Start Early and Be a Billionaire through the Stock Market

Finally, I was able to open a CitisecOnline account for my 3 year old daughter. I was able to buy few company stocks from her savings.

Her savings account was opened few months after her baptism. We put all the money gifts given to her in that savings account including the money we got from selling her old stuffs.

I know you have a lot of questions in your mind. Let me answer them now.

Why invest rather than keep it in the bank?

• Saving in a bank is good for accumulation only but not for appreciation due to very minimal interest that it offers.
• Bank offers a guaranteed interest of 0.5% to 3% p.a. only
• Stock Market doesn't offer any guaranteed interest but money growth is averaging at 10% p.a.
• To generate future purchasing power and keep ahead of inflation which is averaging at 7%.
• My daughter will not be needing the money in the years to come.

Why in Stock Market?

• History has proven that investing in stocks over the long term provides greater returns and protection against inflation compared to other investment vehicles.
• Better gain if done correctly. Investing rather than trading.
• More Control on what company to buy rather than getting a Mutual Funds which are also investing in the stock market.
• Lesser commission charges. Commission is only charged upon buying and selling of stocks. Whereas in the Mutual Funds or other Managed funds, you were charged a certain management fee every year or every month depending on the Company.
• You own a Business without the headache. You share with their success but also share with their losses (Stock Value).
• Aside from the expected gain (capital appreciation), some companies give DIVIDENDS. This is a tiny part of the company's profit.

My husband and I agreed not to get an educational plan for my daughter due to the recent troubles encountered by the customers of Pre-need Companies. According to some report, about 29 other pre-need companies may end up like Prudential Plans Inc. We have already created a plan on how to maximize our investments to cater for both our retirement and educational plan of our daughter. With our computation, we can get her tuition fee from the earnings of her stock investments. Our plan is to invest every month on our daughters account. If in the future, we can manage not to touch our daughter's investment for her tuition fees, she will end up a multimillionaire. And if she continue investing in her account once she is already capable, she will be a billionaire at age 70. That is if she will not increase the amount that we are previously putting in her account. In case she will, she will be a billionaire earlier than 70 years old.

So far, this is our plan. Let's accumulate wealth and be a Blessing to Many!

To our Financial Freedom! Cheers!

PS: 
If you have other questions, please leave a comment and I will try to answer you to the best of my ability.

Feast PICC Talk Series: Talk 2 - Income vs. Wealth 021912

I am sharing to you again what I have noted on  "The Feast OVERFLOW Series Talk 2. If you were not able to read Talk1, check it here.

Bro Bo. started the talk with a short story about the ANAWIM. It is one of his foundations which  is a home for the aged people that provide senior care and home for the less fortunate. This serve as a nursing home for the abandoned elderly plus a few orphans and physically and mentally handicapped persons. He said that many of the visitors were awed by the beauty and peacefulness of the place. Many of them wished to be a resident of it. But Bo told them that for goodness sake, don't wish to be a burden to the foundation but a DONOR even at old age.

His main message is that "We need to CREATE WEALTH for our OLD AGE".

There are Three (3) Steps to Create Wealth namely:
1. RECEIVE - have a regular income (active or passive)
2. RETAIN - have a simple lifestyle
3. REPRODUCE - multiply what God has given to you


RECEIVE
We need to have a "STEADY INCOME" / Positive Cashflow. The Goal is to have BIG WEALTH and making Jesus the Master of our Finances.



RETAIN
Bro. Bo mentioned one of the statements we normally hear "Money does not buy Happiness". Yes it is true. But he also said that " We need a minimum amount of money to make us happy". We need some money to put food in our stomach, to go from one place to another, to travel and bond with our family or relatives, to pay for our utilities. etc He also said that Happiness is not always directly proportional to Possession. There would come a point in our life that the more possessions we have, the lesser happy we become.

Some of the reasons why possessions can lessen our happiness are: more worries, more stress, more concerns and more maintenance cost.

He also pointed out that INCOME is "NOT EQUAL" to WEALTH. No matter how big or small our income is, if we don't live a simple life, we will end up broke in our old age. The key to becoming wealthy even with low income is by living simply. We should not give in to materialism but to simplicity.

We should also practice DELAYED GRATIFICATION to build wealth overtime. Don't be an impulsive buyer especially if you'll be buying using your credit card.

 "If you keep on BUYING things you DON'T NEED, you'll end up SELLING the things you NEED."

