3 Kinds of People

While I type in the computer screen doing some programming for my next proprietary stock investment software, I can't take my mind off of this theory. The theory that there are 3 kinds of people in the world: the greedy, the smart and the stupid.

The Greedy

Are the people who search for power and money. They makes ways, always scheming to get more money out of the two other groups of people (smart and stupid) or make them work for them. The greedy owns the world. They are the 1% that controls the world. They are the politicians, the businessmen etc.

The Smart

Are the people who knows the reality of the world. In which, the world is not perfect and controlled by a few people. The greedy. But they don't want to be a part of that world. So, they drown themselves with work and go ahead conquer nature like making discoveries, inventing new technology and what not. They are the smart people like the engineers, scientists and doctors of the world who wants no participation in the acquisition of power and money.

The Stupid

Are the people, the majority of the people. They go to work in a dead end job, watch sports, get a car, create babies like a bunch of catholic rats. They have no idea how the world works and willingly don't want to know. They can not distinguish the lies from the truth and information from misinformation. They are the religious zealots who will die, kill and discriminate other people for their religion, color, race and belief. They are the majority and so they have the power in a democracy.

Their relationships

The way they interact is interesting. So, the greedy wants to get money and power, since they know that the majority of people in the world are the Stupids, they make ways to get money from them. Get control of them (religion) and making themselves rich. And also, if they want power from politics this is easily done since democracy is built that way. The Stupids easily give power to the greedy.

Now the Smarts are smart enough to know, that this is happening but they dont have any power over the system. So the best revenge they can have is to ignore and opt out of the system. So they drown themselves in their research, work and discoveries. Wanting to conquer science, nature and technology. And they succeed. But the thing is, each discovery they make will only be taken credit by the Greedy because they funded the research. The Greedy made the Smart work for them, take credit and made themselves richer.

What The Smart People Should Do

One thing that The Greedy has and gives them the most advantage is their "Balls" or confidence to go out there and get what they want. The Smart people have their "Brains" but has no balls. If the Smart people grow some balls and play the system as to how the Greedy play it. They can change the world for the better. The world that they want to live in.

My observation to this is that, it is happening right now. Smart people are now growing balls and realized that the way to change the world is not to make the best discovery or win the Nobel price. The way to change the world is to play the game as the Greedy play it. Business and Politics. Make it there and change it from the inside. You can see this happening, Smart people are getting into business, killing it there, making it rich and fund the research made by other Smart people that can change the world. You can see Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk doing it. They are my inspiration.

The Smart people should go into business or politics. And change it.

Respond not React

Theres a blood bath in the Philippine Stock Market as of today. You can see red colored digits on your portfolio screen. What do you do? Do you sell? Do you buy more? Or do nothing?

There's a popular speech by the new Google CEO Sundar Pichai, The Cockcroach Theory.

Its actually an age old Greek Philosophy called Stoicism. Where you think rationally for a minute during hard times and assess the situation. You then respond afterwards with the best course of action. While most people will react naturally to some situations, Stoicism wants you to be indifferent.

Experiment On a New Investment Strategy

Let's do some experiment. How about I invest some of my money in a new investing strategy that I have formulated and have it documented on this blog. If the experiment proved to be successful, people can copy the system and I get more money. If the experiment is a failure, only I lose money.

I shall name this experiment "The Secret Investing Portfolio". Where the strategy is to pick out stocks that I think are unpopular and cheap as of this writing. Holding onto it for a year and then sell it. The only rule is, it should be sold exactly after 1 year, win or lose. And I shall provide an update every month.

The Secret Investing Portfolio

My Stock Holdings		Price	Shares	Ave	Gains	Equity	Yld
ANS : A. SORIANO CORPORATION		7	4,249	7.0600	-254.94	29,743.00	-0.85%
ATI : ASIAN TERMINALS, INC.	▼	13.54	2,142	14.0000	-985.32	29,002.68	-3.29%
COSCO : COSCO CAPITAL, INC.	▲	8.2	3,654	8.2100	-36.54	29,962.80	-0.12%
FDC : FILINVEST DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION	▼	4.3	6,741	4.4500	-1,011.15	28,986.30	-3.37%
FLI : FILINVEST LAND, INC.	▲	1.94	15,789	1.9000	631.56	30,630.66	2.11%
IMI : INTEGRATED MICRO-ELECTRONICS, INC.	▼	6.17	4,739	6.3300	-758.24	29,239.63	-2.53%
MEG : MEGAWORLD CORPORATION	▲	5.42	5,660	5.3000	679.20	30,677.20	2.26%
MPI : METRO PACIFIC INVESTMENTS CORPORATION	▲	4.54	6,622	4.5300	66.22	30,063.88	0.22%
MWIDE : MEGAWIDE CONSTRUCTION CORP.	▼	7.77	3,851	7.7900	-77.02	29,922.27	-0.26%
NIKL : NICKEL ASIA CORPORATION	▲	24.2	1,318	22.7500	1,911.10	31,895.60	6.37%
PF : SAN MIGUEL PURE FOODS COMPANY, INC.	▲	196	153	195.9000	15.30	29,988.00	0.05%
RCI : ROXAS AND COMPANY, INC.	▲	1.92	15,706	1.9100	157.06	30,155.52	0.52%
ROCK : ROCKWELL LAND CORPORATION		1.76	17,045	1.7600	0.00	29,999.20	0.00%
SHNG : SHANG PROPERTIES, INC.		3.3	9,230	3.2500	461.50	30,459.00	1.54%
VLL : VISTA LAND & LIFESCAPES, INC.	▲	7.52	4,000	7.5000	80.00	30,080.00	0.27%
VMC : VICTORIAS MILLING COMPANY, INC.		4.5	6,666	4.5000	0.00	29,997.00	0.00%
TOTAL:					878.73	480,802.74	0.18%

Dividend Received P24,651

Another dividend received.

