Last Saturday, we were in Valle Verde to assist in the Truly Rich Coaching Seminar being run by Beaconlight of Bro Bo Sanchez . In that seminar we got a shocking fact from Edward Lee;a self made Billionaire, about how poor Filipinos are in Investing Literacy!
This is the shocking revelation...in Hongkong, there are only 7M people and out that 1.5M are into investing.... that is not the shocking revelation...this is is what is really shocking....in the Philippines, as of last statistics I know, we are 90M, guess how many are into investing on this same company CitisecOnline? Only 9000 people do invest!. Total investments average turnover we have on Stocks Market per day is only 3B pesos while it is 80 Billion HK$ in Hongkong. This is truly shocking reality!
In our country, Several hundred trillion pesos are in the savings account and these are mostly remittances of OFWs and seafarers. Many millions more of employees who put themselves on the grindstones of daily work put their money on savings account not knowing that their money will double only after the next 144 years!
Indeed many of us do not know that the money we earn if properly invested can earn more money for us. Not so many know how to be financially free, without the need to work, with passive income through interest earnings from investments. Not too many know how money can work for us. Not too many trust the financial institutions.
This reality makes us more fired up to do our mission to bring sight to the blind and hearing to those are deaf as far as investing is concerned. We have a stronger resolve to help and reach out to as many people we can to teach people how they make their hard earned money work for them. That there are legitimate companies who are willing to help people achieve their financial goals.
Bro Bo is consistent and has constant drive to make people aware that being Truly Rich is a good thing and through saving and investing we can achieve it. It is our ardent prayer that we will succeed in our mission in making Filipinos be financially literate and disciplined to be investors too! We want to be proud of the Philippines as the country with most number of investors!
God be with us in this mission!
God bless!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
NETWORKING...Good or Not Good!
Alive, Fern C, Vital C, Vita Plus, Amway, Forever Living, Nu Skin, and many other networking companies are thriving.
People of different background also join in. I find nothing wrong with network marketing. But certainly, I am a bit wary of the products and the schemes. The details.
Robert Kiyosaki, espouses network marketing strategies and I subscribe to the notion that it is the best marketing invention.
However, I would not consider all companies that employs this strategy is good and is really after the good of its members. How do you know that the networking company you joined is good? Here are some general guide to help you:
1. The Product: This is the core of the business. The product must really be helping people change or improve for the better. The product must have proven track record, test results on a long term. It must be a basic requirement or a replacement of an existing need.
2. Product's Lifespan: The product must have long shelf life. It is not easily expired or outmoded or surpassed by another new product.
3. Product Volume Load: The first acquisition volume of the product must approximate your use for at least a month. If it is more than what you can consume, and it is not compliant either to item 2 above, then you've got problems in inventory spoilage.
4. Product Cost: You should know the actual product cost. It must be priced same if not lower than similar products or what you can get out the shelf or from other supplier.
5. Product Consistency: The product must be consistent in it efficacy and this has something to do with its quality and how it is manufactured.
I hope you really think many times over and go through the five items above before you jump in and join!
God bless!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Law of Asset Accumulation vs Law of Accumulating Loving Relationships
Robert Kiyosaki's group has an on-line mini training series defining income and expenses, assets and liabilities. It's simple yet powerful when we really apply the concepts.
What we middle class folks and lower middle class always miss is the distinction between assets and liabilities. What we think as assets are actually liabilities that increases our expense rather than increase our income.
The Law of Accumulating Wealth tells us that as we progress in life, our aim is to accumulate assets. Assets which will in turn produce passive income for us.
However, many indeed commit violations on this law simply because they do not know or failed to understand.
Let me give you concrete examples:
We buy an apartment or a condo or just a parcel of lot with the idea that it is an asset without doing the math as automatically our mind tells us that properties are assets as taught in classes in schools. However, it is only if the net of buying the property and the use or renting or selling is positive that indeed what we bought is an asset. In short, if you make money from buying a property, it's an asset. However, if you buy it and there is no return to your invested money, then it is purely a liability.
Another thing a middle class buy is golf share. You pay a lump sum and every month you pay membership fee. I just had a walk to our golf club house and saw the monthly payments for members with their consumables. Minimum I saw was 2500 per month. On top of the money you initially cash out, you have this monthly expense. If this expense gives you returns by getting business from this golf share and membership, then it is an asset. If not , again it is clearly a liability. And here is the death blow: to be able to enjoy this golf share you have to spend even more...
Another one is a vacation time share. You pay large sums amounting to several hundred thousands and then pay a yearly amount for your units maintenance. If it is a local timeshare you pay in pesos but if it is international you pay in dollars not just several thousands but several tens of thousands. If you don't use it, and or rent it out then it is another wasted "investible" fund. Another form of liability which drain money from you instead of helping you accumulate assets.
