Month: November 2009

Categories
Online banking Personal Finance

How to Enroll Additional Accounts into your BPI Express Online Account in 3 easy steps

In my previous article How to Enroll a BPI Express Online Account in 3 easy steps, I described how I was able to enroll my BPI savings account into BPI Express Online.  Since I also have another BPI checking account, I wanted to link my two accounts together so that I can monitor both of them online.

The good thing about being able to tie your accounts together is that you can transfer funds between your accounts in an instant, anywhere and any time you want.  No need to go to your branch, wait in line or be put on hold while waiting for the next customer service rep to pick up the phone.

Another good reason to link your accounts together is for your security and peace of mind.  For example, if someone stole your ATM card, you can simply logon to your BPI express online account and transfer the funds from your ATM card to your other account.  So even if someone tries to withdraw money from your stolen card, he won’t be able to withdraw any, since there are no more funds on that account.  That is, assuming only one of your ATM cards is stolen and the other one is kept somewhere safe 🙂

Here’s How to Enroll Additional Accounts into Your Existing BPI Express Online Account  in 3 easy steps

Step 1: Logon to your BPI Express Online Account

You need to have an existing BPI Express Online Account.  If you still don’t have one, you can enroll your BPI account by following the steps mentioned in my previous article How to Enroll a BPI Express Online Account in 3 easy steps. Once your BPI account enrollment is activated, you can go to BPI Express Online website at http://www.bpiexpressonline.com and logon to your account using your Login ID and Password.

Step 2: Go to My Portfolio > Enroll Additional Accounts

Once logged on, click on the ‘Go to My Portfolio’ on the upper left side of the menu.  A drop down list will appear.  Click ‘Enroll Additional Accounts’ from the list.  You will be asked which of the following 5 types of account you wish to enroll into your BPI express online account:

  • Savings and Checking Accounts
  • Time Deposit Accounts
  • Auto Loan Accounts
  • Housing Loan Accounts
  • Credit Card Accounts

Choose the type of the additional account you want to enroll then click ‘Continue’.  The next step will ask you to enter your account number.  Once done, click the ‘Submit’ button.  A confirmation page will be displayed indicating your account enrollment request’s Confirmation Number along with the Transaction Date & Time.  Take note of this information, or better yet, print it out for future reference.

Step 3: Wait for the bank to approve your enrollment

The bank will review your additional account enrollment application and verify that you really are the owner of the account.  The verification and enrollment activation is completed within 5 banking days.  Once your additional account enrollment is activated, you will be sent another notification email.  You can then logon to your BPI express online account to verify if you are able to view the account details of your other account online.

Even though you have to wait for around 1 week to have your additional account activated, the great thing about it is you don’t need to manually activate your enrollment via the ATM machine anymore. You also don’t need to go to your branch and wait for hours just to activate your enrollment.

Personally, I’d rather have the bank take their time to make sure that it is really me who is enrolling the additional account.  Otherwise, it could be a security issue.  This is, IMHO, still hassle free online banking.

DISCLAIMER: This is simply a guide to illustrate how easy it is to enroll an additional account into your existing BPI express online account.  No guarantees in the accuracy of the above steps is implied in any manner, whatsoever.  It is best to ask your local BPI branch customer representative or call BPI hotline 89-100 for more accurate instructions on how to enroll you account to BPI express online.

Categories
Business Credit Card Money Mindset Online banking Personal Finance

8 Best Home Budgeting Software Features I’d Really Love To Have

I’ve been looking for a home budgeting software for quite some time but I haven’t really found anything that has all the features I’d really love to have. You see, my wife and I have been relying on the good old excel spreadsheet to track our income and expenses.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  There are days (usually at the start of the year) where we would be very excited (and committed) to enter our daily transactions into the spreadsheet.  But after a couple of months, the excitement dies down along with our budget.  As a result, unexpected expenses happen.  And we wonder where our money went. 🙂

Here are the 8 Powerful Home Budgeting Software Features I’d Really Love to Have

1. Secure

I may not have billions of dollars in my bank, investment and credit card accounts, but even then I still want my privacy when it comes to my own money.  In this day and age when information can be easily sold to unscrupulous individuals with not so good intentions, and with the many scams we hear every now and then, I think it is but prudent to take some extra precautions regarding your own personal financial information.  Security is the first feature I’d really love to have in a good home budgeting software.  Without it, all other features really don’t matter.

