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.