Inside Beijing's third ring road, Mr Li rides a scooter for FlashEx, a courier.
Now in his 40s, with two school-age children, he migrated from Henan province, roughly 600km to the south.
The capital's ring roads, he has discovered, are not paved with gold.
Competition has increased; fees have declined.
Of the roughly 8,000 yuan ($1,100) he makes each month, he saves more than half.
People like Mr Li pose a conundrum for China's economic policymakers.
If China's households feel insecure, they will not spend.
And if they do not spend, the country's ever more impressive industrial system will keep struggling to find customers.
The lack of demand has already saddled the economy with persistent deflation:
China's factory-gate prices have fallen year on year for 33 months in a row.
Falling prices can become a vicious circle, if they oblige companies to cut wages, further dampening demand.
On a recent visit to Henan,
China's leader, Xi Jinping,
urged officials to strengthen social security and improve public services.
Many macroeconomists agree: stronger social safety-nets would be good economically, as well as being good in themselves.
On July 28th, the government took a welcome step in the right direction with a new subsidy to boost births:
3,600 yuan a year for families for each child under the age of three.
The government might look next to the other end of the life cycle.
If China spent another 1trn yuan on rural pensions, it would increase GDP by roughly 1.2trn,
according to Liu Shijin, who used to work for a think-tank attached to China's cabinet.