Categories
Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club Review: Problems?

It’s been more than a year since my wife and I signed-up to the Truly Rich Club. While it has been an amazing journey, there were also some logistic problems we encountered along the way.

A few months ago, my wife and I had to renew our membership.  Since our credit card issued in Malaysia already expired, we renewed the membership using our BPI credit card here in the Philippines.  However, 3 months after renewing the membership, the DVDs and Audio CDs have NOT been delivered to our home yet.

That’s when I tried to search for any support contacts in the Truly Rich Club member’s site.  To my surprise, I couldn’t find any support contact number.

Thankfully, my wife was able to save an old email from the Truly Rich Club when we were still starting out as a member.  We emailed the address right away, and in 3 days, the DVDs and Audio CDs arrived in a bright red LBC package.

If you’re having the same problem or  you ever encounter any problem with your Truly Rich Club membership, you can email the following address: trulyrichclub@gmail.com

P.S. Do you want to solve your financial problem?  Join Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club NOW!

Categories
Investing Passive Income Stocks Truly Rich Club

How to Invest in the Philippine Stock Market the Super EIP Way

For the past few months, I’ve been investing in the Philippine Stock Market using Citiseconline’s EIP (Easy Investment Program).  In a nutshell, it’s an investment program where you invest a fixed amount on a regular basis to take advantage of the cost averaging method.  I plan to do this for at least 5 years for the most stable stocks that I feel have the most probable chance of being profitable in the next 5 to 10 years.

The Super EIP of Bo Sanchez

I mentioned in my Truly Rich Club Review that Bo Sanchez recently launched his Stocks Updates Newsletter along with his e-book “My Maid Invests in the Stock Market”.  Through the Newsletter, Bo aims to share his stock investment advise.  He plans to tell you what stocks he is buying, what stocks he recommends people to buy and when to sell those stocks.

This very helpful information is available only to Truly Rich Club members.  Since you’re an avid reader of this blog, I’ll give you a sneak peek on what Truly Rich Club members are getting.

In the first issue of Bo’s Stocks Update Newsletter, he introduced the SUPER EIP investment program. The strategy is to search for “undervalued” companies with proven track record and buy them at a low price.  For example, if a stock is valued at $2 $1.50 and it is currently being sold at $1, you have a 50% potential profit once the market aligns with the stocks’ true value.  After the stock reaches $2, you can then sell your stocks and get 50% profit.  Keep in mind that this may happen after weeks, months, or even years.  For Bo’s case, his PhP 148,000 actually increased to PhP 441,000 when he sold his stocks after more than 1 year!  That’s a profit of around 200%!

At this point, I need to mention that the results will definitely vary from case to case and some people may even lose money.  In the end, you should still be responsible in making your own investment decisions.  Citiseconline, Bo Sanchez or even this blog may tell you what stocks to buy and when to sell but the reality is that it is still YOUR OWN MONEY.  There’s no one more concerned on how to make your money grow than you.

In an attempt to try out the SUPER EIP investment strategy, I’ve invested some of my money into 2 stocks (one valued at 47% upside profit, and the other one a 42% potential upside) starting this month.  As with Bo’s strategy, I also plan to take advantage of EIP cost averaging for these 2 stocks.  Every month, I plan to invest a fixed amount and once it reaches the target price, I will sell the stocks to take my profits.

I am really excited to see how this strategy will fare out in the future.  I can’t wait to share to you whether the money I invested will grow to its potential or I end up losing money.  Watch out for that in the coming months.

How about you?  What investment strategies are you using when investing in the Philippine Stock Market?

P.S. If you want to know the 2 companies I invested in for the SUPER EIP and other undervalued stocks in the Philippines, you can contact me or join Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club and read Bo’s Stock Updates Newsletter.

Categories
Bonds Business Credit Card Investing Make Money Online Money Mindset Mutual Fund Passive Income Personal Finance Stocks Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club Review

I’ve been wanting to do a review on Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club for quite some time but I’ve been putting it off due to busy schedule at work.  When I read about Bo’s recent article “How To Be a Billionaire”, I thought people need to find out more about this.

