Record breaking expenses

Total expenses for the past 17days is just $70.30. If I maintain my expenses at $10/day, my total expenses for the month will be a mere $210, allowing me to save the remaining $290 of my allowance. On top of that, I will be able to save 100% of my internship pay.

The application window for the government bursaries is now open. The maximum quantum of the bursary that I will be applying is $2900. This will be a substantial boost to my net worth if the application is successful. My target net worth by end 2013 is $70,000. If everything goes well, this target will be easily achieved. 

The Right Mindset toward financial freedom

The Right Mindset toward financial freedom

One of my best mentors in being truly rich club and financial freedom is no other than the best motivational preacher - Bro. Bo Sanchez. Here's one powerful anecdote he shared on what should be the right mindset toward financial freedom:

One morning, an Angel appears in front of you. 

And the Angel says, “I’ll give you a gift. You have a choice.” The Angel hands over a scroll to you.

With trembling fingers, you open it. On the parchment, you read the following text…

Please Choose One Gift

Gift 1: Ten million pesos will appear on your lap right now.

Or…

Gift 2: You’ll learn how to earn money. On the first two years, you earn nothing. Zero. But on your third year of learning, you earn P100,000. After that, your profit increases by 20% every year.

Now tell me, what would you choose?

Believe me, it’s so tempting to choose Gift 1.

Because you can buy whatever you want.

P10M is so much more than P100,000.

But don’t be deceived.

Gift 1 is cold cash. Nothing else.

Gift 2 is wisdom, character growth, skill development, increased self-esteem, strong relationships, and yes, money too. (Let’s do the Math: If you chose Gift 2, thirty years later, you’ll be earning P23M a year. Not a bad choice, right?)

Gift 1 (P10M) can disappear in a few years. Not only that, but money without wisdom is toxic. It can kill people and break-up families.

Gift 2 will last your entire lifetime.

So friend, it's easy and simple - always chose wisdom rather than money.

Remember, money is temporary - fleeting. While wisdom stays with you forever. 



PS. Avoid Confusion. Get guidance. Join my TrulyRichClub. Every month, receive my WealthStrategies Newsletter, my PowerTalks, my Stocks Update every month. Immediately, you’ll also receive my Ebook, My Maid Invests In The Stock Market… And Why You Should Too! (you can get this copy for free on my recommended e-book pages) To join, log on at www.TrulyRichClub.com now!

Spend less than what you earned

Spend less than what you earned 

It's easy to say, right? Yet there are many people out there still burying themselves in debts because of spending more than what they earned or others living purely in their salary (spending exactly what they earned).

By just following this simple spend less than what you earned saying but for me this is a basic rule to be follow toward financial freedom, you will be realized that it has a positive effect in your personal finances. Here are there: 

1. You begin to eliminate your debts slowly or you can free yourself from debt. Spending less than what you earned frees up the money you need to make larger payment on your debts. Over time, you will be notice slowly that your debts begin to disappear until your free from debt, your monthly bill is also reducing and giving you even more breathing room. 

2. You begin to save. By slowly reducing your bill and free from debt. You can now start save more money like building up your emergency fund. And also you have a breathing room to start saving for retirement, paying yourself a great future for your golden years. 

3. Your stress level falls. Knowing that you have a fewer or free from debts. Your emergency fund are covered already and your retirement is being planned. For that reason it can reduces your stress. You can sleep better without worrying of any debts must be pay. Your overall health improves and you feel happier about life. 

4. You can explore more other things. When your debts are gone and still you're spending far less than that what you earned. Suddenly you will see yourself looking for more career possibilities. You don't have to stick with your high-stress job. You will start thinking on how to grow more your savings and how to protect your money. You will looking for an additional income by making passive income to gain a freedom to move on and chase your dreams. You can now choose to live where and how you want to live.

Avoid These Five Investment Mistakes

Avoid These Five Investment Mistakes

You know that investing is necessary if you want to efficiently grow your wealth, but the recent stock market volatility caused you to be wary of investing.

However, it is folly to avoid investing altogether, and even though you might be concerned about it. Look. There is no way to completely protect yourself from the risk of loss, but there are things you can do to reduce losses. 

Here are five investment mistakes to avoid:

1. Time the market: This is especially tempting. You might want to try to time the market, pulling money out when things start looking shaky, and trying to enter the ground floor. However, there are disadvantages to this tactic — one of the biggest being that the market is notoriously hard to predict with high accuracy in the short term.

