The Money Team
It would be difficult for a team to win if you just keep doing defense or just offense. You need to balance your personal finances.
It is quite intriguing to know that money is only a servant or a tool and nothing more. Sometimes it is hard to accept that money has its own place here on earth and that it is the reward of the service we do for other people and nothing more. In any job or profession, it has to do with people. Let us identify first what is money to you, to me and to society. Let us ask ourselves this:
What is the role of money to me? Is money important to me and to my family? How important is it?
For me, money is a medium to achieve or own something that has meaning to me and to my family. Money means a good education for my two kids, sleeping on a nice comfortable bed at night, and upon retirement, having a wonderful vacation and as a cushion during crisis. Often, we associate money with the success of an individual. Successful people tend to earn more money because they have done good and great things to the community.
Let us say, for example, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Oprah just to mention a few. Let us put money in its proper place and correct perspective. My point here is, before you invest in any financing vehicle like the stock market, foreign exchange, mutual funds, unit investment trust fund, variable universal life, business, real estate and many others, you should know the cause first and its impact and its benefits. That is why I say, “Wealth starts from within.”
If we change our thinking about money then we change our lives. Have you heard or run into the Pareto Principle? It states the 80-20 rule. It simply states that, for many events, roughly 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. Put another way, “80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your clients.” I have learned also, in our personal finance seminars, 80 percent is psychological and 20 percent is fundamental. This means we need to change our psychological wallet first before the fundamentals if we want to achieve a desired effect.
Consciously change your inner beliefs about money. Instead of saying I don’t have money to buy this and that, simply restate that to my money to buy this and that is yet to come. On the fundamental side, I also believe that managing your finances is far more important than how much you earn. Savings is the first step in managing our finances. I listen to W. Clement Stone, one of whose inspiring principles goes like this “If you don’t know how to save, then the seed of greatness is not in you.” For me, there ought to be a law like this in the financial world. Saved money gives you opportunities and in many ways is like a good business venture that you can use later as initial capital.
Since 2008 Personal Finance is a subject that I studied in hopes of finding a new or innovative approach to life and business. You know what, if you just stay focused, you simply make it your life. You will be attracted to books, events and even people who are in that subject. What I’m trying to say is, it opened new doors for me. I attended lectures and seminars conducted by Registered Financial Planner Alijeffty Gonzales. I consider him one of my mentors (even though he doesn’t know it because I was just one of his participants) because I learned a lot from him.
At the end of all his talks, he always says: “A rich man is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the least.” Isn’t this true? It is a matter of needing the least and simplifying your life. He follows up with this quote “It is not how much you make but it is how much you save and grow.”
Amazingly true, even from the book The Rich man in Babylon and in the Bible, savings are the basic first steps toward financial peace. Sometimes I call this the money game because in savings there is what we call defense and there is also offense. Like in the game of basketball, there is defense and there is offense. It would be difficult for a team to win if you just keep doing defense or just offense. You need to balance your personal finances.
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Serge Jude Bargayo is a graduate of registered financial planner of RFP Philippines from Cebu City. To learn about financial planning, attend RFP program in Cebu from July 14 to 17. For more details, inquire at info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail><RFP> at 0917-3464126.
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