These examples clearly violates the Law of Accumulating Assets. I know as I did commit all of the above three mentioned and those were hard lessons. And I had paid the price. And there are many other things out there that seemingly look like an asset but deep within is really a liability.
We have to have the knowledge, the financial literacy to know so we can avoid violating the Law of Accumulating Wealth.
My final point is this. If you feel good and is able to help others by buying liabilities rather than assets, or if you are able to give love and make your family enjoy life, it is a good price to pay as in the end what matters most in really not the money you accumulate or spend, but the relationships you had made as the Law of Accumulating Loving Relationships supercede Law of Accumulating Wealth.
More of this in my other blogs.
God bless!
What we middle class folks and lower middle class always miss is the distinction between assets and liabilities. What we think as assets are actually liabilities that increases our expense rather than increase our income.
The Law of Accumulating Wealth tells us that as we progress in life, our aim is to accumulate assets. Assets which will in turn produce passive income for us.
However, many indeed commit violations on this law simply because they do not know or failed to understand.
Let me give you concrete examples:
We buy an apartment or a condo or just a parcel of lot with the idea that it is an asset without doing the math as automatically our mind tells us that properties are assets as taught in classes in schools. However, it is only if the net of buying the property and the use or renting or selling is positive that indeed what we bought is an asset. In short, if you make money from buying a property, it's an asset. However, if you buy it and there is no return to your invested money, then it is purely a liability.
Another thing a middle class buy is golf share. You pay a lump sum and every month you pay membership fee. I just had a walk to our golf club house and saw the monthly payments for members with their consumables. Minimum I saw was 2500 per month. On top of the money you initially cash out, you have this monthly expense. If this expense gives you returns by getting business from this golf share and membership, then it is an asset. If not , again it is clearly a liability. And here is the death blow: to be able to enjoy this golf share you have to spend even more...
Another one is a vacation time share. You pay large sums amounting to several hundred thousands and then pay a yearly amount for your units maintenance. If it is a local timeshare you pay in pesos but if it is international you pay in dollars not just several thousands but several tens of thousands. If you don't use it, and or rent it out then it is another wasted "investible" fund. Another form of liability which drain money from you instead of helping you accumulate assets.
These examples clearly violates the Law of Accumulating Assets. I know as I did commit all of the above three mentioned and those were hard lessons. And I had paid the price. And there are many other things out there that seemingly look like an asset but deep within is really a liability.
We have to have the knowledge, the financial literacy to know so we can avoid violating the Law of Accumulating Wealth.
My final point is this. If you feel good and is able to help others by buying liabilities rather than assets, or if you are able to give love and make your family enjoy life, it is a good price to pay as in the end what matters most in really not the money you accumulate or spend, but the relationships you had made as the Law of Accumulating Loving Relationships supercede Law of Accumulating Wealth.
More of this in my other blogs.
God bless!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Why We Do What We Do In IMG
Dear Friends, this is a re-post of one of the Blogs of Bro Bo Sanchez, our Marketing Director in IMG.
Also mentioned in ths blog is Ms Shirley San Miguel our mentor here in Dasmarinas Cavite.
I encourage more people to join our IMG crusade.... why...read on...
6 Steps to Enjoying Your True Wealth
By Bo Sanchez
We were going to Hong Kong that day. I was going to preach for three days but had two extra days to be with my family. Picture us at the airport: My wife carrying our baby in her arms, my eldest son bouncing about like a rabbit and announcing to the whole world, "I'm going to Hong Kong Disneyland!" And the poor skinny father? Straining to push eight massive bags on a wobbly cart with a stubborn right wheel. (I've noticed that these deranged carts supernaturally end up with me wherever I go.)
That was when we heard the crying.
Correction. Not crying. But spine-chilling, lung-busting screaming. Two kids were holding onto their mother. They were separated by four-foot tall steel bars. But to those distraught children, those steel bars represented two years of being without their mother - the contract of a domestic helper in Hong Kong.
Four small arms clutching, grabbing, not letting go.
The whole world heard their pleading scream, "Mommy, please don't go! Please don't go!" I'll never forget the mother's pained, tortured face - as though a knife was ripping through her body. My wife cried openly. I wept inside and held onto my kids more closely.
That was two days ago. Yesterday, the story continued...
Those Small Arms Continue to Reach Out Yesterday was Sunday.
And I walked around Central.
If you don't know Hong Kong, Central is where thousands upon thousands of Filipina Domestic Helpers congregate. They sit on sidewalks. They sit on overpasses. They sit by storefronts.
I walked passed one woman who was reading a handwritten letter.
The handwriting was obviously a child's penmanship.
I walked passed another listening to a little cassette player - not to listen to music - but to a voice of a kid telling stories.
But what broke my heart was the news given to me by Shirley, the head of one organization that tries to help them get financial education. I was shocked by what she said. "Brother Bo, out of our 700 members who are married, 80% is already separated from their husbands."
Families aren't designed for prolonged separation.