The advantage of delaying our gratification is that by the time we have the money to spend, sometimes we'll find out that we don't want it anymore. We can also feel a deeper joy, once we have finally bought that thing we were only dreaming of before.


REPRODUCE
Retaining our wealth is not enough. Same thing with saving our money for long term in a bank. It is like a recipe of poverty because of the risk discussed below.


Two (2) Kinds of Risks
1. Lost of Capital - This happen when a business fall.
2. Lost of Value - This is what happens to the money that is kept in our bank account.

It is okay to put our Emergency Fund in the bank for liquidity but not the money intended for our Long Term Goal. The thing  that cause LOSS of VALUE is Inflation. I can discuss this thing on my next blog posts. But I can give an example of the the effect of inflation. When I was in grade school I can go to school with only 5 pesos because the fare is only 3pesos 2-way. Today, my 5 pesos, can't bring me anywhere because the minimum fare is already 8 pesos.

Bro. Bo said, that to reproduce our wealth, we need to invest.

There are 3 BEST PLACES to INVEST our MONEY namely:

1. Paper Assets - Stock Market
2. Business
3. Real Estate

Among the three, the STOCK MARKET is the easiest, safest , most effective way of building your wealth for your old age. He even compared the population percentage of the investing public in other countries (USA = 70%, China = 60%, Philippines > 1%). Only few people are invested in the Philippine Stock Market because of the negative things we heard from the people who lost or losing in the stock market. But if we only know how to maximize the ways of earning in the stock market, we will never get lost. And can become part of the 15% will are making money in the stock market.

Two Ways of Entering the Stock Market
1. Indirectly - Equity Fund, Mutual Funds (Equity)
2. Directly - get a stock broker like Citiseconline.com.

We will never fear investing in the stock market if we only know the WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE, WHO and HOW. We NEED TO LEARN and invest in Financial Education.

If you want to learn the more on the stock Market, you can join his next seminar:

WHAT: How To Make Millions In The Stock Market  “Live” Seminar 

WHEN: March 17, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: Mandaluyong CitySEMINAR FEE:  Php 497

I am also a STOCK Market Investor and I have been following Bo's advise to his Truly Rich Club Members. Investing in the stock market for two years already shows an average of 10% per year gain. We can't get this gain if we will just keep our money in our bank accounts. I can truly say that it is one of the great investment vehicles we have in the world.

To summarize, Bro. Bo uses a SIMPLE MAGIC FORMULA for Building Wealth. It is the 10/20/70 rule.

• 10% of your income is a Tithe or Love Offering to God
• 20% of your income is Invested into Paper Assets, Business or Real Estate
• 70% of your income is spent on your daily expenses.

As our income increases, we can adjust the formula to 20/30/50 or even more.

Our prayer is that God will bless us financially  and make us rich that we can bless more people around us.

May all our Dreams Come True!

Note:
Anawim (pronounced ann-a-weem) is a Hebrew word from the Old Testament which describes the “poor ones” who remained faithful to God in times of difficulty. These humble people became known as theanawim or the “faithful remnant.”

STOCK Update: Don't Listen to the Noise

Being a member of the TRULY RICH CLUB, we got to get monthly Stock Updates from Bro. Bo Sanchez and his Stock Market Mentors. Aside from this, we are also able to receive Stock Alerts from time to time depending on market condition. These updates and alerts were very useful for us who are following his advises. We were able to realize a pretty gain on our investments for the past 2 years.

I would just like to share with you an excerpt from the Stock Update that we received yesterday.

“Don’t Listen to the Noise”

The difference between a successful stock investor and an unsuccessful stock investor is this: The unsuccessful stock investor is preoccupied with the market—its ups and its downs. The successful stock investor is focused on fantastic companies.


Warren Buffett, the greatest stock market investor in the world, said that if they closed the stock market for five years, it wouldn’t bother him. Why? Because the ups and downs of the market is noise to him. He doesn’t care about it. He invests in growing businesses, period. Not the stock market.

The key? To invest each month in fantastic stocks.

That’s why Warren Buffett’s investment horizon is 10 years to forever.

For example, when CEB, EDC, and FPH dropped almost 10 percent, that was noise. Peter Lynch, another legendary stock market guru,said: “The key to getting rich in stocks is not getting scared out of them.”

Out of the 10 companies we’re recommending, some companies are like eagles flying high today, such as ALI, MBT, BPI, NIKL. (We predict they’ll go higher.)

Some companies are horses that are galloping nicely, like CEB and SMPH.

