Month: October 2009

Categories
Bonds Investing

How to Invest in Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs) in the Philippines

Are you frustrated from earning too little from your savings account or time deposit?  Do you want to find a way to invest your money securely but with relatively higher interest rate?  Investing in Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs) may be for you.

 

What are Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs)?

Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs) are fixed-income securities offered by the government to raise needed funds.  The bond maturity period ranges from 2 years to 10 years.  They are being sold primarily through the Bureau of Treasury.  You can also buy and sell bonds through banks via the secondary or resale market.  In the simplest of terms, this is government’s way of “borrowing” money from you.  🙂

 

How to invest in Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs) in 3 simple steps?

As first time bond investors, my wife and I didn’t have a clue what a Retail Treasury Bond is, let alone have the courage to actually invest some of our hard earned savings.  Surprisingly, investing in RTBs is a very straightforward and simple process.  Here are the 3 simple steps we did.

Step 1: Go to your nearest bank and ask if they offer RTBs

Ideally, you would want to go through your local bank where you already have an existing savings account.  This will make it easier for you to transfer funds when you “buy” the bonds, and receive your annual “interest” earnings.  If you don’t have an existing account with the bank, they will ask you to open one.  :) 

Step 2: Fill-up the forms and have it notarized

There’s quite a number of forms to be filled up so just take your time. There’s also one document which needs to be notarized to make it legally binding.  In essence, this document tells you that the government “owes” you money for the duration of the term and obligated to pay you “interest” based on the “coupon rate”.

Step 3: Pay and wait for the interest to be credited through your bank account.

The payment will be debited from the bank account you provided in step 1 so it is important that you have enough funds in your account.  Once paid, all you have to do is wait for the interest to be credited to your account (usually) every quarter until the maturity date.  Once the bond matures, the principal will be returned to you and credited to your bank account.

 

Why invest in RTBs?

RTBs are attractive to investors for the following reasons:

  • Relatively safe – since it is backed by the “full faith and credit” of the government, it means the government has the power to tax its citizens just to pay YOU.  You lose money only when the government collapses and can no longer pay its debts.
  • Liquid – you can “sell” the bonds through the secondary market any time, even before its maturity.
  • Minimum investment – some banks offer RTBs at a minimum of only PhP 5,000 (around US $106).  Others, usually require at least PhP 100,000 minimum investment.  It’s different from bank to bank so ask around.
  • Regular interest income – since it is a fixed income, you receive the same amount of interest regularly (usually every quarter) until the bonds’ maturity.
  • Interest is higher than CDs / Time Deposits -  interest rates from year 1998 to 2009 ranged from a low of 5% to a high of 21%. 

Things to note when investing in RTBs?

  • The interest you earn is subject to tax (20% in the Philippines).
  • When the government “really” needs money to pay for its debts, RTBs are offered at very high interest rates (21% in 1998, during the Asian financial crisis). 
  • Generally, bonds with higher maturity period offer higher interest rates.
  • RTBs are normally “sold out” within 2 weeks after issuance.  You can check out the Bureau of Treasury website @ www.treasury.gov.ph for the next schedule of RTB offering or watch out for announcements on the business section of daily newspapers.
  • Interest from RTBs is NOT compounded so you have to find another way to “reinvest” the interest earnings.
Categories
Books Personal Finance

Top 10 best personal finance books of all time!

As I was arranging the numerous personal finance books I’ve accumulated over the years,  I couldn’t help but wonder how I can put everything together in such a tiny little space.  Then I asked myself, if I had a very small book shelf that can accommodate only 10 of these books, which books would I choose? I had to think really hard because I love reading books and I’ve learned a great deal about life and money through ALL of them.  These 10 books are special in that they have completely altered the way I view money and life!  They have inspired me to learn more about money and pursue financial freedom! May these same books help you achieve your financial dreams!

Here are Rich Money Habits’ top 10 best personal finance books of all time!

#10.  8 Secrets of the Truly Rich by Bo Sanchez

This one is special because it’s written by a preacher – and a famous Filipino preacher at that!  Bo Sanchez is a best-selling author of inspirational books in the Philippines.  This is his first book that openly talks about money, business and investing.

What I particularly like about this book, is that it tackles one of the most critical obstacles in making money – that is, how to reconcile money and religion.  Living in the only predominantly Catholic country in Asia,  it is very important for me to align what I believe in whether it be on religion or money.  Otherwise, I’ll just be confused and end up going nowhere.

