Author: akosiallan

Categories
Life Lessons Money Mindset

Launching the Rich Money Habits Newsletter – 8 Ways To Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich

“Join my Rich Money Habits Newsletter mailing list and get your FREE issue of the Rich Money Habits 101 Series: 8 Ways To Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich!” 

8 ways to shift your money habits and be rich coverDiscover the 8 secret money habits that have personally helped me

 – get out of debt

– save for emergency fund, and

– start investing for my family’s future

Today, I am writing to you from Island Cove Resort Hotel in Bacoor, Cavite, Philippines, about an hour drive south of Metro Manila. My wife and I are taking our much needed vacation to spend some quality time after a year of working so hard and not getting much rest. 😉

Before I consume too much of that vacation time, I wanted to let you in on a major project I have been working on the past couple of weeks.  My project is aptly titled “Rich Money Habits 101 Series – 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich.”

For the first time ever, I will share to you the secret money habits that have personally helped me get out of debt, save for emergency fund and start investing for my family’s future. 

I don’t claim to be a personal finance expert (disclaimer) so you should take whatever I share with a grain of salt (or pepper, whatever you like =)).  You have to filter out what’s practical and applicable to your own situation.  I am just a regular guy who went through (and may still be going through) the same money problems that you may be experiencing right now, sharing the money habits & tips that have helped me solve some of those problems.  My only wish is that the simple money tips and experiences I share help encourage you in your journey to financial freedom.

Unknown to many, some of the subscribers of this blog have already gotten a taste of the 8 secret money habits I mentioned above.  Here’s one of the subscribers has to say about the Rich Money Habits Series.

“Good evening Mr. Allan. I just read your article, it’s great! I really like your writing style, good flow, well organized…” – Anthony

If you want to find out what Anthony has discovered, sign-up to my Rich Money Habits Newsletter now!  It’s totally FREE!

Categories
Books

Book Review: The Instant Millionaire by Mark Fisher

A couple of weeks back, I received a review copy of Mark Fisher’s book “The Instant Millionaire: A Tale of Wisdom and Wealth” from Kim of newworldlibrary.com but due to busy schedule, I’ve only been able to write a review just now.

Before I say anything else, please note that I am not being paid for this review.  However, I did receive the review copy of the book for FREE which is great and if you click the picture below, and buy the book from amazon, I would earn a little affiliate income.

With that out of the way, the book Instant Millionaire, is a fable (short story) of a young man who wanted to be rich and seek out to learn from an old rich man they call the instant millionaire.

The_Instant_Millionaire_Mark_Fisher

The 3 ideas that struck me most when I read the book

1.  The Power of Words

There’s this one scene in the book where the master was demonstrating how powerful words really are, especially the words that we tell ourselves.  The scene describes the young man screaming for help in fear of losing his dear life, simply because he read a few words on a computer screen and put meaning into those words and made himself “believe” that his life was in danger even if it was actually not.  Words are just words.  But the meaning we put into those words spell the difference.

2.  The Power of Stories

What I liked about the book is that it was written as a short story.  The book is an easy reading.  I managed to read the book from cover to cover in just one sitting.  I don’t know if it’s just me, but I learn more when I enjoy reading.  And reading a good story captures my imagination even more powerful than just a list of bullet points from a powerpoint presentation.

3.  The Power of Habits

The term instant millionaire is a misnomer because in the story, the young man mapped out a plan to be a millionaire in 6 years!  I don’t think many people would consider 6 years as instant!  In reality, most overnight successes are actually long, long years of preparation.  We only see the success, but we fail to go behind the many long hours of frustration and self-doubt before that.  Success is a product of a lifetime of great habits coming into fruition.

