Some Reflection About Business

As you know, I have enrolled myself in a business school to learn Entrepreneurship. Without the commitment of an MBA degree. Just to get an idea of what I would encounter, should I pursue an MBA. It is a 6 month long course and I think I learned a lot.

But as I get closer and closer to the end of the course (it will end on December). I realized that, I am not as enthusiastic as I was when I don't know much about business. Like in everything you don't know, it would look like "magic" at first. But when you know enough about the subject, it ceases to be magic.

And that is where I am at this point. I have listened to people who knew about business and listened to them intently with glaring eyes. It is because I thought that having a business is hard, complicated and in a word, magic. But I realized that business is not magic. Nor it is hard. It is not easy, but at the same time, it is not hard.

I began to question the reason I want to get into business now. When I think about it, before I enrolled in the course, I wanted to get into business to get power and respect. Power to have control of my own time and respect from other people because we seem to respect people who have more money.

I began to question this as I commute to school. Everyday, meditating the reason behind and what keeps me pursuing business. But it doesn't hold up to my character... My character of wanting to know about everything. And I think, going into business will only consume a lot of my time in pursuit of knowledge.

Knowing business itself is knowledge. Maybe perhaps that is the reason why it has been so alluring to me. But trading my time to get into business to get more money vs having more time to learn more about the world, technology, science, philosophy and strategy, is more appealing to me.

I'm not saying that business is not worth knowing. Everything is worth knowing. Everything.

Going into business

I thought about it a lot. I don't know much about business, so why not embark on a journey to learn about it. Maybe perhaps I could build a great business that could rival the Ayalas, the Sys.

I did some asking and did some more. I thought that MBA would be a good education if I would like to get into business. But as I ask more and more people. I came to realize that MBA wouldn't make me a businessman, its more on the skills and experience.

Some people that I respected advised me to just learn accounting, marketing and legal aspects of a business. In which I could enroll to some basic courses. Instead of going into school for 2 years taking MBA.

I am skeptical at first, so I took the plunge and enrolled myself in an entrepreneurship course. In which I find is a lot similar to an MBA curriculum without the 2 years and without the other subjects.

Just on the first day alone, I realized that business people loves buzz words. They like to make things seem... important. I know some fields have this buzz words, but when it comes to business, it seems like the focus is on the buzz words more than the actual principle behind it.

In engineering, you make up buzz words for things that you can not explain, or there are no words that currently describe a phenomena. But in business, why do they have a lot of buzz words for something that is just, profit? Bottom line, net profit, total profit, net income. These are all just money at the end of the day, why do they come up with such words? Why is bankruptcy called chapter 11? Why not just called it bankruptcy and be done with it?

Thank goodness I didn't enroll myself to a 2 year MBA. I might kill myself out of boredom. But! Accounting seems interesting, and I like the idea of putting some case studies into practice. I just don't like to buzz word heavy lectures. It seems fake learning. How could you become educated just by learning another word that describe some words?

Stock Investing Tip # 1: Treat All Financial Advisers & Stock Brokers Tip as Caveats

Financial advisers earn money when you buy an investment product. A 40% commission from the life insurance + mutual fund combo will give him a steady stream of income for as long as you continue to pay the premium. Stock brokers earn money when you buy and sell a stock. The more frequently, the better.

If you can see the problem here, that's good. You don't need this tip. But if you don't, let me tell you why...

Financial advisers and stock brokers are here to help you know where to put your money. But they earn money not on the percentages of the profit. They earn on the action you make. Your profit is irrelevant. They will earn either way. So if you win, they get money, if you don't, they still get money.

If a financial adviser or stock broker told you a tip where to invest, a VUL or a stock, always treat it as a caveat. There is no risk for him if he told you to invest here and there. But there is risk to you. Always, always remember that everything is an opinion. And everyone has their own interests. A financial adviser to meet a quota, a stock broker to make you trade frequently. None of those to make you rich.

That job falls in your hands. Its your job to profit and only you have that determination to make yourself profit in the market. I won't see stock brokers and financial advisers take a bullet for you just so you could profit. Or give you a money back for the money lost in your (or his) investment decision.

I'm not writing this to bad mouth financial advisers and stock brokers, I'm writing this for you, dear investor. Its your money, though many people seem to forget, we used to research for weeks to find the right refrigerator, but the decision ultimately comes to us when it comes down to it. Should we buy? Should we look for another one? Does this refrigerator benefits me in the long term? If we could only look at investing the same way.