The book is full of stories on how daily money habits make you rich or poor.  It describes the most common perceptions we have about money.  We were taught that money is the root of all evil.  When we watch our favorite TV shows, rich people are often portrayed as greedy.  They only got rich through “drug” dealing or some other “illegal” means. Due to this stereotyping, some us unconsciously don’t want to be rich! Who would want to be the “bad” guy in our own soap opera called life?! 🙂

As a result, there is conflict inside of us.  Some of our internal dialogs are

“I want to be rich…BUT not so rich that my friends would hate me and I would no longer have friends.” err…who wants to be loner?! 🙂

Or the most common,

“I want to be rich…and I’m so desperate the only way for me to get rich is by winning a million dollars through  lottery.”

The great tragedy is never realizing that you don’t have to be a crook, or be greedy, or become unfriendly, or win a lotto ticket to be rich – you only need to build rich money habits!

#9. Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen

This is one of the books I bought when I was in the US.  Since I love reading personal finance books, I ordered a bunch of them online.  I was able to get them cheaper because I looked under the “used” books section.  Surprisingly, most of them are in relatively good condition and look almost new!

The book was my first exposure to having multiple streams of income.  For someone who worked as an employee most of his life, I thought I could only earn from one stream of income – my job!  I realized having only one stream of income is not a very good idea because there’s also only one way money can come to me – through my paycheck!

Having multiple streams of income is NOT necessarily having a second job, or even a third!  Multiple streams of income building systems so that money can flow through your life.  It means, investing both your time and money to learn how to build those systems.

One way could be through real-estate investments where you get a “stream” of income from the monthly rental of your tenants.  Another “stream” could be getting portfolio income like “dividends” or “interests” from your stocks or bonds investments.  And yet another “stream” could be from royalties you receive from publishing a book or a music recording if you’re a singer.  Having a LOT of “streams” where money can come to you is certainly better than relying on just your “job” to make money.  The challenge is how to utilize what you have like time, skills, and money to setup these streams of income.

#8.  Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

The great thing about the book is it makes you realize what money habits you have developed since the day you were born.  It brings out those subconscious thoughts that are hindering you from achieving financial success.  Some of the internal dialogs with yourself could be.

“I am not good enough.  I’ll never be amount to anything financially.”

Or you might say

“I’m poor because my parents are poor…and my grandfather is poor…and my great grandfather is poor…so I will always be poor…”

You might not be saying it out loud.  You might only be thinking about it.  Worse, you might not even be aware of it. And you wonder why you’ll not getting anywhere.  As T. Harv Eker aptly put it

“…if your subconscious ‘financial blueprint’ is not ‘set’ for success, nothing you learn, nothing you know and nothing you do will make much of a difference.”

#7.  The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The book speaks about the “New Rich”, a group of people who have the time, money and mobility to spend only 4 hours a week to generate money and live the life they want.  The rest of their time is spent on things they love to do like dancing in Buenos Aires, scuba diving in Panama or basking in the Hawaiian sun.

Who wouldn’t want to spend only 4 hours of his time working instead of the usual 40 hours a week?  Who wouldn’t want to have the luxury of time to do the things you really love?  Who wouldn’t want to take a very long vacation in the beaches of Hawaii while your business is taken care of and money is still coming in?

For employees, it offers practical tips on how to negotiate with your boss for a work-at-home arrangement. It also provides ideas on how to plan your own “mini” retirements so the money is still coming in, without you around.  It even discusses how you can “outsource” your life!

The 4-hour workweek is easy to read.  The ideas are presented in a simple and uncomplicated manner that you think you’re reading a comic book.  The book is conversational and funny.  Reading it is like speaking with the author face to face. You might even find yourself occasionally laughing at his jokes. (I know I have) 🙂

#6.  Rule #1 by Phil Town

I picked up this book out on a whim when I was at a bookstore in Malaysia.  The book explains investing in a very simple and understandable manner.  It is not intimidating in any way.  After reading this book, it made me realize that I did not need to be afraid of investing.  I just need to learn how to do it right.

Rule # 1 is “Don’t lose money.”

Whether the market is going up or going down, don’t lose money.  Whether it is a bear market or a recession, don’t lose money.  Whether you have billions or just a couple of hundred dollars in investment, don’t lose money.

