Money Summit and Wealth Expo Manila 2012

Do you want to understand the financial and property markets and how they operate? Do you want to understand the different finanacial and property instruments like stocks, bonds, money market, mutual funds, unit investment trust funds, variable life insurance, foreign exchange and a lot more? Do you want learn how you can use any or a combination of these instruments to make massive passive income?

If you answer yes to any of the questions above, then I strongly encourage you to attend the Money Summit and Wealth Expo Manila 2012 on July 20-21 at the SMX Convention Center.  This is the biggest money-making and investing conference in the Philippines, and now in its fourth run. This is an event, I personally believe you should not miss out, because this will help you in developing your money sense and improving your financial intelligence. Robert Kiyosaki himself mentioned in one of his books the importance of developing our financial intelligence to become rich.   

In October last year, I attended a Money Summit and Wealth Expo in Cebu which talked about different ways of making massive passive money. (You can see me being interviewed in the video below). However, unlike the previous money summits, the Money Summit and Wealth Expo 2012 will be focusing on financial markets and property markets only.  It is more focused this time, and it will teach you everything about financial and property markets, what  different investment instruments are currently available, how they operate and how you can invest in those instruments.

How You Will Benefit From Money Summit and Wealth Expo Manila 2012?

The organizer of Money Summit and Wealth Expo Manila 2012 is bringing together twelve financial, investment and real estate experts. Each will talk about specific topic covering the financial and property markets. You will learn from these money and property experts who are highly regarded in the industry. Specifically, you will learn about:

• Stock market (How to pick the best stocks, how to read and interpret charts and a lot more)
• Mutual funds (What it is mutual fund, different funds available and how you can invest in it)
• Forex trading (The different battle tested forex strategies)
• Foreclosures (How to find great bargains from foreclosures)
• Flipping properties (Ways of flipping properties for profit) 
• How to earn from commercial real estate
• And MUCH more

So when you attend the Money Summit and Wealth Expo Manila 2012 you will discover wide array of investment products and services to help you decide where you will invest your precious money. You will understand the different investment vehicles and discover for yourself what investment vehicle/s is right for you.

The Money Summit is designed to address the specific learning needs of the different investors - novice, sophisticated, and advanced investors. The program is segemented accoridng to the knowledge and experience level of the audience. If you are a novice investor, do not be intimidated. It is fairly simple. 

From my experience, the Money Summit and Wealth Expo is one of the best venues to meet like-minded investors, traders, entreprenuers and professionals from different backgrounds. It provides excellent opportunity to connect with people, build and expand your networks.   

 

As an introductory price, the organizer is offering a rock bottom rate of P4,497.00 for two already. That's only P2,248.50 per participant. This offer is valid if you register on or before April 30, 2012 only. After this period, the organizer will adjust the conference fee. So please take advantage of this offer today!

 

Learn more about the Money Summit and Wealth Expo Manila 2012 

Invest in yourself. Invest in your ability to make more money. Franklin Roosevelt says, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

 

Reserve your seat while the offer is still available.

 

Filipinos Need More Financial Education

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has released yesterday (April 18, 2012) the results of the first-ever Consumer Finance Survey (CFS) in the Philippines. Conducted by the BSP, the Consumer Finance Survey generated data on financial conditions of households covered, including what they own (financial and non-financial assets) as well as from whom and how much they borrow (sources of credit and level of indebtedness). It also generated data on the income, spending and insurance coverage of households. The survey had sample size of 10,520 households from National Capital Region (NCR) and outside NCR (in regions 1, 7 and 11). Reference periods for the data collected were from 2008 to 2010.

Here are some interesting and disturbing findings from the Consumer Finance Survey:

• 8 in 10 Pinoy households (78.5 percent) do not have bank deposit accounts. The main reason cited by 92.8 percent of households respondents for the absence of a bank deposit account is that they did not have enough money to put in the account. The other reasons mentiond by the remaining 7.2 percent of the households were: do not need need a bank/cash deposit account (1.7 percent), cannot manage an account (1.5 percent), minimum balance is too high (1.2 percent), do not like to deal with banks/financial insitutions (1 percent) and others not specified (1.8 percent).  

CFS also revealed that a higher percentage of households living in National Capital Region owned a deposit account (28.1 percent), compared to the households from areas outside of the NCR (16.1 percent).

Personally, I do not agree that Pinoy households do not have or earn enough money to save. One realization I have is that we can save at any income level. Our ability to save does not really depend on the size of our income. Regardless of our income, we can save if we will just commit ourselves into it. We can save 1 peso a day, or 10 pesos per week, 100 pesos, 1000 pesos per month or more. The trick is we do save a little amount each time, regularly and consistently. You will be surprised how much money will have accumulated over time!

I am also surprised households did not realize or understand the need to have a savings account and find it difficult to manage a savings account. Still, many households prefer to keep their money at home, rather than in bank or other financial institutions.

However, it is comforting to know that according to the survey, majority of the households still have high inclination to save if they have extra money.