Financial advisers and stock brokers have services to provide for you as an investor. They are there to help you meet your ultimate aim to profit in the market. Treat the financial adviser as you would treat a saleslady in the mall, she's there to tell you and help you about the product you want to buy and how they will benefit you. Treat the stock broker as the lady teller in your local bank, helping you with transactions such as depositing and withdrawing. Treat them with respect. But once you see them as someone who knows the key to wealth, you are in a very rude awakening... That key is you. Don't look outside. It is in your power.

How Do You Teach Someone To Invest In the Stock Market?

Teaching someone investing is different from teaching someone how to invest in the stock market. The first one is a general overview of what investing is, it could be real estate, stocks or buying jewelry. While the 2nd one is more specific and will determine the character and personality of the investor.

The hardest question for me to answer is when someone asks me, how to invest in the stock market. A life insurance agent will love this opportunity to sell an insurance product that has investment and retirement plan in it, earning himself a 40% commission in the process. But I'm not a life insurance agent and I definitely won't invest my money in insurance products.

I also don't like the 1 day seminars conducted by a lot of organizations on how to invest in the stock market. I think, that is a bit misleading. It takes me weeks to find out what's the best computer laptop to buy, it takes years of accumulated knowledge to know which specification is right for my needs, yet people seem to think that attending 1 day seminars would automatically make you an expert in a field that few of us can only master... or make profitable.

I do believe that these seminars have value. And I am not entirely against them. For example, teaching someone how to navigate an online stock trading dashboard would be a good seminar for 1 day. But teaching someone how to read charts or financial statements in one day would only do more harm than good for the investor  (but more good than harm to the broker, in terms of money). Since most people would actually study that sort of stuff in university for 5 years.

And I'm also not against insurance companies selling investment products. They are actually good, given some circumstances. But the bad news about it is that when sales quota comes first, the investor's welfare is not the #1 priority. Remember that these are salesmen, and you have to think twice before investing. They have a commission, a quota and are ambitious in pursuit of money. Your returns is probably not the first thing in their mind. Its probably their own retirement.

So how do you exactly teach someone how to invest in the stock market where financial advisers are salesmen and seminars are not enough?

Hmm... that is a big question mark and I still don't know how to answer that. When someone asks me, it always leaves me speechless. Trying to think of things to say.

How did I learn to invest? Books. But given most people are afraid to read books, I don't think I have an answer for that. What if the insurance salesman wrote a book? Reading what kinds of books is another question. But its a lot easier to answer.

The Pursuit of Happiness

I remember in college when I watched the movie by Will Smith about the true story of a guy that went from rags to riches. I also remember having been disappointed with the movie while my friends thought of it as an inspiration. I'm the only one who thought that "He just got a job. What's the big deal?".

The pursuit of happiness, in our world is different for all of us. And I could only categorize them into 4 types. It's important to know which type you fall into, so that you know you're searching for your happiness. Money can either be a means to an end or the end itself. It depends on what type are you.

4 Types of People According to Their Happiness

1. The Pleasure Seekers

These type of people are happy when they are stimulated by events, substance or activity. They are the one who will pursue happiness in the terms of travel, backpacking, going to clubs and parties, meeting new people, hiking the mountains, going to exotic locations, different foods, relationships. Happiness is living in the moment and the experiences you get. Happiness for them is the now and the feeling of being in the moment, without a care for tomorrow. Like living each day as if its their last.

2. The Security Seekers

These type of people are happy being with their family, friends and work. They are happy having work. Having said that, the movie Pursuit of Happiness is based on these type. Family + Work = Happiness for them. Having a stable, work-life balance is the ultimate goal because there is no other way to live life. Being useful to family, organization and society. That is their happiness.

3. The Knowledge Seekers

These type of people are happy learning new skills, knowing about a lot of things to understand or have control of the natural world. The keyword here is understanding the world. Happiness for them is to understand nature, the universe, the world itself. Or to understand people and how they think. In a way, for this type to be happy, it is imperative to have a lot of free time dedicated to learning, reading and experimenting.

4. The Enlightenment Seekers

These type of people are happy when they inspire others to be the best they can be. They are happy when there no clutter in their life. Living on the most bear essentials of life. While security seekers would love a good house, a car in a good neighborhood, these type like the simplest cabin in the middle of the woods living off the land. They are happy when they find time to know their true self and help others know their true self too.