The book discusses some of the basic myths about investing and provides simple strategies for successful investing while spending only 15 minutes a week.  It tells about the five key numbers that really count when determining the value of a stock or business.  It even mentions valuable internet tools and the advantages of managing your own investments to achieve your investment goals.

I know there may be other books on investing out there, but so far, this is the only one I’ve come across that made me understand the world of investing a little bit better.

#5.  The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

I came across the Richest Man in Babylon from reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.  It tells about the ancient secrets of money.  The book coined the phrase “pay yourself first”.  In ordinary terms, it means – SAVING. But it is more than that.  The book tells that in any trade you’re in, you CAN still “pay yourself first”.  Once you have “money” in savings, you can then have that “money” work for you.

But how can you save when your little money is not even enough to survive on?  How can you set aside 10% of your income when you’re living on 110% of it?  How do you “pay yourself first” when the creditors are coming after you?

Paying yourself first is certainly not easy. It takes tremendous discipline. That’s one of the reasons why it is not popular.  But once you get the rich money habit of controlling your money instead of it controlling you, your confidence builds up, you’ll think that if you can do this then you can do anything.  And as with anything related to money, it touches everything.  Your health improves.  You become successful in what you do.  People will wonder why you’re always brimming with confidence. You become the richest man in every sense of the word.

Isn’t it better to walk into a store knowing you can buy anything you want because you have the money (saved)?  Doesn’t it give you peace of mind knowing that if some emergency occurs, you can readily rely on your saved “emergency fund”?  Would it be nice to be able to help your family or those closest to you “financially” for a change?  That’s the dream.  And it starts with paying yourself first.

#4.  The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D. and William D. Danko Ph.D.

The book is based on a comprehensive research on the money habits of millionaires.  The results are surprising in the sense that majority of those millionaires are not what we commonly expect them to be. As aptly described in the book,

“These people cannot be millionaires! They don’t look like millionaires, they don’t dress like millionaires, they don’t eat like millionaires, they don’t act like millionaires – they don’t even have millionaire names.  Where are the millionaires who look like millionaires?”

Many of the “next door” millionaires  are first-generation. They did not inherit their riches, they built them.  Few of them do not spend more than $100 for a watch.  Others don’t even wear a suit to work!  They engage in types of businesses which could be classified as dull-normal.  Some are welding contractors.  Some are rice farmers. Some are pest controllers. Others are coin and stamp dealers.

What separates the “next door” millionaires from the rest is their money habits.  They are frugal in nature.  They value money.  They invest at least 20% of their income.  They even have a “go-to-hell fund” which can provide for their expenses for at least 10 years without working at all.

I think the most important lesson from the book is not that we know who the actual millionaires are, but the realization that it could be YOU!  If they can do it, so can you! It’s time to build your own rich money habit and be the “millionaire next door”!

#3.  Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

I bought this book out on a whim.  I was actually looking for the book “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell when  I saw this book at 20% off.

The book tells about managing not only your money but looking at it in totally different way.  Your money is only part and parcel of what your life is.  There is also time.  There is also your dream! What do you enjoy most?  How do you spend your money? What do you do with your time?  Would you still do what you do even if you have all the money in the world?

The book emphasizes managing the resources that you have like money and time.  It offers very specific tips like monitoring your spending and whether each of those is contributing to your goals or not.  It also has some ideas on how to identify exactly what you like to do and manage both your money and time so you can do more of what you love to do and less of what you don’t like to do.  It even has some charts to help you picture out and plot where you are and when your freedom day will be.

I think the main message of the book is not to choose money over your life or the other way around – it is to have BOTH.

#2.  Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

As mentioned in my personal finance story, this is one of the books that made me realize I really need to develop rich money habits to achieve financial freedom.  The book is a story of growing up learning about money from two different dads: one is rich and the other one is poor.  The story unfolds to describe the different money habits of the rich dad and the poor dad, each one producing a different financial result.

The book makes the very complex world of money and business seemingly simple. It is so simple that the ideas can be explained to a child using only sketchy drawings.  The drawings illustrate how cash flows from your pocket to the bank when you pay your bills, and how it flows from your company to you when you get your paycheck.

What you do with the money after your receive it determines whether you become rich or poor.  Do you use the money to buy assets like real estate investments or setup businesses?  Or do you use it to buy liabilities like a brand new LCD TV in 12-easy-monthly-payments-with-zero-interest!