They're not just made for that.
We're supposed to spend time together.
6 Steps to Spending More Time with Your Family No Matter How Busy You Are
"Bo, why are you telling me this? I'm not in Hong Kong. I'm living with my family under one roof."
Listen. Yes, you're not in Hong Kong.
But if you don't have time for your family - and your heart is not focused on them - you might as well be in another country.
You could be physically present - but are you emotionally present as well?
Let me share with you six important steps you could take to become more emotionally present with them...
Step #1: Be Close.
I'm still in Hong Kong as I write this piece.
It's five in the morning as I type this article in bed. And my little family is literally around me because we're all sleeping on one bed. Yes, we've become one mass jumble of intertwined humanity - our limbs, legs and arms crisscrossing each other. And that's when I realize - gosh, I don't know how blessed I am.
Why?
Here I am with my family. I feel their skin. I smell their scents. We're so close, I feel their breath.
And yet I'm surrounded by 148,000 domestic helpers here in Hong Kong that have been away from their families for months, for years, for decades.
And for those who've separated - forever.
Let me say it again: We don't know how blessed we are.
We complain that our families are nutty. But we don't understand how blessed we are to have them close enough to experience their nuttiness. We complain about our petty quarrels, our cold wars, our dysfunctionality.
But whose family isn't dysfunctional?
I've talked to some people here in Hong Kong who would give anything to be with their families again - even for just one day of nuttiness. The first step is to be more emotionally present to your family is to actually be physically present to them. Be close!
You need to know how precious your family is - and treat them that way. You need to see them as your true wealth - that nothing is more precious than your relationships.
Step #2: Be Deliberate.
Because you need to protect this treasure or they get stolen from you. No matter how busy I am, I schedule a weekly romantic date with my spouse.
Yes, I actually write it down in my appointment book and treat it like a meeting with the President of the Philippines. These weekly nights are blocked off for the entire year. Nothing can touch it, except some dire emergency.
Why? Because if my marriage fails, everything else stands to fail as well: My ministry, my businesses, my soul... So it is an emergency that I bring her out every week.
I also schedule a weekly date with my kids.
I believe parents need to do these one-on-one dates with each of their kids. Unless of course you've got 18 children and may need to bring them out by two's or three's.
Sometimes my son and I just walk around the village and talk.
It doesn't have to be big. But swapping stories and opening our hearts to one another on a consistent basis is already very big to them. It means they matter to you - that you value them - and you'll see their self-esteem grow.
Step #3: Be Expressive.
I tell my wife "I love you" seven times a day.
I hug my kids countless of times a day.
At night, I tell my kids, "I'm so proud you're my son. I'm so proud I'm your Daddy. You're a genius. You're a loving boy. You're an incredibly gifted young man..."
This is true. I have met 40-year olds who long to hear these words from their parents - "I'm proud of you," and feel an empty space - like a gaping wound in their souls because their parents have never told them this.
Don't do that to your kids.
And before I forget: Praise your kids seven times a day.
And praise your spouse seven times a day.
I'm not kidding. It will revolutionize your marriage.
If I say, "Criticize your spouse seven times a day," I bet you'd say, "Kaunti naman. I do that already." But that's the problem. We don't realize that when we criticize our spouses, we actually destroy our marriage bit by bit - not just our spouses.
But when you praise and honor your spouse - you build up your marriage.
It can be very simple stuff:
Ang sarap ng luto mo ngayon, Hon.
I thank God He gave you to me.
You're so hardworking.
I love it when I see you play with the kids.
You know how to make me happy.
Ganda mo ngayon.
Keep on doing this and you'll see changes in your life and your marriage you thought were not possible.
Let me say it again: Praise your spouse - and your children - seven times a day.
Step #4: Be Deep.
Your weekly dates shouldn't just be watching movies, eating out and going home.
Talk deep.
Talk about your feelings.
Enter into each other's worlds. Dive into each other's dreams, hurts, desires, worries, hopes and burdens.
When you open yourself up to your spouse or your child, there are more chances for the other person to open up to you.
Step #5: Be Simple
Yesterday afternoon, I preached to 700 people in Hong Kong.
I usually give my talks for 45 minutes. That's been my trademark. But yesterday, I gave a solid two-hour talk. Vein-popping, heart-pounding, passion-driven talk - because I had a burden in my heart.
Because I preached on Financial Literacy.
I challenged them, "Raise your financial I.Q.!"
I scolded them, "When you left the Philippines, you told your kids, 'Anak, two years of separation lang 'to. After two years, Mommy will have saved enough and will go home and we'll be together again.' But after two years, you go home and you haven't saved. Because you repainted the house. Because there's a new TV set in the living room and a new gas range in the kitchen. Because the kids have new designer rubber shoes.
I taught them how to live simply and ruthlessly save 20% of their income.
Because unless they do this, they will be forever trapped in Hong Kong.