Who should buy this book

  • those who want to read a good old short story of having a rich money mindset
  • those who loved reading the classic “who moved my cheese” and probably want to read another fable to entertain and make them think about life again
  • those who are looking for a different way of thinking about money

Who should NOT buy this book

  • those who focused on the word “instant” in the title and looking for a get rich quick scheme
  • those who are looking for a specific step-by-step how-to instruction guide on getting rich
  • those who want to become an instant millionaire and don’t want to pay the price

Overall, this is a good short story style reading book you can finish in one sitting.  It does not really get into the nitty-gritty and how-to stuffs of getting rich but if you’re looking for an easy way to learn to think like a millionaire, this book is a good start.

P.S. Want to have your book reviewed and your story featured here at Rich Money Habits? Contact me.

P.P.S. Want to hear more about book reviews in the future, subscribe to Rich Money Habits now!

P.P.P.S. Become a fan of Rich Money Habits in Facebook!  Click the Like button now!

Categories
Stocks

How to Fund Your CitisecOnline (COL) Account via BPI Express Online

Ever since I’ve opened my CitisecOnline (COL) account, I’ve been doing fund transfers from my BPI express online savings account to my COL account whenever I want to fund it and buy some stocks.  Recently, I was having trouble doing fund transfers for some reason.  I wasn’t sure whether the problem was with BPI Express Online or with CitiseOnline since I have never encountered this problem before.

While thinking whether to call BPI or COL, I asked my wife whether she was having the same problem.  She simply answered, no.  I then asked her how she funds her COL account and to my surprise she was not doing a fund transfer but instead uses BPI expressonline’s Bills Payment facility.  I tried it out and in just 15 minutes, I was able to enroll my COL account into BPI expressonline Bills Payment and do a bills payment transaction to fund it.

Here are the 3 steps I did.

Step 1 – Enroll Your COL account into BPI Express Online Bills Payment facility

  1. Log on to www.bpiexpressonline.com
  2. Enter your username and password
  3. Under Payments & Reloading, click Bills Payments, click Enroll all other Bills
  4. Enter your BPI account number and Joint Account Indicator No.  (this is the 2-digit no. located at the lower right hand corner of your ATM card right across your name)
  5. Under Bill information, select CITISECONLINE.COM INC. (COL) as the enrollee merchant
  6. Enter your CitisecOnline account number (8-digit code username) on the space under Reference Number (I entered mine with the dash in it xxxx-xxxx and it worked fine)
  7. Click Submit

Step 2 – Fund Your COL account by doing a Bills Payment transaction

  1. Under Payments & Reloading, click Bills Payment, click Pay Bills Today
  2. Under Pay, choose your CitisecOnline Account
  3. Enter the amount
  4. Choose BPI account from where payment will come from
  5. Click Submit

Step 3 – Verify that Your COL account is funded with the correct amount

  1. You should receive a confirmation once your COL account has been enrolled
  2. You should receive a confirmation email from BPI if payment was successful.
  3. You should receive a confirmation email from COL once they’ve received the amount and credited it into your COL account.

It only took me 15 minutes to set this up but the time savings and convenience of not having to wait in line at the bank just to fund my COL account brings a smile to my face.

Hope the above tips make your stock investing convenient and hassle-free!

Categories
Life Lessons Personal Finance

What Makes You Rich

What makes a person rich?  How do you define who’s rich and who’s not?

Is it about having money? If I give you a thousand dollars now, would you be considered rich? How about if I give you a million? How about a billion? At which point do you consider yourself rich?

To answer this question, I’d like to borrow Tim Ferriss’ term “New Rich”. The “New Rich”, have 3 things in common: money, time, mobility. I like this definition because it doesn’t look at being rich as a one-dimensional goal that you have to get to. It is a combination of time, money and mobility that gives a new meaning to the phrase "financial freedom".

Money

Of course. This is obvious. The more money you have, the richer you become. At least financially. For many people, this is the only definition that they know of being rich. A lotto winner is rich. A doctor is rich. A lawyer is rich. They earn millions a year. They are what we call high-income earners.

