Personal Status Report: Real Estate Investing

My interest in real estate started with the teachings of Robert Kiyosaki in his books. My desire to become a real estate investor grew bigger and bigger since then.

Then came the book of a Filipino residing here in the Philippines who applied the teachings of Robert Kiyosaki. The name of the Filipino is Larry Gamboa who wrote the book “Think Rich, Pinoy!” and “Grow Rich, Pinoy!”. He invests in Real Estate and concentrate in Foreclosed Properties.

His teachings in “Think Rich, Pinoy!” is so detailed that I was interested in copying what he did for himself. But the only hindrance I encountered was the “initial capital” for the downpayment, renovations, and marketing. With this, I proposed for a real estate investment team in one of the online forums where I’m a member. It was not an easy road. Getting partners was not easy. I received a lot of negative replies with my proposal. I actually gave up…

But one person’s post in the forum re-energized my desire to create the team. To make the long story short, we now started the team. That’s our current progress! Within this week we’ll be going to “window shop” for properties while waiting for more teammates.

Our virtual meeting place is located at www.z4.invisionfree.com/pinoymoneymakers.

The impact of saving EARLY and CONSISTENTLY!

Below is a very good article written by my new idol – Adam Khoo (The original post could be seen at www.secretsofself-mademillionaires.com). See how easy it is to become financially secure… For Filipinos residing in the Philippines, just change the US Dollar sign into a Philippine Peso sign for easy reference.

“If you think about, many people will make over a million dollars in
their lifetime! If you were to earn an average income of $3,000 a
month ($36,000 a year) over 40 years (age 25-65), then you would
have a total of $1.44 million ($36,000 x 40 years) flow through
your hands.

If you were like most people who spend all they earn, you will end
up after 40 years with almost nothing. But what if you were to just
save 10% of that income every month and invest it in stocks and
mutual funds that earn you a 15% return a year and let your money
compound? How much would you have after 40 years?

Using a financial calculator, you can easily compute that you would
have accumulated $6.914 million! What? Is that right? Is there
something wrong with my calculator? No! Through the power of
compounding, saving just $300 a month accumulates to over $6
million in 40 years! That is the power of consistent saving and
investing.

Most people feel that they do not have enough income to invest so
they procrastinate by saying, ‘I will start when I earn more!’
Trust me, this is impossible. If you cannot save ten cents out of a
dollar, you will not save $100,000 out of a million. If you cannot
start with a small income, forget it when you have a bigger income.
Remember that if you do not start the habit of saving and
investing, you will end up with a lot more expenses when you earn
more.

Stop procrastinating! Start right away! Every day you delay is
costing you hundreds of thousands of lost dollars in your future.
Let’s look at the impact of procrastination….

If you were to save $300 a month for 25 years at a 15% annual
return, you will have $826,968 in the end

If you were to start just one year later and save $300 a month for
24 years at the same 15% return, you will end up with $715,723.
That’s $111,245 less! In other words, waiting one year will cost
you $111,245 in future dollars. This is equivalent to losing
$304.78 ($111,245 divided by 365 days) of future wealth every
single day you procrastinate! Can you afford to do that?

So get ready to start increasing your monthly savings right away!”

Amazing isn’t it? Do you see the impact of saving early and consistently for as long as possible? That’s how simple to become financially secure or sometimes to be financially free or abundant.

With that, I leave you with this statement: “It’s not how much you make that counts, it’s how much you save and how much it grows via investing.”

Why are some people happy throwing mud at other people?

I don’t know what is the intention of this &^%&*#@ person in Entrepreneur Philippines Forum for replying in an insulting manner in one of my threads on that forum. His/her reply to my thread was completely irrelevant to the topic I started. What pisses me more is… this person called me Mr. Team1 – which is obviously not my name.

This entrepreneur (or so he/she thought he/she is) might have come across with me when I was still connected with Team1 Alliance Corporation. This company is a network marketing company that is on the brink of closure because of pyramiding charges. I don’t deny being connected with this company. I know from the start that this company “might” face a pyramiding case. As a matter of fact, I tried to warn the management of the company about this issue for I have learned about pyramiding issues from my previous networking companies. But the management didn’t listen. That’s why I quit the company.

Now, what makes me smile and mad at the same time, is the reply of this person in one of my threads. What is the connection of me being an ex-Team1 affiliate and with my thread? See it for yourself – click this!

I sure hope that he/she has a good intention not just for me but for other forumers as well in his/her reply to my thread. Because honestly… What he/she did is “unprofessionalism”. And unprofessionalism is a very bad trait… It’s not an entrepreneur’s trait (or should I say, a “real entrepreneur’s” trait) and should not be duplicated by other novice entrepreneurs.

How important is money?

Is money really important? To some people I know, they say that money is not everything. Is it? Let’s do a simple exercise to find out if money really isn’t everything and to know how important money is. Please answer the questions below with all honesty:

Do you love yourself?

Do you love your loved-ones?

Do you eat? Do you drink? Do you sleep? Do you wear clothes?