Look at your life.
Are you living simply?
Are you saving 20% of your income?
Step #6: Be Financially Intelligent
I also taught them where to invest.
I told them, "It's not enough to just save. You need to know where to put your money. Because savings accounts at 1% and time deposits at 5% won't do. Inflation - which is at 7% - will simply eat them up."
So I taught them about mutual funds and other investment vehicles, including the ability to sell something and get into business.
Here's the truth: The more you know about money, the less time you need to make money. So the more time you have for your family.
Actually, a time should come when you don't need to make money. Instead, you let money make money. And that requires financial intelligence.
Read. Attend seminars. Look for mentors.
Go Home.
After giving my talk, I took a deep breath and told my audience in Hong Kong, "When you follow these principles and have saved enough - please go home. Please go home to your children."
I made a lot of people cry that day.
I'm telling you the same thing.
Oh yes, you may be living with your family in one house, but it's possible that your heart is so far away from your spouse and kids - and they are far away from you as well.
You need to let your heart go home.
Go home my friend.
Your heart belongs there.
Also mentioned in ths blog is Ms Shirley San Miguel our mentor here in Dasmarinas Cavite.
I encourage more people to join our IMG crusade.... why...read on...
6 Steps to Enjoying Your True Wealth
By Bo Sanchez
We were going to Hong Kong that day. I was going to preach for three days but had two extra days to be with my family. Picture us at the airport: My wife carrying our baby in her arms, my eldest son bouncing about like a rabbit and announcing to the whole world, "I'm going to Hong Kong Disneyland!" And the poor skinny father? Straining to push eight massive bags on a wobbly cart with a stubborn right wheel. (I've noticed that these deranged carts supernaturally end up with me wherever I go.)
That was when we heard the crying.
Correction. Not crying. But spine-chilling, lung-busting screaming. Two kids were holding onto their mother. They were separated by four-foot tall steel bars. But to those distraught children, those steel bars represented two years of being without their mother - the contract of a domestic helper in Hong Kong.
Four small arms clutching, grabbing, not letting go.
The whole world heard their pleading scream, "Mommy, please don't go! Please don't go!" I'll never forget the mother's pained, tortured face - as though a knife was ripping through her body. My wife cried openly. I wept inside and held onto my kids more closely.
That was two days ago. Yesterday, the story continued...
Those Small Arms Continue to Reach Out Yesterday was Sunday.
And I walked around Central.
If you don't know Hong Kong, Central is where thousands upon thousands of Filipina Domestic Helpers congregate. They sit on sidewalks. They sit on overpasses. They sit by storefronts.
I walked passed one woman who was reading a handwritten letter.
The handwriting was obviously a child's penmanship.
I walked passed another listening to a little cassette player - not to listen to music - but to a voice of a kid telling stories.
But what broke my heart was the news given to me by Shirley, the head of one organization that tries to help them get financial education. I was shocked by what she said. "Brother Bo, out of our 700 members who are married, 80% is already separated from their husbands."
Families aren't designed for prolonged separation.
They're not just made for that.
We're supposed to spend time together.
6 Steps to Spending More Time with Your Family No Matter How Busy You Are
"Bo, why are you telling me this? I'm not in Hong Kong. I'm living with my family under one roof."
Listen. Yes, you're not in Hong Kong.
But if you don't have time for your family - and your heart is not focused on them - you might as well be in another country.
You could be physically present - but are you emotionally present as well?
Let me share with you six important steps you could take to become more emotionally present with them...
Step #1: Be Close.
I'm still in Hong Kong as I write this piece.
It's five in the morning as I type this article in bed. And my little family is literally around me because we're all sleeping on one bed. Yes, we've become one mass jumble of intertwined humanity - our limbs, legs and arms crisscrossing each other. And that's when I realize - gosh, I don't know how blessed I am.
Why?
Here I am with my family. I feel their skin. I smell their scents. We're so close, I feel their breath.
And yet I'm surrounded by 148,000 domestic helpers here in Hong Kong that have been away from their families for months, for years, for decades.
And for those who've separated - forever.
Let me say it again: We don't know how blessed we are.
We complain that our families are nutty. But we don't understand how blessed we are to have them close enough to experience their nuttiness. We complain about our petty quarrels, our cold wars, our dysfunctionality.
But whose family isn't dysfunctional?
I've talked to some people here in Hong Kong who would give anything to be with their families again - even for just one day of nuttiness. The first step is to be more emotionally present to your family is to actually be physically present to them. Be close!
You need to know how precious your family is - and treat them that way. You need to see them as your true wealth - that nothing is more precious than your relationships.
Step #2: Be Deliberate.
Because you need to protect this treasure or they get stolen from you. No matter how busy I am, I schedule a weekly romantic date with my spouse.
Yes, I actually write it down in my appointment book and treat it like a meeting with the President of the Philippines. These weekly nights are blocked off for the entire year. Nothing can touch it, except some dire emergency.