The important thing to remember is that, different people are of different types and most likely pursue the happiness they fit into. I, for example is of the knowledge seeker and the movie "Pursuit of Happiness", which caters the Security Seekers, does not excite nor inspire me. In a summary I think the movie is about a homeless guy who got a good job at the end of the movie. A security seeker may be brought to tears, like my friends. But I am not so moved by this. I cried seeing the launch of a space mission or a mechanical arm working on a paraplegic, but not so interested in a homeless guy having a job.

And with this in thought, remember now, that some of these types are not your average security seekers who would be happy to work until old age. Most of them are unconventional in the work-live-die way. And investing would be a good way to brought about the change to the pursuit of your own happiness.

Define Your Own Meaning of "Wealth"

Who is the wealthier person?

• Someone who drives a P1,500,000 peso car to work with P50,000 savings in bank OR someone uses a bicycle, has P1,500,000 pesos worth of company stocks and has P10,000 savings in bank?
• Someone who frequently buys DVD or someone who frequently buys books?
• Someone who eats fast food or someone who cooks his own food?
• Someone who buys foods in the supermarket or someone who grows it himself?
• Someone who has P2,000,000 worth of a house OR someone who owns P2,000,000 worth of rental property?
• Someone who can afford high medical expenses OR someone who can avoid medical illness?
• Someone who throws a big party every year for their birthday OR someone who invites friends over every night to hang out?
• Someone who earns a lot of money abroad and leaves their family behind OR someone who leaves their work abroad to BE WITH their family?
• In that sense, who is wealthier? Someone who spends time with work OR someone who spends time with loved ones?
• Someone who has a lot of things OR someone who has and needs nothing?
• Someone who can't leave work OR someone who doesn't want work?
• Someone who can see their money in the bank grow OR someone who can see their child grow?
• Someone who pays to fix things in the house OR someone who can fix things in the house?
• Someone who dresses fine, in suits and dresses in the latest fashion OR someone who buys quality (not necessarily in the latest trend) and never have to buy again?
• Someone with a big family OR someone with a small family?
• Someone who owns a gun OR someone who can avoid a fight?
• Someone who follows a religion OR someone who's mind is free from any religion?
• Someone who feel bored when there's silence OR someone who is comfortable with silence?
• Someone who feel bored alone OR someone who is comfortable being alone?
• Someone who knows the latest news OR someone who knows history?
• Someone who knows how to use the latest tech gadgets, know their specs and latest apps OR someone who can create such gadgets, specs and apps?
• Someone who follows other's opinions OR someone who follows his own intuition?
• Someone who can make roaring speeches OR someone who prefers silent deeds?
• Someone who prefers to talk about the problem OR someone who reflects on his own problems?
• Someone who has no time OR someone who has a lot of time?

The Pursuit of the Black Belt

On my list of goals, I said that I want to obtain a black belt in a martial art. Here comes, the hard part, what martial art should I pursue?

This kind of activity is much like investing, it takes careful planning because, at the course of the pursuit, there will be times of doubt, once I know that I have made the right choice, the higher the chance that I will stick to it and obtain the belt.

I have been thinking a lot about this, since obtaining a black belt in a martial art means investing my time, money and body (you may get injured).

Let's see the given variables (me and my condition).. I'm in my 30's, not getting any younger, I'm small, cerebral and doesn't want to get knocked out. I value my brain cells and would like to live a normal life in old age, without punch drunk, dementia or any brain damage. I don't want to fight.

I have a previous experience in martial arts, a knockdown full contact karate, old school style called Kyokushin. Its like muay thai with bare knuckles, no gloves, and you win only when you knock your opponent out or down. And this experience has taught me, fighting will either make you a monk or a maniac.

I became a monk. Metaphorically speaking, fortunately.

So I also want a martial art that does not harm people. But equally effective when there's no other choice. Karate is out of the picture since its a hard style. Bruises and broken bones are its cup of tea. Muay thai and boxing is out as well, even though I admire those arts. I think any form of striking is out. Its either brain damage for me or brain damage for my opponent. Both of which I don't want to have a part of.

Which leaves me with grappling arts.

What's amazing about grappling is you don't need much strength to practice the art. You don't need to be taller. Its cerebral and it doesn't hurt the other person unless you want to. Its the perfect art for me.

My first option was aikido, after reading the book "Angry White Pyjamas" and watching some demonstration from youtube of a master throwing people like paper, I almost got into it. There was one little problem with the art. Nobody would hold your wrist in a fight. Aikido's techniques needs to be performed when the opponent holds your wrist. In the times of the samurai this would have been relevant, as your enemy might try to prevent you from drawing your sword and thus hold your wrist. But today, if someone wants to hold you, it would be more than just wrists.

