Lunar New Year with Sean, Remie, and Tina
Lunar New Year with Sean, Remie, and Tina
I know and hope that so many of us are taking away a number of life lessons from the experiences of 2020, and honestly the beginning of 2021, as well. One of those lessons for me is the value of amplifying voices. I started this podcast over six years ago now as a dare to bring more female voices to the personal finance podcasting space, and over a million downloads later, I take this platform you’ve given to me by listening very seriously.
Many of my long term listeners know that, like you, I’m on a journey to learn everyday and get better every day in all aspects of my life, especially finances, and I’m bringing those lessons to this community. Today is Lunar New Year, or, what I knew growing up as Chinese New Year, and it impacts millions of people on this planet, including three of my teammates at the Financial Gym. So joining me today is Sean, Remie, and Tina, to share their stories of lunar new year, how it impacts their families, and why they shouldn’t be working today.
What are we drinking?
Sean - Whiskey, neat
Remie - Ginger beer with a splash of gin
Tina - Gin and tonic
Shannon - Gin and tonic
Podcast Notes
Tina is a trainer at The Gym. Remie and Sean are on the tech team and they keep the technology going.
Lunar New Year is based on the moon cycle. Every year, in Asian culture, they followed that calendar until it became westernized. The day of the new year changes every year, based on the moon cycle. There are a lot of traditions that celebrate this day and sometimes it lasts for a week.
Some people call it Chinese New Year. Lunar New Year is more inclusive of all Asian cultures.
This year, Lunar New Year is on February 12.
Tina grew up in upstate New York in a white town. There were only three Asian families that lived there. They didn’t do much to celebrate in the town, but if there was a school break, they would go to her aunt’s house in Queens and have family time. They would eat meatballs, noodles, and rice cakes.
In addition to family time, the older relatives would give the kids red envelopes, which had money in them.
You can get the envelopes at the bank or on the street in Chinatown in the city. Tina always would get an envelope from her aunt and it had small amounts of money in it. Now Tina will give them to her nieces and nephews when they are old enough.
In Remie’s family, the kids receive money until they are married, and after they are married they need to give money to the younger generation.
Sean has a small family and would receive about $20 each year. Some of his friends would receive thousands of dollars. He still gets red envelopes. Sean and his family go to temple to pray for the new year.
Remie’s grandparent’s are Buddhist and they have a ceremony in their house where they pray to their ancestors and burn incense. They also set out food for their ancestors and pour wine for them. They leave the chairs empty for them and they make chicken, pork belly, and tarot. Everyone brings a dish.
Sean’s family links up at the temple and then they go back to his parent’s place to eat rice cakes or fish. They don’t need an abundance of food, because there aren’t that many people.
Sean and Tina are Taiwanese and Remie is Chinese, and they are all first generation Americans. Lunar New Year is the most celebrated holiday in their families.
Chinese people work every holiday except New Year’s, because working on New Year’s Day will bring bad luck. Sean tries to take time off to go to temple and work later.
Eight is a lucky number, but four is not. Nine sounds like the word for longevity and is also good.
In ancient mythology, the gods had the animals compete against each other in a race to determine the order of the Chinese Zodiac.
The rat is the first animal, because he sat on the water buffalo’s head as it plowed through everything and then hopped off at the finish line, making it number one. Number two is the ox, then tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, etc. It repeats after every 12 years.
Tina likens this to your horoscope. Remie is a sheep/ram/goat, depending on the calendar you look at. Sean is a snake and Tina is a rabbit. Tina’s birthday is 4/4 and the rabbit was 4th in the race.
In China, when it is your animal’s year, it is bad luck. In Japan, you are called the year boy and you are supposed to have good luck that year. This year is the year of the ox. 2020 was the year of the rat.
Lunar New Year is all about family and food. This year will look a little different for each of them. Normally, red envelopes are handed out in person.
Follow Remie, Sean and Tina:
Remie: @RemieTV and her YouTube channel
Sean: @Seanieh_ and his YouTube channel
Tina on The Gym’s team page
Takeaway: My biggest takeway is the value of conversations and listening to others about what is unique to them. For me personally, this conversation was eye opening about being an employer and continuing to create a more inclusive work space. As a result of the conversation, The Financial Gym added two floating holidays for all employees to take for their cultural or religious reasons.
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
2020 was a challenging year, and if money was one of those challenges for you, please don’t let 2021 be more of the same. Despite a global pandemic, we witnessed Financial Gym clients achieve amazing goals all year long. We’ve worked with over 6,000 clients at this point and we’ve literally seen it all and would love to help you achieve your financial dreams in 2021. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com to get set up today.