It’s no wonder then that a lot of well meaning parents encourage their children to go to school, get good grades, study medicine or become a lawyer. After graduation, they are supposed to get a good job, climb up the corporate ladder and become rich.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

Unfortunately, in most cases, the high-income earners also face a dilemma of having to live a high-expense lifestyle. They have to drive an expensive car. They have to live in a big house. In all fairness, this is needed in their profession. Who would want to consult a doctor who is driving a truck. It doesn’t fit the image we have of a successful doctor.

Then there’s also the issue of income tax. The more income you earn, the more taxes you pay.

In short being high-earner has its corresponding drawbacks. It is not enough to earn a high income. If all the income you earn is going out as an expense. Worse, it may be that your expenses is even greater than your income, and you end up going through debts. Your debts stresses you out. You become ill just thinking about it.  You become more irritable.  Your friends abandon you.  Your world comes crashing down.

Time

If I give you a billion dollars but you need to work 24 hours a day, everyday for the whole year, would you take it? I hope not, because you’d be working yourself out, get exhausted, and basically end up not having the time to enjoy your billion dollars.

Having all the money in the world and not having the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor is not a very good idea. Unfortunately, a lot of people end up in this situation. As they get promoted in the corporate ladder, they gain more responsibilities. More responsibilities mean more time working in the office. More time away from your family. More sacrifices.

Whenever you want to take a vacation, you’d have to ask for your boss’ approval. If you get lucky, your vacation is approved. Unfortunately, while you’re on vacation, your mobile phone rings and you would have to answer your boss’ questions. Sometimes, they even require you to bring your laptop on your vacation.

Having time to be able to enjoy life and pursue projects that I would like is one of my personal goals.  My dream is to be able to take a vacation for at least a month, whenever and wherever I want and not worry about being disturbed by a call from my boss asking me to cut my vacation short.  I dream of being able to extend my vacation for a few more months whenever I want to and not worry about money or my business.

Mobility

Mobility is having the freedom to go anywhere you want to go, any time you want.  If you have a job, this is particularly hard to do.  For one, you can not just take a vacation any time you want.  You have to ask permission from your boss.  Second, you cannot just stop going to your job and go somewhere else.  At some point, you still have to go back to your job to make money to pay for your needs.

There have been countless times when I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. But since I had to go to the office and work, I felt helpless.  I felt forced to go to work even if I was so tired.  There were times I even have to cut my vacation short just to work.

It is especially harder if you are in debt and have to pay mortgage for your house.  If you are relying on your job for income, you are practically tied to it.  You can not resign.  Otherwise, you run the risk of not being able to pay for your debts and have your house foreclosed.

Mobility means having the choice to go on tour for months, hopping from one country to another, and not having to worry about whatever you left behind.  You can enjoy your vacation with peace of mind.

Journey To Financial Freedom

I am not yet rich based on the above criteria, but I’d like to think I am on my way there.  I have managed to pay off my debts and saved for emergency fund and insurance.  With the extra income we generate each month, my wife and I have started to learn to invest our money.  As a result, our dreams are now becoming more real each day that passes by. Yes, I am still a long way to go but each step I make is a move forward to my dreams.  It is just a matter of time before I reach my goal.

If you’re already financially free, congratulations! I’d like to treat you for lunch and learn from you. I’d like to find out how you did it so I can feature you here in Rich Money Habits blog and inspire our readers as well.

If you’re like me, working your way to achieve financial freedom, I invite you to come join me in my journey and discover the rich money habits that will take us to our dreams!

 

P.S. Last chance to get your FREE ebook by Bo Sanchez.  If you haven’t received your copy yet, CLICK HERE NOW! This special offer will be closing in 3 days (Aug 12, 2010)!

P.P.S.  For those looking to invest in RTBs, the Bureau of Treasury is doing a price-setting auction this August 10, 2010.  Inquire at your bank’s nearest branch whether they are selling RTBs within the next weeks.  You need to act fast, since, RTBs normally run out fast.

P.P.P.S.  I’ve been busy lately working on our first ever money habits article series – "Rich Money Habits 101 – 8 Ways To Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich".  Be the first to receive the article series by subscribing to Rich Money Habits!