• Only 0.4 percent of households owned securities and investment accounts such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and unit investment trust funds (UITFs), including government securities. Even in NCR, less than one percent of households had invested in any of these financial instruments. For households outside NCR, the percentage was negligible.

This is a disheartening statistic. Only a small percentage of the population are investing in this kind of assets. It is surprising to me, because even in NCR where households have more access to information, less than 1 percent of the households invested in mutual funds and stocks. A greater majority of our population do not have access to these kinds of financial instruments, and have not been able to ride on with these vehicles to wealth. These investments are affordable and easy to set-up. I think people just need to have more information and education about these instruments as another vehicles where they can put their money in.

However, on a positive side, the survey also showed that a bigger share of the hosueholds had one or more retirement and insurance plans. It showed that:

• 42.7 percent of the households had retirement insurance (mostly in government insurance like Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), but only 1.6 percent of households had retirement plans exclusive with private companies.

Even if majority of the population relied on government insurance programs like SSS, GSIS, it is a positive indication that people appreciate the importance of insurance and social protection. Those that have SSS and GSIS were employed and had stable employment.  Unfortunately, the share of retirement plans by private insurance was very small. I believe the share of private insurance should be higher than that, so this offers more opportunities for private insurance companies in the country to fill this gap. 

There are so much to learn from the results of the first Consumer Finance Survey. It suggests that greater majority of Pinoys need more financial education and literacy. There is pressing need to educate Pinoy households about money management skills in areas of earning, smart spending, savings and investment opportunities and strategies. The survey recognized the need for greater financial education to be given to Pinoy households. Among other things, it recommended to continue to educate Filipino households on the advantages of saving in financial institutions and investing in various forms of financial instruments compared with traditional sources of financing and investment.

 You can download here a full copy of the first-ever Consumer Finance Survey.    

I believe there is hope, that we can do a lot more to improve the situation. As one of the financial advisors of Sun Life, I am privileged  to be part of the on going efforts and campaign of the company to provide financial education to Filipinos. The mission of Sun Life is to provide financial freedom for all Filipinos. However, my experience so far with Sun Life tells me that it is not easy to educate people about financial planning and money management. Many have negative impression about life insurance and are allergic to it, and have myopic view about handling their personal finances. That is a challenge. But it is also a fulfilling and rewarding experience to be able to help other people put their finances in order.

Please feel free to contact me if you need advice or if you want orientation about life insurance, health protection, savings and investment opportunities in mutual funds like stocks and bonds. I conduct free orientation and financial education.

God Wants Us to be Wealthy

Yes, God wants us to be wealthy, not just to have enough but to have more than enough in life. God wants to give us material wealth! This is the very idea I've learned from the book written by David Wong entitled, MAKING MONEY SENSE: GOD'S TRUTH.  I bought this book from a floating bookshop, MV Logos last February 2012 when it came to Cebu. However, an e-copy of the book is available at Amazon if you wish to read it yourself. The e-book costs $6. I encourage you to read the book especially if you are also desiring financial prosperity for yourself and family. You will benefit from the timeless and Bible-based perspective about money, wealth, and prosperity.  The book is not based on another Prosperity Theology, but it teaches about Stewardship Theology. God is the source of true wealth. We do not own it; we are only stewards of His wealth.

I'd like to share some of the insights and inspiring truths I found from MAKING MONEY SENSE: GOD'S TRUTH.  It is the character and nature of God to bless us with material wealth. God's promise of wealth in Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 8 says:

"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefull follow all His commands...the Lord your God will set you high above all nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God...The Lord will send blessings on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land He is giving you."

That is God's promise. However, while God wants to us to be rich, not all of us will be rich! That is a sad truth. Many of us lack financial intelligence or money sense. We have little understanding or appreciation of financial matters, or worst, we we do not understand it. Take for example the parable of the talents mentioned in the Bible in the book of Matthew 25:14-30 and in Luke 19:12-28. The master went on a journey and allocated his resources to his 3 servants, and he gave each according to their ability. On the day of accounting, all the servants, except one, were able to make a profit for the master while he was away. The other servant did not make any profit for his master. The master got angry on the 3rd servant, took everything away from him for his unfaithfulness, and gave it to the servant who was able to earn the highest profit for him. God gives more to those whom He can trust and has good financial intelligence.  

Another similar parable is found in Luke 16:1-8.  It is the story of a rich man and his manager. The rich man accused his manager of mismanaging his possessions entrusted on the latter, and wanted to fire him. He asked the manager to balance the books and return it to him. After that, the manager could safely go. For fear of losing his job since he is old already, the manager acted very shrewdly. He called all the debtors of his master and asked them to understate their debts (the manager might have charged the debtors more and what he was deducting was probably just excess profits), so he can still be able to collect payments from them (rather than nothing) for his master. In return, the master commended the manager, not for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness.

