ASPIRING ENTREPRENEUR

Being Debt Free

2009-06-05T01:41:00.000-07:00

As I have said in one of my previous article, being financially intelligent is one of the best tools to have a financially secured life in the future. You don't want to be working the rest of your life being a corporate slave just to pay all those debts. Eventually, you would become tired and sick and health problems would start hunting you.

However, we cannot escape life's ups and downs. Let's face it. What if you would be drowned in debt? What if you have a lot of unpaid credit card bills? What will you do if you all have these debt burdens mounting on your head and giving a dim light to your financial future?

As an internet searcher, I've discovered one premier resource for consumers looking for debt solutions that needs credit card consolidation. It also offers refinancing options on taxes and bankruptcy. Best of all it's free!

Are you ready to be live a debt free life? Are you ready to be financially secure? Choose your own actions and live a happy debt free life.

Cheap and Reliable Hosting

2009-05-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

I had a friend who told me about this cheap and reliable hosting company. Within days, I checked out their site and I did not think twice I availed their hosting service for my newly launched blog: Millionaire SEO.

They have a wonderful customer support service. They easily answer all your queries. It only took me one day before I received a reply from their query! Such a nice and reliable hosting company.

You can get a hosting package for as low as $4.95 per month with 2,500 email accounts, 1500 GB of storage and 1500 GB of transfer.

If you've ever thinking of transferring your blogs or websites to another hosting company, I would definitely recommend it:

See for yourself.

Debt Management

2009-03-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

Are you heavy in debt? Do you need debt management solutions to handle all you credit card debts? There's a one stop shop for debt counseling to help you with all of your financial problems be it in your educational programs, money management and professional credit counseling.

Everyone needs to be debt free. With consolidatedcredit.org, you can access their tools at your fingertips for free. There's a free budget analysis to help you with your finances. If you are in debt, there's a section where you can learn and understand your personal situation. Just like in Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, you too can get out of this rat race and live debt free.

Let yourself be trained on managing your finances most especially if you want to escape filing bankruptcy. There's a credit counseling service for all your debt management needs.

How To Become a Millionaire

2009-03-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Do you want to become a millionaire? Many of us, including me, is dreaming to become a millionaire. Nowadays, it's very hard to become one especially with the current global recession that crippled a lot of economies.

We want have some money to buy the things that we want. We want to secure our future. We don't want to pressure ourselves to work harder just to have some money to buy our basic necessities.

But what does it take to become a millionaire? I have been blogging about the steps and I came up with a list on how to become one.

1. How to Save Money - A lot of us are employees of certain corporations. We get paychecks every now and then from our hard work. Yet somehow, a lot us, are in the urge of spending the same money for expenses that are not worth it. We must learn how to save our salary. We must learn how to become frugal. No matter how large is your salary but if you kept spending it, definitely, you'll not end up becoming a millionaire.

2. Where to Invest Extra Cash? - If you have saved enough money, then educate yourself and fight inflation by investing your hard earned money. Assess yourself first when it comes to return, risk and liquidity and examine yourself if you really fit into that particular investment option that you are thinking.

3. What Makes Rich Gets Richer? - Learn also what makes the rich gets richer. Learn the fundamentals and different investing strategies of the so-called rich investors. Discover their tactics and immitate them. Learn how to differentiate between active income and passive income.

4. Cashflow 101 e-Game - Then play the cashflow 101 e-game for you to test if you already grasped the financial intelligence that you acquired. See if you can compete with other players to eventually come out of the rat race. It's one of the best games to play to learn how to become a millionaire.

5. Finally, to learn more about how to become a millionaire, you can read a research study on millionaires to know a millionaire's lifestyle, how do millionaires invest, and how did they become millionaires.

To further enhance your spirit and kick off that self motivation, you can also read the success stories of some famous people for it to serve as an inspiration to us that we too can also become millionaires like them.

a. Manny Pangilinan Success Story - The success story of Manny Pangilinan, the highest paid Chief Executive Officer of a company here in the Philippines.

b. Henry Sy Success Story - The success story of the richest person in the Philippines who owns all 33 SM Malls, banks Banco de Oro and a portion of China Bank, and several other business interests.

c. Jollibee Success Story - The success story of Jollibee, the undisputed leader in fast food chains here in the Philippines, knocking off multinational food chains such as Mc Donalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

d. Gokongwei Success Story - The success story of John Gokongwei Jr., a great rival of Henry Sy with several business interests.

Lastly, let's hear from Adam Khoo, Singapore's youngest millionaire on his million dollar interview as he exposes his strategies and techniques on how did he become a millionaire at a very young age of 26.

Permanently Moving

2009-01-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

I am permanently moving my blog to Millionaire Acts.

Think and Act like a Millionaire.

Discover how to invest and what makes rich gets richer by learning the fundamentals of finance, investing and money management.

Learn to be motivated towards achieving those goals.

Credit Cards Are Friends

2008-12-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

Credit Cards, the easiest way of availing credit.

We can use them for cashless purchase and are very convenient to use most especially if you are a shopping addict.

Personally, credit cards are my friends because I know how to discipline myself on using them. I already received a lot of credit card offers and currently I have four of them but only two are in use.

Here are the advantages of having a credit card for me:

Cashless Transaction. You don't have to bring much money when buying expensive things.

Float Advantage. This refers to the time it takes the credit card company to bill you for the purchases you made. You can practically purchase without money and you give yourself enough time to earn that money to pay off that purchase. So there's no urgency to pay off quickly.

Reward Points. A lot of credit cards have these where you can accumulate points for every purchase you make and later on exchange them to freebies like appliances, gift checks, and even free vacation trips abroad!