On top of this, you have to pay transaction fees, and if your timing leads to short-term capital gains, you could pay more in taxes. While you might not get a big score by keeping with a long-term strategy that includes dollar cost averaging or buy and hold or others, you are more likely to earn solid and reliable returns over time.

2. Give in to market hysteria: Whether it’s the hysteria to buy or the hysteria to sell, giving in to market crazes can be a huge mistake. While you might feel safe going along with everyone else, you are probably making a huge mistake. Buying hysteria creates bubbles that can be suddenly devastating when they burst.

If you sell because everyone else is, you might find that you are taking a loss on a fundamentally strong investment that will recover in a couple of years. The bottom line is that you need to base your investment decisions on reasoned research, not hype, and consider buying, even when everyone else is selling.

3. Overconfidence in your abilities: During a bull market, chances are that your gains aren’t due to your genius stock-picking abilities, but probably due to the fact that everyone is up. 

Unfortunately, many amateur investors (and that’s most of us) get an idea that they have more ability to pick stocks than they have. This overconfidence can lead them to take bigger risks, thinking that their crack insight will ensure a big payday.

In reality though, most average investors are better off with a strategy of regular investing in solid stocks, funds and other instruments that help them see solid — if boring — returns over the long haul.

4. Too much trust in someone else: Whether it’s a stockbroker or a “hot source”, too much trust in someone else can land you in investment trouble. A stockbroker is actually looking to make money for him or herself. 

A financial adviser that gets commissions from recommending certain financial products and investments isn’t thinking about your best interests.

Who knows why a “hot tip” is given. In the end, it is important to consider where your advice is coming from, and do some of your own research. A healthy balance between getting advice from a professional, and figuring things out on your own is a good thing. 

(Editor’s Note: for some reason, I keep thinking about “hot sauce” when I read “hot source”. Like the former, a hot source is good in moderation, but the more you add, the more you think you need. It’s not because they are good for your body, but because your tongue became insensitive.)

5. Pay too many fees: You want to be careful of the fees you pay. Fees eat into your returns. Frequent trading racks up the transaction fees, commissions take money from your pocket and put it into others’, and tax inefficiency results in the government getting more than its fair share. Consider the types of funds and other investments you have, and try to find those with low fees, low turnover for added tax advantages.

In the end, you want to maximize the money that you keep, using it to work for you, and build your wealth. If you are careful to avoid the worst investment mistakes, you are likely to do well in the long term.

I can never stress this enough. Long term people. ALWAYS think long term!

Soure:

Miranda Marquit

Buy Low and Sell High

Buy Low and Sell High

Buy Low and Sell High

The stock market has been very volatile for the past month. During these times, there was a record number of withdrawals from mutual funds as people get scared of being invested in equities. We know this is normal because this is just emotions playing games on us.

We know that when everyone is scared about investing in stocks, it means that everyone who will sell stocks have already sold, a sign of a bottom. We also know that when everyone is talking about the stock market never going down, it means that a crash is likely.

Although the stocks I purchased with additional money increased in value, I’m not prepared to say that this strategy has worked because my goal is not for short term gain. 

I believe that if I always buy stocks when everyone is scared and sell stocks when everyone is complacent, I will be able to practice “buy low, sell high”.

As my goal is financial freedom in the long run, I feel that I’m on the right track with this approach. Sure, I might be termed a “knife catcher” from time to time, but what I know is that I will never be the person who buys at the absolute top. 

This not only allows me to stay optimistic about my investing future and also keep me invested when times are bad, it will also instil a much needed discipline in me.

I understand that this may or may not work for you, and is way over simplified. I’m also not saying that you have to follow my approach. I just want to share with you what’s been working for me, as I hope that every reader of this will eventually be financially free.


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10 Inspirational Success Quotes and Sayings

10 Inspirational Success Quotes & Sayings

10 Inspirational Success Quotes & Sayings 

Sayings and quotes about success have a powerful affirming effect on you. If you take the time to think about the deeper meaning behind the words, you’ll realize how easily you can apply these sayings into your own life to achieve the success you desire.

Here are ten top inspirational success quotes along with a some self-reflection comments for you to ponder: 

1. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” (Michael Jordan) Every failure brings with it an opportunity for growth and sets you up for future success in a new effort. For example, failing at one job may bring you the opportunity to enjoy great success in another. Learning from failure will lead you to greater achievement.

2. “It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best’. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary." (Sir Winston Churchill) Too often, people use “I did my best” as an excuse for not doing what really needed to be done. Plan and prepare appropriately for the task at hand so that you can do what is required to succeed. Using this results-oriented strategy will help you accomplish your goal. 