I always wanted to learn judo. Perhaps if I had been more attentive in my youth, I would have learned the art. But circumstances has made me miss the chance. I'm contemplating the possibility of learning judo, but the thought of it as being physically demanding, makes me a bit wary, same goes for Greco-Roman Wrestling.

Jujitsu. This I think is the perfect art for me. I did attend one class just to try it out, and I liked it. Less focus in conditioning and building strength and more time with sparring / rolling / techniques. No striking and less injuries. The art is effective, because every training session, you go against a person who will 100% defend or resist your attacks. A focus on technique rather than strength. I have seen smaller guys tapped out someone bigger than them. In striking arts, this is not possible. As proof than even 5lbs advantage from a boxer can kill.

I think I found my art now comes the pursuit of the goal.

The Case for Investing and Trading

A couple of years ago I was into trading, it was a fun ride and very educational. I learned the value of money, time, patience and discipline. Trading has thought me, that emotions get the best of us. However sound your trading strategy may be, it will always turn you to the losing end.

Both trading and investing will teach you patience and discipline. Trading on the other hand, is more stressful and instantaneous. Wrong decisions are punished immediately, right decisions rewarded just the same.

Investing will teach you slow money. You wait for years for your fruits to unfold. But in a sense, its more accurate than trading.

I felt that trading, even though having good success with trading, is much like a gamble. No matter how many times I have seen a pattern on a chart, I know what the next scenario would be, and I would trade accordingly, still I am not sure if it will come to my favor or not. For me, it felt like gambling.

I do not like the feeling of having to "guess" no matter how sound the decision is.

Trading is fast, but it comes with a price, you will need to trade your time for the fast reward. Investing is slow and comes with luxury of time.

When you trade, you spend time waiting in front of the computer. From the opening session to the closing. With investing, I feel like I'm reading a book. I'm not in a hurry to buy a share. I want to finish reading the "story" before I could decide. The story is seen in the balance sheet. Comes the time, if I like it, I'll then decide accordingly. In trading there is no such luxury. You are always pressed for time. Trying to outsmart/outspeed the other buyer or seller. I do not like the cut throat environment of it, nor do I see the need for such haste.

I think investing is better, when it comes to comparing resources used for the return on investment. Money should be ignored, assuming both a trader and an investor use the same amount of money. What we have left to consider is time.

A trader will have to spend more of his time to earn. It is the actual time trading. If the market opens at 9:30 and closes at 3:30pm, he just spent 6 hours of his life, everyday to earn a living. An investor may read a company's balance sheet at his leisure, before sleeping or at the breakfast table with his coffee, buy a stock for 5 minutes to get an order and go hiking somewhere, take his wife to a date and play with his kids, travel with his family for the rest of the week.

Its all about the quality of time spent for the amount of reward. Let's say that a trader manages to return 50% on same year (difficult but not impossible) and the investor manages to have a return of 15% (average). I feel like that the investor has a better life when you think that the trader spent his whole year looking at a computer screen 260 days and 6 hours per day (1,560 hours), and the investor spent the same amount of hours with his family, learning new things, traveling and what not. To think that a 30 year old person only has 200,000 hours (give or take) left for his life, I feel that life is too short not spending it with your loved ones.

A trader may "make money from having money" but its the investor who "makes money work for you". Because of the two, its the investor who have the free time and let money do the working.

Dividend Received! P122,010

Amazing how time flies and money grows with it. The last time I received a dividend payment for April, I remember how happy I was, to be able to see this kind of money as if coming down from the heavens, bestowed by the Gods as a reward for the virtue of frugality.

The last dividend payment I received for the same month was P89,474, while it grew on its own, now amounting to P122,010.

The actual money that I received was P109,809, taking into account, taxes that needs to be paid, an increase of 36.36% from last year.

The money will be reinvested, so this too shall grow. I have learned recently the IPO listing of Century, the company that makes the popular canned goods and sardines. I am very much interested in investing in its IPO as I have enjoyed those canned goods every time I hike into the mountains and meals while I was still a struggling youth in college. And I'm all for helping it to expand using the money acquired from its IPO listing.

Regret Comes Last

"Nasa huli ang pagsisisi.". We all know this phrase. Our mothers have been saying this since we learned to speak. When it comes to money, I have a different approach to most people. And this difference and uniqueness makes other people uneasy.

