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INBESTMEANT

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I remember vividly when in College Seminary my professor in Logic used to say, in order to turn something into your expertise you have to devote your entire self to it. The problem nowadays is, we are bombarded with too much information. Our passion for one thing is distracted by humongous information around us from misleading to truthful ones. We are lost and confused of what particular area we are really interested about. Just look at the internet, google anything you want to know and there you have it instantly from nasty to good information. Take Facebook for example, which I love to call as the queen of all social media, in which we find so many countless different information in our newsfeed. We click here and there, watch here and there, read here and there, post here and there about anything without consciously knowing that we are already procrastinating. Honestly, Facebook is so influential that in many instances I do forget to do my blog, read a book, and research about the subject Investment. While being glued in my Facebook newsfeed I would tell myself to do more important tasks later until I find myself not doing them in the end.

My question to you is, have you been serious in devoting your self, time, energy, and resources in just one thing? Don’t easily give in to distractions around you, otherwise you will gonna waste a lot of time. On my part, I have found out lately that investment is my one thing. The subject investment is so broad, often we believe and follow the voice of the crowd in the market. They create noises telling us to follow this and not the other. Don’t ever quickly believe the herd. Do our own research, involve our deepest self into it, for it’s the only way to learn and master the art of investment. I’m afraid we will not be able to cover all notes and teachings of successful investors in time immemorial up to our deathbed. This is true and we have to accept it. We will never become as rich as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. We can’t exactly imitate their success. But by immersing our interest and desire IN it, doing and learning their way step-by-step, we will be able to master our self in becoming a successful investor in our own unique way. Get IN-to-it, the world of investment, and make it a significant part of our lives every day, so we will think and act like investors ourselves. After all, the only way to learn is to get ourselves totally involved into something that interests us.

I love the saying, repetition is the mother of all skill. What if we’ve been doing our BEST to be the best investor in the whole wide world and yet we’ve not mastered the skills on investing after so many trials and errors we’ve gone through? Let’s ask ourself, in what area of our life we think we can be the BEST? Perhaps, there is a different kind of investment we have to take. We may be unaware of the fact that we have been nurturing our BEAST instead of our BEST. When I say beast it’s the enemy to our passion. It might be that we are better at other areas like dancing, singing, acting, farming, office work, writing, speaking, or anything we can think of. Let’s develop these skills as they are sort of investments too. Utilize them to make us the best person the world can ever have. So now let’s try to start re-aligning our focus to that particular aspect in our life which we feel would bring out the best in us. Build on it and feed it. Make it our every day companion in that we too will grow, flourish, and excel in that field of expertise.

Did you once fall in love with someone who doesn’t like you, that no matter how much you like that person to be your partner for life, it doesn’t just happen? In life, there are moments we are surprised in loving so dearly that thing we have hated so much before. I hated numbers myself because I dreaded the subject Mathematics. Not to mention of course our terror math teacher before. Later on I realized that investing in equities is dealing with the game of numbers with which I have fallen in love. The thing is, today we may be stuck for so many years into something making us more weak than strong. This is just a sign that that something is not MEANT for us. Learn to let go of the things not MEANT for us because there is much better opportunity that await us. Let’s not force our energies and time into it for it will only discharge and exhaust us with so much effort until everything will seem like crashing in our sight.

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OFW Broke For Good?

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As OFWs, we get to choose between two options while in abroad working up to the sweat of our brow. Let’s face it, deeply ingrained in every Filipino is the culture of Support System, it’s providing financial assistance to the families we have left in the Philippines. Most often than not, this system applies to our extended families as well as to our relatives. Given that this support system has always been a part of us, we can’t help but to continuously do it though we are hard up in budgeting our income. If we refuse to follow this system we may be branded as ungrateful and harsh by turning our back to them. The famous quotation from our national hero Jose Rizal goes, “Ang taong hindi marunong lumingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa kanyang paroroonan”. Which is true, so whether by human instinct or not, we have to send money home regularly to show we haven’t forgotten them.

Now, since it’s our obligation to help them, we need to take the initiative to devise a plan that is favorable to our financial growth, because we just can’t put ourselves as second priority. No, we have to be the first ones to benefit from the money we make. What if a famine erupts, we lose our job, we get sick, or we encounter an accident, who will support our financial needs? Thus, it is necessary to think of practical ways which will help us to adjust to this unavoidable system instead of our families adjusting to it.

Firstly, let’s check our expenditures abroad and so with the family we support. How often do we eat out, buy gadgets and appliances, buy our clothes, and take vacation? Have we been spending beyond our means splurging on things that do not really matter? Cutting back our expenses and placing them to an investment vehicle will give peace to our minds when the time comes that we need money for ourselves especially in our old age. Surely, it’ll be impossible for us to call out for financial help from our families who mainly rely on us. Maybe, they can give us emotional support and can take care of us physically, but when this happens to us unprepared, money will also stop coming in because we cease to be an OFW from which our one and only income is generated.