The reason I liked the book is because it inspired me to become better and to view business and money in a totally different way.  It expanded my understanding of how money really works!  Most of all, it gave me the confidence to dream again!

#1.  Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich is one of the first books I’ve read about money.  The main message of the book is that you have to “think” about money first before it becomes real.  It is a direct translation to the phrase “what your mind can conceive, your body can achieve”.  When you really think about money and you have this “burning desire” to make it real, all the universe conspires to build the means to bring it to you.

Money is, first and foremost, only an idea.  It is not real.  The money you hold when you buy a bag of grocery is only as real as the “mutual” agreement you have with other people that the paper you’re holding is worth something of value equal to that you’re buying.

The book doesn’t say “Work Hard and Grow Rich”.  Working hard means different things to different people.  For an employee who doesn’t like what he’s doing and only get paid very little, everything is “hard work”.  For someone who love what he does, “working hard” is not in his vocabulary.

As Henry Ford said,

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”

There you have it! Rich Money Habits’ top 10 best personal finance books of all time!

How about you?  What are the best personal finance books you’ve read?

Categories
Personal Finance Truly Rich Club

Last How To Be Truly Rich Seminar For The Year on Nov 7, 2009!

I was reading through the latest articles at BoSanchez.ph when I saw this announcement about the last Truly Rich Seminar for the year.

Last How To Be Truly Rich Seminar For The Year.

November 7, 2009, 8:30am to 12:00noon

Mandaluyong, Metro Manila

My wife and I were able to attend the last How To Be Truly Rich Seminar a couple of months back.  It was an enlightening experience for both me and my wife.  More than anything else, I think the seminar makes you aware what the “obstacles” are in terms of money habits, mindset and religion.

To learn more about the seminar you can visit http://bosanchez.ph/get-ready-for-abundance/

Do you like to attend Bo’s Truly Rich financial seminars but you are based outside the Philippines? Here’s your chance!

Join the Truly Rich Club!
Join the Truly Rich Club

Categories
Business Life Lessons Money Mindset Personal Finance

Building Rich Money Habits 101: My personal finance story

I have always thought there’s only one formula in making money.  That is work hard and at the end of each month, you get your paycheck.  Growing up in a family of farmers, I have seen what working hard really means.  I’ve experienced waking up early in the morning, go to the farm, plant or harvest rice until the sun sets in.  When you go home after a long day of working, the aching muscles says it all.  It is HARD work.  I’ve learned from my parents that if you want to have some money, you have to work  for it.  Often times, I’d go along with my mom to harvest tobacco leaves from a nearby town, and afterwards, she’d pay me for how much I was able to harvest.  That’s always been my training in terms of making money.  That was my first money habit – work to earn.

When I was in College, I wanted very much to help my parents pay for my education.  I was fortunate to have been granted a full scholarship, so that took care of the tuition.  Even then, making money from a far away province, and spending it in the most expensive city in the country is no easy task.  It is an uphill battle similar to walking up to a going down escalator.  So in my own little way, I also tried to make money by applying as student assistant to one of the university’s projects.  It doesn’t pay much since it is a government project but enough to pay some of my daily expenses and grow my confidence.

After graduating, I immediately started work as a mainframe programmer for a multinational IT company.  The offer I got then was around 16,000 pesos which was BIG money then for someone who’s fresh out of college and don’t have much working experience.  I worked very hard and was fortunate enough to be promoted almost every year.

As my paycheck increased, my appetite for consumption also increased.  I bought a refrigerator, a washing machine, gas stove, shoes, etc, ALL at the same time, EVEN when I didn’t have the money to pay for it.  I just used my new credit card!  That’s when my debt started to pile up.  The “easy” monthly payments never lived up to its promise.  No monthly payment was easy, especially when you only have your paycheck to rely on.  As my debt seemingly increased every month, I also had to worry about paying my monthly house rental, buying groceries, eating out with friends, and more.  There were times I was so out of money I even had to do “cash advance” on my credit card.  As some of you might know, you get to pay a hefty “fee” for doing a cash advance.  This is on top of the amount of money you actually “advanced”.  My already big debt, ballooned even more!  I was so ashamed of having to do cash advance, I promised right there and then, I had to pay for my debt no matter what.  It was like a having compound interest working against me.  I had to learn how money works.  I had to figure it out no matter what.  I had no choice.