Why? Because if my marriage fails, everything else stands to fail as well: My ministry, my businesses, my soul... So it is an emergency that I bring her out every week.
I also schedule a weekly date with my kids.
I believe parents need to do these one-on-one dates with each of their kids. Unless of course you've got 18 children and may need to bring them out by two's or three's.
Sometimes my son and I just walk around the village and talk.
It doesn't have to be big. But swapping stories and opening our hearts to one another on a consistent basis is already very big to them. It means they matter to you - that you value them - and you'll see their self-esteem grow.
Step #3: Be Expressive.
I tell my wife "I love you" seven times a day.
I hug my kids countless of times a day.
At night, I tell my kids, "I'm so proud you're my son. I'm so proud I'm your Daddy. You're a genius. You're a loving boy. You're an incredibly gifted young man..."
This is true. I have met 40-year olds who long to hear these words from their parents - "I'm proud of you," and feel an empty space - like a gaping wound in their souls because their parents have never told them this.
Don't do that to your kids.
And before I forget: Praise your kids seven times a day.
And praise your spouse seven times a day.
I'm not kidding. It will revolutionize your marriage.
If I say, "Criticize your spouse seven times a day," I bet you'd say, "Kaunti naman. I do that already." But that's the problem. We don't realize that when we criticize our spouses, we actually destroy our marriage bit by bit - not just our spouses.
But when you praise and honor your spouse - you build up your marriage.
It can be very simple stuff:
Ang sarap ng luto mo ngayon, Hon.
I thank God He gave you to me.
You're so hardworking.
I love it when I see you play with the kids.
You know how to make me happy.
Ganda mo ngayon.
Keep on doing this and you'll see changes in your life and your marriage you thought were not possible.
Let me say it again: Praise your spouse - and your children - seven times a day.
Step #4: Be Deep.
Your weekly dates shouldn't just be watching movies, eating out and going home.
Talk deep.
Talk about your feelings.
Enter into each other's worlds. Dive into each other's dreams, hurts, desires, worries, hopes and burdens.
When you open yourself up to your spouse or your child, there are more chances for the other person to open up to you.
Step #5: Be Simple
Yesterday afternoon, I preached to 700 people in Hong Kong.
I usually give my talks for 45 minutes. That's been my trademark. But yesterday, I gave a solid two-hour talk. Vein-popping, heart-pounding, passion-driven talk - because I had a burden in my heart.
Because I preached on Financial Literacy.
I challenged them, "Raise your financial I.Q.!"
I scolded them, "When you left the Philippines, you told your kids, 'Anak, two years of separation lang 'to. After two years, Mommy will have saved enough and will go home and we'll be together again.' But after two years, you go home and you haven't saved. Because you repainted the house. Because there's a new TV set in the living room and a new gas range in the kitchen. Because the kids have new designer rubber shoes.
I taught them how to live simply and ruthlessly save 20% of their income.
Because unless they do this, they will be forever trapped in Hong Kong.
Look at your life.
Are you living simply?
Are you saving 20% of your income?
Step #6: Be Financially Intelligent
I also taught them where to invest.
I told them, "It's not enough to just save. You need to know where to put your money. Because savings accounts at 1% and time deposits at 5% won't do. Inflation - which is at 7% - will simply eat them up."
So I taught them about mutual funds and other investment vehicles, including the ability to sell something and get into business.
Here's the truth: The more you know about money, the less time you need to make money. So the more time you have for your family.
Actually, a time should come when you don't need to make money. Instead, you let money make money. And that requires financial intelligence.
Read. Attend seminars. Look for mentors.
Go Home.
After giving my talk, I took a deep breath and told my audience in Hong Kong, "When you follow these principles and have saved enough - please go home. Please go home to your children."
I made a lot of people cry that day.
I'm telling you the same thing.
Oh yes, you may be living with your family in one house, but it's possible that your heart is so far away from your spouse and kids - and they are far away from you as well.
You need to let your heart go home.
Go home my friend.
Your heart belongs there.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Check Your New Year's Family Plans!
Christmas is officially over and so is the commitment and resolve to pursue your newly defined resolutions and plans for this year. Am I right?
Some families even had their Annual Planning which involve several facets of life: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Physical, Relational, and Financial. And yet, by now, they are almost forgotten. I hope not...
We, my wife and my children had our own planning last January 1 and we listed up our individual dreams and goals for the year. And we already posted it in our dream board. We still have to type it in to have a much clearer and more legible copy than those we scribbled during our planning workshop.
But I can tell you, I wont remember them all if I wont review them, if I wont check them out again.
How about you, have you done your review or did not even bother to come up with a plan?
If we fail to plan, it's like planning to fail. While even if we plan but we do not review them regularly, it's like having no plans.
Got the message...check your plans now.
God bless!
