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!

Think Rich Pinoy Wealth Seminar Review

As promised, this post will discuss the lessons I got from the Think Rich Pinoy Wealth Seminar.

There were a lot of speakers who shared valuable information. They were:

a. Larry Cleto from Philam
b. Larry Gamboa
c. Bo Sanchez
d. Ronald Cagape
e. Eden Dayrit
f. Victor Gamboa
g. Randy Manaloto
h. Jay McLean

LESSONS Learned from the SPEAKERs:

1. Proper Wealth Management: Accumulate, Preserve, Transfer
2. Financial Freedom is relative to lifestyle
3. Income is a source of Wealth.
4. There is WEALTH more than enough for everyone.
5. Wealth FACTOR: Discipline and Time.
6. Why Real estate investment is SAFE: Bank accepts Real Estate Properties as collateral compared to Stocks.
7. Going to PROMISE LAND:

• a. Phase1: Desert Experience
• b. Phase2: Desert with Manna Experience
• c. Phase3:Promise Land Experience

8. We need to allow our Kids to Experience desert
9. Three Steps to Enjoy Promised Land

• a. Depeat the Giants
• b. Work the Land
• c. Remember the Lessons of the Desert

10. Use Wealth to LOVE.
11. Be Ready for Failures.

12. Fail Quickly and Try Again.
13. If there's a Problem, Fix it! Don't wish that it will go away because it won't.
14. Pay attention to details.
15. Factors on Implementing Every RE Strategy

• a. Change your Mindset
• b. Pre-screen the location. Best if near were you live.
• c. Do Extreme Marketing
• d. Always Think of Positive Cashflow
• e. Build Relationship: buyer, seller, tenant, broker, lender, bank, supplier, lender, staff, colleagues, mentors, students.
• f. Leverage on Money, Time, People, Relationships, Skills, Personal Knowledge.
• g. Self- Improvement: Continuous Learning. Learn from Mistakes.
• h. Giving Back and Paying Forward. *** Always be grateful and SHARE your blessings!
  

16. FACEBOOK is one of the best channel to do your marketing.

• - let your contacts: Know, Like, Respect, Trust and Invest in You.

17. Real Estate Investors Problems

• - Nobody knows that they exist.
• - Nobody knows the VALUE they can Provide.

After the talks and lunch, we played CASH FLOW 101 for 2 hours. It was my 2nd time playing the board game. I was happy that i got out of the rat race after 1hour and the fast track after 25mins. I believe that I could have gotten out of the Fast Track earlier if I didn't act as a banker at the same time. By the way, I was the 3rd person who got out of the rat race and also placed 3rd getting out of fast track.

My tablemates while Playing

HOW did I get out of the RAT RACE:

1. Profession: Truck Driver

2. Strategy: Build CASH enough to cover my whole expenses if I will be downsized.

3. After accumulation enough cash, did small deals.
4. Bought a Property.
5. After buying the property, the player next to me stopped on the "MARKET" and got this CARD.
6. Immediately sold my Property.
7. On my next step to the opportunity track, I selected a BIG deal, I was blessed enough to find a very GOOD DEAL that moved me out of the RAT RACE.


HOW did I get out of the FAST TRACK:

1. I acquired business which gave me a cash flow equal to the requirement.


LESSONS Learned on my 2nd time Playing CASH FLOW 101:

1. Your occupation will not make you rich. It is your MINDSET and ACTIONS=STRATEGY.
2. Build Emergency Fund before Investing.
3. CASHFLOW remains king to get out of the RAT RACE and FAST TRACK.
4. Real Estate can either bring you CASH or CASHFLOW depending on how you deal with Deal.
5. Be open for opportunities.
6. Real Estate and Businesses are the sources of your CASHFLOW. The more you have, the better.
7. Get out of the Rat Race the soonest so you can help others.
- I played the role of the banker after getting out of the Rat Race and while playing on the FAST TRACK.
- I helped the other players on the issues they encounter while they are playing.
8. Get out of the FAST Track the soonest, to help more.
- I was able to answer more of my co-players questions after getting out of the track because I already stopped working "IN" my "BUSINESS".
- By that time, I have more time helping others.


After the game, there was a sharing of the things that we learned while playing. 4 people shared. It was a very nice experience.

What I like about the seminar:

1. It started with a PRAYER.
2. It has a mission of making 1(one) Million Millionaires by 2020.
3. There are a lot of inspirations that we got from the speakers.
4. The CASH Flow game is a worthwhile experience. It's addicting.
5. The free Book (TRP or TRQ ) they gave after answering the Survey Sheet.

*** I will definitely recommend this to my family and friends.

Lessons Learned from our Daughter's Hospitalization

Here are some our lessons we learned from our daughter's hospitalization. Some would sound simple and funny but they are still lessons learned that you can also learn from.

1. Trust your instinct.
Tuesday night before she was hospitalized. I noticed a different sound on her breathing. I asked hubby to text the pedia if we can give her antibiotic. The Pedia told us that she should see our baby 1st before she can give a prescription and also advised us of her clinic schedule for the Holiday. Hubby and I already filed an advance leave of absence for the coming Friday. Hubby said that we can bring our baby on that day. I suddenly felt that she must be brought to the pedia so she can take the proper medication as soon as possible. Upon seeing my baby and hearing her breathing, the pedia told hubby that she can't let them go home. They need to stay in the hospital. Our baby has Ashma. It's good that I trust my instinct of bring her to the hospital that day. It could have gone worse and our hospital bill could have been more!