Another reason why not all will be rich is because of our "just enough" mentality as described in the book. This mentality is a result of our long-term conditioning and training at home and church. We were taught to focus on our needs and not wants. That to ask God for more than our needs is being greedy and unchristian.  As a result, we become complacent; we settle for "just enough". We do not have or just have little drive to excel, to ask for more, and to be the best! We live in mediocrity.

Because of that "just enough" mentality, we lose many of the blessings that God would have wanted to give us.

Instead of living on "just enough" mentality, we must shift our mindset to "more than enough" mentality. The book suggests we need not fear in asking God for more. We can follow the example of Jabez in 1 Chronicle 4:10 who confidently asked God to "enlarge his tent". He asked God to increase his sphere of influence and responsibility. We can be like Jabez, too. If we are a christian and living for God, we can boldy ask God to give us material wealth. If God is pleased with us, He will give us material blessings. Wealth is a sign of God's favor on us. One example is Abraham. God promised blessings on him in Genesis 12: 1-3:

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and curse whoever curses you; and all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you."

There are other characters in the Bible who found favor before God like Job and Isaac. They were wealthy in material things. Just as God made them wealthy, He wants to give us His blessings, too. He wants us to enjoy it, so that we can provide for the needs of our family and for other people. He wants to bless others through us. The question is, "Do you want God to make you His channel of blessings?"

In my next article, I will write about principles for financial blessings also from the same book. If you want to learn more truths from the Bible about money, prosperity and wealth, you can check out MAKING MONEY SENSE: GOD'S TRUTH.

3 Major Reasons Behind My Silence

My last post was in November last year. That was nearly 5 months ago, and I am amazed how time has flown so fast. My apologies please to all of you. I have not been so good in updating my blog as frequent and as regular as I want to. Not that I run out of ideas and insights (not only good and positive but also and the negative since there are also plenty of lessons we can draw from it) to share with you, but I simply did not have much spare time to write. In the last 5 months, there were simply too many activities and commitments that occupied myself and took my time away. They were a mixture of personal and professional issues. There were many of them, but I'l only tell you the top 3 reasons behind my silence in the next paragraphs below.

Demands of Regular Job. Yes, I still have a regular job and just like many of you, I am also working my way out of the rat race and towards financial freedom (Achieving financial freedom is possible. There is hope. I believe God wants all of us to be wealthy). The last few months had been particularly demanding for me. It is always like that especially during year ends. But ours is especially more stressful because our program (and that means my job, too since my post is co-terminus with the program) is ending by July 2012. I could only count the days when my work schedule were less hectic. Thus, I did not have enough time to sit down and write.  Sad to say also, beginning January 2012, I was also forced to give up my writing gig as a virtual assistant. For nearly 6 months last year, I wrote marketing articles for a client online. It did not give me lots of money, but gave me additional money that supplemented my income. Since I had less spare time to commit to write marketing articles for a client, I thought it was better to give it up than to commit and not deliver. But I have no regrets, because when one opportunity is lost, another and much better opportunity comes up.

New Opportunities with Sun Life Financial (Philippines). The opportunity to join Sun Life (a leader in protection and wealth management, and the oldest and most trusted life insurance company in the country with nationwide operations) as one of its  financial advisors came up towards the latter part of 2011. Providing financial education to people and helping them achieve financial freedom in life are things I am always passionate about. So when this opportunity was presented to me, I did not have second thoughts. Not only does it give me the chance to pursue the things close to my heart, but it also offers me opportunity to steer the direction of my success and entrepreneurial mindset. So I channeled the time that was fred out from working online as virtual assistant to pursuing this opportunity with Sun Life. I started putting together all my documents that were being asked of me as mandatory requirements, and I also attended series of training and seminars to acquaint myself about the industry and the business. Then, came the preparation for the licensure examinations. I did spend time studying and reviewing for the licensure examinations with the Insurance Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission.  I studied very well to ensure I pass the exams so I won't waste my money to pay for the exams. A license (which is valid for 1 year and to be renewed annually) is needed to be secured from the Insurance Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell life insurance products and investment products like mutual funds. These industries are highly-regulated by the government to protect the interests of the public so it is very safe. Thank God, I was able to comply with all the requirements and pass the licensure exams for both life insurance and mutual funds, with flying colors! Now I am a full-fledged financial advisor of Sun Life Financial Philippines, and spends my time providing financial advice to clients.

Preparations for My Wedding. Yes, this year I have decided to settle down. My fiance and I are getting married in October 2012 in Quezon City. We decided last January so we only have about 10 months left to finish all the preparations. We do all the preparations ourselves. While we are very much excited about handling all the preparations, our case is also challenging because my fiance lives in Manila and I live in Cebu. I have to fly very often to Manila and sometimes we do some aspects of the preparations online.  We only have 6 months left now, but thank God we have accomplished a lot and we have settled almost all the major items. That's why this is also my top 3 reasons why I have not been able to make new posts as frequent as possible. 

I have lots of interesting topics I want to write about and share with you. So please watch out and do visit my blog again.