2. Easy To Use

One of the main reasons I hesitate to use most of the available home budgeting software out there is because they all require me to “manually” download the transactions from my bank or credit card account and then “manually” upload the same information into the budgeting software.  This is a complete waste of time, not to mention a complete bore.  When I heard about Mint.com and its ability to automatically download/upload the transactions from your accounts, I thought finally someone had found a neat way to solve this problem.  The bad news is – it is only available in the US at the moment.  Not to mention the privacy concerns raised by other people since the data is being kept by Mint.com on its own servers.

3.  Visually Appealing Charts and Graphs

The human mind understands pictures better than words.  One look at a picture and you know whether you are spending more than you are earning.  One look at the chart and you know your income or expenses are going up month after month.  Looking at rows and rows of transaction details is NOT a great way to organize the financial information available from your bank statements.  It will only add to the clutter that you don’t need and don’t really like to have.  As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

4.  Voice, SMS and Email Alerts

More and more people are attached to their mobile phones today than ever.  Aside from keys to your car, you cannot leave the house unless you have your mobile phone with you.  I bet you’ll even go back to your house in case you forget it.  Sometimes, you even feel incomplete without it.  For people on the go, it is very important to stay informed especially about anything related to your own money.  You can receive alerts if there’s any suspicious activities involving your finances.  You will be notified if someone just withdrawn half of your money from the bank.  Good banks would do just that.  But sometimes it is not always the case.  That added security of receiving alerts wherever you are is a welcome convenience to give you peace of mind.

5.  I-Phone/Mobile Phone App

The financial services industry is being revolutionized by the Apple I-Phone.  There are hundreds of cool apps you can install on your I-Phone or mobile phone free of charge or for a small fee.  A lot of these applications help manage your money and budget. Today, everything can be literally controlled from your fingertips wherever you are and whenever you want.  You can view your account balance.  You can receive reminders to pay for your bills that are due.  You can be notified if you’re going over budget after paying for that coffee using your credit card.  A cool app extends your home budgeting software beyond your home PC or laptop.  It is the only way to go for mobile people that are always on the go.

6.  Update Feature

Today, most home budgeting software can only read/browse through your transactions.  They can only make sense of the information that you give it.  It is passive.  It can only give you information.  You cannot tell it to do something other than spit out a report or chart.  The one feature that would really make a home budgeting software powerful is the ability to process “push” services like updating your account information, transfer funds through your mobile phone, or do everything you can do on your bank account and more.  Wouldn’t it be great if you can do everything without going to your bank and wait for hours just so you can have a customer service representative update your account for you?

7.  Track Cash

In Asia where most transactions are still made in cash, using a home budgeting software is not effective.  To be able to make use of the software, you have to manually key in the transaction details by yourself.  It is a complete waste of time and counter productive.  Besides, who would want to carry a notebook everywhere and jot down the transaction details when paying for his lunch at the cafe?  Certainly not me.  The really cool home budgeting software must be able to record cash transactions easily and track it effectively. Most important of all, it must be able to treat cash just like any other transaction.

8. One Account

Most people maintain a lot of accounts.  They may have multiple accounts in several banks.  They receive many credit card offers on the mail each month.  Not to mention their retirement and investment accounts in different brokerage firms.  Organizing your finances under one roof is getting harder and harder every day.  If you cannot link all your accounts together, the information you have of your finances is incomplete.  The home budgeting software of choice is able to integrate everything together under one roof so you don’t have to do it yourself.

These are the 8 powerful features I’d really love to have in a home budgeting software.

In the end, these features will only take you so far.  You still have to take control of your own money.  You still have to challenge yourself to make more money and keep it.  You still need the discipline to know when your expenses are helping you achieve your goals or not.  In the end it is still up to YOU to become rich or poor.

How about you?  What features would you like to have if you were to build the most amazing home budgeting software in the world?

R98Z5TYP2TTG

Categories
Bonds Books Business Investing Money Mindset Stocks

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 5: Improving Your Financial Information

Today, you will learn Financial IQ #5 – Improving Your Financial Information.  This article is the last part of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter With Your Money.

To read parts 1 to 4 of the book review, you can checkout the following links.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 5: Improving Your Financial Information

Information is the most important asset you can have.  For soldiers in the midst of war, using the information they have against their enemies determines whether they will live or die. 