Huge Discounts. Credit card companies offer huge discounts with their partner establishments. Some even entitles you to a free meal if you met the minimum purchase.

Credit Cards are not only for personal use but also for business use. And that is why there are so-called business credit cards. But how do we compare which one best suits our needs?

You may be asking:

Which one provides the lowest interest rate?
Are there annual fees?
Are there any cashback bonuses?
Do they have partner establishments? If so, which are they and how much discount can I get?

Truly, credit cards are friends that is a must for convenience. If you have a good credit standing, it will be a good basis for you to avail bigger loans like housing or car loans. A good credit standing means higher chances to get your loans approved. However, if you did not maintain your discipline, it can become your worst enemies and may become a quick sand that will swallow all your finances and you'll end up paying for it for the rest of your life.

Millionaire Acts

2008-11-28T01:29:00.001-08:00

I just would like to inform you that I just started a more professional look blog on wordpress.

It's entitled "Millionaire Acts" Journey to Your Millions with more quality contents on entrepreneurship, investments, personal finance, and self-motivation.

It was originally described as 'Journey to One Million Dollars' but a friend of mine told me to change it to 'Journey to Your Millions' because the former limits the capacity to only one Million Dollars.

Additionally, this was not only my journey but also "Your" journey. So it's "OUR" journey.

I will still post some articles on this blog from time to time but I will concentrate more on building and providing quality contents on the new blog with a monthly update on my progress on networth.

I do hope that my readers will still support me as we travel our journey to millions.

Let's all eliminate poverty and achieve financial freedom!

The Most Inspiring Video

2008-11-25T01:13:00.000-08:00

I was going through with my normal site visits and I came to this blog of a famous internet marketer Barry Dunlop. I was intrigued by his post regarding 'The Most Inspiring Video' he has ever watched.

I watched the video and admittedly, I was also touched by the last lecture of this guy named Ryan Pausch who had a pancreatic cancer who had only months to live.

He discussed his life from his childhood dreams up to the very moment but I was actually touched by his last lines that says: "If you live your life the right way, the Karma will take care of itself. The Dreams will come to you. If you live properly, the dreams will come to you."

Watch the video here.

Christmas Carol for Investors

2008-11-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

Since Santa Claus is again close to coming to town this Christmas, I would like to share this Christmas Carol specially made for investors during this time of economic slowdown.

Sing to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'. It's 35 days to go before CHRISTMAS!

HO..HO..HO…LET'S SING TOGETHER

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town.

It's hitting you once,
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise
Recession is coming to town

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's safe when you've got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town

Finance products are confusing
Finance products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk
So keep out for goodness sake, OH

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town.

Manny Villar’s Success Story

2008-11-17T01:49:00.001-08:00

[With excerpts from neGOsyo by Joey Concepcion]

We all know him by his famous guiding lines ‘Sipag at Tiyaga’ which means perseverance, persistence and hard work. He had this latest TV commercial about helping Overseas Filipino Workers who were victims of illegal recruiters. He is one of the richest persons here in the Philippines and considered one of the titans in the real estate market industry, owning low cost housing firm C&P Homes and high-class housing firm Brittany Bay Corp. Who else I am talking about? He is no other than our current Senate President Manny Villar, which resembles another rags to riches story.

Senator Manuel ‘Manny’ Bamba Villar was born on December 13, 1949 in Moriones, Tondo, Manila to a family of nine children. His father, Manuel Villar Sr. was just a low-ranking civil servant and they were just living under a rented apartment. The main source of their income was their small fish and shrimp business in Divisoria. His mother, Curita Bamba Villar was a market vendor. As a boy, he was often seen assisting his mother in the wet market. His mother used to wake him up early in the morning to help her carry loads of fish. Young Manny used to complain it was too early but he would do it anyway just for her mother to save money by not hiring a helper to do it. He recalled he was once commanded by his mother to encash a 40-peso check at a bank in the former Manila Hilton Hotel. He was one of the earliest customers that time and the teller complained that the check smelled like fish. However, he remained firm telling the bank teller it was her duty to accept the check.

Manny learned his entrepreneurial skills from his best teacher, his mother. He said, “I learned from my mother what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and it means working really hard to achieve your dreams.” He described his mother as a ‘consummate entrepreneur’. He described her as a very hard working person who was never been absent or late in the wet market. He further described her as a dynamic, a woman of tremendous passion and ambitions, resourceful, pragmatic, and has a very good skill in arithmetic especially in counting change.

Manny finished both his undergraduate studies and Master’s Degree of Business Administration in University of the Philippines (UP). He then worked with the accounting giant firm SGV & Co. but resigned to try his luck into his first business venture. Having a background in the seafood business, he first ventured into that same business. Unfortunately, it failed having lots of uncollected receivables and he was technically bankrupt at the age of 22. Resilient, he thought of an idea and he approached one of the restaurants he was delivering seafood that couldn’t pay him. He printed out ‘meal tickets’ and convinced the restaurant owner to honor them. He then went to sell these tickets at a reduced price to office workers. After one year, he was able to liquidate his receivables. He then went to work again this time at Private Development Corporation of the Philippines where he specialized in selling World Bank Loans.

His first real estate venture began in 1975 when he again resigned from his job at the age of 25. He started with a capital of P10,000 which he used to acquire two reconditioned trucks in hauling gravel and sand to construction sites for BF Homes. He then learned the business well enough to build houses on 80 lots sold to him by BF Homes. The project was a success and it made Manny a young millionaire at the age of 26. At this stage, he said to himself: “One day, I’ll be the biggest home-builder in the country”.