Before I say anything else, please bear in mind that I am (well, technically I am not, but my wife is) a member of the Truly Rich Club, and if you sign-up to the Truly Rich Club, I (or my wife) earn a little income as an affiliate commission.

That being said, this review is not to persuade you to do something you don’t want to do.  My hope is that by sharing my personal experiences with the club, it will help you decide if joining the club will be of help in achieving your financial goals.

 

How did you find about the Truly Rich Club?

A couple of years ago, I was an OFW working as a Mainframe Test Lead for a credit card company in Malaysia.  When I came home to the Philippines for a 2-week vacation, I came across Bo’s 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich book.  At that time, I was really trying to find out ways on how I can grow my hard earned money.  After reading the book, I realized he was actually holding Truly Rich Seminars in the Philippines.   Since I only had a few days left in the country before going back to Malaysia, I was not able to attend the seminar.

A few months after, I learned that Bo created the Truly Rich Club.  Because I wasn’t able to attend the seminar – I was very eager to try out the online club!

Since my wife was the one who has a credit card, I talked my wife into joining the club.  I am very blessed to have a very supportive wife.  She agreed to join in. The next month, we received the 2 months worth DVD videos and Audio CDs we ordered from the club.

 

Why did you join the Truly Rich Club?

I was in a foreign country.  My options were limited.  I couldn’t attend any seminar in the Philippines because I was out of the country.

I didn’t know anything about investing in mutual funds, stocks or internet businesses, especially in the Philippines at that time.  Yes, I learned a thing or two from various blogs and personal finance sites.  In most cases the specific advise on these sites were only applicable to other countries such as the U.S.  I didn’t know if the same thing can be done in the Philippines.

So when I came across the Truly Rich Club, it was like a dream come true.  Joining the club allowed me to learn how to grow my money in the Philippines! Moreover, through the monthly DVDs, I got to watch Bo Sanchez’ interviews and talks.  It was like attending the Truly Rich seminars virtually.

 

What did you like about the the Truly Rich Club?

The content is simply amazing.  When I started, I was looking forward to the next month’s issues.  My wife and I would always checkout the mail box just to see if the DVDs for the month have already arrived.

What I really liked are the very specific information shared through the various interviews on very successful businessmen.  You can see how they view money, their mindset in terms of relationships and on building businesses and character.

The club products are full-packed with information.  I can’t keep up.  There’s a lot of information to learn.  I’m still catching up with the rest of the power talks.

Bo also sends out a weekly Newsletter where he provides stocks update, business advise, and more.  The content is really overflowing, I only wish you could also learn from those DVDs and Audio CDs and get the financial information first hand.

One thing I really appreciate was the smooth transition of delivering the DVDs after my wife and I finally decided to come home to the Philippines last year. We wanted to have the audio CDs and DVDs delivered to our home in the Philippines instead.  We only had to email them our new address and voila! We received the products to the new address.

 

What I didn’t like about the the Truly Rich Club?

When we first started with the club, there were times when the DVDs arrived late.  Since we were always very eager, waiting for the next issue was a torture.

It would also be a great idea to have a forum exclusive to club members where lessons can be discussed or shared with each other.  The feeling of being in a community would certainly help boost members’ confidence when they start to struggle in taking action on those valuable financial tips.

 

Why I recommend joining the Truly Rich Club?

I honestly believe that in today’s world, information is king.  If you are not informed, you will be left out.  You will always be wondering how come others are getting financially ahead while you’re still stuck working at a dead-end job you really hate.

There were a lot of times when I wanted to share the incredible products I’ve watched or heard from the club, but it’s hard because there are copyright issues.  I don’t want to go into the business of piracy.  More importantly, I don’t want to profit from stealing other people’s products.

Thankfully, there’s one “legal” way to help share these products to you.  That is, if you decide to be a member of the club as well.  The Super Gold Package (DVD video +  Audio CD) costs PhP 997 ($37 for International Membership) monthly at the time of this writing.  The Gold Package (Audio CD only) costs PhP 497 ($39 for International Membership) monthly.  The Audio CD is basically a recording of the same DVD video so if you are interested only in listening to the presentations, you can take the Gold Package.  What I do is I copy the audio over to my iPod and I listen to it while working.  The great thing about it is that I can listen to it over and over again.