While pondering my huge debt, I tried to look for ways to earn more money.  I tried doing some programming projects for friends.  I even entered the world of network marketing, tried selling wellness products and failed miserably.  I remember that my only “downlines” (a term indicating those you’ve recruited into the business) was my mother, my aunt, and a few of my friends.  It was a learning experience.  The thing that struck me most, was that my “need” for money, was being transferred to my “clients”, without me being conscious of it.  It was hard “selling” something you don’t 100% believe in and it’s even harder when your motivation is “making” more money without necessarily helping other people.  I think this mindset barrier is one of the reasons why I was not able to make it work.  Everyday, I had to battle with myself.  Am I here to really help other people?  Or is it just because of the money?

One time, while me and my friends were hanging out at a bookstore, I saw the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.  I heard my friend say it’s a great book, so I bought it, took it home and devoured the stories and financial lessons in the book.   The book opened my eyes to the world of money I never knew existed before.  That’s when I realized that the rich have different sets of money habits from the poor and the middle class.  For the first time, it finally made sense why I can’t seem to be making a dent on my credit card debt; why I can’t seem to sell anything at all.  Because I had the wrong money habits.  I had to learn rich money habits to achieve financial freedom.

After that, it got me excited to learn more about money. First, I signed-up for our company’s savings plan.  I started really small. At first, only about 2% of my paycheck is automatically deducted and kept under my savings account.  I don’t even get to hold the money.  After a month, I increased it to 5%, then to 10%. After a year of saving, I was able to set aside 20% of my paycheck without necessarily scrimping myself too much.  That was rich money habit #1 – pay yourself first.

With the savings, I had, I was able to pay my debt slowly buy surely.  More than that, it gave me confidence to know that I can do it, with the proper discipline and rich money habit.  When the opportunity came for me to be assigned to the US for a 6-month stint in my company, I was able to save even more and pay-off the rest of my credit card debt. That was rich money habit #2 – get out of bad debt as soon as possible!

I also started to take serious notice of the numerous calls I got from insurance agents offering life insurance.  Before, I would always make up numerous excuses just to avoid talking to them.  But now, I wanted to know more how I can use the different insurance products to protect myself and my family.  I also started reading more on business, money, investing and personal finance.  After a few years, I managed to save up for an emergency fund.  That’s rich money habit #3 – Get some protection!

I’m still a long way to go from financial freedom.  That is my goal.  I am in the process of learning how to build passive and semi-passive income, and I am loving every minute of it.  In this website, I will share whatever I learned so that you too can build your own rich money habits and ensure your financial success and freedom!

Categories
Online banking Personal Finance

How to enroll a BPI Express Online account in 3 easy steps

While opening my BPI payroll account a couple of months ago, I asked the customer service rep how I can enroll to a BPI Express Online account.  She replied, “you can do it online through the BPI website.”  I was pleasantly surprised because I thought I’d need to fill up another form and then perhaps come back again to the BPI branch a couple days after, which has been my experience dealing with Philippine banks before.  To me, this was good news.

Here are 3 simple steps I did to enroll my BPI Express Online account.

Step 1: Go to BPI Express Online website

Go to the BPI Express Online website at http://www.bpiexpressonline.com/.   Click the “Enroll Now!” button at the right side of the screen, in between the “personal login” and “business login” buttons.  A message will pop up saying “To enroll in Express Online, you must have a BPI, BPI Family Bank or a BPI Direct Deposit Account.”  Click the ‘Continue’ button and follow the next steps accordingly.

If you’re in the Philippines, you need to visit any BPI Express Teller ATM within 20 banking days to activate the enrollment. If you’re out of the country, you need to print, sign and mail the enrollment form.

Step 2: Fill up the form, and submit

Fill up the form by entering your Account Number, Joint Account Indicator (JAI) and Type of Account.  Your account number is  the number at the back of your ATM card.  The JAI is a 2-digit no. located at the lower right hand corner of your ATM card right across your name.  Lastly, the type of account is either savings or checking.

After submitting the form, it will ask you to create a login name and password.  Remember the login name and password you entered because you will use it to access your BPI express online account later on.  Once you’re done, you will receive an email confirmation and instructions to activate your enrollment.

Step 3: Go to any BPI ATM machine and activate the enrollment

Go to any BPI ATM machine.  Insert your ATM card. Go to Special Services -> Activate Enrollments –> Express Online.  The ATM will give you a receipt to confirm the activation of the online enrollment.