Manny then concentrated in this business and he decided to go for low-cost housing. His initial tactic was to buy odd shaped lots of big developers that they cannot sell. Manny bought these lots and built houses on them. Majority of his buyers were Overseas Filipino Workers who availed the financing terms of PAG-IBIG, a government institution subsidizing the acquisition of low cost houses. Eventually, he had sold more than 100,000 homes for the poor and middle class Filipino families.

He then entered politics in 1992 by becoming a Congressman in the districts of Las Pinas and Muntinlupa and continued by serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives and today as Senate President. He has received various awards and recognitions. These include Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Marketing Management in 1989, Most Outstanding Certified Public Accountant in 1990 given by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and Most Outstanding UP Alumnus given by University of the Philippines in 1991.

Truly Manny Villar is another excellent example of a rags-to-riches story. He proved to us that his humble beginnings as a poor boy from Tondo was not a hindrance in achieving his dreams and ambitions as long as there is hard work, persistence, and perseverance coupled with determination. More power 'Mr. Sipag at Tiyaga'!

To know more about stories of famous Filipino Entrepreneurs, visit rags to riches entrepreneur.

Philippine Stock Predictions

2008-11-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, I mentioned about the predictions of a famous astrologer. I was going around my usual site visits back then and I came to this site of a famous astrologer in the US. She even gives advices to stock markets.

I asked:

"Hi Denise, can I ask what do you think will happen to the Philippine Stock Exchange? And to the Philippine Economy?"

She answered:

That’s a big question. I’m going to see if I can find a chart on the Philippine Stock Exchange. I found the inception date and figured the trading began at 9:00 AM so I ran it for that time. If you know what time it starts let me know in a post so I can rectify the chart. Here is the chart:

So here we see that the Sun is at 01 degree Capricorn. This is the same degree as the Dow’s ascendant. I’m seeing this 1 degree Capricorn in so many financial charts it’s making me wonder if that degree has some special significance especially to markets. Anyway, it’s in the 11th house and the Sun rules the 7th, meaning it will take a big hit because it’s friend (us) and partner (us) is going to get punched. It will also start freaking out in late December. I haven’t been paying attention to it, but I’m sure there have already been signs, and problems as this aspect gets tighter.

Now the bigger problems are going to come down the line — it may even dissolve and be re-invented or absorbed by another market, rumblings of this will start in January 2014, but it may not happen until later when Pluto hits Uranus and then all of a sudden it will go bye-bye. That will be a few years later in January of 2017. This could be part of the global market change I’ve been talking about, perhaps the Philippines will transform around that time. But I’d say from December of this year until November of 2009 this market will be very volatile and you might want to stay away until it settles down. Hope that helped.

I was shocked and let's see if this will really happen. In the mean time, I would follow her thoughts and I will stay away from stocks until November of 2009. To visit her site, you can go to this link.

Share me your thoughts on this.

My Investment Losses

2008-11-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

We all hear different bad news on financial markets. The subprime mortgage crisis really caused a huge problem that brought the greatest financial turmoil ever since the Great Depression on the year 1930's. A lot of economies are entering into a recession and the most recent case country that joined the list is Germany.

A lot of companies also declare bankruptcy. US Secretary Henry Paulson and FED Chairman Ben Bernanke are both doing their best to save the US economy into an impending recession that will have a domino effect to the rest of the economies leading into a global recession. Ben Bernanke kept on cutting interest rates and the recent moves of Paulson includes the buying of commercial papers and directly investing into the equities.

Recently, the most severe case of bankruptcy filing is Circuit City Stores, Inc., a leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, which declared $624 Million of unsecured debts. The whole stock market is struggling. There are a lot of withdrawals in hedge funds and job cuts by several companies.

No one is spared from these events and that includes also my investments.

I have attached here an excel file that summarizes the health of my investments.

From the excel file, here is a summary of these losses:

I'm losing 114,046.90 on all my investments representing around 33% loss. My stock investments were down 37% while my equity fund investments were down 32%. What the heck?!
In my direct stock investments, if MEG was the best stock that I considered during my previous post since it generated the highest net gain, then it was the worst stock that I hold now since it was having a net loss of 33,559.74
In my equity funds investments, Metro Equity Fund is having the biggest loss of 72%.
I was surprised that even my mutual fund investment in Sun Life incurred now a loss of 54. I invested in this fund early 2006 and since then received twice stock dividends per annum but it didn't survive the crisis and suffered a loss now.

I really do hope that the stock market will recover soon. For those who believe in astrology, one famous and credible astrologer named Denise said that both the US and Philippine Stock Market will start freaking out very badly by late December. She advised to stay away from stocks until November 2009. She even told that based on the charts she's been reading, the Philippine Stock Market will go bye-bye sometime in January 2017. It may be absorbed by another market. Wow! Scary! Read her predictions here most specifically my question on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Don'ts to Remember

2008-11-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

The Don'ts to Remember:

Don't Wait For Time, Make It...
Don't Wait For Money, Earn It...
Don't Wait For the Path, Find It...
Don't Wait For the Opportunity, Create It...
Don't Go For Less, Get The Best...
Don't Compare, Be Unique...
Don't Avoid Failure, Use It...
Don't Dwell on Mistakes, Learn From Them...
Don't Run From Life, Embrace and Enjoy It...

Be STRONG!

2008-11-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

BE STRONG!!!

Never tell yourself, "I am tired!"

The more you accept that thought...

The more exhausted you'll become...

But if you tell yourself, "I CAN DO EVEN MORE..."