Some families even had their Annual Planning which involve several facets of life: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Physical, Relational, and Financial. And yet, by now, they are almost forgotten. I hope not...
We, my wife and my children had our own planning last January 1 and we listed up our individual dreams and goals for the year. And we already posted it in our dream board. We still have to type it in to have a much clearer and more legible copy than those we scribbled during our planning workshop.
But I can tell you, I wont remember them all if I wont review them, if I wont check them out again.
How about you, have you done your review or did not even bother to come up with a plan?
If we fail to plan, it's like planning to fail. While even if we plan but we do not review them regularly, it's like having no plans.
Got the message...check your plans now.
God bless!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Seven Years of Famine!
As I look back from 2002 to 2009, I was struck by the fact that it was indeed a Seven Years of Famine so far.
In Exodus, Joseph the Dreamer , son of Jacob, was asked by the Pharaoh what his dream meant. It was about a forthcoming 7 years of famine. And he advised the Pharaoh to issue an order in the whole of Egypt to make sure that 1/5 of the harvest are saved. And this is what Egypt did and they survived till the next good harvest finally resumed. They did not just survived, they even made a big growth in their economy as the countries and kingdoms around them purchased their goods from them.
Relating it to what is currently happening to our country and the world, it is a stark reality of the same thing that happened in Joseph's time. And it's a vicious cycle. It happens every so often though varying in depth and expanse. Only lately has this economic famine hit its greatest devastation of the world economy that even the economic giants folded on its knees.
What's the lesson behind this bible story in relation to Steps to Riches? Very much relevant and apparent. But let me spell it out to those who still don't get it. Those that had saved and invested their hard earned money in the last seven years will have the sure chance for survival no matter what happens in the next coming years.
Let me show you why? If you had been receiving a salary of 50K/month and you had save 20% of it or 10k/month and invested it wisely on an instrument that earns 12% (note some Mutual Funds even performed better than 12 % in the last 7 years) for seven consecutive years, by this time, you should have more than a Million Pesos and you can survive for more than 20 months even without working. And you can invest your 1M and it will earn more than 120K per month sufficient for your needs.
Now check your own savings if you have any. Is it within 5%, or 2%? You wont survive specially if you are suddenly retrenched from your work. You are a month away from bankruptcy.
So where and when do you start. Start now. Pay yourself first. Save and Invest. Reduce your Expense and Increase your income by using your spare time. You may not be able to achieve what you could have if you started earlier but at least you'll be away from being in a debt hole. Start to teach your kids as well.
Look for financial mentors who will show you the way on correct and safe investing and saving. Be careful in choosing your mentors. Ensure it is your benefit they are really after and not your meager income or your few remaining savings. Increase your financial intelligence. Go with people with the same discipline and advocacy. Go and find an IMG Associate nearest you. Or better yet...contact me.
I'll share to you my secret of surviving and thriving in this economic crisis, and you will also have the opportunity to earn additional income for your family too.
God bless.
In Exodus, Joseph the Dreamer , son of Jacob, was asked by the Pharaoh what his dream meant. It was about a forthcoming 7 years of famine. And he advised the Pharaoh to issue an order in the whole of Egypt to make sure that 1/5 of the harvest are saved. And this is what Egypt did and they survived till the next good harvest finally resumed. They did not just survived, they even made a big growth in their economy as the countries and kingdoms around them purchased their goods from them.
Relating it to what is currently happening to our country and the world, it is a stark reality of the same thing that happened in Joseph's time. And it's a vicious cycle. It happens every so often though varying in depth and expanse. Only lately has this economic famine hit its greatest devastation of the world economy that even the economic giants folded on its knees.
What's the lesson behind this bible story in relation to Steps to Riches? Very much relevant and apparent. But let me spell it out to those who still don't get it. Those that had saved and invested their hard earned money in the last seven years will have the sure chance for survival no matter what happens in the next coming years.
Let me show you why? If you had been receiving a salary of 50K/month and you had save 20% of it or 10k/month and invested it wisely on an instrument that earns 12% (note some Mutual Funds even performed better than 12 % in the last 7 years) for seven consecutive years, by this time, you should have more than a Million Pesos and you can survive for more than 20 months even without working. And you can invest your 1M and it will earn more than 120K per month sufficient for your needs.
Now check your own savings if you have any. Is it within 5%, or 2%? You wont survive specially if you are suddenly retrenched from your work. You are a month away from bankruptcy.
So where and when do you start. Start now. Pay yourself first. Save and Invest. Reduce your Expense and Increase your income by using your spare time. You may not be able to achieve what you could have if you started earlier but at least you'll be away from being in a debt hole. Start to teach your kids as well.
Look for financial mentors who will show you the way on correct and safe investing and saving. Be careful in choosing your mentors. Ensure it is your benefit they are really after and not your meager income or your few remaining savings. Increase your financial intelligence. Go with people with the same discipline and advocacy. Go and find an IMG Associate nearest you. Or better yet...contact me.
