The Easy Life Begins at 40--Philip Chang

It takes most people ages to figure out how to pronounce his Chinese name, Chang Chueh-yu, the first time they see it.

He himself says with a chuckle that it's hard to pronounce and hard to write. His grandmother was so worried that he would waste all of his time just writing his name during exams when he was a child that she had a chop made for him to stamp his name with.

But his name is really quite meaningful. It was chosen by a distant relative, Chuang Yen, a former deputy director of the National Palace Museum. And from childhood, he knew that the "Yu" character in his name meant to carry out a plan.

Retiring at 40 is not a dream! After "playing around" for five years, Philip Chang got back into the thick of it. He is now planning to retire for a second time two years from now and once again "go fishing."

Round-the-clock workaholic

Every year after entering the workforce, Chang made a very professional schedule-a blueprint for the future, incorporating his own life, his family life, and his professional life. After he was married at 29, he made a life-altering decision: Before he reached 30, he would start his own business, and at 40 he would retire. To fulfill his plan, he overcame all the obstacles in his way. And at 40 he joined the early retirement set.

After graduating from the computer science department at Tamkang University, he became a workaholic. His first job was as an employee of Mattel's Taiwan operations, which designs and manufactures gaming software on a contract basis.

Two years later, Chang bought an apartment for NT$3 million. It was huge burden for a guy who had only NT$1 million in the bank and a monthly salary of NT$20,000. As a result, he was taking part-time jobs wherever he could find them. At 27, he left Mattel, but he still had his mortgage to pay, and he took NT$70,000 he had saved and opened a computer software company with a friend. Because he had built up a network of contacts, the business took off in no time.

In 1988, an elder schoolmate of Chang's invited him to join him in setting up Accton Technology Corporation. At 30, he became a founding shareholder and manager of the company, responsible for the European market and branches in the US. For four years, he flew all around the world, so busy that he had little time for his family. "When my daughter was three, she still didn't really know me," he says. He decided to leave Accton, and joined Microsoft Taiwan, which had only been operating for a year and had yet to make its name. Yet he was just as busy at Microsoft, often working until 2 or 3 a.m. In the first year he also rushed around to corporations in Taiwan giving more than 180 presentations on system operation.

After he retired, Philip Chang, who has excellent English, got a professional tourist guide license. He is a top guide for study tour groups.

Pleasure as a profession

Perhaps because he had achieved as much as he could professionally, the rat race made Chang pine for life in retirement. But at the time of his 40th birthday, Chang wavered, struggling to decide which was more important: to be a millionaire or to have a good life. He chose the latter.

"Each time I made a professional decision, my family would say, 'what's he thinking?'" Chang says with a chuckle. When he left Accton, his parents asked him why he wanted to work for a place called "Microwave Corporation." Only after his parents retired and moved to the US did they realize that Microsoft was a famous, global enterprise. Nor could they understand when he decided at 40 to get out of the rat race. Their reason, simply, was that his grandfather had worked until he was over 80. When his father was in his 60s and still working, he couldn't understand how his 40-year-old son wanted to suddenly chuck it all.

His friends on the other hand, had different doubts. "Won't you be bored without anything to do all day?" they wondered.

Chang says that he used to have up to 20 or more things on his "to do" list everyday. In retirement, he makes a plan to do a single thing each day. The first year, he began to study photography, enrolling in a famous international school of photography. Tuition was $NT170,000, and the equipment cost another NT$300,000. He even installed a darkroom in his home.

He can often be found carrying 20 kilos of photo equipment and turning up in all sorts of places to take pictures. He has also traveled with tour groups, but after a few such trips he found the guides not up to scratch. He decided to get certified as a guide and lead tours himself. So far, he has led more than 20 trips to mainland China, Europe, and the US.

Of course, financial security was a key factor in Chang's being able to retire early. When the Accton Corporation went public, although his stock was limited, he sold at the highest price and amassed a significant amount of wealth. Moreover, at that time Microsoft was also taking off, and share prices were rising steadily. The sale of his shares became the greatest source of his retirement savings.

After he retired, Philip Chang, who has excellent English, got a professional tourist guide license. He is a top guide for study tour groups.

Back in the saddle

After five years of pleasurable roving, 46-year-old Chang is today the CEO and chairman of Lager Interactive Inc., which makes online gaming software. His reason for returning to work is that he couldn't resist the requests of his friends more than a year ago, and he started the gaming company with five friends. "Because my first job was creating gaming software, it's like returning to the good old days," he says.

Upon returning to the nine-to-five life, the first thing Chang did was to give the workers a check-up. He discovered that among a staff of more than 90 people only four were up to snuff-and one of them was himself. As a result, he often counsels the 20-somethings to keep a balanced life. The more urgent something is, he says, the more you need to slow down, otherwise you'll make bad decisions.

The company is capitalized at NT$75 million, of which Chang contributed NT$20 million, making him the largest shareholder. But still he often tells the employees that once the company is up and running smoothly, he would like to retire for the second time. He could act as an advisor and just show up for meetings to offer his opinion.

In his early years, Philip Chang worked tirelessly; in his midlife years, he chose to quit while he was ahead and live as he liked. Now, with a whole new world unfolding before his eyes, the ever-relaxed Chang finds that all his options are pleasant ones.

After he retired, Philip Chang, who has excellent English, got a professional tourist guide license. He is a top guide for study tour groups.