You'll find that there are no limits to what you can accomplish.

The Way Towards Your Goal

2008-10-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

I just recently placed a tag line on top of this blog which reads...

ASPIRE... BELIEVE... ACT... ACHIEVE...

What do these 4 words mean?

It means to me the needed steps to achieve our goals and ambitions in life.

ASPIRE - You first start with your dreams or goals. This is the starting point. I believe that all things in this world have a purpose. Last April 2008, when I started this blog in its blogspot domain, I listed down my own goals as a start.

BELIEVE - I discussed here in my articles about Will Power and Law of Attraction. After you aspired, you must believe in yourself and always tell "I can do it!" There are some people who have done it and why won't I? If they have done it, then definitely I can too!

ACT - After you have believed in yourself, then next is the hardest step and that's to act. In this step, your beliefs, aspirations and determinations will be tested to its fullest. You will be bound to hardships and difficulties. If you have built a strong foundation at first towards achieving your dreams and if you sticked to it until the very end, your chances of success are very high.

ACHIEVE - This is the greatest gift that you can receive after all your hardwork. In this step, you will now harvest the fruits of your labor. I always believe that anything produced from working hard will always be treasured.

Oh, I almost forgot, there should be number 5 and that is SHARE. After you have reaped the fruits of all your labor, it's time to give and to share your blessings. When we share, we always have this inner happiness that we have helped people.

The two richest persons in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both built their own foundations to help the less privileged. After all, we won't be able to carry those material possessions in our hands when our time to say bye-bye to this world came. As one author say, Money is Only One Third of Happiness.

You can also read: My Path To Financial Freedom.

2008 World's Richest Persons

2008-10-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

After 13 years of being the World's Richest Person on Earth, Bill Gates was now overtaken by the World's Greatest Investor Warren Buffett.

His company, Berkshire Hathaway, is the world's most expensive stock reaching an all-time high of $150,000 per share.

Despite the costly share prices, a lot of investors still mimic the investing strategy of Warren. They say that they can make at least 25% per annum using Buffett's strategy.

His company now owns several investments including the following industries: Insurance (GEICO, General Re), Jewelry (Borsheim's), Utilities (MidAmerican Energy Holdings), Food (Dairy Queen, See's Candies, Kraft Foods), Beverage (Coca-Cola) and Bank (Wells Fargo).

Moreover, Gate's previous throne was now third. This is because of the fact that share prices of Microsoft, Bill Gate's company, fell 15% between January 31 and February 11 (the day when Forbes locked its stock prices for the tally) when the company announced its bid to takeover Yahoo!

I made a statistical study on this list even compiling an excel sheet. The result of the study were as follows:

There were 1,125 persons in the world with at least US$1 Billion Networth.
Out of all the countries in the world, these billionaires reside in 61 countries with 56 nationalities. Luckily, even our country Philippines was a Third World Country, we were able to include 2 billionaires in the list.
The youngest billionaire is Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of the social networking site FACEBOOK at the age of 23 with $1.5 billion networth.
The oldest billionaire is John Simplot at the age of 99 with $3.8 billion networth.
Most billionaires reside in United States with 460 billionaires. Second is Russia with 82 billionaires. And third is India with 50 billionaires.
In terms of networth, United States' billionaires have a total networth of almost $1.6 trillion. This was followed by Russia's with $456 billion and India's with $284 billion.
Most billionaires are Americans with the count tallying 469. This was followed by Russians with 87 and German nationals with 59.
The richest family in the world is defintely the Walton Family, the owner of the largest retail mall Wal-Mart. When combined, their total networth is $81.8 billion, surpassing Warren Buffett in the top position.
Here in our country Philippines, the richest person is no other than the retail tycoon Henry Sy.

Discourses with a Top Networker

2008-10-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

The best way of achieving financial freedom is to generate passive income. It is an income that came from the assets that you have accumulated over a period of time. It is then that 'money works for you' and not the other way around. According to Robert Kiyosaki, Network Marketing is an Asset and Not a Job.

In a person's quest to financial freedom, one must have an open mind with regards to achieving success. In my personal quest, I have encountered the term 'Networking' or 'Multi-Level Marketing' or in short, MLM.

I attended a lot of seminars about this. They introduced their products and their means of earning huge potential incomes. They said that if you do this, do that, then you can retire early.

I admitted to myself that maybe this is not my niche. But in one seminar that I attended, I was lucky to meet the top networker. He has a lot of different views with regards to success and I would like to share these to my readers in a form of an interview session:

Me: How long did it take you to achieve success as the top networker in that MLM company?

Him: Since we all have different views regarding success, let me first define what success is from my point of view. For me success is having enough time and money to do, be and have whatever that I want, when I want it.

Let's look at my six figures per month lifestyle right now. I wake up when I want to wake up, buy anything that I want. Drive my car to the hottest spots around the metro and go to the places that I want to go without experiencing the hassles of commuting in a public transport. Go shopping everyday and make the mall as my walk-in closet. Stay in the finest hotels whenever I want. Go to the spa every night after I go clubbing and having all the time in the world to do whatever it is that my heart craves to do. That is all the comfort that I experience every single day. Cool huh?

If you think that it is all just like a walk in the park, well my friend you are wrong.

Just like most successful people, I experienced every possible discouragement that a newbie networker could experience. We all know the drill, I've been rejected by my friends and family and all the negativity and discouragement there is. And in my opinion it's not that important. What is important is the positive things that happened in my experience while I was building my MLM business.