3. “We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.” (Eric Hoffer) Try new things to spark your passions and develop your talents. You may actually have talents that you’re completely unaware of. When you desire something with a fiery passion, your mind will push you to take action and persevere until you’re successful. 

4. “We were born to succeed, not to fail.” (William Barclay) You were put on the Earth to succeed in your pursuits. When you use your God-given gifts, abilities, and strengths to fulfill your purpose, success is within your grasp. 

5. “Success is not the key to happiness – happiness is the key to success.” (Herman Cain) When you’re happy with your life and you enjoy every moment of each day, it’s easy to feel the joy of success in the smallest accomplishments. Live joyfully and your positive attitude will attract greater successes. 

6. “Success doesn’t come to you – you go to it.” (Marva Collins) You need to take action to achieve your goals and get what you want out of life. Once you define exactly what you want, design a plan of action steps to get you there, and then follow your plan. 

7. “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” (Eleanor Roosevelt) This quote is to challenge you. You must overcome your fears that are holding you back in order to become successful. 

8. “A great leader’s courage to fulfil his vision comes from passion, not position.” (John Maxwell) Believe in yourself. Know that you can achieve anything. Put your mind to it and be passionate about that which calls your name. 

9. “Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.” (Denis Waitley) When you fail, opportunities open up to help you succeed. You may need to start your task anew or change your route, but each failure brings you closer to success. 

10. “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” (Orison Swett Marden) No matter how tough a situation may be, don’t give up easily. When you persevere through great odds and overcome many challenges to achieve your goal, success is even sweeter! 

Self-Reflection Questions (if you dare): 

1. When you suffer a setback, do you still persevere towards your goal?

2. Do you bring passion to your endeavors? 

3. Have you designed your action plan to reach your goals? Have you taken swift action to get where you want to be?

Create Your Own Money

Create Your Own Money

Creating your own money is the most important financial skill you can master in your journey to financial freedom. Without it, your other skills such as saving or being frugal won't really have that much impact since you don't have any money to save anyway.

There are only two ways to make money: 1) reduce your expenses, and 2) increase your income. 

Reducing your expenses has its place. It allows you to have the discipline to focus on the things that really matter to you. It's maximizing the resources that you have. But it does have its limit. At some point you can no longer reduce your expenses without sacrificing your own health and being. 

Increasing your income, on the other hand, has limitless potential. However, it is not always as surefire as many people think. A lot of people are still struggling to make money. Jobless rates in the US is at an all-time highs. In the Philippines, we all know that a lot of people are struggling even to put food on their table. I don't want to sound cruel, but the reality is not many people know how to create their own money.

What Does Creating Your Own Money Mean
In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki tells a story of his best friend Mike and him devising a plan to create their own money after reading it from a science book. 

To start with their little project, they knocked on their neighbor's doors to ask if they had any empty toothpaste tubes. One day, after they've had enough tubes, they decided to finally start creating their own money. After a grueling ordeal of following each step of the procedure, the first batch arrived. 

As they were celebrating, Robert's dad and his friend asked them what they were doing. Mike and Robert simply said, they were creating their own money. His dad's friend burst out laughing. 

His dad explained to them that what they were doing was considered illegal. They cannot just print or mint their own money. It's called counterfeiting. With that, they ended their very first business venture with bruised ego. His dad, however, encouraged him, explaining that they were closer to making their own money than most people will ever be.

I shared the story to you for two reasons. First, when I first read the story, I remembered how it felt playing as a child like. As a child, me and my friends had our own world. There were no inhibitions. There were no restrictions. There were no limiting beliefs. Second, just like Robert and Mike, I learned printing your own money isn't as easy as it seems. 

As a child, all I really knew about making money was growing my own vegetables, raising goats and pigs and doing odd jobs like cleaning our neighbor's house and occasionally helping my mom to harvest tobacco leaves at a nearby town while enduring the excruciating heat from the sun.

Selling Banana Cue Without Saying A Word
I was a shy child growing up and even the mere act of buying was a scary task for me. One thing I learned early on, is that you can't be effective in selling if you are afraid of buying. 

One time during my first year in grade school, my aunt asked me to sell banana cue. What I did is to just sit by the bench and put the plate of banana cue beside me. I remember I was so silent, I didn't even ask anyone to buy from me. 

Whenever someone got curious and saw the banana cue, they would see the sign saying 50 cents each, and just hand over to me their coins. I would get the money and give them the banana cue without speaking any word. I really don't remember whether I even sold half of the banana cue that time. 