I created this blog to share what I know about investing. And even the friends I have care for deeply, I tried to convince them of the future and their relationship with money. Personal finance today in the Philippines, for me, feels like Pop music. Its like a fad. You're in, if you know what's the definition of mutual funds is. You're in, if you have life insurance. Save or invest 10% of your money. Challenge this belief and you find yourself treated as a fool or a tightwad.

Being treated or told a tightwad does not bother me. I have grown to ignore good titles so bad ones does not tick me off either. What affect me is that people decides to close their eyes unto the reality of things. And they are afraid to look at the grim reality of the life they are heading.

Besides, who wants to be told that you're going to work for the rest of your life in a cubicle if you continue leading the life you have? Now I can feel the fear. So I decided to shut my mouth and just let people live the life they choose. In the buddhist sense, giving unsolicited opinion is also an abuse. Speak only when asked. And so I did.

After years of trying to convince friends and after 3 years of shutting up. 3 close friends came to me and realized that what I've been saying is true. I was expecting them to realize this at the age of 65, but good thing they gave it a thought. Am I happy? Yes. But it wasn't the kind of happiness that I was expecting. Because now, these people are now in my responsibility. I realized that telling them about this truth is a selfish thing. Because I wanted to be recognized. Them coming to me, taught me a lesson. I wasn't happy as I was expecting to be right. I know I'm right. But when they admitted that I was, I was indifferent.

The moral lesson of the story is this. Save and Invest nothing and prepare to regret it later on. 

Follow personal finance's advise of saving 10% of your money in investments, and be prepared to work until age 65. You may or may not regret this later on given your personality. I myself would regret spending my whole life working. What other benefits this does have I do not know. Its yours to find out if you decide to lead this kind of life.

Save and invest 80% or more of your money and you'll be called weird and a tightwad. But you'll be financially independent in 5 years, plus the ability and skills to survive without money.

And there are 2 kinds of truths. Conventional truth and ultimate truth. For people who follow the crowd, culture and society, there is conventional truth. For people who realized and saw the reality of things, there's the ultimate truth. If you try to convince people who only can see conventional truth into looking at ultimate truth, you'll only have misunderstanding. The best way is to leave them be and let them search for this truth in themselves. Until they ask, you should stay quiet.

Aboitiz Power a Potential Winner

The energy sector has been on the news lately. Our good government, concerned of its citizens, took the matter in their hands and asked the power companies why is their maintenance schedule done all at the same time. Our government, thought that it could be a manner of large companies working together to increase the energy prices.

The companies who got hit by this news has been the power players. And here's why I think there's a potential in this.

We are in an energy crisis. No matter what the government say, we only have enough energy to drive our country. The plants are just enough to sustain our needs. What will happen if calamities arise? We also need more energy to fuel innovation. A lot of our provinces still has no electricity. We still use oil and coal for the majority of our power generation.

Oil and coal will increase in its price as the world already have peaked its oil production. Energy cost will increase further and will be passed unto the consumer. What the government fail to see is not power companies manipulating energy prices. Its just that we now see the effect of a larger scale problem.

The largest power producer in the Philippines is Aboitiz power. They are leading the way in using renewable energy sources. Comparing its share price with other companies in the same industry, you can see that this stock doesn't receive much love. But I think that Aboitiz is doing everything right. And ethically so.

Also, there's been a lot of activity lately with the insiders of the company. A lot of buying from insiders only solidified my theory that Aboitiz will be a big winner in the future.

My Desire For Financial Freedom

I will share to you where my desire for financial freedom and early retirement comes from. As a young boy, I have been nationalistic. I used to believe that the Philippines is a great country and have a great potential to be a world leader, its just that the politicians are making this so hard to happen.

But I realized as I grew up, politicians is a part of this country and corruption will not stop until there is no more government. As proof that in any country in the world, there is corruption. And thus, my ideal country is just that, a dream.

I began to see things as it is... My grandfather was a war veteran who fought in the WWII. As a veteran and having a rank, he knows that he will be taken care of. But as my grandfather's illness worsen, I am a witness at how many veterans die waiting for their pension. If its not delayed, its missing. I also heard him said sometimes that he should have cut off his arms or legs instead of fighting the war, that way, he'll have more money to buy his medicine. He died poor. Always waiting for his pension. Sometimes it came, sometimes it doesn't, most of the time it was delayed.

If this is how we treat war heroes, then how could I trust the government?

I then started working. I saw how my father work so much. Contributed to his SSS. He's so busy that I still remember he's not being present at some of my school ceremonies. I understood it and I have no qualms about it.

