Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Another side of me

I would like to share to you guys, the other side of me. You already know that Gio Paredes is the publisher and creator of Kalayaan comics. But this time, I will show you another kind of Freedom. And that is financial freedom.

In a nut shell. Financial freedom is the ability to do what you always want to do in life without any worries of any kind of financial problem. To spend time with your family and to do what you want, when you want, whenever you want. A freedom from fear or worry. Having multiple streams of highly leverage income.

But in order to do that. You must first change the way you think. You must also study the game of investing and business. You must also have a mentor to teach you. Learn from their experiences and listen to their words of wisdom. One of my mentor in real estate investing is Trace Trajano. He is the the best selling author of the book "Think Rich Pinoy". In our social networking site (http://buyfirstdeal.ning.com). He recently posted a heart warming story which I would like to share to you.

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Kumusta na kabayan!

First, I would like to thank you for being an OFW. My dad used to be an OFW and I know the many sacrifices you are enduring right now just so that you can provide the best for your family. I admire you, I appreciate you and in my book, you are a true Pinoy hero.

Second, I would like to help you. I would like to help you in the same way I helped Bobet, a former OFW. Under my coaching, from being broke and in debt, in just 12 months Bobet became a millionaire. Bobet is in fact back in the Philippines. He no longer needed to work as a nurse here in the U.S. He no longer misses his wife and kids. He can now kiss and hug them everyday. He has achieved in 1 year what most OFWs will never achieve in their lifetime. How did he do it?

I taught Bobet the Secrets of Wealth. And if you want to be like Bobet, read on because I want to teach you the Secrets of Wealth as well. But there’s a catch. You will only understand the Secrets of Wealth by understanding how my dad, an OFW like you became broke.

I’ve experienced as a child what I call a roller coaster of wealth. In Tagalog, we call this “Gulong ng Palad” (Wheel of Fortune) because there are times we’re on top of the world and there are times we’re at the bottom. When my dad comes back from abroad it is like a fiesta. The alcohol is overflowing. The whole town seems to be at our door step and my dad’s pasalubongs never seem to run out. Packets of cigarette. Bottles of whisky. Chocolates for the kids. Jewelry for my mom. It is like we’re millionaires every time my dad goes home.

But we’re millionaires only for a short time.

Two weeks later, the money’s gone. My mom and dad start to argue. And my dad seriously considers going back to the ship. He borrows money from his mom – my grandmother (we call “Nanay”). One time, my mom and dad even asked me to borrow money from Nanay because both of them were already turned down. I guess that tactic worked because Nanay couldn’t say NO to his apo and we ate dinner that night.

Then things turn for the worse. The many friends who cheerfully greeted my dad’s homecoming are no longer around. Instead, creditors start hounding us, pounding at our door. At 8 years old, I am taught to lie and tell the creditor my mom is not around even though she is just there beside me kneeling and praying the creditor goes away.

From feeling like millionaires for a few days to being dead broke 2 weeks later – describing it as a roller coaster or a wheel of fortune is an understatement. My mom and dad managed to squander all their savings and more.

So 2 months later, my dad is back at the airport again. We have tears in our eyes once again as we bid him goodbye. My dad would have to work hard on a ship 10 months in a year mostly to pay off our greedy lenders and creditors.

My dad tried to invest – buying a tricycle but the business became bankrupt as fast as it was started. My dad recalled that tricycle with pride in his voice “It was the first stainless steel tricycle in our town”. He was proud of the product but he did not take the time to understand the business.

There were many days our home is literally dark because we couldn’t pay for the electric bill. Once, as a 9-year old boy, I was devastated when I saw my books have been sold so that we will have food on the table that day. Then the worst happened: we lost our home to foreclosure because there was no money left to pay for the mortgage.

Is the story above familiar to you? I bet most OFWs have the same lifestyle cycle as my dad. Rich one day then broke another.

Have you discovered the Secrets to Wealth in my dad’s story?

At its core, it really is very simple. You will be wealthy if you do the exact opposite of what my dad did.

Don’t waste your money by throwing a lavish home coming party for the whole town – SAVE your money instead. Have a small gathering with your family and loved ones. Your children will appreciate it more because they want your presence more than your presents. Get into the habit of saving at least 10-20% of everything you earn. The earlier you get that habit the wealthier you will become or the faster you will become a millionaire.

Bobet saves 50% of what he earns. No wonder he has become a millionaire in only 12 months.

But you cannot save your way to millions. You have to learn how to invest your savings. My aunt who used to work as a bank clerk, who earned 1/10th of what my dad earned as a seaman is now a multi-millionaire because she learned to invest her money. Your savings must go to “work” for you. They must produce good returns or profit. But you cannot stop there. You have to reinvest your profits so that your wealth can grow exponentially.

My aunt started a business butchering chickens in the wet market (palengke). She saved half of her profits and lived off the other half. She then put her savings to buy a store. The profits from the store and the chicken business were then invested into a farm. The profits from the farm, the store and the chicken business were then invested into a resort. The profits from the resort, the farm, the store and the chicken business were then invested into apartment buildings.

As a result of saving, investing, and reinvesting her profits, my aunt becomes richer and richer even as she works less and less while my dad because of spending, borrowing, then spending becomes poorer and poorer even as he works harder.

The choice is yours. Bobet chose to become rich and he put in the time to learn and apply the Secrets of Wealth. Bobet is now in the Philippines employing 30 people because of the businesses he started. 30 families now rely on Bobet because he applied the Secrets of Wealth and Bobet is proving you can become wealthy even back home.

I like you to be wealthy my friend. But the choice is up to you.

By Trace Trajano
http://buyfirstdeal.ning.com



4 comments:

monsanto said...

Ganyan din ako, save ng save saka work ng work. Tapos kailangan walang utang. Utang na loob pwede, utang na pera? no way.

Gio Paredes said...

@Monsanto
Okay lang naman mag karoon ng utang. As long as binabayaran ang inutang. Ako kasi personally, I have a lot of debt. But it is a good debt.

There are actually two kinds of Debt. Good debt and bad debt. Bad debt makes people poor while good debt makes people rich. Good debt kasi ang ginagamit ng mga negosyante to fund their business and also smart investors to fund their income generating assets. :-)

Ben 10 said...

Dude be very very careful about schemes that promise get rich quick scenarios that cost you nothing...usually scam ito like from some of the ads on your mentor's site saying you can buy foreclosed US property, etc...

Better yung site na GetRichSlowly, mas practical ang advice...also there is no such thing as good debt according to Get Rich Slowly, you should get rid of ALL of your debt and use your SAVINGS to invest rather than acquiring a loan...

Gio Paredes said...

@Ben
Thank you very much for your concern. But I am already old enough to know and differentiate if things are a scam or not. Very carefull naman ako.

And Ben, there is a Good Debt. You are just saying that because we have a different way of thinking. Kaya sinabi ko sa post ko dito "You must first change the way you think". You have a savers mentality while I have an investors mentality. If your very much comfortable with the "Get Rich Slowly" then I am very much happy for you.

PS.
Since you are a frequent visitor of my site. I think it is only polite to show your real identity here.