2. A Credit Card can save a Day
Since it was a different kind of emergency and we are not fond of bringing a lot cash. Hubby used our credit card for the Hospital Downpayment. The transaction is much easier. Aside from that, we're able to use the charge slips for food freebies that we had for our meals.

3. Philheath Card is a Necessity.
Our Hospital bill could have been ~20K. Thanks to Philhealth! We only pay a little more half of the total bill. So if you are not yet a member, you better enroll now. You can be an individually paying member for only 100/month or 1,200/year. This is just a little amount compared to your peace of mind.

4. We can live without a TV for 5 days.
It sounded like a joke but it's true. We stayed in a semi-private room for 2 days and a private room for 3 days. All of these rooms have no TV. There were no other rooms available. It's still an advantage because our bill could have been more. Anyway, on these days w/o a TV, we became creative on how we entertain our 9th month baby. It was all fun!

5. Blessings come unexpectedly
We could have touched our EF. But we're blessed not to have to because a long time loaned money was paid. It was even a little more than the amount that we need to pay for the hospital bill that we charged to our credit card. Thanks to Him!

You might be curious why we pay for the hospital bill and we should have a health card. Actually, we have one but our trusted pedia is not accredited. It's okay anyway, her PF was pro bono.

We Feel it Now

Hubby and I are working in an American Semicon Company. We have 5 major sites.We have San Jose CA, Minnesota and Texas in the US. We have a plant in Cavite and an office in Taguig (The Fort) here in the Philippines.

We start to feel the US crisis last month. Lay-offs happened in Minnesota. Our Texas plant is shutting down - this is an old news but we know that somehow it will affect our stock price. The recent happening was last Friday. Lay-offs happened in our San Jose site. Approximately 50-100 people lose their jobs.

This worries us because whenever layoffs happened in our major sites, something will also happen in our Philippine sites. We normally have voluntary resignation. There were benefits given but it can't sustain a lifetime. To have a business or a regular source of income is still the best option. One thing that worries me is our EF which is still way behind our target. We're only at 17% so we need to tighen our belts more. We need to revisit our expense file and check how can we improve further. We just hope and pray that it would not happen here.

On Emergency Fund (EF)

I have read a lot about emergency fund. This is the money that would be readily available for you in case you lose in a business, lose a job or in any other cases of emergency. It should be as liquid as possible. Some say that EF should be equal to 12months of your monthly expenses/necessities. Others say 6 to 8 months would be good enough. It all depends on the kind of business or job you have and your capacity to find another source of income in times of trouble. Hope some of the infos below would be helpful.

Other things to consider in computing for your EF
- hospitalization should be included which is approximately 100K-200K
- should add about 10% to cover for inflation or price increases
- food expense should be doubled since you'll be spending most of your time at home
- Other utility bills like electricity and water consumption might increase as well.
- insurance premiums and other pre-need plans should be included.


Where to Keep it

1.Bank/Passbook w/o ATM
PROS: Short term vehicle, Easy Access
CONS: Interest is small.

2.Time Deposit (Preferably 30D only)
PROS: Interest is higher than Regular Savings Account
CONS: With charge if you withdraw prior the maturity date.

3. Mutual Fund/UITF
PROS: Potential higher return.
CONS: Not as safe as deposit accounts because it depends on market status. Liquidity - withdrawal takes 3-5 working days.

In summary, according to Sherwin, the key words would be liquidity, accessibility and safety because the objective of this fund is not for growth, but for emergencies. HTH. You can also share some thoughts here.

Q308 Performance Report

I was not able to review our 2008 Goals for quiet a long time. But Hubby and I are still religiously following our saving method that we've committed.

So far, so good. Below are the updates:
1. DONE. As per my update last February, we thought that this goal is not possible. But due to hard word and God's blessing. We are able to Zero-out out Pag-ibig loan. A small part of it came from our mid-year bonus. Majority of it came from our company. Thanks to them. We don't need to shed cash. Instead, we just need to serve them for 5years. In case, we resign, we just need to pay the balance of the loan they gave us w/o any interest.

2.DONE. Since February, we already increased our deduction twice. This is to save for the premium of our VULs, our 2009 family outing, tuition fee of my sister and to deposit part of the supposed to be M.A. of our completed housing loan.

3. DONE for both Philam and Sunlife. We got some plans from Philam but not yet on Sunlife. We don't think that we need to have 2 plans at this time.

4. Same update last february.

5. Some thing came up last Q1 until the 1st month of Q2. We're not able to save the 10% from our bonuses and salary. However, by mid of Q2, we're back on track. We just considered the previous month's savings a loss.

6. I was not able to update this blog but I religiously update my excel file of A & L.

In summary, we're in good shape. But the market is not. Also, we have new set of goals which are very specific and can't be published in this blog. Hope I'll be able to complete it as per the dates I've committed and planned. Created these micro goals last 9/4/09 and so far, already completed 3 items. Keeping our fingers cross that we'll be able to do all of them.

I have also discussed this report to hubby last night and he told me that we should have a new GOAL for 2009 and this is for our Emergency Fund. We are still far from the target. And we'll be creating a plan to complete it by the end of 2009. We'll just publish it once we've finalized it.