Somebody told me that your income will only grow as fast as your consciousness grow. Or in other words the more you learn the more you earn. It took me quite a while like 5 years to make it to the top. I was not a sales type guy. I hate talking to people and I'm afraid especially recruiting people. Two years of that was devoted to learning and bouncing from one company to the next. I thought at that time that finding the right company, product or marketing plan is the key to success in MLM but I was wrong. I've realized that success in MLM is solely dependent on me. The more I develop myself, the more I make money.

But here is the thing. I was the type of person who is very observant and open to ideas. One of the core beliefs that I have was that, anything in this world can be learned whether its financial skill, people skills, seduction skills or any skill that you want to learn as long as you put your mind into it. And once I discovered how everything works like social dynamics, financial skills, using a system, proper mindset and using the power of my mind in using the law of attraction. Everything just clicks.

So with regards to your question how long did it take me to achieve my MLM success? 3 years was devoted to learning and I was not making any money. On the fourth year I was already making money. I know it took me quite sometime. It's because, I was my own mentor. Because, my upline that time never taught me anything except to recruit w/c is a bad idea.

Success will only come as fast as you learn and apply the right, basic fundamentals. Know what works and discard what's not then take action.

Me: What are your interests?

Him: My interests? Hmmm... well, back in the days before I got into MLM, I never liked reading books. But now, I buy books every week and read about 3-4 books a month. It's because, after learning that most top networkers in the world and billionaires read approximately 1-3 books a month for personality development and they watch television like 4 hrs a week and most of the things they watch are also related to success, I imitated them. There is no harm in trying to emulate what they're doing right? Follow what successful people are doing and most likely you'll end up being like them. If I'm not reading books, you could see me watching training videos or listening to audio books, visualizing or meditating. I could hear you saying isn't it boring? My answer: How bad do you want change?

If I'm not home, of course, I'm doing my MLM business or what does a typical 24-yr old guy does? Partying of course. Mind you, I found that going to clubs or partying is a nice way of building your self-esteem and social skills and you get to meet a lot of people, outwit them and see who is more capable of winning every interaction and again learn from them. I love talking to people. I noticed that when you are sincerely genuine in your intentions people will open up to you and you can learn pretty amazing things. And by the way, I only associate most of the time with people who are success driven to be infected by their positive virus.

I believe there are only two things you need to be successful in life and that is, first your thinking capacity or intelligence and second is bonding power, the ability to socialize with people. I consider the whole world as an experiment lab and I do everything to explore it. Remember every single experience in this world is a crucial factor in building success.

Interest? What else? Hmmm... bottom line I only engage in activities that are educational, productive and most of all FUN. If you do fun, positive things that makes you happy, you'll attract more of that into your life. Remember, where your attention is, there you are and that you become.

Me: What was your first pay?

Him: Php 90. Hahaha!!! This time, Php 90 will only be the cost of a single call to one of my downlines.

Me: What was your biggest check?

Him: If I tell you, then I have to kill you. Secret.

Me: What was your average monthly income now?

Him: I'm into 6 figures per month. Exact figure is confidential. ;)

Me: What made you join in this company?

Him: When I was first starting in MLM, I was taught that when looking for a company we should consider the product, marketing plan and the company but, after jumping from one company to the next with their off the charts mind-blowing plans and promising heaven and earth just for me to join their company, I started to realize something and in my experience one of the things that I value and look for in an MLM opportunity is the people behind it. First of all, I must first know and trust the people behind it. Another thing: I'm not really persuaded by emotions since most of the time it is better to use your logical mind in making business decisions.

Let's not beat around the bush , we all know the situation of the MLM industry here in the Philippines. I know some of you might be saying: 'What?' How about the products and marketing plan? I understand where you're coming from. In my case, besides the product, plan and company stability or credibility, I always go for and look at the people behind and running the company. It's because, I already had experienced countless times in joining companies, both local and international, and that after a couple of months, it folds-up or just barely getting by. Even if you're a so called leader in this industry, if the people behind the company is not that really trust worthy, it's still hard to build all over again after it declines. You can't blame me for seeing it this way since my present company is my 38th! Yes you heard me right. And I think experience is and the only best teacher, and I've experienced a lot I mean A LOT of ups and downs especially when a company folds, I could say I am wise to know by now, what it is to look for in a company. Here in the Philippines look for the people behind the company.

Me: What should a newbie possess in order to follow your paths of success in this venture?

Him: I think there are a lot of things that a newbie should possess but, we can't really 100% clone what a successful networker are doing. What I can give are tips as to how a newbie networker could somehow accelerate his progress.

From the top of my head. It pays to have a positive mental attitude and an open mind. It's because, one of the things that a newbie must do is find a mentor or upline. Swallow his pride, open his mind and ears then let the system of your upline flows freely into your system. Make sure, I warn you, make sure you climb the ladder and look for the top networker upline. It's because, your upline could also be a newbie. It's like asking someone who doesn't know how to swim to save your life. That simple.

There are still a lot of things for a newbie to possess in order for him to succeed. Actually I formulated this training that I only share to a few. It's called "Transformations". I've broken down up to the minute detail as to how a top earner thinks, feel and do. And it's a pretty powerful one, especially if you're the type of person like me who is not a sales guy and wonders all the time what it is that needs to be done in order to get the big bucks. I've compiled all my data from the top earners I met in my journey along the way from different companies. It's pretty long actually but, for now, my advice would suffice.

Me: I'm sure it's very hard to convince people to join in this kind of set-up but how did you set up your mind towards all rejections and negative thinkers?