You can then log in to your BPI express online account 1-2 days after enrollment activation.

Once you’re able to login to your BPI Express Online account, you will now be able to access your account’s details, check your balance, pay your bills, transfer funds, reload a prepaid phone 24/7, any day of the year, whenever and wherever there is internet connection.

Now, that’s hassle-free banking in 3 simple steps!

Rich Money Habits Notes:

  • The last step is certainly better than having to go to the branch and “wait” for quite some time before being able to speak to a customer service rep and activate your enrollment.
  • This is also good because it allows the bank to authenticate the enrollment by having the customer insert his ATM card and PIN, and manually confirm the enrollments’ activation through the ATM machine.  This may be inconvenient, but I’d rather wait 1 to 2 days to enjoy the benefits of online banking, than worry whether my account is hacked by someone else.
  • Perhaps someday BPI can think of a more convenient authentication, like what Maybank did in introducing a new level of additional security by sending a real-time TAC (Transaction Authorization Code?) SMS message to your mobile phone.  When that happens, we’d be one step closer to a “pure” online banking system in the Philippines. 🙂
  • You may call BPI hotline 89-100 for if you need assistance on how to enroll you account to BPI express online.
Categories
Business Investing Personal Finance Stocks Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez's Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program (Day 2)

Since my wife and I were late during the first day of the Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program, we wanted to make the most of the seminar by being early on the second day. Before 8AM, we were already on our way to Valle Verde Country Club. Since it was a Saturday, there was not much traffic jam and we arrived a little around 8:15AM. Thinking that we were early, my wife and I sat on one of the benches outside the room. I saw the room where we had the seminar yesterday and noticed that some people were already preparing the place. I thought to myself, maybe in no time they’d be done preparing the place and we will be sitting comfortably inside the room. After a few minutes, brother Bo arrived with his usual winning smile. He saw us and invited us to go inside. Thinking that he was going to where the waiters were preparing, we hesitated a bit. Only when he entered the OTHER room beside it did we realize that we were looking at the wrong room. When we followed Bo and entered the room, there were already many people inside, some of them having a great time drinking their morning coffee. I couldn’t keep from laughing at myself for thinking and being proud that we were the early birds for the day. 🙂

Basic Foundation of Financial Planning

DSC_0617 The first speaker was Noel Arandilla, from International Marketing Group (IMG).  He talked about the basic foundation of financial planning.  He shared some tips to having better finances like increasing your cash flow, building long term asset allocation, how to compute the right amount of insurance that you need, and more.

I learned that there are only two things you can use to generate cash flow: time and money.  We all have 24 hours in a day.  But how you use your time determines whether you become rich or poor.  For most people, the only time available to become rich is after work or during weekends, that is – spare time.  It is very important to utilize the spare time that you have in money-making generating activities and not waste it on watching TV, sleeping, gossiping, and more.

Noel also shared that a person normally starts out in life with very little or no money but with lots of responsibilities.  For example, he has to help his parents with household chores, he may need to send his younger bother or sister to school, or earn a living to help with the family’s finances .  After a few years of getting his paycheck, the typical person would earn a little bit more each year while his responsibility gradually  decreases.  Once he reaches retirement age, all of his kids have probably graduated by then, hence he would have minimal responsibility.  At this stage, he’s supposed to have money working for him to fully enjoy the remaining years of his life.  That is the purpose of financial planning.

Be the Bank!

May I tell you a little secret?  Do you know how the bank earns money?  Let me illustrate the answer by using an example.  After spending 2 years as an OFW, you have a little extra cash that you don’t really expect to use for the next 30 years.  Let’s say you have  100,000 pesos in total.  Now, being a saver, you deposited the whole 100,000 pesos into a time-deposit account at 5% annual interest for 30 years.  Right after you left the bank, a business man came in, asked the banker for a loan of 100,000 pesos payable in 30 years at 15% annual interest.  The banker than says “OK”, took the 100,000 pesos from your time-deposit and gave it to the business man.  After 30 years, the bank’s 100,000 pesos loaned to the businessman has already earned around 6.4 million pesos including interest, while your 100,000 pesos invested in time-deposit earned only about 400,000 pesos.  When you claim your time-deposit earnings, the bank give’s you the 400,000 pesos, then keeps the remaining 6 million as profit.  I’d love to be bank! 🙂