Categories
Credit Card Life Lessons Money Mindset

4 Money Habits That Can Lead Anyone To Debt Problems…And How You Can Overcome Them

Here’s an inspiring guest post from Jason on how he managed to pay off a total of $70,000 in debt in 3 and 1/2 years by overcoming his poor money habits and building better ones.

It is said “As you sow so shall you reap”. Same thing happened with me. I myself was solely responsible for landing into debt problems. You can read this story to know how I landed into debt problems. It would help you avoid making the same mistakes. Though I managed to get out of debt, yet I would advise you all to stop doing things that can lead you to debt problems and filing a bankruptcy.

Here are some money habits that led me into huge amount of debt.

1. Not planning a budget – I didn’t understand the importance of planning a budget. So, I used to spend nearly 98% of what I earned every month. I should mention here that I didn’ t have any extra income. My monthly earning comprised of only my salary.

2. Using credit cards for every purchase – To worsen the situation, sometimes, I used to spend more than what I earned. I swiped my credit cards with the intention of paying back the balance next month. But I was never able to repay the balance in full. Sometimes, I even missed making the minimum payments on credit cards. As a result, interest got piled up making it even more difficult for me to pay off the balances. I also swiped my credit cards for each and every purchase. Right from grocery shopping to eating outs, I used plastic money to pay the bills.

3. Lifestyle mistakes – I had a habit of eating out every weekend and shopping whenever I wanted to. A substantial amount of my salary was used to pay these expenses.

4. Not paying heed to creditor letters – I also received letters from creditors asking me to pay off bills. However, I didn’t pay much attention toward paying off my debts.
Then, one day, my brother got admitted to hospital and I had to borrow from my friends and relatives in order to pay the medical bills. That day I realized my mistakes and promised myself to pay off my debts as fast as possible.

How I was able to pay off $70,000 in 3 1/2 years

All in total, I paid off about $70,000 – Want to know how? Frankly speaking, I thought I wouldn’t be able to repay the outstanding balance in full. So, I decided to negotiate with my creditors to reduce the debt amount so that I could pay it off. The only other option left for me was to file a bankruptcy in order to get rid of my debts. Knowing that I could file a bankruptcy, my creditors reduced the outstanding balances to about 55%. After the reduction, I needed to pay about $38,500.

I managed to pay off the debts within 3 ½ years of time. To do this, I had to plan a frugal budget and follow it strictly. Though it was a bit difficult at the initial stage, yet following the budget became easier as soon as I paid off the first debt. It motivated me to get out of debt successfully.

Jason Holmes is a regular writer with Debt Consolidation Care and is also a contributory writer with other financial sites. His expertise is woven around various aspects of the debt industry and he tries to impart to people the different situations and simple solutions to get out of difficult situations through his e-books like ‘Credit Score The Quintessential Therapy for a Happy Pocket’, Take Creditors and Collection Agencies to Small Claims Court’ and, ‘My Story- From Depression To a Smile’.

P.S. Readers, what other tips can you share on paying off debts?

P.P.S. Do you want to share your own rich money habits story to our readers?  Send us your guest story using the Contact Page. It’s your time. To Share. To Inspire. To Shine.

Categories
Life Updates Personal Finance

Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2010 (for Personal Finance)

While reading through my good friend Tim’s Every Peso Count blog, I came across the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2010 Writing Project.  It’s a very interesting project which aims to discover and promote the emerging blogs for the year, and get a chance to be involved in a worthwhile writing project.

I thought it would be a good idea to come up with my own list as well.  Here’s Rich Money Habits’ Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2010 (at least for personal finance category) in no particular order!

Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2010

#1 – Rich Money Habits by akosiallan.com

Of course, Rich Money Habits by akosiallan.com is in my list. 🙂 I believe in my heart that this blog is emerging as one of the most influential personal finance blogs in 2010.  My hope is that this blog has been a positive influence in helping a lot of people build better money habits.  As evidenced by the steady growth of its readers from practically zero before its (re)launching last September 2009 to the 254 subscribers as of this writing, the mission of this blog to elevate the money habits of Filipinos is slowly becoming a reality.