Information is the key to Manny Pacquiao’s victory against the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.  Freddie Roach, his coach, is without a doubt a master strategist.  He is great at identifying the smallest weaknesses of Pacquaio’s opponents and skillfully using those to draw up a game plan for Pacquaio to win each of his fights. 

Today, leveraging the power of information can make you very rich.  Young twenty-year olds have proven that.  Armed with only their dreams and technology, they have built up Facebook, You Tube and My Space and became billionaires. 

The Four Ages of Humanity

  1. Hunter-Gatherer Age
    • Nature provided the wealth. 
    • There’s only one group – everyone is poor.
  2. Agrarian Age
    • Land became wealth. 
    • There are now 2 groups of people:
      • The rich kings and queens who own the lands, and
      • The poor peasants.
  3. Industrial Age
    • People who own the biggest factories, skyscrapers and industries are the new rich. 
    • There are now 3 groups of people:
      • The rich owners of industrial companies
      • The middle class who work for those companies
      • The poor who are still caught up in the Agrarian & Hunter Gatherer age.
  4. Information Age
    • The new super rich are 20 something kids who leverage information to become billionaires
    • There are now 4 groups of people:
      • The super rich – young billionaires leveraging information.
      • The rich who are still struggling to bring their industrial companies to the new information age.
      • The middle class who are now working as employees to more and more companies of the rich and the super rich.
      • The poor who are clueless how they can use technology to become rich.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, a lot of people are struggling today because they are clinging to the Hunter-Gatherer, Agrarian and Industrial Age ideas.  They are “perishing because of obsolete or inadequate information.” They still think having a safe secure job with great benefits is a good idea.  The good news for you is that you don’t have to be like them. You can become rich just by having the “right information.”

Tips on Classifying Information to Become Richer

  1. Facts vs Opinions
    • Know the difference between facts and opinions. 
    • Many people think investing is risky because they don’t know if they are basing their investment decisions on opinions or facts
  2. Insane Solutions
    • Acting on insane solutions is risky.
    • If your investment decision is based on an opinion, it can lead to your financial ruin.
  3. Risky Actions
    • A person who invests for capital gains is investing on an opinion.
    • A person who invests for cash flow is investing on a fact.
    • A smart investor uses both opinions and facts to invest for both capital gains and cash flow.
  4. Control Over the Asset
    • Most people investing in paper assets have very little control over their investments.
    • These investors are hoping their opinions turn into facts – which is very risky.
  5. What are the Rules?
    • Know the rules of money.  Knowing the rules gives you valuable information on how to play the money game.
    • Without rules, there is chaos, and your assets would decline in value.
  6. Trends
    • A small investor with superior information and intelligence about local and global markets can beat the giants who rely only on international information
    • Know and invest with the trend.  The trend is your friend.
    • Robert Kiyosaki says “Financial intelligence is the ability to take information and make it meaningful.”

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

Today, more than ever, you need the right information.  Information can make you rich or poor.  With the right information, anyone can become rich. The only problem is that in a rapidly changing world, the old ideas of yesterday may no longer work today.  That’s why it is very important to continue to learn and be discerning of the information you receive, always making sure if your decision is based on facts or opinions.

Categories
Bonds Books Business Credit Card Investing Money Mindset Mutual Fund Stocks

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 4: Leveraging Your Money

Today, you will learn Financial IQ #4 – Leveraging Your Money.  This article is part 4 of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.

To read parts 1 to 3 of the book review, you can checkout the following links.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 4: Leveraging Your Money

According to Robert Kiyosaki, leverage, in its simplest terms, is basically “doing more with less”.  It could be in the form of leveraging other people’s money like acquiring a loan for your house. It could be leveraging other people’s time by hiring employees for your business.  Or it could be leveraging technology like putting up an online store to reach out to more people, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Things to note when applying leverage:

  1. There are many types of leverage: leverage of debt, leverage of financial intelligence, leverage of technology and more
  2. Most investors have little control over their investments such as savings, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds.  Without control, the investment becomes risky.
  3. Higher returns does not mean higher risk.  The key to minimizing risk is applying financial intelligence.
  4. Most financial advisors are sales people – NOT investors.
  5. To gain control of your investments, you need to take control of your own financial education.
  6. Leverage can work in two ways – it can work for you, or work against you
  7. Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world, says “diversification is a protection against ignorance.”

Investing for capital gains vs investing for cashflow

Some people invest only for capital gains.  Their motto is “buy low, sell high”.  When you purchase a house for PHP 1 Million in the hope that you can sell it for PHP 5 Million after a few years, you are investing for capital gains.