As far as I can remember, that was the first time I ever sold anything - and without even speaking any word.

My First Job and How I Got Promoted Almost Every Year

There were odd jobs I got into while studying in the university to help out my parents pay off my school expenses. One was a fingerprint-identification project and the other a security system. 

It seems more technical than it sounds but actually it is just some programming work I did which was related to what I was doing in school anyway. It didn't pay much but it was a start.

My very first real job is as a COBOL programmer from a multinational IT company. At that time they offered me PhP16,000 as an entry-level programmer. It was a BIG amount for me then, considering I was fresh out of College. 

I enjoyed it so much especially when after one month, the company did some restructuring and I ended up having a PhP1,000 increase. Coming from earning a few bucks here and there to thousands of pesos was a big leap for me.

I was so grateful with the opportunity, I decided early on that I would work hard at my job. I could say it paid off quite handsomely since I got promoted almost every year, but it didn't exactly start out that way. During my first few years, I was content in doing a good job and just keeping everything to myself. 

There was a certain pride in mind saying that if what I did was good enough, my boss would somehow find out about it one way or another. At first it worked out fine, but later on I started to wonder how come some of my colleagues who I thought was not so strong technically than me was getting ahead while I was stuck where I was.

That year I didn't get promoted. I was adamant. I was frustrated. I felt I should be the one getting the promotion. That's when I realized I needed to become bigger if I ever want to get to the next level. 

One of the most common feedback you will get when you work in the corporate world is the issue of "visibility". In the simplest of terms, it means, when no one knows you or what you are capable of, getting a promotion will be very hard. The book The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz was a big help in this area. If you haven't read the book I suggest you start skimming through it. 

It is while reading the book that I realized that doing a good job is NOT only about completing a task. 

Being good in a job has a lot to do with selling as well. You have to sell yourself every single day. You have to show your boss that you are a valuable part of your team. You have to sell your ideas to your team mates. 

You have to show them you really care. Be more proactive in sharing your ideas during meetings. You don't have to be "proud" to make your point but you do have to speak up when you have something valuable to say. 

How Not To Create Your Own Money
One time, my friends and I were walking inside a bookstore when we saw the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. One of my friends said it was a good book. Curious, I bought it and devoured the stories. My life was never the same again. Inspired by the book, I looked for ways to earn money. 

One time, I was also looking for something to sell over the internet. I was a tech junkie so I surfed the internet a lot. Since I loved watching movies and TV series, I checked out one of the popular auction sites in the Philippines for movies I can watch.

It turned out, there was this one seller who had a collection of all TV series you can imagine. I noticed the VCDs (yes, we still didn't have DVDs then) were only about P25 each. Since I like working with numbers, a lightbulb popped in my head and I said to myself, I can make VCDs cheaper and sell it for P20 and still have some profit. After all, one blank CD was just around P5 then. 

I used my old PC, bought a CD burner and started my first venture. To get my own master copy, I bought one for myself. I made another copy and sold it in the same auction site. A few days after, my mobile phone was bombarded with inquiries.

I completed my first order and met with the buyer face to face, what they call as "kaliwaan". Not a pretty good term, I know but what the heck, I sold something. That was big for me. I realized I can actually sell.

I then told my friends I was selling VCDs of their favorite shows and my business started to boom. Then an unexpected event happened. I receive an order from someone I didn't know. The order was more than I have ever handled before. Overcome with greed, I accepted it. I bought the shows he wanted from my supplier and waited in our meeting place.

A few more hours and it started to dawn on me, I was scammed. It felt like a big drum of cold water just flushed me into the toilet. I lost some money.

That experience proved to be a turning point in my business. While I was able to make the money back in some other ways, I realized I was sacrificing too much of my time making the business work. I was the marketing guy. I was the delivery boy. I was the accountant. 

I was everything. To top it all, my business was not even legal. I had to stop. I told all my contacts that I was no longer in the business. It was painful. But it was all worth it. In the end, I felt better knowing that I never could live with myself knowing that I was making money in the expense of someone else.

While I am not particularly proud of that business, I did learn a lot of things from the experience that has served me well up to this day. The most important of which, is being true to your values, being honest with the people you meet, and doing business legally and ethically.

What Does This All Have To Do In Making Your Own Money
What does all the above have to do in making your own money? A lot I would say. In creating your own money, it is very important to stay true to your virtues. 

When you fail, get up. When in doubt, surge forward. When you're afraid, feel the fear but do it anyway. For when you start something, the universe will conspire to give you what you want. 

Source:

Rich Money Habits