#2 – Financial Samurai

Sam’s Financial Samurai is one of my favorite financial blogs mainly for its straight from the gut approach to personal finance.  Money mysteries are revealed through the very interesting, and sometimes unconventional articles from this blog.

#3 – Man Vs Debt

Adam Baker’s Man Vs Debt blog’s growth has been simply phenomenal! I’ve been following his blog for quite some time now and has witnessed how the blog evolved from dealing with debt to making an online income in a very short time.  With support from A-list bloggers in the personal finance blogosphere like J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly or even Leo BaBauta of Zen Habits.  ManVsDebt is an A-list blog in the making!

#4 – Every Peso Counts

Tim’s Every Peso Counts blog is a refreshing view on personal finance.  I really like the positive energy of Tim and his hope of a bright future for the Philippines.  His very interesting articles on money and personal finance is a great read and continues to inspire a lot of people to become better financially.

#5 – Investing Pinoy

I just recently came across Bryan Uy’s Investing Pinoy blog.  His blog talks about stock trading and investing in the Philippines.  The tips from this blog has been another great resource for beginning investors just like me.

#6 – Ridiculously Extraordinary

While Ridiculously Extraordinary speaks about lifestyle design (a term popularized by Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work Week book),  the site also offers a lot of very interesting ideas on how you can make money AND living an extraordinary life at the same time.

#7 – Personal Finance By The Book

I came across Joe Plemon’s Personal Finance By The Book blog earlier this year when one of his articles was featured as Top 5 Pick in the Summer Edition of Rich Money Habits Blog Carnival.  Joe continues to bring out practical advice about money which are especially useful in building a better money mindset.

#8 – Jonhapiness

While Jonha’s blog is an interesting mix of topics such as money tips, warnings on scams, and blogging, she is slowly bringing a lot of positive influence to more and more people.  I won’t be surprised if she ends up one of the most influential bloggers in the Philippines soon.

Update as of August 26, 2010: Top #9, #10 & #11 emerging influential blogs in 2010

#9 – KennyV’s Investments

Kenny V’s investments blog proves that it’s never too early to begin learning to invest your own money.  At a young age of 21 years old, Kenny shares his investment ideas ranging from tips on opening credit card or bank accounts, insurance and his favorite company stocks.

#10 – Fat Girl No More

While Ria’s blog Fat Girl No More is not exactly a personal finance blog, she tackles one of the most important aspect of wealth – your health.  Fat Girl No More is one girl’s refreshing view of appreciating your own curves at the same time aiming to be better physically and emotionally so you can perform to the best of your abilities.

#11 – Honorable Nominations

The response of our readers and their nominations for the last 2 slots were simply amazing.  I would have loved to put all the nominated blogs in the top 10 list but I could only take 2 and was quite honestly severely restricted by my own criteria of considering only personal finance (related) blogs.  Nevertheless, when I checked out the following nominated blogs, I was stunned on how good and influential they are.  As my way of saying THANK YOU for your nomination, I am listing your blogs as #11 – Honorable Nominations.

There you have it folks! I never thought coming up with a top 10 list could be this hard.  It took me hours to scan through my favorite blogs and I could only come up with 8.  I need your help to fill up the 2 remaining slots.

While I read a lot of blogs, I had a difficult time finding a personal finance blog that was launched only last year.  Most of the blogs I read have been around for quite some time. Maybe, I’ll do another Top 10 post for those blogs in the future.  Watch out for that!

Dear readers, nominations for the 2 remaining slots in my Top 10 list is now open. If you have a (favorite) blog related to money or investing that was launched only last year, feel free to nominate it through the comment section below. Please include a brief description on why you think your (favorite) blog deserves to be in the top 10 list.