Some companies are turtles crawling in the mud, like JGS, AP, EDC, and FPH. We believe that they’ll have their day to shine. We just don’t know when.

But all that is noise. They’re eagles, horses, and turtles now. In the future, they might be exchanging places.

So if you have the money, invest in all of them. Or buy five this month and buy the other five next month.

If your investible funds each month are smaller, then buy two or three different companies each month.

Which should you buy now?

If you’ve been doing SAM for some time, I suggest you buy some or all of our new recommended

companies: BPI, NIKL, JGS, and SMPH.

My other suggestion? Block out the noise.

Remember: Becoming wealthy is simpler than you think.

Happy investing!

May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

We already bought stocks from the Initial List of Bro. Bo's recommended companies. We haven't bought all the new addition to the list but we are planning to buy some soon. So far we are happy with our stock investments. The image on this side will show you how is it growing. We have one stock that is at a loss (on paper) but we don't listen to noise and thus we are not bothered. We just keep on investing because TODAY is the RIGHT TIME to SOW.

May this bless and convince you to invest in the stock market and be part of the 15% who will make money in the stock market.


Enjoy your Journey to Financial Freedom!!!



PS:
Should you have any question on this post or on stock market investing, please leave a comment or contact me here.

Feast PICC Talk Series: BONUS Talk on Entrepreneurship by Dean Pax Lapid

There was a bonus talk on the OVERFLOW Series about Entrepreneurship. There were a lot of things that we learned and I am sharing them to you. See details below:

Date: February 12,2012
Topic: Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
Speaker: Dean 'Pax' Lapid
Co-Author of "Go Negosyo 21 Steps on How to Start your Own Business"

Luke 6: 48
"He is like a man who built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock."

Three (3) Points from this Bible Verse

1. Build a House - Create Wealth

2. Dig Dip - Work for it

3. Solid Foundation 

"Learning is Effective if enjoyable".

1st Part of the Secrets 
(Most Important)

T - Talent and Time

R - Recognize the moment of Opportunity

U - Understanding the Business Logic

L - Luck is both Preparedness and Opportunity

Y - Why buy from me

T

Talent and Time

We have an overflowing gifts of time and talent that we only need to tap and recognize. Take the example of a Huge elephant being overpowered by little people because they were chained when they were young and when they grew bigger they thought that the rope tied on their feet would also not let them go away. 

R

Recognize the moment of Opportunity

Most of us are guilty of Laziness in mind and action.

**Success Formula of the Masters (3D)**

• Direction (Goals + Actions)
• Determination (Passion and PErseverance)
• Destiny (Success of Life's Dream/Business)

Find your True North

-Julies Bakeshop was created @ her Senior years

- KFC was born when Sanders was already 70 years old

Need to change Mindset

- Success is a function of Good Judgement 

Dream Big. Start Small

U

Understanding the Business Logic

Probing

Who, What, Why, How, Where and When

L

L - Luck is both Preparedness and Opportunity

is the offspring of preparedness and opportunity

Why can't we take advantage of opportunity? Fear of Failure

If you want bigger INCOME, you must COME IN.

Balance Time, Talent and Treasure. Most important is TALENT

Y

Y - Why buy from me

It is "not" the Price.

A business idea is only a successful business if it has to do with "ER" factor.

ex. bigger, faster, nicer except cheaper unless you are the manufacturer.

In Summary (PINAY):

PI -liin ang Hilig or Gusto (Personal Preference)

NA - aral (Education) / gawa (Experience) / galing (Expertise)

Y - why buy from me (Customer Solution)

2nd Part of the Secrets 
(Important to Sustain the Business)

R = Regular Customers

I = Invest in Relationships across the Business (Client, Partners and Employees)

C = Cashflow should be positive (Basic Finance). "Don't plan for BREAKEVEN because you will be BROKEN".

H = His (God) will/plan be done.

He concluded" "Whatever we endeavor, God should always be part of the Equation".

It was a short talk but very comprehensive. The way the topics were delivered is very light and easy to comprehend. I believe many were blessed and changed after the talk. I then also invite you to join us next Sunday in PICC for TALK 2 (Income vs. Wealth) and be blessed! See you there!

May All Our Dreams Come True. :)

Feast PICC Talk Series: Talk 1 - Salary vs. Profit 020512

I just want to share the important things that Bo Sanchez pointed out during his talk in the PICC Feast. For this month of February, we have "OVERFLOW" Series. Talk 1 started last February 05,2012 and below are the things I have noted.