But just a few years ago, my father suffered stroke and unable to work. He wanted to claim some money from SSS. To our surprise, the money he contributed for 30 years was missing. My grandfather also tried to claim some money from the SSS having contributed for more than 50 years, its also missing. Then the news of big bonuses from SSS executives hit the media.

If this is how we treat workers, then how could I trust the agency?

On my second job, I realized the time as a worker will be divided into 2. One is for politics and the other, actually working. Most of the good people I know at work, does so to improve their work quality. Others, use politics to gain advantage. I became aware of the world of corporate politics. People who get ahead aren't necessarily experts. They just know how to fake expertise. Impostor syndrome (google it) - "people who know a lot, thinks they know little. Those who know little, thinks they know a lot". That's why those who fake their expertise get ahead.

Unfortunately, I am one of the people who prefer to improve my expertise than participate in office politics. But being good at your craft does not get rewarded in a real corporate environment, so I decided to engineer my exit from the corporate world and started my own practice. Best decision I ever made in my life.

If this is how we treat passionate workers then I can see why craftsmanship and Filipino made products are mediocre.

I won't die working for a company who doesn't even know my name, the guy who does that thing in the office. I won't be like my grandfather who offered his life to a nation who robbed him of his life and my father who stole his life's work. If there is someone I would work or die for, it would be me or for my family.

Then the news of pork barrel scam erupted. It just solidified what I was noticing before. As long as there is a government, there will be corruption. No matter what kind of government or organization. And if I put my faith unto the government to provide for my financial needs today and in the future, I know what will happen. I'll just be one of those people who love to hate the government, hungry, unable to feed their families and full of anger.

I decided to make a different approach. I decided not to care about the government or any representation of it in the form of politicians or government programs. I do not vote, for which I am proud. If I can not change the course of Philippine politics then I'd rather be not a part of it. Only rich candidates get TV commercials, just like the impostor syndrome in office politics. The people who thinks they know a lot, are usually the ones who know nothing. And if someone tries to shove their righteousness to me about freedom of voting, I can only say "if voting is a freedom, then not voting is also freedom. For freedom is the ability to do or not do the things you want."

I turn off the TV if its news about the government and read a book instead. The news can only tell the problem, but not solve it. So whats the purpose to watching the news about corrupt politicians? To me, its nothing. Information can be good to some, but for me its just garbage, since I won't be using that information to make my life better. It could actually just depress me.

This in turn made me happy.

Then I turn to solving my financial problems so that I wouldn't depend on the government. I started reading about investments. Invested my money in the stock market and bonds. I prefer the government to pay me than the other way around. And today I don't need SSS or Pag-ibig. I am completely free from the government which makes me happy, I can actually feel my feet float, just a little bit, from the ground when I walk.

Senators and Congressmen talking on TV becomes comedy and not something to be upset about. We paid billions (tax money) for that kind of amusement, we might as well enjoy it.

We Are A Prostitute for Money

The oldest profession in the world, for me, is also the most honest. Because both parties are aware of what they make out of the transaction. Man pays girl, girl makes love to the man. The love making is fake, both the man and the girl knows it. But its ok. Because money made the transaction real. In this sense, it is honest, because both parties know it is fake.

We are all prostitutes. Trading ourselves for money. I go to work and get paid for my time. And most of us also fake the busy-ness of everyday grind. Doing just enough to not get fired. Just like a prostitute trades his time and "services" and fakes the love making just enough so the client returns for more business.

When prostitutes stopped asking for money and men stopped giving money, the only thing that can become a currency is love. And sometimes this happen. When you stopped working for money, what you do will always be for love. And everything will be free. This freedom goes both ways. Freedom for you, and freedom for others. You own nothing and thus you own everything. By you I mean, all of us.

I just recently discovered that at the core of every religion and philosophy is the ability to think of money as it is. As real as it gets. If a crow snatches a coin, he doesn't know what a coin is for. To the crow he sees reality. A shiny round object. But a person sees it differently. A person sees the future of the coin. What it can be traded. While the crow sees it as it is, the present, just a useless piece of metal.

Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, Einstein and all the Greek Philosophers have gone the divine path of giving away their riches for achieving this enlightenment. Jesus called it heaven and or God. Buddha called it nirvana, the Greek Philosophers called it divinity, Gandhi called it nature and Einstein called it the universe.

Modern religion has been the victim of their own teachings. If religion followed their teachings, where everything is for free, then there will be no religion. I do believe that modern religion has interpreted the teachings of Jesus the wrong way. If we do, we all be wise Philosophers and Buddhist and Scientists all at the same time.