Lastly, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Janette Toral for organizing such a worthwhile project.  Special thanks also to the following sponsors who made this project possible:

Events and Corporate Video, Budget hotel in Makati, Pinoy Party Food, Copyediting Services, PR Agency Philippines, Budget Travel Philippines, Send Gifts to the Philippines, Black Friday Deals, Roomrent – units for rent, Search Profile Index, and Corporate Events Organizer.

Categories
Money Mindset Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez’ How To Become Truly Rich Seminar this coming August 7, 2010

I almost missed sending this to you.  Good thing my mom sent me an SMS message the other day asking how she can pay for Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Seminar this coming August 7, 2010.  After receiving her SMS message, I immediately checked when is Bo’s next Truly Rich Seminar, and lo and behold it’s a little bit over a week from today!

How To Become Truly Rich Seminar

By Bo Sanchez

August 07, 2010, Saturday (8:30AM to 12:00PM)

Seminar Fee: P8,000.00++ P497 only per person

Call up Beckie at (02) 7229562 (Tuesdays-Fridays 9am-5pm) or

Email at beaconlightevents+seminar@gmail.com now!

Early Bird Offer: The first 9 people who reserve will pay P397 only per person!

Since attending the Truly Rich Seminar last year was such a great experience for me, I really want my mom to attend the seminar this time around.  That’s why I volunteered to pay for her seminar fee. So she won’t go alone, I bribed my 2 sisters to go with her by paying their tickets to the seminar as well. 🙂

What are you waiting for? Go get your tickets now before it runs out!

P.S. Unable to attend the Truly Rich seminar in person? Here’s your chance to find out how you can become Truly Rich wherever you are in the world. Join Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club NOW!

P.P.S. Haven’t received your FREE ebook by Bo Sanchez yet?  Get it here now, before it’s too late!

Categories
Business Life Lessons

How to Build a Successful Business

This article describes the 3 tips on how to do build a successful business.  This is part 3 of a 3-part series on the lessons I’ve learned from the recent Money Summit and Wealth Expo. 

If you missed the first 2 articles, you can read them here

Ask anyone of your friends and at least one will say they dream of starting their own business someday.  The fact of the matter is, it’s easy to start a business.  The hard part is building it into a successful one. 

They say 1 in every 10 businesses fail in the first 5 years.  Of those who were able to survive, 1 in every 10 will fail in the next 5 years.  Here are 3 tips I learned during the Money Summit and Wealth Expo that maybe able to help you beat these odds.

1) Sell

The secret to building a successful business is learning how to sell. Unfortunately, selling brings out a not so good connotation to a lot of people.  But the fact of the matter is, everyday, you are already selling.  For example:

  • When you were born, you sold to get what you want by crying
    • When you were hungry, you cried and someone fed you,
    • When you wanted to pee, you cried and someone changed your diapers,
    • When you wanted attention you cried and they made funny faces to make you smile. 
  • When you got a little older, you sold your way
    • to play outside with other kids,
    • to play computer games, or
    • to watch TV
  • When you went to school, you sold your parents
    • to give you “baon” (allowance)
    • to buy you a nice school bag
    • to go study at a university
  • When you applied for a job,
    • you sold yourself as an investment to the company and they hired you
    • you sold yourself as an asset to the company and they raised your salary
    • you sold yourself so good other companies are now trying to recruit you
  • When you liked someone,
    • you sold yourself into her/him going on a date with you
    • you sold yourself into being her boyfriend/his girlfriend
    • and then eventually sold yourself to spending the rest your lives together in marriage

The question is not whether you like selling or not.  You have no other choice.  You  are already selling whether you realize it or not.  The only question you need to ask yourself, is how you can be better at selling. 

According to Dr. Rodolfo “Dups” delos Reyes, best-selling author and speaker at the Money Summit, selling can be described in just one word – “attitude”.  To sell effectively, you have to address the needs and fears of your customers.  The #1 need of people is acceptance, and their #1 fear is rejection.

All other techniques on selling revolves around this very simple idea of helping someone else solve his or her problem by having the attitude to be his or her friend.     