Secondly, why don’t we set aside a fund for them to start a small business at home. I’m sure they will be keen on it since it will help provide for them a steady income for livelihood. Unless we choose to train them to be lazy by just opening their hands to receive remittances from us they will not learn to be productive. I don’t mean that after encouraging them to put up a business and manage it themselves we no longer send them money. That’s not what we are aiming at. Through them having a business we can be assured of financial security not only for them but also for us so that when the time comes we decide to return home for good, there is a business we look forward to.

Lastly, our fate is on our hands, by choosing to be wise on our expenses we have the assurance of something in store for us in the future, but by doing nothing to give in to this so called Support System till job do us part we are sure to go home broke for good.

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The Cash Out System

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In a world where money is the gauge of almost everything we purchase comes the inattention of every centavo we spend. The money that comes and go from our pockets have already become an ordinary process of spending, so often we don’t care anymore whether the products we buy and services we pay for are really important or not. Well, spending is very necessary to attend to our daily needs like food, water, clothing, shelter, power, medicines, transportation, communication, and education, but sometimes we have the tendency to go beyond splurging on things we can live without which results to overspending. For me, overspending is when greater amount of money going out than coming in.

Somehow we have lost in us the tradition of being frugal. Often we think our future is already secured and will be taken cared of by our pension plans and other benefits. We are imprisoned by the lure of a super commercialized world where spending is deeply ingrained in our consciousness. We don’t like the idea of saving and investing because we don’t want to appear “poor” to people around us. If I dress up with ordinary clothes, eat at cheap restaurants, don’t go to 1st class beauty parlor, don’t go shopping and don’t drive a brand new car, what would others say and think of me! Our mentality is that if we don’t spend we don’t live a good life, the more we spend the richer we appear to the public, and the richer we are the happier we become in a highly commercialized world.

How I wish we were born an accountant or fund managers ourselves so we can at least take note of every single detail of our expenses and keep record of it on a regular basis. However, even though we were not born like them we were taught mathematics in school. We at least know the rudiments of addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. It only means we also have the talent in us to manage our money so that we don’t end up into the trap of overspending.

Why do we overspend? There are a lot of factors triggering our overspending tendency. First is we don’t read books that would inspire and help us to manage our hard earned money because we find it too boring and scholar. What most people read are suspense, romance, comedy, and science fiction books which are indeed more entertaining ones. I was fond of novels about love and it was the only book I bought at the bookstore. In fact I have a mini-library at home from choices of Nicholas Sparks to Paulo Coelho! Now, I have read books on shaping my finances, I’m currently finishing the Rich Dad Poor Dad authored by Robert Kiyosaki.
Second, we don’t take time to write down our spending limits for the whole month. It is strongly advisable to know up to what extent is the buying capacity of our monthly earnings, otherwise nothing will be left on the plate. Make it a habit to compute our average daily spending, record and compare expenses from previous months so that we know where our money is going, where and when to cut spending.
Third, we aren’t making a list of the things we purchase as basic commodities especially in buying our groceries since this is what we do on a very regular basis. Going to the market or shopping stores without a list to buy will make us freely pick up whatever we feel buying from the shelves, once we are in the cashier we’ll be surprised of the total cost we are to pay, well, we are obliged to pay anyway. My advice is to bring along with you a mini-calculator or use your cellphone to track how much are already in your cart in case you are already beyond your spending limit.

At the end of the day, factors affecting our overspending habit mainly revolve around our personal attitude on money management. The environment we were shaped in when it comes to spending is more likely what we will become. If we were taught when to pause and stop on a moment where spending is too much then we will grow frugal and wise, but if we used to see our family and friends going through the red lights even when spending is too much then we will waste and splurge on anything we want. Let’s not allow our money to manage us, let’s manage it ourselves because there is no other person who knows the ins-and-outs of our money better than OUR SELF.

I wish you happiness and contentment all your life!

Young Blood Investor
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Young Blood Investor

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YOUNG BLOOD wake up! Be inspired and inspire today’s generation.

Sa tingin niyo po saan ninyo malimit ginugugol ang inyong oras? Marahil karamihan sa atin ay nakalaan ang atensiyon sa mga hindi gaanong importanteng bagay. Ilan sa atin ang makapagsasabing may kabulohan sa buhay natin ang paborito nating gawin araw-araw ngunit sa katunayan may mga mas importanteng bagay pala tayong nakakaligtaan.

We tend to overlook the importance of time due to poor time management.

Most likely because we are bombarded with so many things we are distracted and often can’t decide well what to do. Sumasabay tayo sa ihip ng hangin ika nga. We’re easily swayed like a dried leaf blown by the wind where it goes and falls without definite direction in life.

The youths of the 21st century have been invaded by the culture of technological addiction. Computer games, social media, text messaging, and cyber talk, these to name a few, have influenced them a lot. Lets say your Wifi connection at home is cut off, who do you think will be the first one to complain? I’m pretty sure not your grandma or grandpa but the younger ones at your home! Tell me if it’s right?

I’m already in my late 20’s and I still complain whenever our net connectivity is poor! The more funny thing is…

Ang mga iba kahit hindi na mag-umagahan o maghapunan basta kaharap ang computer okay na! Feeling nila busog na sila.

