day, the air conditioning still doesn’t work. 

Being resourceful means making the most out of money. It is not spending the least amount possible for the time being. Good things don’t happen overnight, but bad things can. This instability is precisely why services such as insurance exist. Making smart money choices doesn't just have to apply to health and houses. It applies to to everything. Quality always beats quantity.