2) Solve Problems

According to Zig Ziglar, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” When you learn how to solve other people’s problems, they will be more than willing to pay you for it.  Think about it.  Why do you think your boss is willing to pay you your salary if you are not solving his problems. 

Now, let’s ask what are some small businesses trying to solve?

  • a food cart business helps temporary solve the problem of hunger by making it easier for busy people to buy and eat on the go
  • a home-based internet marketing business helps people find the information or products that they need
  • an Ebay business helps collectors find rare items

How about the BIG businesses?

  • Google helps organize information and make it available to you fast…really fast
  • Microsoft helps companies increase their productivity by using their software tools like Windows and Microsoft Office
  • McDo or Jollibee allows people on the go to enjoy a meal fast

3) Build Systems

The only difference between us and Henry Sy, is his ability to leverage the skills and efforts of thousands of people working for him to build his empire of SM malls in the country.  The secret?  He knows how to build systems. 

Can you imagine Henry Sy, doing everything himself? Of course not.  It would be ridiculous.  But that’s what a lot of us are trying to do when we go into business. And we end up doing a job working in the business instead of having the business work for us.

The business system differentiates BIG businesses from small ones.  According to Robert Kiyosaki, you know you have a BIG business when you can take a vacation for 1 year, come back and find your business still standing and more profitable than ever. The challenge then becomes making your business systems work even without you.

How then can you build systems?

One way is through franchising. Franchising helps people get into business by leveraging the systems built by a successful one.  McDonald’s for example, is run by business systems.  Whether you are in Singapore or Manila, a McDonald’s store will practically be the same. 

Another way is to use leverage.  Leverage other people’s skills.  Leverage technology.  Leverage other people’s money.

Lastly, you can get a mentor to help you learn how to build those systems and shorten your learning curve.

 

That concludes our 3-part series on the lessons learned from the recent Money Summit and Wealth Expo. 

 

Dear readers, what other tips can you share to build a successful business?

Categories
Life Updates Personal Finance

Re-confirm Your Email Subscription to Rich Money Habits and get a FREE e-book by Bo Sanchez

Great day to you, our dear reader of Rich Money Habits blog!

To better serve our consistently growing number of readers who like to receive FREE money tips & articles through email, we will be upgrading our email subscription service provider from Feedburner to Aweber this week, July 26-31, 2010.

What does this mean for you?

This upgrade will allow you to receive more relevant, impactful and high-quality articles & tips on money, business and investing delivered direct to your inbox.

As a subscriber, you will also be the first to know of any upcoming seminars on money and investing which will give you the opportunity to take advantage of early-bird discounts and special promo rates.

You will also be the first to receive any future stock investing tips, special reports, or newsletter articles once they are finally rolled out through this email delivery platform.

Best of all, you wimymaidinvestsinthestockmarketcoverll get all of these for FREE!

As a special gift for going through all the trouble of re-confirming your subscription, you will receive a FREE electronic copy of Bo Sanchez’ e-book “My Maid Invests in the Stock Market…And Why You Should Too!”

What do you need to do?

If you are currently subscribed to this blog through email, you will receive an email within the week (July 26-31, 2010) requesting you to re-confirm your subscription to Rich Money Habits by akosiallan.com.  Once you receive the email, follow the instructions to re-confirm your subscription and get your FREE copy of Bo Sanchez’ e-book.

If you haven’t received an email after July 31, or you just want to get your FREE copy of Bo Sanchez’ My Maid Invests In The Stock Market e-book NOW, I encourage you to subscribe to Rich Money Habits by simply filling-up the sign-up form below and clicking the ‘Submit’ button. It’s FREE!

P.S. If you want to know how to successfully invest in the Stock Market,  join Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club and read Bo’s Stocks Updates Newsletter.

Continue reading “Re-confirm Your Email Subscription to Rich Money Habits and get a FREE e-book by Bo Sanchez”
Categories
Investing Stocks

Online Stock Market Investing in the Philippines

This article describes the 3 tips on how to do online stock market investing in the Philippines.  This is part 2 of a 3-part series on the lessons I’ve learned from the recent Money Summit and Wealth Expo.  If you missed the first part, you can read the real-estate investing tips in the Philippines here.