Him: In my personal training, I teach people one thing and that is to overcome every single negativity, discouragement , rejection or shyness there is in the field and this one phrase will obliterate everything in a snap and it is as simple as this. Memorize this mantra whenever you're feeling down in your business. Repeat it 10 times. "I don't give a damn about anyone in this planet thinks of me because I know my business is great!". Again with feelings this time, "I don't give a damn about anyone in this planet thinks of me because I know my business is great"

How was it? Empowering ei? This alone is my mantra to overcome all the things that prevents me from getting what I want. Successful people are immune to criticisms. Enough said.

Me: Do you have any plans to work in a company and be an employee given the passive income that you have?

Him: Well, as of now, that thought has not yet arrived in my mind.

Me: What were your long-term goals in life?

Him: Probably, I want to help train other networkers succed in their MLM business. I am that passionate and a believer in MLM. Even though they belong to other companies, as long as i could see their drive, I'll share to them my knowledge for free but they just need to treat me with burger! Hehehe...

Me: Any particular person that you may consider as 'idol'?

Him: I could not actually say that there is a certain idol. One of the things I apply in life is to combine my knowledge from every successful person that I meet. It's better to combine our knowledge since we don't know everything. In my case, I'm just very thankful in every person that I've met because in knowing them, I learn more about myself.

A Gem In a Bear Market

2008-10-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

According to Robert Kiyosaki, 'When Pessimism Prevails, It's Time To Get Rich!'. When bad news are lingering all around, the best time to invest is when optimists become pessimists.

Definitely, our stock market is no doubt a Bear Market as of now as the fear of an impending global recession heightens.

There were a lot of pessimism going around most especially in the stock market to the point that even companies with sound valuation were affected.

One way of earning is to take advantage of these stocks. But as a stock market investor, I would definitely be on a defensive stance and would go as a short-term investor.

My first experience in stock market gave me some gains. The different news on the development of the credit crunch crisis in the US economy gave such advantage as buying a stock too low and selling it at a modest profit in just a short span of time.

It was widely accepted that for investors to maximize profits in the stock market, one has to do 'long-term' investing. But with the present situation as of now of a bear market, I think that 'right timing' prevails. After all there is always one golden rule in any kind of market- 'BUY' LOW and 'SELL' HIGH.

This is the tactic that I am using as of now as I risked my hard earned savings in the stock market. Higher risks mean higher rewards. True enough, I found a gem in the bear stock market. I constantly monitor the news regarding the credit crunch crisis in US and see the effects of it in a smaller stock market like here in the Philippines.

I would like to share my stock trading history worksheet to all my readers. Open it on another window.

This is just on a 3-week period from Sept. 12 - Oct. 3.

I strictly monitor my net gains. For BPI Trade, which is the platform that I'm using, it will take three days after the sales proceeds of a stock to be credited back in my cash position. Even before the credit, with the worksheet that I prepared, I knew how much will be the NET proceeds.

These were some of the notable findings:

MEG was one of my most favorite stocks. It was a very volatile stock and definitely I would buy it if the price reached below 1.40. It was one of the actively traded stocks and definitely buying it will surely be a hit. Furthermore, the company recently declared a P2 Billion buy back of their shares over an 18-month period claiming that the current valuation of their stock does not reflect their current standing. In fact, this stock gave the highest absolute net income of P2,925.
AGI, the sister company of MEG, was also one of my favorite shares. It was not very active though compared to MEG. But there was a time the stock went up to as high as 22% in one day. It was also the stock that gave me the largest net profit of P814.03 after only just 1 day! Additionally, together with MEG, the company disclosed a P3 Billion stock buy back over an 18-month period.
Selling my PX shares at my acquisition price was definitely a wrong decision. I was monitoring the stock daily and the stock went to 7.40 after just two days of selling it. Good thing though that I did not lose that much.
Early disposal of JFC shares somewhat annoyed me when I saw that the stock went up as high as 52 after just a few days of disposal. I bought the shares at 38 when the pessimistic news about Lehman's bankruptcy and AIG's bail out lingered the market and disposed it at 43. The stock went up that high because the company's acquisition of a restaurant in China was completed. My net gain of 9.46% could have been much higher then.
MBT was one of the most battered stock among the banks. It all started when the bank disclosed a P2.4 Billion unsecured exposure to the bankrupt Lehman Brothers. This was followed by the bank's disclosure of a creditor-initiated corporate rehabilitation against the two Lehman-affiliated Philippine companies who had the said exposure.
Surpisingly, the PSE did not fall that much compared to the Dow Jones and NASDAQ of the US. Just recently, the DOW Jones registered one of the largest drop of 777 points making it the largest single day drop ever since 1987. This was due to the initial rejection of the US Congress of the Bail Out Plan proposed by the Bush Administration. During that time, I was excited to view the opening of the stock market. Initially, in just 5 minutes, the market already fell 158 points to mirror the 6% to 8% drop in the US stocks. But as time goes, the market eventually recovered to close at just a drop of 37 points. Whoa!
Recently, I bought another 2,000 shares of ALI at a cheaper price to do the so-called 'cost averaging'. This means adding more shares acquired at a cheaper price and disposing it at a modest price so that the cost will eventually average out with the profit leaving a break even or a little income. This was a strategy to lessen losses.

As of now, I have ALI, GEO, MBT and MEG shares. That's it for now.

Come back for more of my stock trading adventure.

US Bail Out Plan Approved

2008-10-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

The US Senate finally approved the $700 Billion Bail Out Plan that seeks to rescue financially troubled companies by buying their distressed assets by the government in order to cleanse their balance sheets.

