Over the weekend, my nine-year old daughter, Gaby, asked me a random question.
She asks, "Mommy, ilan Mondays meron sa one year?" (Mommy, how many Mondays are there in a year?)
I estimated 52 (Remember the famous 52-week challenge at the start of the year?) and asked her why.
With a big smile and eyes wide, looking excited, she said, "Kung iipunin ko ung Php100 ko every Monday, meron akong Php5,200 this year?!?" (If I save my Php100 every Monday, I will have Php5,200 by the end of the year?!?"
I said, "YES. Pag inipon mo yun sa stock market, magiging Php14,500 pag 18 years old ka na." (Yes, and if you invest that in the stock market, it will grow to Php14,500 when you turn 18.)
She exclaimed, "WOW!!! Sasabihin ko kay Nanay." (Wow! I'm telling grandma.) She calls my mother, Nanay.
Last Christmas, she received Php6,500 as cash gifts. She spent Php900 at Toy Kingdom, gave Php2,000 to Nanay, and told me to put the rest at Insular Life. This is how influential we are to our kids.
"Schools teach you how to work hard for money, but don't teach how to make money work for you." - Robert Kiyosaki
Gaby came back to me and said, "Hindi nila maintindihan." (They do not understand.)
That is the problem. Growing up, we are only taught to do well in school, get a job, and work for money. We were only taught about active income, wherein we exchange our time for money.
We were never taught how to make money work for us, or passive income, which is money making more money even while we sleep.
Personally, I never knew that money could work for me -- until I learned about investments, the stock market, recognizing opportunities and getting mentors back in 2013.
If Only I Knew Then What I Know Now
This is what I often tell my friends, and what I encourage in this blog: Start investing TODAY, not tomorrow.
If you are single, female, INVEST TODAY so that when you are married with kids, you can spend your time taking care of your family full time.
If you are single, male, INVEST TODAY so that you can say, "Okay, honey, no problem with me," when your wife asks if she can quit her job to take care of you and your kids full time.
If you are married, INVEST TODAY so that when the time comes that you have enough money working for you, you can pursue your passion, and live your purpose.
If you are working and happy with your profession, INVEST TODAY so that you will have a retirement fund that will allow you to live worry-free in the future, not depending on your kids, your SSS or GSIS pension, or your company's retirement package which you do not exactly how much.
As for my daughter, I teach her to INVEST TODAY so that she would not need to loan from banks when she wants to build a house, buy a car, or start a business. I do not want my kids to be slaves of debt. She may not understand the idea of how she actually earns through the stock market yet, but eventually, she will. She began her first business at age 4 selling loom bracelets to relatives, and she has developed the habit of saving; so, that is a pretty good start, and I am very proud of her.
If I invested Php50,000 per year for the first 10 years that I was working...
I began investing in the stock market when I was 31, as soon as I learned about it, but I could only wish that I understood it sooner. I am 34 as of this writing.
In 2003, I was lucky enough to land a job a month after I graduated. I worked as a bank teller for more than a year.
After experiencing a lot of cash just passing through my hands literally, I made a career shift and went into sales.
Aside from my basic salary, I have my allowance, my commission, and my bonuses. But because I always have this thinking that my ATM gets replenished regularly, I spent everything I earned. The idea of "not working" never crossed my mind.
There were only two things I knew about money then -- working for money, and spending it all.
Thinking now, if I invested even just Php50,000 per year of my hard-earned money in the stock market through a VUL, with an average return of 10% per year, my Php500,000 investment could have been Php894,405 today -- without me doing anything.
Even if I stop putting in more money, my Php500,000 could have grown to Php17M when I am 65. That's a whopping eight-digit retirement fund!!!
You did not came across this post by accident, there is a purpose...
It was in 2013 when I reached my "financial rock bottom." Because I had no money, I felt like I was enslaved from the circumstances that I got myself into at that time.
I met my first financial mentor, Bo Sanchez, who eventually became my spiritual mentor, at his How to Heal Yourself Naturally seminar while I was accompanying my mother. That seminar was not for me. Today, I realized that I was not there by random.
The following day, I signed up at his Truly Rich Club, his membership site for financials. The next Sunday, I found myself praying to God at The Feast Bay Area. The following month, I was at the TRC's Wealth Summit where I met other mentors. From there was the birth of this blog, the discovery of my passion for writing, and my life purpose of promoting financial literacy. And as they say, the rest was history.
My financial mess then is now my message to the world that I am telling you now through my blog.
You may be financially lost right now, just like how I was in 2013. I pray that this post empowers you to do something about your financial life TODAY.
Or you may be well-off, I pray that you continue to grow financially so that you can use money for its main purpose which is to love and serve many.
Acquiring wealth is not about having a lot of money. It is about having a lot of options. Use investing as a bridge to your dreams. Learn how to make money work for you.
And Let Me Share With You Something About My Money-Savvy Daughter
Photo above is Gaby's passbook.
I was telling a friend that Gaby has Php8,000 plus in savings today. He exclaimed, "Wow! Ang dami nyang pera." (Lol!)
For a nine-year old, well, probably, yes. She opened her savings account last July 2017, and four months later, she has Php8,802.17.
Every time money comes in, she saves. And these money are from her Php100/week allowance, cash gifts during her birthday last July, and cash gifts for doing great in school. Yesterday, I received a text message from her teacher that she qualified for the inter-school quiz bee happening in January 2018. Kindly include her and her schoolmates in your prayers. Thank you very much.
She uses this money to buy stuff that she likes. As you can see, there was a Php700 withdrawal noted with a Shoppee. She bought something online.
As Christmas approached in September, she began making her list, and bought gifts with her own money. Now she only needs to buy gifts for six people, that includes me. Nice.
When she goes to the mall with me, she brings her own wallet. Because she is spending her own money, money that took time and good grades for her to earn, it makes her think twice, even thrice before paying for an item. She already knows what is "mahal" and was is "sulit."
And at a young age, how does she know about these things, you may ask?
Well, (ahem!) but here is where our role as parents comes in. We, ourselves, need to be financially literate so we can teach these things to our kids -- things that we were never taught of in school, and probably will not be taught our kids in school. We must take that initiative.
I do not want my kids to make the same financial mistakes that I did spending everything I earn, or the financial mistakes that my parents did, not preparing for their retirement. I want that cycle to stop with us. And with the rate that we are going today, we will.
Aside from Savings, She also has Insurance and Investment
In 2014, I got her and my other daughter Elise, an insurance policy with a Php500,000 coverage and a guaranteed cash receivables every two years starting in 2020 (she will be 12 years old by then, while Elise will be 8 years old) for the rest of their lives. Pretty cool, right?
And since we will not be needing those receivables yet since my husband and I are still in our prime years, that money will be invested in a VUL, also for our kids. And then that cycle of earning, investing, and re-investing goes on -- with money working for us full time.
Learn how to make money work for you. And then teach these to your kids.
Be very blessed!
P.S. I hope you find this post helpful. Kindly click the SHARE buttons below.
P.S2. Do you want to start investing in the stock market? Send me an email at financialplanningforpinoys@gmail.com or drop me a message on Facebook.