We humans give persona to things. Just like Christians think that the bible is the word of God. Just as everybody thinks money is freedom, or happiness or power or sex. We also label ourselves, "I'm a Christian, I'm a Muslim, I'm an investor". This is ego. We gave persona to ourselves.

Jesus have said that the pagans knew the word of God. Without even being a disciple of his. He even went so far to say that the word of God is not written in books but is written in all creation. They knew it already. The pagans worship nature. They respect and lived with it. They worship trees and animals. Jesus is not a Christian. Jesus has no religion. Just like the buddhist and the philosophers knew. They were all wise. They were right. We are the universe, we are nature, we are God. And living according to nature, seeing reality as it is, is the only path to heaven.

Money is not good or evil. It is our ability to give it a persona that is bad. If we see money as it is, a piece of paper. Then money will have no value. Then we wouldn't judge people by their net worth. Or their car. We can then open our eyes to the world with no judgement. Because you, me and everything here is all part of heaven. We are all part of nature.

There is nothing in this world that is permanent. Working for money is prostitution, no matter what kind of job you do. But if you do it for love, for the sake of doing because it gives you joy, then you are living according to nature as said by the wise men of our times. Money then becomes irrelevant and you'll be able to start living and experience heaven in which Jesus has promised.

All the things that have been said here are not from my own. They have been said by the people mentioned and a thorough reading of their works will reveal the truth. I am just merely summarizing it as I understood it for myself.

Goal 2014 Reached - Learn Cooking

During the past couple of months, I have been trying to learn to cook. Needless to say, I'm loving it! There's some sort of feeling of freedom that comes with learning to cook, much like the same freedom of not having to think about work.

The idea of cooking whatever food I crave that day is liberating. I have been able to cook most Filipino foods like sinigang na baboy, tinolang manok, sinampalukang manok, adobo, bistek and fried anything.

What does cooking have to do with stock investing and early retirement? For one, preparation is key in cooking. Very much the same of accumulating your savings to prepare for investing. Two, the execution. Too early and you undercook your food, too late and you overcook it. It should be balanced. Just like in investing. Three, tasting is an art. You wouldn't be able to know if your food is ready until you taste it. Until you cook your own food. Watching someone cooks is good. Having someone tell you how is better. But your own experience is the best. Same goes for investing in stocks, you can go to seminars, pay someone to teach you. But nothing beats experience.

And after all the hardships in cooking, you get to enjoy a healthy meal with your family. Just like investing is once you reach your goal.

I'll be saying goodbye to fast food for now. Which will give me more savings for investing. For P140 pesos, I could cook a meal for 4 - 6 people. Plus pogi points for my special someone. For P140, you only get 1 serving in a fast food plus unhealthiness.

Risk and Reward Investing

We all hear it all the time. When investing or trading, risk and reward comes hand in hand. The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

When you invest in a company in the Philippines, there are 289 companies publicly listed, then you put all your money (100%) in just 1 company, you are playing at a probability of 1 / 289 or 0.34%. The risk is great but so is the reward. The risk is that, out of the 289 companies, you are betting all your money in just 1.

You can decrease the risk by buying more than 1 company. Lets say you invest in 30 companies out of 289 (30 / 289), you have 10.38% chance that you'll earn money. But of course the rewards will be less. Because you are now dividing your money to 30 companies.

I want you think about this for a minute... This kind of probability is all around us. Your day job is 0% risk but not so much reward. In terms of monetary value, you do not risk any money, but you earn money, guaranteed,  at the end of the month. That is why most of us feel safer in a job than it is to invest. And we do not want to lose money. So we choose a safer route. Since the risk is low, you won't get rich in a 0% risk investment. Just as you won't see anyone getting rich in a day job.

Getting into business is said to have 5% success rate. Real estate investing is also in the same range. You only have 5% change to succeed and 95% chance to fail. What I'm trying to focus my thoughts here is that, how do we get to succeed 100% of the time yet still be able to risk to get sustainable rewards that could fund your retirement.

This might come as a surprise to you because the theory is simple. You do not need to attend any seminar nor go to school to learn it. The strategy is to save as much as you can from your income. Saving 80% of your income is ideal.

Seems easy right? And most people would probably ignore. When you save your income, you earn 100% of the money (100% success). That money then will be invested in 100% guaranteed-to-return securities like bonds and dividend paying stocks. Do this for 5 years and you will find yourself retired, free from money worries and the securities you invested will be producing money for you non stop.