The move was earlier rejected by the US Senate on a vote of 228-205. This caused the US stock market, particularly the DOW Jones, to plunge down to its biggest drop since 1987 of 777 points.

The plan includes among others:

Limited executive compensation.

There was a temporary increase in federal deposit insurance to $250,000 from the earlier $100,000. This will provide a temporary relief to depositors which have huge deposits in banks just in case of a bank run.

There was a two-year extension program of tax breaks that will save tax payers, individuals and corporations, as the Senate added $110 Billion in tax breaks.

Here are my views on the passage:

Should the government shoulder the credit mess caused by the greedy Wall Street executives? If so, then definitely every time that there will be a major fall out involving a lot of companies, there will be a superman savior in the form of the US government? Until when will this hero save companies?

How will the government value these troubled assets when in fact there's no market value since there's no willing buyer for these properties? What will be the basis then for the acquisition price by the government? How fast can the government dispose these assets?

I do think that this plan will increase the budget deficit of the government considering an additional tax breaks of individuals and corporations.

Will it really avert an impending US recession that will surely have a domino effect on smaller economies of other countries? Will it bring back the trillions of dollars that were wiped off in the stock market?
How will it affect the inflation rate considering that there will be a big additional cashflow in the economy system? We all know that by Law of Supply and Demand, if there's an increase of cash liquidity in the system, inflation rate increases.

However, on a positive thought:

The economy 'may' recover as this plan will provide more credit to flow in the system. This would mean a decrease in the rising unemployment rate and a pump prime in the economy as this will 'probably' increase consumer consumption.

Considering the pros and cons, will it really be beneficial? Share me your views.

My Stock Trading Gains

2008-09-23T01:37:00.001-07:00

Last week, there were series of events and the biggest of all these news was the largest bankruptcy ever filed in US. This was by Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest securities firm in US.

Another news went up and Merrill Lynch succumbed itself to Bank of America for $50 Billion to prevent collapse.

Furthermore, the largest American Insurer, American International Group (AIG), was taken over by the US government by acquiring 79.9% of the company for $85 Billion.

A lot of pessimism lingered the market during those times as investors fear of a domino effect of these happenings. In fact, this was evidenced by a falling stock market of more than 4% when Lehman filed the biggest bankruptcy in US.

This was followed by another hefty 4.5% when the news of AIG popped up the next day. And so in just two days, billions worth of stocks were swiped out of the market, leaving some stocks attractive.

I took advantage of these pessimistic news, and so I invested heavily in the stock market. I risked a huge capital from my savings, quite a few hundred thousand bucks and invested in the stock market. After the market has fallen the other day on the news of AIG, I added another few hundred thousand bucks to have additional investment.

Initially I bought SM, PX, AC, MEG, and GEO shares. And the next day, I bought another group of stocks that include MBT, BDO, JFC, MEG, BPI, AC, GEO, ALI, and SM.

I was actually monitoring Bloomberg on the news about the US stock market until the US congress announced a $700 Billion bail out plan. They were planning to buy these bad assets to cleanse the balance sheets of most Wall Street firms especially financial firms.

This news cheered the investors and posted a two-day straight uptrend in the stock market. Again, I again took adavantage of this and started selling my stocks previously acquired to cap my gains.

I prepared a stock trading history and a transaction costs worksheet to readily view my NET amounts after buying or selling by just putting the gross amount value. View the excel sheet here

Yesterday, I sold AC, BPI, JFC, MEG, BDO, MBT and some SM shares garnering a 6.08% NET income in just 2 days. Biggest gainers on a per share basis went to BDO (+9.53%), JFC (+9.46%), and MEG (+6.73%). In terms of absolute amounts, MEG's sale was the highest capping P2,925.

Today, I disposed PX and some GEO shares. PX was sold at a loss of P387 while some GEO shares were sold at a gain of P314. I am still holding ALI, GEO and SM shares.

Hopefully, the stock market will rise again soon but investors viewed the move of Paulson's $700 Million bail out as rather predatory as it may push the US budget deficit to $1 Trillion.

If you are a beginner in stock trading, you can learn how stock market works.

Your Money Is Worth More Today

2008-09-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

We always hear the saying that “Time is Gold”. In business, it is significant to note that ‘time is money’ and therefore time, in itself, has value. And so, in effect, as time passes by, your money on hand changes. How can this be?

This can be explained by one of the most basic concept in finance – The Time Value of Money.

Let me explain to you in simplest terms. Money you kept in your cabinet drawer will not generate any income as opposed to the same amount deposited in a bank.

After one year, the money kept in your drawer will have the same face value but the same amount deposited in a bank will most likely earn an interest. Therefore, you can say that the money left idle has lost some of its ‘value’ due to the passage of time.

Why? Its value has been decreased due to inflation. After one year, the same amount can buy fewer goods and services. Its purchasing power has greatly decreased. And so we are always advised to look for opportunities where we can invest our money. Not only that we have to consider that our money must earn, but we must also consider to look for opportunities available that can beat the inflation rate.

Lehman Bankruptcy

2008-09-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

In follow up with my article on Lehman Brothers as Second Bear Stearns?, certainly it was not. Bear Stearns was absorbed by JP Morgan while Lehman went to file the biggest Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the history.

People were shocked yesterday as the 4th biggest securities firm declared the biggest Chapter 11 Bankruptcy listing $613 Billion of Debt, of which $157.97 Billion are unsecured debts. They listed Citibank N.A. as the largest unsecured creditor with $138 Billion of debts. This was followed by The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. listing $17 Billion, AOZORA with $463 Million and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. with $382 Million.

Most of their unsecured creditors are big banks particularly located in Japan, China, Taiwan and Australia.