Others invest only for cash flow.  They want to receive a steady fixed amount of income every month.  When you invest in Retail Treasury Bonds and receive a regular interest earnings, or invest in stocks that give dividends, you are investing for cashflow.

To invest for both capital gains and cashflow, you need to increase your financial intelligence so you can control the investment and increase its value at the same time provide a steady stream of income for you.

More tips on taking the first step to apply leverage

  1. Don’t let your problem of not having enough money stop you from becoming rich.  Take that first step, make mistakes.  Continue learning even if you fail. The experience will increase your financial intelligence.
  2. Start small and take baby steps.  Take the time to read books, attend seminars and learn from great financial mentors before you invest.
  3. Dream BIG.  Instead of living below your means, let your BIG dreams inspire you to learn and invest carefully to allow you to magnify your income and go beyond your means.

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

Leverage is a very powerful tool.  But it can work both ways.  It can make you money or it can work against you. Be careful. I experienced the other side of leverage when I got into credit card debt.  To know how I managed to pay for it, you can read my personal finance story.


Categories
Books Business Investing Money Mindset Personal Finance

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 3: Budgeting Your Money

Today, you will learn Financial IQ #3 – Budgeting Your Money.  This article is part 3 of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.

To read part 1 and part 2 of the book review, you can checkout the following links.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 3: Budgeting Your Money

After learning to make more money and finding out ways to protect your money, you next need to learn how to budget your money for maximum utilization.

According to the book, a budget is a plan to coordinate your most important resources (such as money and time) and expenditures.  There are 2 kinds of budgets:

  • Budget deficit
    • excess of spending over income
    • you spend more than you earn
  • Budget surplus
    • excess of income over spending
    • you earn more than you spend

The reason most people are poor is because all their lives, all they’ve known is not having enough money, hence, they only have a plan for “budget deficit”.   They have never experienced having more money than they could ever expect to spend.  They think only lottery winners, corrupt politicians, or greedy businessmen can have a “budget surplus”.   The key to having a budget surplus is realizing that it is possible for you to have it.

There are 2 ways to generate a budget surplus:

  1. You can apply Financial IQ # 1 to make more money, thereby increasing your income, or
  2. You can cut expenses, and reduce your spending.

Both strategies will tip the equation to your favor such that your income will be greater than your expenses and you create that extra cash a.k.a. “budget surplus”.

Most people and businesses only know how to cut expenses, especially in these times of financial uncertainty.  But you can only do so much in terms of cutting expenses without sacrificing your mental, emotional and physical health.  You don’t need to starve yourself to create a budget surplus. If you apply Financial IQ # 1 – make more money, you can stretch the other side of the equation and achieve the same thing.  The same applies to business. A business without sales is NOT a business. So aside from minimizing the costs of your business, you also need to learn to sell more and boost your income!

Robert Kiyosaki offers 4 tips to plan for a budget surplus:

  • Budget tip #1 – A budget surplus is an expense
    • Make spending for budget surplus a priority
    • Pay yourself first, even when income is less than your expenses
    • Use the pressure of not having enough money to think of ways on how to generate that extra cash
  • Budget tip #2 – The expense column is the crystal ball
    • Discover what you’re spending on, and you will know if your plan is working to give you a budget surplus or a budget deficit
    • Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad says, “you can tell a person’s future by looking at what they spend their time and money on.”
  • Budget tip #3 – My assets pay for my liabilities
    • Instead of using your hard-earned money to pay for your liabilities like a car or a flat screen TV, make that money work for you by using it to build assets and use the income from those assets to pay for your car or your flat screen TV.
  • Budget tip #4 – Spend to get rich
    • Know when to spend and when to cut back.  Most people only know how to cut back.  Spending wisely to grow your money is a harder skill to master.
    • Learn to do more with less and use the pressure to become smarter in making more money

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

  • Budgeting is boring.  That’s what most people say.  However, it is one the most important rich money habits that you will have to learn.  A budget is like a map.  The only way to get to your destination is to know where you are right now, and use your plan to discover how to get to where you want to be.
  • Consciously working on your money habits is a life-long process, and it starts with taking care of the resources that you have – that is budgeting your money and time.  What others don’t realize is that we all have 24 hours in a day.  Some people multiply their impact by providing livelihood to thousands of people and generating more money not only for themselves but for the whole community.  Others just sit around all day never doing anything to make their lives easier.  To me, it is not a question of do we need to budget or not.  It is a matter of realizing that to live your life to the fullest, you need to make the most of what you have.
  • Be patient.  The problem of TV shows is that everything is fast.  Yesterday a child was born. The next day he’s already a teenager.  The next week he himself is already having his own kid.  Life is not a TV show.  It is a series of small steps earned each day.  So have a plan and learn to adjust that plan along the way.  As Robert Kiyosaki says “take it one day at a time.”