The strategy is simple. Save as much of your income as possible. Save 50% of your income, 80%, 90% or even 100%. I would think twice following financial advisers saving 10% -15% of my income. Since if I follow that advice, I'll still be working at age 70. So save 50% and try your best to reach 90%.

This is not a sacrifice or deprivation in anyway. Saving 80% of my income, though large, did not even affect the quality of life I lived. I treat myself to vacations, good food, good wine, going out. But I just have a different way of doing things that don't require much money. So I could save 80%. And in 5 years, I found myself financially free. A place where working is optional.

Financially Free Officially!

Today marks the day I reached financial freedom on my goal. My current net after tax passive income is now at P51,750. All thanks to stocks and bonds.

Today I have created a list of things I wanted to do, now that I reached financial freedom and I'll share them with you.

Moving in to the city
I decided to apply as an intern in a job in which the topic interested me. I don't care much about the salary or allowance, if any, since I'm all covered by my passive income. This is also a temporary thing and as soon as I learned everything there is to the job and there's nothing more to learn, I'll leave and proceed to another adventure.

I have an interview on monday about the job.

Martial Arts
The move to the city is also in conjunction of me looking for a good martial arts school. Which is also in line with my goal of getting a black belt. It will be a long journey. And I don't mind.

Learning to Cook
Moving in myself would let me learn to cook for myself. I guess that's a good way to look at it. I'm looking for cooking classes. Perhaps those commercial cooking classes offered by technical schools can come in handy.

Personal Life
I'm also dating someone at the moment. Could you believe it? My life has never been this good. I have a lot to thank for. If there is a God... Thank you!

Financial Maturity and Measures of Success

I think that as I age, my view of money and success changes. I still remember the time that I thought respect comes from having a lot of money. That success is having to wear branded shoes, clothes and watch. And that driving to work in a luxury or sports car means you've made it. And eating delicious and expensive foods in fine dining restaurants is never a bad way to spend money.

All of those things, as I see now, seems to be absurd. If respect comes money, why do I respect teachers more than lawyers? Surely lawyers earn more. I became mature in seeing success and have been wary of myself not to indulge in these items that would say to other people that you've made it.

My view of success is now different. Instead of having to wear branded and expensive clothes in order to look good, success for me is having a fit and healthy body inside a worn out clothing.

Instead of eating out at a fine and expensive restaurant, success for me is having the ability to cook a meal that matches fine dining. Healthy and personal.

Instead of having a car as a symbol of success. To me, it is owning the company who makes the cars and ride my bike to work. Or having a 10 year old car in which you know how to repair and maintain. Success is not having to own a sports car and have someone repair it for you.

My view of success and financial maturity has been so developed now that when I spend money on things, I feel a sense of incompetence. The act of spending for me is failure in itself. Because I need to pay someone to do things for me. Success for me now, is being able to do anything with my own skills.

The Red Pill or The Blue Pill?

In the future, I would like to have this conversation with my son. The young kid asking about life and clueless of what he wants to do. Then I ask him, "The red pill or the blue pill?".

"Take the blue pill and I'll let you be like the 99% of people in the world. Believe what you want to believe, religion, personal finance, politics, work and other politically correct things that the ideal person have about the world all shiny and perfect."

"Take the red pill and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. The journey will be painful, but it is of the truth and I'll show you how to hack the system."

The world is a system. Money is part of it. While most of us continue to take the blue pill everyday. Going to work, earning money and thinking that someday we'll be rich, and believing that we are making a difference in the world, there are only a few people who would actually question the system.

That is, question if there is actually another pill.

The blue pill is the blissful lie of the world. The red pill is the painful truth. And 99% of the people in the world would want a happy life full of white lies than it is to face the painful reality.

For example, the government spends a lot of money in building confidence to the people. Surveys only quantifies the rating of the president by confidence/trust. That is a blue pill. The red pill is that, is the government effective/efficient? They spend more money on building confidence (commercials, feeding program, charity) than it is to create an efficient/effective government (corruption, law enforcement, science & technology, education).

In other words, you are being fed blue pills by the government. When you watch TV, you see those politicians reassuring you that everything is alright, that you need to trust them that the country is prospering, jobs are being created, every Filipino is rising from poverty, every criminal is being prosecuted, and every corrupt politicians being charged.

But, is it really the reality?

Religion, personal finance and work is no different. Many people would die to take the blue pill. If you never ever dreamed of questioning these things, then you might have been taking the blue pill all your life. You are dependent to it.