When I was around 5 years old, banana cue (fried banana on a stick), my favorite snack food on stick, was priced at around 50 centavos per stick, with 3 bananas on a stick. That was 29 years ago. Now, a banana cue stick, with 3 bananas on a stick, costs P12. That's an increase in price of 2400% or an increase in the price of the banana cue by 83% per year, or a depreciation in
the value of the Peso by 83% a year, when it comes to the price of the banana cue. So, if I had saved my 50 centavos 29 years ago, when I was 5 years old, so I will be able to buy a banana cue 29 years after, I would be in the greatest shock of my life. How on earth could I buy a banana cue right now with 50 centavos? Now, let's stop talking about banana cue. Let's look at the economic condition of our country. But first let me ask you a question. What is inflation? If you ask those so-called economic experts, chances are, they will provide you with technical answers. Something that you cannot easily grasp, especially if you have been sleeping in your Economics Class back when you were in school. Simply put it, inflation is the increase in the value of the goods or products and services which results to the depreciation of the value of the Peso. The banana cue situation above is an example of inflation. Fortunately, generally speaking, the average inflation in the Philippine economy right now is only 6%. That means your Peso has gone down in value by 6%. If you have a hundred peso in your pocket, the actual value of that is not 100 pesos but only 94 pesos. If you keep that P100 in your piggy bank, let's say for 10 years with an average inflation of 6% per year, at the end of the 10th year, you open up your piggy bank, you'll still find your P100 there, safe and sound, but the sad thing is that, the value of that P100 is no longer P100 but P54. What if instead of 10 years, you keep your money for 20 years? 35 years? Get the point? Sad to say that there are lots of Filipinos who are in the same situation right now. Scared of putting their money into investments because of risks, they instead put their money into their own piggy bank accounts because having their money right under their noses give them emotional security. Not knowing that the economy itself is a big thief. It takes the value of your money from you without you knowing it! Those who have tens of millions of pesos or more may not feel the harsh effect of inflation in the buying power of their money.
But what about those who doesn't have millions of pesos? What about those ordinary employees trying to save for their retirements? Will they have enough when they retire? Well, maybe they will have enough, but only enough for their sustenance. They won't have extra to spend for vacations, trips, etc. For me that's a very sad, unfortunate thing to happen to a retiree. You have been working all your life so it's just fitting that when you retire, you should enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you wish to attend FREE Financial Education Classes, email me at hornetsnest29@yahoo.com or SMS me on 09196227997 for details.
May God bless you and make your dreams come true!
Josh
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Financial Education
What is Financial Education?
Throughout my entire school years, no teacher had ever taught me how to handle money the right way. How to save the proper way. All I was taught was how to become a good employee, how to become a good worker of somebody. I was taught properly on how to work for money, but never taught how to make money work for me. That is just what the rich people do. They don't work for the money. It's the money that's working for them. There are a lot of rich people who still work but they do so because they enjoy doing it. They can stop working anytime because they have their money working for them. What about the average Juan De La Cruz? Can he stop working anytime? Does he have enough money in the bank to survive the rest of his life if he stops working now? If you look around, you see a lot of retired persons relying on their children or their relatives for their sustenance. Why is that? During their younger years, they had enough. They never relied on someone else for their food. They had jobs, salaries to hold on to. But that's it. They had money only because of their jobs. But when they can no longer work, the cash cow stops giving them money. The sad thing is, even when you can no longer work for money, you will still need money. You will need money for your food, for your medications, etc., etc., etc. But where will the money come from? Now comes the age old Filipino tradition. Time for the children to return the favor. Time for the children to feed their parents. But most of the time, the children themselves can even hardly support themselves. Some even relies still on their old parents for their financial needs. When that is the case, what happens to the retired parent who no longer have an income to depend on? What if you are that parent? This my friends, is the subject of Financial Education. It educates you on the proper way of handling your finances, the right way to save your hard earned money so you will have enough, if not more than enough, to sustain you in your retired years. Let me share you something I have read from a book written by David E. Calhoun.
DO NOT LET THIS BE THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE!
Between the ages of 18 and 30, most people say, "I cannot save now. I am young and there is plenty of time. Wait until I start making a little more, then I will save."
Between the ages of 30 and 45, people say, "I cannot save now. I have a growing family on my hands. It takes all I make to keep them going. As soon as they are a little older it will cost less, then I will save."
Between the ages of 45 and 55, people say, "I cannot save now. I have three children in college. It is all I can do to pay their expenses. I cannot save a penny. Wait until they are out of college and on their own, then I can salt it away."
Between the ages of 55 and 65, people say, "I cannot save now. I know I should but things are not breaking like they should. It is not easy for a person of my age to step out and get a better job. Maybe something will break for me next year."
At the age of 65, people say, "I cannot save now. I am living with my son and his wife. My social security does not go very far. I wish I had been saving years ago, but I cannot save now. THERE IS NO INCOME.
Now my friend, what will be the story of your life?