P.S. You’ve just read part 3 (Financial IQ #3: Budgeting Your Money) of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.  How about you? How are you budgeting your time and money today?

Categories
Books Business Credit Card Money Mindset Personal Finance

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 2: Protecting Your Money

Today, you will learn Financial IQ #2 – Protecting Your Money.  This article is part 2 of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.  To read part 1 of the book review, you can checkout Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 1: Making More Money.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 2: Protecting Your Money

In the first part of the book review you’ve learned that to earn more money, you must learn to solve money problems.  Once you have learned to solve problems and earn some money, the next thing you need to do is to protect that money from what Robert Kiyosaki calls “financial predators”.  Real world predators do not always look the part. Sometimes, they are ordinary people with well-meaning intentions.  Their job is to “legally” take money from your pocket…and your job is to “legally” have them take as little as possible.

According to the book, there are 7 financial predators you need to protect your money from.  They are:

  1. Bureaucrats who legally take money from you through “taxes”
    • Taxes are your single largest expense
    • Know which type of income you’re earning money from and paying in taxes
      • Earned Income – salary, commission, etc
      • Portfolio Income – income from paper assets such as interests, dividends, etc
      • Passive Income – royalties, rental income from real-estate, licensing, etc
  2. Bankers who legally take money from you through “fees”
    • Banks and credit card companies charge you with all kinds of fees, some of them you or your company might not even be aware of
    • For every dollar you have in the bank, the bank can lend out twenty dollars to your credit card.  The bank pays you 5 percent for one dollar and makes 20 percent on twenty dollars.  That is how banks make money.
  3. Brokers who legally take money from you through “commissions”
    • Look for brokers who are students of their profession and invest in what they sell
      • For real-estate brokers, ask them how many properties they are invested in.
      • For stock brokers, ask them which stocks they personally invest in.
    • “Good” brokers make you rich, “bad” brokers make you poor.  Build a relationship with “good” brokers.
  4. Businesses who legally take money from you through “profits”
    • Buy products that make you rich
    • Poor people buy products that make them poor, paying them for years with a very high interest rate
  5. Brides and Beaus who legally take money from you through “alimony/marital asset split”
    • Get a prenuptial agreement before you marry
    • Think of your exit plan before you enter into the agreement
  6. Brothers-in-law who legally take money from you through “inheritance or financial wishes”
    • Consult an estate planning specialist to plan your exit
    • Use legal vehicles such as wills & trusts to protect your wealth from death predators
  7. Barristers who legally take money from you through “court & legal fees”
    • Hold assets of value in legal entities instead of your own name
    • You must buy insurance before you need it…not the moment you need it.

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

  • Protecting your money is like plugging holes.  You first need to be aware what the holes are before you can actually plan on fixing them to stop the cash from flowing out.
  • Learning to protect your money is a never ending process as the rules regularly change.  The ways to protect your money yesterday may no longer be able to protect your money today or tomorrow.
  • Protecting your money reduces your expenses. The more money you keep, the more money you can utilize for productive endeavors.

You’ve just read part 2 (Financial IQ #2: Protecting Your Money) of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.  How about you? How are you protecting your money today?

Categories
Books Business Investing Money Mindset Personal Finance

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 1: Making More Money

Every month at Rich Money Habits, we will take a deeper look at some of the best business, personal finance and investing books out there.  For this month of November, we will feature Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.  This article is part 1 of the book review which digs deeper into Financial IQ #1 – Making more money.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 1: Making More Money

The book starts by asking the fundamental question:

“Does money make you rich?”

Take a moment to answer that question.

Do you think money will make you rich?  Do you think winning millions of dollars from lottery will make you rich?  How about having a high-paying job from a lucrative profession like doctors, or lawyers, or IT professionals?  Does having a lot of money make you rich?

Many people have heard stories how instant millionaires lost their millions after a few years. Or how someone who was once rich and famous had his house foreclosed.  Or how a high-paying manager begged for his job back because he can no longer afford the lifestyle that he once had.