How you’re losing money from your savings account

In the Philippines, most people still invest by saving their money into banks over a long period of time.  The bad news is this. Banks are offering very minimal interest rate on savings and time deposits.   With less than 1% annual interest rate on your savings account, what future does your money hold?  Counting average inflation of 7% per year, you are actually losing money at the rate of -6%. This is because of inflation.  Inflation is the effect of steadily appreciating prices of goods.  For example, your 100 pesos can buy 5 loaves of bread 20 years ago.  But today, the same 100 pesos could NOT even buy 1 loaf of bread.  The same thing is happening, when people say “if only I bought that piece of land 20 years ago, today, I would already be a millionaire!”

Start early.  Invest your money for the long term.

tarlacroad I love the way Noel spoke about ordinary experiences and making them as great examples of interesting financial decisions.  For example, you get your 13th and 14th month bonus today worth around 40,000 pesos. The question is, would you save and invest it on a mutual fund at 10% average interest rate?  Or would you buy another NEW mobile phone? For some, the answer is simple – buy a mobile phone for “pogi” (handsome) points. For others, they would hesitate quite a bit but eventually give in, saying “I’ll just invest my next year’s 13th and 14th month bonus. For now, I’ll buy myself a gift.  I deserve it.  My brand new cellphone, here I come!” For those a little bit financially savvy, they might invest it through mutual funds, or stocks, potentially earning even better average annual returns around 15 – 20%.  For most people, it is hard to invest because earning an interest over a long period of time is NOT tangible RIGHT NOW and you need time to make it work. The delusion of instant gratification is the enemy of long-term investing.

Money is flowing

The second speaker is also from IMG.  He shared his personal observation about how rich people in the Philippines spend their money.  He noticed that Henry Sy, Lucio Tan and other billionaire tycoons move their money around.  In a way, they are actually just buying from themselves.  For example, Henry Sy who owns the very popular SM department stores, is renting mall space for his department stores from SM properties, which is a different company but still owned by the same family.  When SM properties build new malls or residential buildings and need money, who do they ask money from?  Instead of borrowing from other banks, they borrow from their own bank – BDO, which, is owned by the same man, Henry Sy.  The same is true with Lucio Tan.  When his Philippine Airlines and several tobacco companies need money to finance its projects and investments, from which bank does it borrow money?  Of course, through Allied Bank or Philippine National Bank, which Lucio Tan owns a stake.  So you see, money is just flowing around, being controlled by the same rich people who owns most businesses, selling high quality goods and providing world-class services for our countrymen.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do the same thing?  Wouldn’t it be nice to buy from yourself and save on costs?  You might even want to give yourself a hefty discount as part of your loyalty program. Who wouldn’t want to be a loyal customer to one’s self? 🙂

Mutual funds

The idea of mutual funds, I learned, is making investing available to ordinary citizens.  Each person invests a small amount, as little as 5000 pesos.  The money from all the investors are then pooled together and invested into money generating assets like bonds, stocks or both.  The money is managed by professional fund managers.  The goal of the fund manager is to make money for the small investors.  Whether you invested big money or not, you earn the same profit percentage as that of the group.

This is particularly beneficial for ordinary citizens who don’t have much time and money to participate actively in managing the investment and content to just leave their money to professional fund managers.

One way to minimize risk, is to use an investing method called peso cost averaging.  It is an investing technique based on the assumption that since you’re unable to time the market, you just try to average out the risk by investing same amount of money every month or every quarter  to take advantage of the times when the price of the stock/net asset value per share (for mutual funds) becomes very low.  Even though the price is fluctuating, or is going roller coaster, the risk is minimized as the same amount of money can buy more shares when the stock price is low.  When the price is up you can either take away your profit/earnings or leave it there to earn compound interest.  It is advisable to maintain a long term outlook on your investments like a 10 or 20 year time frame in this scenario.  If you need the money within 1 year or 3 years, it is best to leave it at the bank where it is safe and liquid.

There are also different types of mutual funds: 1) bonds & securities, 2) stocks & equities, and 3) combined.  Mutual funds which invest in company or government bonds & securities are stable but offer limited earning potential.  These funds are especially designed for those that are risk-averse and those that are already retiring and don’t want to spend their time analyzing funds for themselves.  The mutual funds which invest in stocks have high growth potential but also entails higher risk especially during times of booms and recessions.  This is advantageous for those still young and can tolerate the swings in the market that even if they lose money, they can still go back up.   The upside is that if they make money, they earnings is also big.