I'll share to you my secret of surviving and thriving in this economic crisis, and you will also have the opportunity to earn additional income for your family too.
God bless.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Tired, the Retired, and the Re-Tired
The Tired, the Retired, and the Re-Tired
Randell Tiongson
Here is a nice blog written by my good friend Edmund Lao. Edmund is a Registered Financial Planner and and advocate of financial literacy for Pinoys. Excellent piece, a must read. — Randell
————————————-
GUEST BLOG
The Tired, the Retired, and the Re-Tired
By Edmund Lao
Have you ever heard employees say that they feel sick and tired of being sick and tired? The reason they feel this way is because they have been doing the same thing over and over for years and they are still the in the same situation the day they entered the corporate world. This situation is analogous to a person running on a treadmill. No matter how long the distance shown in the odometer, he is still on the same spot. Such is the predicament of the present day employees. Sadly but with truth, Robert Kiyosaki said that all employees are in a rat race. In a rat race, employees never get rich no matter how much they tire themselves. It is because all they know is to earn income that is directly proportional to the effort they exert. They did not learn and put into practice the methodology to increase their income passively after earning it actively. If they were able to build their wealth during their productive years, they would be able to enjoy the fruit of their labor during their golden years. In any thing that we do, we always feel relieved and indefatigable after we had achieved our target. With building our finances, for sure we would have felt the same. The only time we feel tired and frustrated is when we realize that all our effort were all spent in vain. That is how employees feel today, No matter how hard they strive, they could not make both ends meet and are always deep in debt. They always look for loan and then they work hard to be able to pay their balance due, then get a new loan again, and the cycle repeats. That is the life of the tired employees.
The Retired
For majority, retirement means the end of their corporate life. There are some who felt a sense of insecurity. On the other hand, there are some who felt they are finally granted independence from their voluntary prison cell of twenty to thirty years. They also see this as opportunity to build their own business.
A lot of people mistakenly correlate retirement with age when in fact, retirement has something to do with personal net worth and cash flow. The sooner a person reaches his financial goals, the sooner he can retire and enjoy life. Normally, employees are retired by age 55 or 60, and assuming they have served quite a number of years, say 25 years, some enjoy the benefit of a big amount of retirement pay.
I have heard of a company that paid almost five million pesos retirement benefit to an employee after 30 years of qualified service. So to those people who regularly transfer from one company to another, it is advisable for them to do the math first before making a decision. The problem that is often encountered come retirement day is that the retiree was not qualified to the retirement pay due to limited tenure of service. Then the only source of retirement income he will receive is from SSS. Jokingly, it can be termed as Living On SSS or LOSSS (rhymes with loss).
On the other hand, the retiree who received a huge amount may want to reward himself after working hard for so long that he carelessly spent or invested all his retirement funds. His has the risk of outliving his fund and when that happens, he will be in the same shoe with that of the one who retired broke. It is not a bad idea to reward one’s self, but he has to be very careful in controlling his emotion specially the excitement of a spending spree.
The Re-tired
What if the retiree became broke after retirement? The usual thing to do is to go to his favorite orphanage institution, his children. He will now experience reality. The time he has abundance, he was the asset and favorite “visitor” of his loved ones. With his present situation, he is now an overstaying liability especially to his sons/daughters- in law. If he has wealthy children, then luck is on his side. Otherwise, he can be compared to a basketball since he will be passed on from one son to another. The former good provider to his children is now a burden to them. The children become “sandwiched” since they have to support their own children and now, their aged parents.
With this kind of scenario, the once happily retired person, out of shame, has no other option but to return to the corporate world to get rehired again (if ever he succeeds considering the competition in job hunting nowadays) and do the things a tired employee does. He is what we can call the re-tired employee because he will just duplicate what he has done as a tired employee.
Solution
From being tired to being re-tired, we can see there is a common denominator, money. Out of desperation, some opt to doing part time work other than the regular job. There are those who voluntarily work overtime as needed. Worse, there are some who resort to theft of time and money from their company. This is a common problem in the workplace.
Employees complain of inadequate pay but they do not realize that it is their lifestyle that has a bearing on their personal finance. Their lifestyle reflects a “living beyond their means” and “keeping up with the Joneses” principle.
The key is to be frugal, budget by reducing unwanted expenses, and most importantly, pay forward so that later, the retired no longer needs to be re-tired.
In order to achieve that, a correct money attitude is a must. Money is just a tool and we are the ones who should manipulate it. Early on, acquire a good habit of disciplined savings regardless of the amount.
That way, there will be a possibility that your accumulated fund may outlive you. In that case, you have the opportunity to leave a legacy to your family.
Allow me to end this article by quoting the Proverbs:
Proverbs 13:11 “Dishonest money will dwindle, but money gathered little by little will surely grow.”