If not money, what then makes you rich?  According to Robert Kiyosaki,

“…it is not real-estate, stocks, mutual funds, businesses, or money that make you rich.  It is information, knowledge, wisdom, and know-how, a.k.a. financial intelligence, that makes one wealthy.”

What is Financial Intelligence?

Robert Kiyosaki describes Financial intelligence as that part of our mental intelligence we use to solve our financial problems. Financial IQ, on the other hand, is the measure of that intelligence.

What money problems do you have?  Are you having the problem of “not having enough money”? Are you

  • using your credit card whenever you’re short on money?
  • constantly worrying about the rising cost of living?
  • paying more in taxes after an increase in income?
  • afraid of emergencies?
  • receiving bad financial advice?
  • waiting for the next paycheck to pay for last month’s rent?

While the rich do not have these problems, they too have their own money problems – “too much money”.  Some of these are

  • needing to keep their money safe and invested
  • not knowing whether people like them or their money
  • looking for smarter financial advisors
  • raising spoiled kids
  • worrying about estate and inheritance planning
  • looking for ways to “legally” avoid paying excessive government taxes

Which problems would you rather have?

The 5 basic Financial IQs

According to Robert Kiyosaki, you need to learn the 5 basic Financial IQs to solve your money problems.  These are:

  1. Financial IQ #1: Making more money
  2. Financial IQ #2: Protecting your money
  3. Financial IQ #3: Budgeting your money
  4. Financial IQ #4: Leveraging your money
  5. Financial IQ #5: Improving your financial information

Financial IQ #1: Making more money

How do you make more money?  The key according to Robert Kiyosaki is to “solve problems”.  People will gladly pay you money if you solve their problems.  I know I’ll be more than happy to pay you money if you can fix my broken LCD TV at a reasonable price. Would you gladly pay your doctor if they solve your ailing stomach? Would you pay your financial advisor if they can make you more money than what you pay them?  Or how about paying your “star” employees “millions” whenever they bring you “billions” in income?

Solve people’s problems and make more money.  As the famous quote from Zig Ziglar says

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

Which problems do you want to solve?

Which problems do you want to solve?

Do you want to solve the problem of “hunger” by providing quality meals at an affordable price.  That’s what a lot of food businesses are doing.  Or do you want to solve the problem of “not having enough time to eat”.  That’s what the fast and “instant” food delivery businesses are trying to solve.

What are you naturally good at? Perhaps you can use any of your skills to solve other people’s problems.

Are you good in math?  Be a great financial analyst or an accountant and help people and businesses solve their financial or tax problems.

Do you like speaking to people?  Become a powerful speaker.  Share your message by leveraging your highly sought after skill of public speaking.  Inspire people to take action and solve their problem of a dull and boring life.

Do you love making great movies?  Learn to be a great director or a movie producer.  People will pay you to entertain them because you are solving their problem of “not having fun”.”

Solving problems is a process

The key according to Robert Kiyosaki is realizing the fact that problems will never go away.  After you solve a problem, another problem will come up.  Only in this process of solving problems one after the other will you gain financial intelligence.

You have to go through the process of solving whatever money problems you are facing right now.  Don’t run from it.  Face it head on.  Use your mind to think of ways on how to solve your money problem.  As Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad says,

“You can quit when you win, but never quite because you’re losing.“

The reason instant millionaires end up poor after winning the lottery is because they want only the money but not the process of learning how to build their wealth.  This is the same thing as people wanting to get paid more than the value they are providing.  Their greed is making decisions for them.  Some people even claim that “greed” has caused the current financial crisis that we are in right now.

The other side of the coin is also dangerous – fear.  Don’t let fear hold you back.  Enjoy the process of learning.  Feel the fear and face it head on. This is the same reason why employees would rather gladly receive the small steady paycheck than take a chance at building their own fortune.  Take a leap.  Live out your dreams.  As Hellen Keller says,

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

  • What I liked about the book is that it offers other (unconventional) ways to think about money.
  • The book is not about financial advise, so it does not discuss any “how to” details on investing in real-estate or businesses.
  • There are a lot of strong comments about the book so it is NOT for everyone.  My hope is that after reading the rest of the book review in the coming weeks, you’ll pick up a thing or two to help you with your money problems.