Passion, Hardwork & “Angel” Investors in Business

The third speaker was a successful businessman.  His name is Ronnie Siyasoyco.  He has built several successful businesses to which he attributes most of his success today. He shared personal stories on his many ups and downs and a little bit of luck dealing with business failures, learning from them and enjoying his successes.

Ronnie got started selling “uling” (charcoal) one summer day.  He and his brothers experienced being laughed at by their friends because of their dirty clothes which was battered from their having to lift several sacks of charcoal each day.  The painful thing, according to Ronnie, was seeing their friends make fun of them, and them not being able to enjoy the seemingly “easy” lives that their friends had.   Many times,  he went home crying, asking himself, why they are very poor.  But with a powerful & positive attitude, he worked hard, ignored the joke from their friends, even hired some of them to do the charcoal delivery themselves and earn extra money. That summer, he and his brothers were able to sell 3 truck loads of charcoal.  Not an easy feat for 3 young high school boys.

In those early days, he learned the value of hard and honest work.  Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, breakfast and dinner time was shared and business ideas were freely discussed among the family members.  His mother would always ask him if there’s anything he needs to do for the day.  When he starts answering “nothing”, he would be scolded and the words “there is ALWAYS something to do” would then be ingrained in his head.  If you have nothing to do, you find something to do.

Very early in his life, he had asked his parents why they were so poor.  His mom would say that they are NOT poor.  They eat 3 times a day.  They go to school.  They have the necessities of life.  His dad would add that the only legacy that their parents can pass on to their children is good education.  So it was in their hands to make the most out of it.  If they squander the opportunity, their lose will be their own doing, not the fault of their parents.

Ronnie also shared his personal story on how he lost 80 million pesos through a cancelled deal and several outside forces devaluating the peso and skyrocketing the value of his loans.  For one month, he was not able to sleep very well.  That went on and on, until he prayed and surrendered his problems all to God and a miracle happened.  Since he was not doing anything one day, his friend invited him to drive him to meet up someone.  He was  just listening there watching his friend speak to this very rich businessman, when the businessman suddenly asked him, “you, gentleman, what are you doing here?” To which he replied that he was accompanying his friend.  He asked again, “what do you do? what business are you in?” and so he answered again and provided a background on his business.  And so on until the businessman asked how his business was doing and how he can be of help.  At the end of the conversation the businessman offered to help by giving him a cheque, enough to help him pay back his loans and get his business moving again.  He referred to this businessman as an “angel investor”.  The moral of the story he says, is saying “yes” to your friends when they ask you to drive them. You never know, an angel might be waiting on the other side for you. 🙂

What I appreciated about Ronnie is how he passionately shared about his ups and downs.  His story is truly inspiring.

Internet Marketing

The last speaker of the day was Bo Sanchez’s internet marketing mentor, Jomar Hilario.  Jomar talks fast and is very entertaining.  He shared his experiences selling concert tickets through online internet marketing.  He also mentioned his initial attempts to enter the world of marketing through selling “forever living” products, carrying a big box with him, seemingly always in “high” state, shouting positive affirmations to himself.

After reading from Robert Kiyosaki’s book that one needs to visit at least 100 properties to buy just 1 house, he visited houses one after another and took a lot of pictures of those houses using his old film camera.  At the end of the day, he was exhausted.

At some point, he also mentioned the story on how he spent 80,000 pesos to attend a wealth seminar in Singapore, bought the training materials, only to find out that the ideas on the training materials are the same ideas he had already done before when he promoted concert tickets in 30 days to fill a whole coliseum, all by himself.

Lastly, Jomar extended an invitation to his upcoming Internet Marketing Seminar and his Online Marketing Workshop Club.  You may learn more about his seminars by visiting  www.jomarhilario.com.

Action starts now!

It was long day.  With lots of financial information to digest, I had to prevent myself from suffering “information overload”.  Overall, the Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program was a very good seminar, showcasing the different financial vehicles and opportunities on how to invest and make money.  From here, the only thing to do is take action!

Watch out for the next articles in the coming weeks and months, as I try to share my progress and experience taking action on some of these financial lessons.

Do you like to attend Bo’s Truly Rich financial seminars but you are based outside the Philippines? Here’s your chance!

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