Bo Sanchez is a preacher so a lot of his talks contain references to passages in the bible.  While I don’t mind since I am a Catholic, others may not be as forgiving.  So if you don’t like hearing the word “amen”, please bear this in mind when you join.

How has the club helped you so far?

After my wife and I finally came home to the Philippines to settle for good, we immediately attended Bo’s Truly Rich seminar.  Even though he was discussing the same basic concepts from his book and the club, it’s still refreshing to see Bo presenting the ideas with my own eyes.  It’s a bit surreal. You can learn more about my experience on the seminar here.

My wife and I also attended the financial coaching program a few weeks after.  After the seminar, I was really excited to finally get started.  Here are 3 things I’ve been exploring since I started taking action on the many lessons from the club and the seminars:

  • RTBs – my wife and I finally started investing in RTBs.  You can learn more about how we opened an account. Here’s an update after we received our first interest income.  And, only a few days ago, we already received the 2nd quarterly interest income.  Yey!
  • Stocks – I’ve started investing in stocks.  I’ve invested through EIP for a couple of months now.  These are small (PhP 5,000) monthly investments on the most stable companies listed in the Philippine Stocks Exchange.  My basic strategy is to take advantage of the dollar cost averaging.  I’ve also learned another strategy from Bo’s Stocks Update that I may try out soon – that is, Super EIP (I think this was coined by Bo himself).  If you want to find out, you can sign-up to the Truly Rich Club or wait for my updates by subscribing to this blog via RSS or Email. Subscription to Rich Money Habits blog is FREE!.
  • Internet Marketing – I am a techie. Having spent the last 8 years of my life working in IT, I am very fluent in more than a dozen languages. Unfortunately, only 3 of them can be understood by human.  No, I am not an alien.  Most of the languages I know, only computers are able to understand.  I can communicate (i.e. program) in Visual Basic, C, Mainframe Languages, Assembly Language, and more.  Which brings me to my point.  I want to be able to communicate to fellow human beings as well as computers.  I want to find out how to present an information product on the internet in a way that the other person will be able to know exactly what he is getting into.  If it is something that will solve his problem, well and good!  If not, at least he doesn’t have to waste his time digging deeper, seeking clarification on that specific product.

What will you get when you join the club?

While reading Bo’s newest book “Choose To Be Wealthy: 8 Habits of the Happy Millionaire” which was launched last Saturday at SMX Convention Center, I got the most updated list of the 11 Big Blessings you will receive if you decide to join the Truly Rich Club.  The list is so much more now than when we signed-up more than a year ago.  It’s really great that Bo is giving away so much.

Here’s a sneak peak of what you will receive:

  • 2 Powertalks every month (instant access via MP3)
  • Bo’s Success Mentors Collection every 3 months
  • 4 Wealth Strategies newsletter every month
  • Daily God’s Whispers email
  • How To Be Truly Rich Seminar
  • How To Conquer Your Goliaths Ebook
  • How To Turn Thoughts Into Things Ebook
  • My Maid Invests in the Stock Market Ebook
  • Monthly update of what Bo invests in
  • Earn passive income by becoming Bo’s affiliate in the Truly Rich Club
  • Earn passive income with Bo’s other internet work

There’s even an amazing “wow experience” guarantee. Here’s how it works.  Should you decide to cancel your membership during your first month of membership, after receiving the stuffs above, the money will be returned to you no questions asked.  You even get to keep all the stuffs that have already been sent to you – an amazing $251.50 value.

That’s all I can share for now.  If you do decide to join the Truly Rich Club, congratulations to you!  My hope is that you become Truly Rich in every sense of the word and share your blessings to other people!  Good luck!

 

P.S.  CLICK HERE  to sign-up to Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club. Once you get started today, I will give you as FREE BONUS my $605.66-value ebook “Rich Money Habits – 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich!” Bo Sanchez himself wrote the Foreword to the ebook saying “This ebook contains the most essential tools you need to start your journey towards becoming truly rich.” Simply send me a message through my Facebook Page @ http://www.facebook.com/allaninocente111 after signing up so I can verify and email you the instructions on how to download the ebook. Congratulations in advance to the start of your exciting financial journey!