You’ve just read Rich Money Habits’ review of Robert Kiyosaki’s Financial IQ #1 – Making More Money.  Now, go out, solve problems and start making more money! 🙂

Categories
Business Life Lessons

5 Powerful Business Secrets Revealed from Playing the Facebook App Restaurant City

Have you ever played Restaurant City in Facebook? If yes, you might have been staring at powerful business secrets all this time! If not, then this is your chance to discover the 5 powerful business secrets hidden in this popular online social game as they are finally revealed to you!

What is Restaurant City?

Restaurant City is a popular online social game in Facebook.  Your goal as a player is to build your own restaurant.   It is both fun and addicting.  While playing the game, I discovered 5 powerful business secrets that when applied and done right, you not only win in Restaurant City, you also win in real-life!

Here are 5 powerful business secrets revealed from playing the Facebook App Restaurant City!

Secret #1:  Start small…dream BIG!
When you start playing Restaurant City, you are given a small space, enough to setup a few tables and hire a cook and a waiter.  Everyone playing the game starts at the same place – small.  When you think about it, this is actually closer to real life than it seems.  Billionaire tycoons we look up to today started from small beginnings.  Henry Sy, the richest man in the Philippines according to Forbes’ list, started with a small footwear store decades ago.  Now, he owns the biggest and most frequented malls in the Philippines.  Jollibee, the proud Filipino burger icon, started as a small ice cream parlor. Everyone starts at the same place.  It is up to you to dream and make it BIG!

Secret #2:  Delight your customers!
In the online game Restaurant City, when your customer is delighted, he will give up a thumbs up sign and your customer satisfaction level goes up.  If the customer is dissatisfied due to late service, no available chair, or no comfort room, he will give a thumbs down sign.

The more thumbs up signs you get, the higher your customer satisfaction level will be, and the more people will come to your restaurant.  The same applies to real-life.  The more people you delight with great product and service, the more people will come to you and pay you to delight them again and again.  Because they are so delighted, they will share their experience with their friends and invite them along the next time they want you to delight them one more time.  The key is to delight your customers each and every time they come to you.

Secret #3:  Take care of your people!
In the online game Restaurant City, each of your employees has its own energy level.  When your employee cooks a meal, waits tables, or cleans up the restaurant, he consumes energy and his energy level goes down.  Once your employee’s energy level is depleted, your business goes down as well.

To resolve this, you have to restore the energy of your employees by doing any of the following: 1) buy a sandwich so your employee can have a quick bite, 2) buy drinks for your employee, 3) buy a full meal for your employee to eat or 4) have your employee rest or sleep.

In real-life, you can also do the same things.  Aside from these four ideas, you can also pay them well, care for their well-being, train them and let them grow with you.  The key is to really care for your people.  As Abraham Lincoln, aptly described,

“If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what you will, is the great high-road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause.”

Secret #4:  Grow and expand!
Maximize the arrangement of your tables to serve more customers better and faster! Offer more appetizing food to level up and earn more money!  Hire more employees! These are some of the strategies in playing Restaurant City to grow and expand your restaurant faster!  This is the exciting part because you learn to optimize everything you have.  You learn to waste nothing.

As you become more efficient with your operations, your money will also grow exponentially. In real-life, some people utilize the concept of franchising to expand their business.  Others offer the same excellent service to a different location.  While the rest just simply build a larger grocery store, or a mall with annex, or a wider selection of goods.  These strategies will take you to the next level and take your small business into something BIG.

Secret #5:  Celebrate your own style!
In the online game Restaurant City, you earn money every time you serve a meal to your customers.  Once your restaurant is big enough, more money is coming to you than you can ever expect to spend.  At first, it is both exciting and a cause for celebration!  But after a while, it starts to become boring. When this happens, your focus changes from “growing your business” to “showcasing your own style”.  Buy a new set of furniture! Decorate and re-arrange your restaurant! Put your name on it.  Paint it with your favorite colors!  Have fun!  Enjoy!

In real-life, some people buy “new cars” or a “new house” to celebrate and enjoy!  Others, just continue to grow but look for other exciting opportunities to keep their hunger alive!  While the really blessed ones gain satisfaction in utilizing their growing business to serve and bless more people.  They donate to charities.  They create a foundation to help bring opportunities to less fortunate people.  They share their success secrets to inspire other people to achieve even more. As Bo Sanchez aptly puts it, “the ultimate purpose of money is to serve other people.”

You’ve just learned 5 powerful business secrets you can readily apply to grow and expand your business! Go out and play the game of life!