There are many ways to create wealth but the best is to "Answer God's Call for Your Life". It is the easiest and natural way.


There are Two Blocks that Prevent Overflow in our Life

1. Wrong thinking 

• Believe that business is service. 
• Profit is good/sacred. It is encouraged  (Matthew 25: 25-26)

2. Wrong Strategy

• We tend to move away from our core gift. We compare ourselves with others.
• Focus on our strength/gift and learn how to monetize it.

Things to Do

1. Risk your Gold

• We don't know our gift because we don't experiment because we are afraid of rejections
• Take Risk. Experiment.
• Fail Quickly and Try Again
• Don't bury your Gift. Use it. Share it.

2. Reproduce your Gold

• If we don't use our gift, we will lose it. But if we use it, we reproduce it.
• Expand, double, Multiple
• Look for mentors
• Attend Seminars
• Read Books

3. Return the Gold 

• Give to God the "Principal + Interest"
• We're just caretakers. 
• Always ask God on how he wants us to use his wealth entrusted to us.

"Just Serve. The universe will find a way to repay you."

By the way, the talk is about Salary vs. Income because we can be an Employee or an Entrepreneur but at the end of the day, we are will be waiting for income. We can receive the salary and profit that we want if we will be following the things that Bro. Bo shared to us

These are just simple steps but most of us don't know or ignore it. However, if we will really think about it and look at the successful people around us, we will learn that their secrets are not really secrets. We just fail to recognize and see what they see.

Let us pray that our eyes and ears be opened to what God wants us to do. May we become obedient and faithful servants. In Jesus Name. Amen.


Note:
The Feast is a Catholic Weekly Prayer Meeting of the Light of Jesus (LOJ) Family founded by Catholic lay preacher and author Bo Sanchez. It is commonly known as the " Happiest Place on Earth. For schedule and location of Feast near you, please contact: 725-9999.

Parents are Responsible for their Children

As I was reading the Bible this morning, this verse caught my attention.

2 Corinthians 12: 14-15
 "Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?"

My reflection on this is we, parents, are responsible for the needs of our children. We need to provide their needs and not oblige them to provide for us when we are old. We need to prepare everything for our retirement so as not to burden them. Because by the time we are old, they will be responsible for their own children.

Book Review: Ang Pera na Hindi Bitin by Eduardo O. Roberto, Jr.

I first heard about this book from the TRP Mastery Academy that I attended to last February 1 and 2. Sir Larry Gamboa used this book as an example of how to target your audience. I got curious about the book but I forgot about it after the seminar.

However, last Friday after a meeting and while waiting for my husband, I decided to go inside National Bookstore. I was trying to look for a book on Warren Buffet when I saw this book on the "Bestseller" Section. I remembered that it was the book that Sir Larry mentioned during our seminar. I didn't think twice of buying it and even got surprised seeing that it is only Php50.

I started reading it the night I bought it and finished the day after. It was a great book from cover to cover. The author was very effective of referencing Bible verses on his every topic. The way the author discussed each strategy on money management was simple and can easily be grasped by ordinary people.

These strategies are:

1. Save – Use the “Automatic Millionaire” savings system. This blog post might also help explain it. He also made this quote:

"Ang taong ipon ng ipon, pera nya'y di lilipad na parang ibon."

This is true because the basic and first step to financial freedom is the art of "Saving".

2. Give – Give to the Lord. He doesn’t need our Money. We have a “Rich and Generous Dad”. But He wants us to do this to help us. The more we empty ourselves, the more blessings he can pour unto us.

3. Get out of Debt and Stop Borrowing – The Borrower is a Slave of the Lender. Set a goal of getting out of debt and never borrow again.

4. Live Simply – Living a simple life can help you get out of debt and help you to save more.  It pays to be frugal. And always remember to “PRAY before you PAY". He discussed in the book why we need to do so.

5. Work Hard and be an Entrepreneur – Develop and Monetize our God given talents.

6. Invest – The best to secure your future is through investments. But he noted that we need to “INVESTigate Before we INVEST. Don’t fall for the “Get Rich Quick” schemes. You can check mutual funds, the stock market, etc.

7. Educate Yourself – Invest in yourself. Attend seminars, read books, etc. “If you think Financial Intelligence is Expensive, TRY Ignorance”.

These strategies when followed will indeed be a very effective way of making our PISO not to be BITIN.

The book is short yet comprehensive, simple and straight to the point which will never bore the readers. The comic illustrations were also effective on bringing humor to the strategies recommended. It was also written  in “Taglish” which made it successful in delivering his message to his target readers.