How Did Lehman Fail?

For most of 2008, Lehman Brothers operated in an extremely unfavorable global business environment. Conditions were characterized by a continued lack of liquidity in the credit markets, significantly depressed volumes in most equity markets, a widening in certain fixed income credit spreads compared to the end of 2007, and declining asset values.

These hardships were compounded by slowed growth in major economies as a result of declining business and consumer confidence. Global inflation rose amid slowing economic growth. As a result, commodity prices rose significantly during the quarter raising costs on industrial production. Consumer spending was challenged by a combination of lower wealth from declining housing values, higher commodity prices impacting disposable income and falling private sector employment growth.

Ultimately, the onset of instability in the financial and credit markets over the past several months created significantly liquidity problems. Despite infusions of liquidity by central banks into the financial system, broad asset classes, particularly domestic subprime residential mortgages and structured credit products, remained thinly traded throughout this period.

The company purchases many of its assets using secured credit obtained under tri-party repurchase agreements. When the market value of these pledged assets began to deviate from the pledged value of those assets, secured lender imposed "haircuts" or discounts on the company. This deviation, in turn, also has an adverse impact on borrowing availability. The reduced availability forced the company to draw down on its liquidity pool in order to execute transactions. With diminished cash to fund transactions, major credit rating agencies put the company's credit ratings on negative watch with potential for multiple downgrades.

All these factors contributed to the company's liquidity problem announcing a $3.9 Billion third quarter loss, the largest loss in its 158-year history. This in turn resulted to the dry up of the company's equity losing more than 90% of its value when investors dumped their stocks aggravated by the time when takeover talks with Bank of America and Barclays PLC ended.

What's Next?

As of now, all eyes are on American Insurance Group, the biggest insurer, with their stock plunging down 61 percent closing at $4.76.
Another company on the look out is Washington Mutual. It retreated to 27% to $2, the lowest price since October 1990. After the trading, credit rating agency Standard & Poor lowered its rating to junk due to the deteriorating housing market.

Lehman Brothers as Second Bear Stearns?

2008-09-10T01:59:00.000-07:00

Lehman Brothers, one of the top US investment banking firm and the largest dealer of debt is making the hot seat on the news of Wall Street as of now.

Their stocks have plunged down 90+% as of this year. They registered a 52-week high of around $67 and now only trading at a very cheap price of $3.7!

Their stocks plummeted down a significant 45% after posting a $3.9 Billion loss, the largest loss in its 158-year history and their possible deal with Korean Development Bank, which was said to invest US$ 6 Billion in exchange for a 25% stake, ended.

Now, time is ticking for Fuld, Lehman's CEO. He was the longest serving CEO in Wall Street. They have to move out of the limelight. Otherwise, they will be continuosly scrutinized by analysts and credit rating agencies. They need to raise capital as soon as possible. Their equities are slowly drying up as investors dumped their stocks, credit default swaps are continuously rising, and there's possible downgrade by credit rating agencies.

Is this a signal of another Bear Stearns on the way which operated 80+ years? Who thought that such a stable company and has been in operation that long will suddenly collapse?

Or does this signal another take-over by the US government just like what happened recently to the two largest US insurers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Can the US government afford to make another such costly move?

Who will be Lehman's White Knight?

According to the news, Lehman has been on the verge of collapse at least four times: In 1929 when the stock market crashed; in 1973, when it lost $6.7 Million betting on interest rates; in 1984, when internal dissension led to a takeover by American Express Co.; and in 1994 when newly independent Lehman faced a capital shortage.

My Blog Was Reviewed

2008-09-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

This Blog "Aspiring Entrepreneur" was reviewed by The Blog Reviewer.

From the review, I quote:

"A successful entrepreneur is a risk taker and has the ability to foresee and plan for things. One way that we can be successful entrepreneurs as well is to study and learn from those who know what being an entrepreneur is."

"Blogs like this which we often classify as make-money-online blogs are very common in the blogosphere, however personally speaking I see this blog as rather unique because it teaches from experience. For example, his articles on stock trading is particularly interesting since he shares what he is experiencing or actually doing while he tries to take the risk in this venture."

SITE RATINGS:
Layout - 7
Content - 9
Coherence - 10
Reach - 3
Readability - 8
Overall Rating - 7.4

My comments:

I should really need to widen my reach. You are very right here. But I don't know much on how to increase my traffic to compete with a lot of blogs with same niche as mine.

Also, thanks for giving me a coherence of a perfect 10. As much as possible, I don't do much SEOs like writing about Beijing Olympics, etc. because I don't want to lose my avid readers. They came here to know about the latest on investments, entrepreneurship and personal finance.

With regards to Layout, I'm actually looking for a perfect theme as of now. Any thoughts on a good blospot theme?

Any possible reviews from other bloggers?

Carnival of EBooks

2008-09-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

I am surfing the web and I was lucky to look at some of these ebooks. These are all in relation to my previous posts.

1. In relation on my posts on different success quotes, here are additional success quotes collection: 1,001 Inspirational Quotes and 100 Wise Quotes

2. In relation to my post on WILL POWER, here is an additional ebook entitled "You Can If You Will"

3. In addition to my post on the Law of Attraction, here are two ebooks entitled "The Law of Attraction" and "The Creative Power of Thought" to further ponder the said law.

4. Furthermore, in relation to the main objective of this blog, that is, to develop financial IQ for the readers, here is an ebook entitled "Develop Your Financial IQ".

5. Last but not the least, here are two ebooks on "Greatest Money Making Secret in History" and "How To Solve Problems".