RMH ebook 3D pic

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
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!

Join the Truly Rich Club!
Join the Truly Rich Club

Categories
Bonds Business Investing Money Mindset Personal Finance Stocks Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez's Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program (Day 1)

Last Friday and Saturday, my wife and I attended Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program.  The event is a two-day seminar showcasing financial lessons and tips from Bo Sanchez and his mentors on business, real-estate, stocks, mutual funds and internet marketing. In this 2-part series, I will try to share what I’ve personally learned from the seminar. This is part 1 which includes the insights I’ve learned during the first day of the coaching program.

The ARRIVAL

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Confucius

We arrived at Valle Verde Country Club around 2pm Friday.  We were actually late because we came all the way from Makati and we still had to drop by our house in Mandaluyong, have lunch and take a taxi going to the venue.

When we arrived, the seminar already started.  We were just in time for the first talk of the day.  Thanks to the small note outside the room and a little luck, we managed to find which room the seminar was being held.   The funny thing was, we actually arrived at around the same time as the first speaker.  When the speaker entered the door, we took a quick peek inside and saw that the organizers and the other participants were already inside the room.  We registered right away, took our seats, settled down and prepared ourselves for a very exciting and interesting financial coaching seminar.

Online Stocks Investing

The first speaker was Juan ‘Juanis’ Barredo, the VP of CitisecOnline, which is an online stock brokerage firm in the Philippines.  He has 18 years of experience in the stock market.  What struck me about Juanis is the way he spoke very fluent English.  I thought – “this guy can speak!”.  The way he captures the right words to explain the most intricate subject of stock investing is excellent.

One of the first things I learned from his talk is that less than 1% of the Philippine population invests in the stock market.  Which is really very small compared to other countries like US, Hong Kong, and even for our neighboring countries such as Indonesia.  In the US, even cab drivers invest in the stock market.

The main idea of stock investing is – you buy “shares” of a company to become a part-owner.  That means you are actually investing on a business.  Just like in business, one of the strategies used to gain a profit is to buy “low”, then sell “high”.  The tricky thing about stocks is how to know if the company’s shares are being sold “low” or “high”.  Is it based on the “market price”?  Or is it based on the “actual value” computed from analysis of the company’s earnings and performance?  Or is it both?

I realized that investing in the stock market is a lot like buying a pair of jeans on sale.  How do you know if it’s on sale?  First, you need to know, how much is it truly worth?  That is, how much is it really selling for when it’s not on sale?  For jeans, usually it’s around 1,000 to 2,000 pesos.  Of course, you can buy cheaper jeans from Divisoria, or more high-end jeans from branded stores.  So if they say it’s 70% off, they’re selling the 1000 peso worth jeans for only 300 pesos.  Would you buy?  If it fits and you like it, why not?!  The same is true with stocks.  When a share of the company is worth 1000 pesos and they are selling it for 300 pesos only, would you buy?  If you like the company, and based on your analysis it is really worth 1000 pesos, why not?  Among other things, it should also fit you.  Is the company something you want to be involved in?  Do you and those people running the company share the same core values?  If you have all the money in the world, would you build the same business?

During the seminar, I asked Juanis which companies he personally invests in. Many people in the room laughed. I’m guessing because it’s a familiar territory almost similar to asking your classmate what the correct answer to a question on your exam is.  The main reason I asked is because I wanted to know if he is practicing what he is saying.  To me, more than the information that he shares, it’s the integrity he exudes that really matters.  When he shared what he personally invests in without hesitation, I knew he was someone who really walks his talk.

Business is about relationships

The second speaker was actually the owner of CitisecOnline. His name is Edward Lee.  Actually, I already saw him in one of Bo Sanchez’s videos for Truly Rich Club.  When I spoke to Bo during one of the coffer breaks, I said it was kind of surreal to be able to actually see some of the guys in person, where before we only saw them from the DVDs that we received as a member of Truly Rich Club.

Edward Lee has a very long track record of business success and he shared with us some of the key things he learned as an entrepreneur.  What struck me was that here was a man who’s very successful and wealthy.  But when he speaks, you can see the integrity and passion in his voice.  He’s really excited in sharing the lessons that he learned, occasionally sharing  some personal stories from which he derived most of his business success.

