Is this True Prosperity?

Every Chinese New Years there is the traditional ritual of married adults handing out red envelopes to friends' and relatives' children. Though today I am adult I still receive red envelopes because I am not married. (I do not know why Chinese people have this ritual, but if I have to make an educated guess it would be to share one's prosperity to the people they care for the most.) Take note if you are not Asian or never received a red envelope that usually there is money in them.

Out of random last week I started looking over into all the red envelopes I received through the years. Each year my pile of red envelopes grows with the very recent ones at the top of the pile. (I do not put the money into a bank even though I lose out from inflation. I consider the money to be special. Although that does not mean I don't spend it, lol.) Anyways what I found astonishing maybe a rare occurrence but it is something to take note of.

My envelopes at the top were mostly five dollars while the ones at the bottom were twenties and tens. If I have to guess I started this collection about 8 to 10 years ago and all the people that usually gives me red envelopes did so every year. I found it very interesting that I get less dollars each year even though the United States has a yearly average of 3% inflation. It seems to me my relatives and close friends are getting poor or being cheap. In my pessimistic opinion they are worst off today than 10 years ago.

To not just be a one sided opinion I can list some reasons why I receive less money each year:

1) I work full time so adults consider me capable of making lots of money therefore I do not deserve more from them.

2) Over the years my extend family has grown. Cousins have gotten married and started their own families. Therefore a lot more children to spread the amount of wealth.

3) This ritual of passing out red envelopes has gotten a little old for the givers and they do not consider it as important as it was when they were younger. I can give an example. Usually a 20 something guy would got out to bars to socialize. He probably would spend whatever little amount of money he has on beers and games. When the same guy is in his late 30s or early 40s his priorities has changed. He probably has most of his money paying down a mortgage and/or debt. Priorities with givers has also changed. They are getting old therefore they need to save more to ensure they are well off when they retire.

To come full circle I am writing this excerpt because I feel people today are living on less than 10 years ago. The gap between rich and poor has expanded. What I have here is one more example.