Well, as I belong to the younger age I can’t deny that I’m also hooked up with my computer, smartphone and tablet almost everyday like many of you. Sometimes, I’m no longer aware of the clock at home. In the past I devoted most of my time to online gaming and social networking especially in my elementary and high school years.

Online gaming for me was more important than my studies. Weekends and breaks in-between classes, I was with my “barkada/friends” at the computer cafes. Oftentimes, we go home 9 in the evening the latest. Way back then my 15pesos was enough to hire a desktop for an hour of gaming. Imagine I played for about 6hours a day! Sum up my expenses it would amount to 90 pesos a day…

…That was 14 years ago! Do the math, 14 years x 365 days = 5,110 days x 6 hours/day = 30,600 hours x 15 pesos = 459,900 pesos spent in front of a once addictive virtual online gaming and 1,275 days or almost 3 1/2 years lost time which I could have invaluably spent with my family! Gush, this is a huge mistake in the past that I could have avoided but didn’t!

In real life there are no U-turns so don’t ever drive carelessly!

I regretted but I can’t turn back time! The clock doesn’t turn counter clockwise in real life. As the old saying goes, you can’t cry over a spilled milk!

Only after some years did I realize I lost many chances to be productive. Naging “happy go lucky” ako. Siguro playful lang talaga ako noon dahil sa aking murang edad. Pero hindi eh kasi si Warren Buffet nakapag-invest na nong 11 years old pa lamang siya. He was making money through selling newspapers, golf balls, and stamps. Ang bata noh? Ngunit kinaya niya!

Now, my eyes are opened and I became more serious to see opportunities from the internet instead of being glued on wasteful activities. Sa halip na sayangin ko ang panahon ko sa paglalaro ng hindi makabuluhang bagay at pagpo-post ng kung ano-ano sa FB wall ko minabuti kong maging artistic at productive.

Time is priceless. If you don’t use it wisely you will end up in regrets.

To be honest, hanggang ngayon addictive ako sa social media. Do you share the feeling na parang wala nang bukas while you browse facebook, twitter, and instagram? Hay, buti nalang wala nang Friendster. But I utilize these now with a lot better purpose and goal. Hindi na sa online gaming ha! Just recently I created a personal blog sites at Grow Your Peso in Facebook and Grow Your Peso with GeeCee in Google, so that I can be productive myself. Layunin kong hikayatin ang mga kapwa ko Filipino, lalo na ang mga kabataan na minsan naging kagaya ko rin na simulan ang pagi-invest sa Stock Market habang maaga pa. I will explain and simplify Stock Investment in my upcoming blogs. So, keep an eye on my future posts.

Opportunities only knock once. Give it a try while it is there.

Grow Your Peso was inspired by Bo Sanchez, a catholic lay preacher, writer, and entrepreneur whose Maid Invests in the Stock Market and now a millionaire (click the link and download this inspiring easy-read book that has changed my life)! Marahil sa iyong pananaw ay hindi ka maniniwala ngunit totoong-totoo! Akalain mo isang kasambahay nag-iinvest sa stock market. Ikaw pa kaya!

Bo Sanchez is also the founder of TrulyRichClub (click the link and you’ll be directed to an awe-inspiring short video on why I joined this amazing club). This club has been teaching me and my wife so much about investing in the stock market. Yes, a lot!.. and it’s been a fulfilling and rewarding journey with them. Learning their stock investment strategy called SAM (Strategic Averaging Method) or PCA (Peso Cost Averaging). This is a method where we buy shares/stocks in small amounts regardless of the market’s performance, little by little on a regular basis,  from great companies with proven track record which we believe can still exist in the next generations to come. I will also expound this topic in my next blog.

Tama ang kasabihan “Time is gold and time is money”. Sabi ko sa sarili ko ngayon, why only now I’ve learned and still trying to learn how to invest. Sana noong bata pa ako sinimulan ko nang mag-invest. Si Warren Buffett nga, self-made billionaire ngayon nagumpisang mag-invest when he was only 11 years old!

Do you know that time can be your worst enemy when it comes to investing? Kung alam nating gamitin ang oras upang tayo’y matuto, maibahagi ang ating kaalaman sa ating kapwa, at makatulong ng ibang tao bakit hindi natin simulang i-diskubre ang ating natatagong talento sa larangan ng teknolohiya.

Past mistakes can pave the way to a successfully rewarding meaningful life of tomorrow’s dreams if only we seriously pay attention today.

We don’t want to repeat the same mistakes over and over again! After you have read this blog and it somehow gave a little spark of change in you, CONGRATULATIONS! To those of you out there however, who continue on with their happy-go-lucky routine, maybe IT’S NOT YET YOUR TIME to take this road less traveled by.

YOUNG BLOOD wake up! Be inspired and inspire today’s generation.

Your personal stories, comments, and questions are all welcome below.

I hope you learned something today. If you have some questions please feel free to reach me at my Facebook page Grow Your Peso, my Google blog site Grow Your Peso with GeeCee and/or email me at growyourpeso@yahoo.com

Thanks for your time and may your wishes of wealth come true!