One very important thing I learned from him is that – business is all about relationships.  It’s building relationships with your people, your customers, and your suppliers.  As Bo mentioned later, “you buy from your friend”.  Upon reflection, I realized that “yes, I am like everyone else, I really buy from my friends.”  When I want to know something, I ask my friends.  When there’s something I want to buy, I try to find out who from my friends are into that business.

I realized we are just one piece of a big puzzle.  We do our share.  When we buy from our friends, what we’re really doing is sharing what we have to the world.  It’s the same thing when we sell.  Because we address a problem that our friends are facing, we’re making their life a little bit easier.

Business is about Integrity

The second thing I learned from Edward is that it’s very important to be very trustworthy and keep your word.  Even if it losses you money.  Even if it costs an arm or a leg.  This is a core value that rings very close to my heart.   I like to deal with those I trust.  I realized that when I don’t really believe in something, I hesitate to share it to my friends.  I am a silent man, but when I share, I want to make sure it is something my friends will benefit.  More than the money, it’s because they are my friends.  Friends look out for each other.  We want the best for them. Isn’t it great to give and be able to share something valuable with your friends?

Real Estate

The third speaker was Larry Gamboa, the author of Think Rich Pinoy.  He shared about the idea of franchising in the world of real estate.  Perhaps because it was something new and still in its infancy, I had a hard time following where the talk was going.  I guess because it is something that was still in the works, it was also hard for him to explain.  What I appreciated about him is that he realizes what people are going through.   He recommends learning while also earning at the same time to shorten the gap between dreaming and execution.

Internet Marketing part 1

Bo also shared some tips on internet marketing.  He mentioned that Kerygmafamily.com is making money through donations, all through the power of the internet and marketing. The website is actually making lots of money from those donations which all goes to the many programs that Bo is organizing to help those in need like the Anawim – a place for abandoned elderly, or the charity that aims to help pregnant women.  This is a very good example of showing that the ultimate purpose of money is to help and love other people.

This is only day 1 but there were already so many things I’ve learned. Watch out for the part 2 of this blog post where I’ll share personal insights I’ve learned from day 2 of the Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program.

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
Money Mindset Personal Finance Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Financial Seminar (Part 1 – Money and Religion)

Last weekend, my wife and I went to attend Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Seminar.  It was an amazing experience meeting Bo face to face.  Bo Sanchez is a preacher who talks about money.  You can learn more about his Truly Rich Seminar here.

Looking at Bo’s eyes, It seemed like he was tired the night before.  But what amazed me was how he still managed to give himself, share stories, make people laugh and more importantly, reconcile faith in God and money.  I learned a lot during the seminar and I wanted to share some of those things to you.  This is part 1 (Money and Religion) of the series of posts in the coming weeks.

Money and Religion

One thing that amazed me was how Bo reconciled the mindset of religion and the seemingly evil world of money.  As the famous verse (Mark 10:25) in the bible says,

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Watching a camel go through the hole of a needle is literally impossible.  And if this is easier than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, then there is really NO WAY for a rich man to be holy and go to heaven!  That would be like asking what’s more impossible than impossible?  Who then would want to be rich?! 🙂

Looking at the same verse on its true context, according to Bo, the same expression “the eye of a needle” was actually an idiomatic expression by the Jews during the time of Jesus.  When the words “the eye of a needle” was spoken some 2000++ years ago, every one KNEW what it meant.  It meant only one thing — “the door to the house of the camel”, which was both very low, and very tiny.  For a rich man’s camel to enter the door, the rich man and his camel have to do two things: 1) the merchant must bring down all baggage that the camel is carrying, then 2) the camel has to stoop down to enter through the tiny door.  This symbolizes the act of surrendering everything to God, recognizing that everything comes from him, and most importantly, to stoop down, being humble to recognize that there is a more powerful force in this world, that is God.

If that’s the case, then I still have a fighting chance to go to heaven! I can be at peace being rich and holy at the same time.  Now that’s something! 🙂

If you’re based outside the Philippines and unable to attend the Truly Rich seminar, you can Join the Truly Rich Club!

Join the Truly Rich Club