If you wish to attend FREE Financial Education Classes, email me at hornetsnest29@yahoo.com or SMS me on 09196227997 for details.
May God bless you and make your dreams come true!
Josh
Throughout my entire school years, no teacher had ever taught me how to handle money the right way. How to save the proper way. All I was taught was how to become a good employee, how to become a good worker of somebody. I was taught properly on how to work for money, but never taught how to make money work for me. That is just what the rich people do. They don't work for the money. It's the money that's working for them. There are a lot of rich people who still work but they do so because they enjoy doing it. They can stop working anytime because they have their money working for them. What about the average Juan De La Cruz? Can he stop working anytime? Does he have enough money in the bank to survive the rest of his life if he stops working now? If you look around, you see a lot of retired persons relying on their children or their relatives for their sustenance. Why is that? During their younger years, they had enough. They never relied on someone else for their food. They had jobs, salaries to hold on to. But that's it. They had money only because of their jobs. But when they can no longer work, the cash cow stops giving them money. The sad thing is, even when you can no longer work for money, you will still need money. You will need money for your food, for your medications, etc., etc., etc. But where will the money come from? Now comes the age old Filipino tradition. Time for the children to return the favor. Time for the children to feed their parents. But most of the time, the children themselves can even hardly support themselves. Some even relies still on their old parents for their financial needs. When that is the case, what happens to the retired parent who no longer have an income to depend on? What if you are that parent? This my friends, is the subject of Financial Education. It educates you on the proper way of handling your finances, the right way to save your hard earned money so you will have enough, if not more than enough, to sustain you in your retired years. Let me share you something I have read from a book written by David E. Calhoun.
DO NOT LET THIS BE THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE!
Between the ages of 18 and 30, most people say, "I cannot save now. I am young and there is plenty of time. Wait until I start making a little more, then I will save."
Between the ages of 30 and 45, people say, "I cannot save now. I have a growing family on my hands. It takes all I make to keep them going. As soon as they are a little older it will cost less, then I will save."
Between the ages of 45 and 55, people say, "I cannot save now. I have three children in college. It is all I can do to pay their expenses. I cannot save a penny. Wait until they are out of college and on their own, then I can salt it away."
Between the ages of 55 and 65, people say, "I cannot save now. I know I should but things are not breaking like they should. It is not easy for a person of my age to step out and get a better job. Maybe something will break for me next year."
At the age of 65, people say, "I cannot save now. I am living with my son and his wife. My social security does not go very far. I wish I had been saving years ago, but I cannot save now. THERE IS NO INCOME.
Now my friend, what will be the story of your life?
If you wish to attend FREE Financial Education Classes, email me at hornetsnest29@yahoo.com or SMS me on 09196227997 for details.
May God bless you and make your dreams come true!
Josh
Securing Your Financial Future
I have worked in passenger/luxury ships for about 9 years. I have worked in an expedition ship for 9 months. Both kind of ships have one thing in common. They carry people who are having their vacations. Visiting places in different parts of the world. A lot of them, if not most of them, are in their retired years. My point is, how can these old, retired, jobless people afford all these luxuries? Where did they get all these money to pay for these? In Philippines, if you observe, a lot of old and retired people just have enough money to survive each month and a lot of them even doesn't have enough to sustain them every month. They rely on the financial assistance from their relatives. So, how did these people in the Western hemisphere do it? Where did they get all these money? In Philippines, if you look at the system from the point of view in a lot of families, the parents will try to give their children the best education that they can afford in the hope that someday, when these kids graduate from college, they will be able to find good jobs and be able to provide financial assistance to their parents when they retire and can no longer work. In short, it is normal practice in this country for parents to depend on their children for their financial future. In their younger years, they never did something to secure their financial future. I once heard someone say, "It is good to have a lot of children so you will have a lot of financial assistance when they grow up and you retire." Nonsense!!! Why do you put the responsibility of securing your financial future in the shoulders of your children? It is your financial future. It is yours to secure! Your children's responsibility is to secure their own financial future. That's what these Westerners do. They don't rely on their relatives for their financial security when they retire. They secure their own financial future. So, you might say, of course they can do it because they are better paid than their Filipino counterparts. Yes, they maybe. But that's not the point. The point is that most of these people are financially educated, and they have open minds when it comes to financial matters. In Philippines, we are also well-educated, academically, but not financially. What the Filipinos need, is proper financial education. It is a fundamental thing that one must learn to be able to know how to handle his financial affairs properly and be on the way to financial security or in other words, financial independence. There is just no other way. Financial success can be had through proper financial education.
If you wish to attend FREE Financial Education Classes, email me at hornetsnest29@yahoo.com or SMS me on 09196227997 for details.
May God bless you and make your dreams come true!
Josh
If you wish to attend FREE Financial Education Classes, email me at hornetsnest29@yahoo.com or SMS me on 09196227997 for details.
May God bless you and make your dreams come true!
Josh
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