Another thing I liked about the book was the page where it listed down their Book Recommendations. Some of them I have already read but most will be on my "To Read" List.

In Summary:

Price: Check

Content: Check

Recommended: Super Checck

The Philippines is On the Verge of a Major Economic Boom

This is according to the special report published by Wealth Daily. They said that the Philippines booming economy has greater investment potential than China 10 years ago and it is currently on the Sweet Spot, take off stage or the critical point where fortunes can and will be made.

Also, according to them, the Philippines got what it need for this boom to really escalate: natural resources and solid relationship with foreign companies wanting to mine.

This is good news for all of us Filipinos. This means that there's still hope for the Philippines. It may not take some time but we are going there. We just need to be patient and do our best to be part of this development. We can contribute in our own little way. We can start by these "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country by Alex "Pinoy" Lacson".

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.

2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.

3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy local. Buy Filipino.

4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country.

5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.

6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.

7. Support your church.

8. During elections, do your solemn duty.

9. Pay your employees well.

10. Pay your taxes.

11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.

12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.


PS:
Today is the right Time. Invest in the Philippines through the Stock Market or other investment vehicles. But I am biased to Stock Market. I'll discuss why on my next posts. >;p

New Pages on my Blog

When I revived this blog, I found this new feature of blogger of creating pages. I got excited and used it immediately.

The Pages I added were:

1. About Me .
This is the page where you will know more about me.

2. On Stock Market.
It lists the link where you can know more about the stock market and my recommended stock broker if you already want to start your investment in the stock market.

3. Wealth Seminars
This is the list of my Wealth Seminars that I am recommending you to attend. Most of them, I have already attended and have already given my reviews. While some are in my Target List.

4. Contact Me.
Leave your contact infos on this page as well as you questions and other concerns and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Hope you like the new look of my blog ;)

Boo-Boo # 1: Investment in LBC Bank

I blogged about this good investment find in 2008. It is about the Time Deposit offered by LBC bank. I did my research and was convinced to put some investment in this bank. Then, I forget about it.

However, Q4 of 2011, I learned about the closing of  LBC bank. Oh no!!! What have I done?! It was my first time and I didn't know what to do. I was also busy with other stuffs and forgot about it. I just decided to file my claim early this year as part of my new year's plan.

I realized, it was not that bad after all. My money still earned an interest of 16% for the 3 years it was with them. Thanks to PDIC, I still have a chance of recovering our Investment.


Lessons Learned:

1. Do your own due diligence in investing your hard earned money.
I did mine but I think it was not enough. ;)

2. Stay away with Mañana Habit. 
When a bank closes, file your claim as soon as possible to be included in the 1st release of claims. I was a month delayed in claiming. Depositors in my area was already able to claim their investment by the time I was only filing for mine.

3. Fail Quickly and Try Again.
My failure didn't stopped me. It just made me wiser. Actually, I am already excited to get my claim and invest it in the stock market. As per Bo Sanchez's  advise to the Truly Rich Club Members, "The Philippines Will be One of the Best Performing Stock Markets in the World". And I wanna be part of it. :)

Let's Keep Investing!!!

From DIwK to SIwK

Just to update my status based on this post, from DIwK (Double Income with Kid) we are now slightly SIwK (Single Income with Kid). I say "slightly" because I am still receiving an income. It is not a regular one but it is now based on commission.

Since when?
A year and a half ago.


Why?
Change of priorities and Passion.


Any Major Change in our Financials?
Not much. God is so gracious to us!

Overall Status?
We are still doing good in terms of investments and planning for the future. It is still a long Journey but I know we will get there by his grace and mercy. And I know I will see you all there. ;)

My PISO Dream and Journey Continues...

I haven't update this blog for quite a while. I don't have an intention of abandoning it but some things changed in my life which also changed the manner I update this blog. My personal struggles and stories will be shared in this blog soon. I know you can relate to my stories.

So what made me post again?! We'll I didn't realized I wanted to be an author until I meet this person who inspired me and made me realize that I have the skills in Stock Market Investing that I can hone and use to help other people. Thus, I am striving really hard to improve this skill.  Part of the plan is to regularly update this blog. It can by about the stock market, real estate, funds, interesting investment or  anything that we could relate to "PISO".

Join my in my Journey and let's enjoy the ride and learn from each other. ;)

Blessings!!! :)

To our Financial Freedom and Beyond!