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.”

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.

Financial Levels During Retirement Period

There are 4 financial levels during our retirement period. These are (1) Financial Misery, (2) Financial Security, (3) Financial Freedom and last but definitely not the least (4) Financial Abundance.

It’s a fact that one of these four financial levels will be our ‘personal financial level’. So what do you think will be yours? Before assuming what financial level will be yours during your retirement period, let me first briefly expound each levels.

Financial Misery is the simplest level. This is the level where you don’t have any money to provide for your basic needs. We achieve this by doing nothing NOW. I bet you US$1 Million that you’ll have this level on your retirement period by doing nothing today. You either just die because of the lack of money or suffer the humiliation of begging to your loved ones or worse other people just to survive. This is the hardest level but the easiest to achieve.

Financial Security is where you have enough money to provide for your basic needs. There are a lot of ways to achieve this. But to surely achieve this, you need to invest in investment vehicles that gives you an average return for your investment. Examples are Insurance Products, Index Funds, Mutual Funds, etc. A little bit of know-how about the investing is needed in order to achieve this financial level.

Financial Freedom is where you have enough money to live the lifestyle of your dreams. Again, just like the above level, there are a lot of ways to achieve this. But the surest way to achieve it is to invest in investment vehicles that gives an above average return for your investment. A deeper knowledge about business and investing is required in order to achieve this level.

Financial Abundance is where you have almost unlimited supply of money. Not only can you live the lifestyle of your dream but you could also touch the lives of as many people as you want. You’ll be able to make a positive difference in the world by using your money in helping other people. In order to achieve this, you need to have the highest return on your investment. A lot of know-how about business and investing is needed in order to achieve this financial level. This is the hardest level to achieve but definitely the most rewarding financial level.

There you have it, the four financial levels during our retirement period. So which level would you like to have? It’s up to you! Just remember that whatever you do today, will definitely be your life tomorrow. So, if you just do nothing today, don’t expect to become financially abundant in the future…

I have found another millionaire idol!

I remember the first day my mind was opened with the possibility of becoming rich, it was in a network marketing seminar (I was 17 years old back then). Ever since that day I’ve dreamt of becoming rich because I want to experience doing the things I love to do together with my loved ones. Though I haven’t become rich yet, I’m thankful for the knowledge and experiences I gained in my years of being a ‘networker’.

I started to have a millionaire idol when I read the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki. After that, I never stopped reading other books about business, investing, finance, motivational, self-help, etc. Because of this, I’ve known and idolize (in a sane way) the rich people such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, Steve Jobs, Henry Sy, John Gokongwei, Lucio Tan, Tony Tan Caktiong, Ben Chan, Dado Banatao, etc.

And now I’ve known yet another inspiring rich person. A self-made millionaire at the age of 26. Whew!!! Back when I was 17 years old, that was my dream. But this guy, he achieved it at the age when I want to be a millionaire (we differed in strategy, and it’s obvious that his strategy is far better than mine, that’s why he’s now one of my idols). We are not talking about PhP1 Million. We are talking about US$1 Million (which is equivalent to almost PhP50 Million). So let’s cut the long story short… He is Adam Khoo and he is a Singaporean Multi-Millionaire. To know more about him, you could visit his blogsite at www.adam-khoo.com.