Does your loved-ones eat? Drink? Sleep? Wear clothes?

Do you use gasoline in your car or do you ride public utility vehicles (PUV’s) on your way to work?

Does your loved ones use gasoline or ride PUV’s on their way to school or work?

Do you need electricity and water in your house?

Do you entertain yourself (e.i. watching movies, socialize, buy latest gadgets, etc.)?

Does your loved-ones entertain theirselves?

Do you use a telecommunication device (e.i. telephone, cellular phone, internet, etc.)?

Does your loved-ones use a telecommunication device?

Do you go to a doctor when you’re sick or to have a routine check-up?

Does your loved-ones go to a doctor?

Do you help people in need?

What was your answers in the above questions (these are just “some” questions)? If you answered it with all honesty, you could have answered everything with a big YES (except for the last question, if you don’t prefer to help other people).

So, is money everything? Is it important? I think you know the answer.

While it is true that money can’t buy you happiness, per se. But it can certainly buy you things that could make you and your loved-ones happy. Whether you admit it or not, money is everything, especially in this era. Your love alone will not suffice in bringing up your family. Your love won’t be able to buy food on the table, but your money can. And you use your money to buy food on the table because you love your family. So therefore, money is everything. Money is an important tool in making our family alive and happy.

When are you going to die? A sarcastic question, but important!

Last night after my live-in partner and I went to Glorietta (a famous mall in Manila, Philippines) to meet my father, we went to a clinic because my wife wasn’t feeling that well – since morning, actually. After some tests, the doctor said it’s possible that my wife has a diabetes. The doctor said he will still conduct another test the next morning to further justify his conclusion. Though I question the procedure that the doctor performed.

Anyway, the doctor gave a prescription for my wife’s muscle pain and viral infection. So we drove to the nearby drugstore and I bought the medicines. When I got back in our car my wife is crying. She is crying because of the end results of people having diabetes. Well, it is indeed a painful, hard, and deadly disease. So, she was crying because she think she’s going to die, and that made me cry too because I feel that pain of being away with her forever.

When we were home, and about to sleep, her temperature rose so high that I decided to bring her to the hospital for a “second opinion”. After hours of agony, waiting for the result, we later found out that she only has a Flu and there is no sign of diabetes (for now). What a relief!! We felt happy of course, knowing that it’s not diabetes. Though she has a tendency (and so do I), but at least it’s not yet there. Meaning, there’s still a big chance to prevent it.

Now, what is the moral of the story? We never know when we’ll die. All the while we thought that it’s the start of her agony towards the inevitable. Since we don’t know when we will die, it’s very important to work smarter for the future (not just for retirement, but also in case someone gets sick or dies, it will entail a lot of money) and at the same time to cherish every moment possible with your loved ones.

So, while we still can… Work smart for money for your future and for unforeseen events (like the false alarm that we just experienced) and cherish every moment with your loved ones. This experience made me realize that we do need to have lot’s and lot’s of money, have a proper eating diet; exercise; and sleep, and be with my loved ones.

Personal Status Report: Stock Investing

I have the basic knowledge about stocks. I know that this is one investment vehicle that I would like to master (and I also like to master Real Estate and Gold, among many others of course).

So what is my status on stocks? Well, I’ve read books about it. Basically I know why I need to know more about stocks, how to spot a good business to invest in to, etc. Now, I just have to attend a seminar on HOW to invest on the stock market (individual stocks, index funds/ETF’s, and mutual funds) both here in the Philippines and abroad (USA and other countries) – the procedures from opening an account, buying, and selling.

After this, I’ll be practicing what I’ve learned by personally plunging myself on the water of stock investing. As I’ve said in my previous post, knowledge is worthless if you don’t practice it. So, after I learned how, then I’ll immediately practice it. I’ll be calling the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to ask for the free seminars about stock investing.

Stay tuned for my progress… Hmmm, this blogsite might be my “meter stick” of financial success not just in stock investing but for my whole financial being.

Read, read, and read! And then what?!?

When I was in highschool, reading was never my hobby… Not until the latter part of my life. But I don’t normally read to be entertained. I read to gain knowledge.

I have read countless materials about business, investing, self-help, motivation, inspirational, etc. I’ve read the books of Kiyosaki, King, Covey, Gamboa, Khoo, Trump, among others.

I have seen people who are fond of reading the same books I have read, but the question is what happens after reading it? What do they do after reading? Majority of them just talk, talk, talk… I have seen in forums how knowledgable people are about a certain subject. But if you try to see if they are a practitioner of their preachings, sadly they are not. A person could have ALL the knowledge in the world but it will still be worthless. How? IF IT IS NOT PRACTICED.

So basically, it doesn’t matter how many books you’ve read. What matter is how many times you practiced the knowledge you gained in the book.

So, after you read, read, read… You have to plan, plan, plan… And then you practice, practice, practice!! This applies especially in books about business and investing. Of course, you wouldn’t practice the spells written in the book ‘Harry Potter’. Please, don’t use the “Expeliarmus” spell on me guys!!!