Online Stock Market Investing in the Philippines

It’s been months since I’ve started online stock market investing.  As I’ve shared in my 2010 Financial Goals Mid-Year Update, investing in stocks has been an eye opener for me.  This is the reason why I was so glad to learn more about online investing in the stock market during the Money Summit and Wealth Expo seminar.

Lesson #1 – Investing in the Stock Market Requires Discipline

According to Conrado Bate of CitisecOnline, Inc. (COL), one way to successfully invest in the Philippine Stock Market is to invest continuously and regularly on good quality companies with predictable earnings.  This investing method is known as cost-averaging. 

That means, you need to invest a fixed amount of money every month (or quarterly) regardless if the market is up or down.  If the market is down, your money buys more shares of the company.  If the market is up, your total investment would also go up in value.  So even if the market is up or down, over the long term, your investment will still yield a pretty good return.

This is a pretty simple strategy.  But it is NOT easy.  For one, you have to have the discipline to buy the stocks even if the price is too high and still buy the same stocks even if the price is too low.  Your tendency is to get greedy when the price is too high, and become afraid when the same stock is priced way too low. 

Personally, this has been my experience.  The reality is I am an emotional being and I too am driven by 2 emotions – greed and fear.  For example, initially I planned to invest monthly through EIP but my over excitement has gotten the best of me.  When I bought my first stocks, I was so excited, I bought 3 different stocks right away.  Then I learned about the Super EIP and realized some stocks are being sold 47% below their price.  So I bought some of those stocks too.  That’s greed in action. 

With so many stocks in my portfolio, I don’t have enough money to invest in each of them every month now.  In addition, the price of some of my stocks is down 5% (ouch).  Worse, I don’t know what to do (fear).  Should I buy more of this stock now that it is priced lower?  How about those stocks I own that are now 30% up?  Should I sell them now?

Sometimes, answering these questions is not always easy.  In times like these, having the discipline to stick to your plan will come in handy.

Lesson #2 – Invest Only What You Save, Not What You Need

One very useful advice from a COL agent (I can’t remember her name) during the seminar, was to invest only what you save, not what you need.  The stock market is subject to market fluctuations.  You have no control over how the price will go.  This is the reason why some investors advice on investing only what you save (or what you can lose), and not what you need.

You should NOT borrow money to invest in the stock market especially if you’re a beginning investor.  Save first.  Unless you have the discipline to save, you won’t have the discipline to invest. 

Don’t invest what you need.  Money spent for your needs should NOT be invested into the stock market.  Never use money from your emergency fund.  Never invest the money you are using to pay for your debts.  The stock market is risky precisely because you don’t have any control over the investment.

With consistent saving and investing, your small amounts can become big amounts over the long term through the power of compounding.   Your money is leveraging the consistent growth of the company and the power of compounding to give you a nice return in the future.

Lesson #3 – Don’t Watch The Market

One very good habit that I’ve realized recently, is NOT to track your investments on a daily basis.  This may sound contrarian.  Maybe it is.  Maybe for some they need to watch the market daily.  But personally, I have not found a very good reason to track my investments on a daily basis.

I do track my investments every now and then, maybe once or twice every month.  But it has never come to a point where I would have to watch over it on a daily basis.

This is both to make the most of my time as well as for my own sanity.  I cannot imagine myself being glued to the screen monitor tracking the stock price every minute and then and worrying about the problems of the world such as the European debt crisis, oil problems, election results or what not. 

I understand that my money will be able to work for me over the long term, only if I give it time and stick to my strategy.  I am not investing all of my money in the stock market.  Stocks is only a small portion of my investment portfolio at the moment.  Besides, I don’t invest what I need.  I invest only what I can lose.  That simple thought helps me sleep at night.

 

Readers, what other stock investing tips can you share?  do you think cost-averaging method actually works?