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.