Proverbs 13:22. ”A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children”
Special thanks to my very good friend, Engr Rudy Calingo of Metrobank Head Office, General Service Groups, for coming up with the title of this article.
Randell Tiongson
Here is a nice blog written by my good friend Edmund Lao. Edmund is a Registered Financial Planner and and advocate of financial literacy for Pinoys. Excellent piece, a must read. — Randell
————————————-
GUEST BLOG
The Tired, the Retired, and the Re-Tired
By Edmund Lao
Have you ever heard employees say that they feel sick and tired of being sick and tired? The reason they feel this way is because they have been doing the same thing over and over for years and they are still the in the same situation the day they entered the corporate world. This situation is analogous to a person running on a treadmill. No matter how long the distance shown in the odometer, he is still on the same spot. Such is the predicament of the present day employees. Sadly but with truth, Robert Kiyosaki said that all employees are in a rat race. In a rat race, employees never get rich no matter how much they tire themselves. It is because all they know is to earn income that is directly proportional to the effort they exert. They did not learn and put into practice the methodology to increase their income passively after earning it actively. If they were able to build their wealth during their productive years, they would be able to enjoy the fruit of their labor during their golden years. In any thing that we do, we always feel relieved and indefatigable after we had achieved our target. With building our finances, for sure we would have felt the same. The only time we feel tired and frustrated is when we realize that all our effort were all spent in vain. That is how employees feel today, No matter how hard they strive, they could not make both ends meet and are always deep in debt. They always look for loan and then they work hard to be able to pay their balance due, then get a new loan again, and the cycle repeats. That is the life of the tired employees.
The Retired
For majority, retirement means the end of their corporate life. There are some who felt a sense of insecurity. On the other hand, there are some who felt they are finally granted independence from their voluntary prison cell of twenty to thirty years. They also see this as opportunity to build their own business.
A lot of people mistakenly correlate retirement with age when in fact, retirement has something to do with personal net worth and cash flow. The sooner a person reaches his financial goals, the sooner he can retire and enjoy life. Normally, employees are retired by age 55 or 60, and assuming they have served quite a number of years, say 25 years, some enjoy the benefit of a big amount of retirement pay.
I have heard of a company that paid almost five million pesos retirement benefit to an employee after 30 years of qualified service. So to those people who regularly transfer from one company to another, it is advisable for them to do the math first before making a decision. The problem that is often encountered come retirement day is that the retiree was not qualified to the retirement pay due to limited tenure of service. Then the only source of retirement income he will receive is from SSS. Jokingly, it can be termed as Living On SSS or LOSSS (rhymes with loss).
On the other hand, the retiree who received a huge amount may want to reward himself after working hard for so long that he carelessly spent or invested all his retirement funds. His has the risk of outliving his fund and when that happens, he will be in the same shoe with that of the one who retired broke. It is not a bad idea to reward one’s self, but he has to be very careful in controlling his emotion specially the excitement of a spending spree.
The Re-tired
What if the retiree became broke after retirement? The usual thing to do is to go to his favorite orphanage institution, his children. He will now experience reality. The time he has abundance, he was the asset and favorite “visitor” of his loved ones. With his present situation, he is now an overstaying liability especially to his sons/daughters- in law. If he has wealthy children, then luck is on his side. Otherwise, he can be compared to a basketball since he will be passed on from one son to another. The former good provider to his children is now a burden to them. The children become “sandwiched” since they have to support their own children and now, their aged parents.
With this kind of scenario, the once happily retired person, out of shame, has no other option but to return to the corporate world to get rehired again (if ever he succeeds considering the competition in job hunting nowadays) and do the things a tired employee does. He is what we can call the re-tired employee because he will just duplicate what he has done as a tired employee.
Solution
From being tired to being re-tired, we can see there is a common denominator, money. Out of desperation, some opt to doing part time work other than the regular job. There are those who voluntarily work overtime as needed. Worse, there are some who resort to theft of time and money from their company. This is a common problem in the workplace.
Employees complain of inadequate pay but they do not realize that it is their lifestyle that has a bearing on their personal finance. Their lifestyle reflects a “living beyond their means” and “keeping up with the Joneses” principle.
The key is to be frugal, budget by reducing unwanted expenses, and most importantly, pay forward so that later, the retired no longer needs to be re-tired.
In order to achieve that, a correct money attitude is a must. Money is just a tool and we are the ones who should manipulate it. Early on, acquire a good habit of disciplined savings regardless of the amount.
That way, there will be a possibility that your accumulated fund may outlive you. In that case, you have the opportunity to leave a legacy to your family.
Allow me to end this article by quoting the Proverbs:
Proverbs 13:11 “Dishonest money will dwindle, but money gathered little by little will surely grow.”
Proverbs 13:22. ”A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children”
Special thanks to my very good friend, Engr Rudy Calingo of Metrobank Head Office, General Service Groups, for coming up with the title of this article.
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