Gross: P27,390
Tax: P2,739
Net: P24,651

Dividend Received! P83,813.40

I received a dividend payment.

Gross Amount (Php) : 93,126.00
Less Withholding Tax (Php) : 9,312.60
Net Amount (Php) : 83,813.40

Dividend Received! P8,481.51

I received a dividend today with net after tax of P8,481.51.

What's the best advice for someone who knows nothing?

My girlfriend and I had a little conversation. She have saved up some bit of money and was wondering where to put it. I asked her if she has been talking to some financial advisers? She said yes. Then I told her that what I'm going to tell to her might not the one she wants to hear.

Her financial adviser told her to get the VUL then put in 10% every month from her salary. I told her, that's good. If you plan to work until 70. "What I'm going to tell you would be different, because I will not earn commission." And thus, my advise is something where I wont have anything to gain.

Every time you buy a VUL from a financial adviser, you are literally paying that financial adviser's kid's college tuition. Its even better if you just give him the money instead of buying. That will put his child to college.

My advise is to save money. 90% if you can, and buy the index every month. its that simple. Don't go to mutual funds, dont go to financial advisers, just learn to navigate a stock broker account and buy the index.

Now, if you follow that rule, in 3 years, you may retire. I mean MAY retire. In which I mean, quitting your job is optional.

Then if every year you only take 4% of that nest egg, it will never ran out of money. FOREVER. There I told you how to cheat the system. Its infinite money. Personal finance for me is just a game. Here's the cheat code, now go have some fun.

Ignorance is the Cause of Suffering

People invest in the stock market because they think they could earn money. But if that's the only thing needed to be successful, everybody would be successful. What's different from you and Warren Buffett, given you have the same amount of money to start with, is not the money or the willingness to invest, but the knowledge.

The SAF massacre, the ISIS problem in the middle east, the debate of different religions, of different opposing political views are just a product of ignorance. Conflict arises because one party does not fully understand the body of knowledge that one party possess and vice versa.

Science and religion debate will never end, because priests, imams and pastors does not know shit about science. So one party thinks that their body of knowledge is more important and thus creating ignorance and conflict.

Same thing with the conflict of different religion, one religion thinks their religion is better, without having knowledge of other religion deep enough to understand them, creates ignorance and conflict.

Politicians participating in the investigation on the SAF massacre will never find the truth nor solve this problem because the investigation is spending so much time knowing how the PNP, MILF, BIFF and Military operates. Politicians does not have that deep knowledge about military or police operation to as to come up with a solution fast enough to this problem. Let alone elect senators who didn't went to school and won just by charisma.

In a way, knowledge can solve conflict. And knowledge comes from an open mind. When the time comes when you ask yourself "Is this belief true?" challenging your most held belief like religion, accepting it if it is wrong, is the time when you have opened your mind and wisdom has been attained.

There will be no need to voice out your opinion, because in a way, opinion does not matter. Only control. There is no need to join protest rally to raise your salary (voicing out opinion) when you can just invest, start a business (control) to have control of your salary.

3 Rules of Making Money

#1 - Invest

Money makes more money. If you don't have money at first, then trade your time for money. But ultimately, it is money working for you to get more money that you want to aim for. Investing is spending money that you know will pay back in the future with profit.

#2 - Protect Your Wealth

Once you made money, you should protect it. And I'm not talking about just money. Protect your wealth, health, property, family, relationships and reputation. These are all important. When people around you, know that you earn a lot of money, they will become like moths attracted to a candle. You should know when to say 'No' especially to the hard situations like people asking money for their sick relatives, mother, father, baby.

#3 - Give it Away

When you've made enough money that its so abundant you could live in any way you like and still have a lot of it left over... give it away. Help people. Start a foundation, a charity.

Learn to Spot Irrational Crowd Behavior and You Will Profit in the Stock Market

Money is made when the crowd is wrong. But it takes a lot of will and discipline to stand alone and fight the feeling, the urge to belong in a group. Millionaires are made right after recessions, because these people stood alone when others are scared to invest. A few of them spared when they stood alone on the sell side when the crowd thought a bull market, these few people see a bubble.

Do you want to be one of these people? Do you want to think independently? Is it even possible?

Let me ask you first, how do you know when something is true? If you can answer that question, I shall tell you...

Dividend Received! P48,082.5

I received dividend payment net after tax of P48,082.5.

The money was reinvested to a new company. I invested the money into MEG (Megaworld Corporation) a new company added to the portfolio.

Why Most People Fail to be Authentic

This has been bothering me for quite some time now. As I notice, many people try to act good, look good and impress other people. Yet they fail at being authentic. Let me explain.

One time, I was walking in Makati, going to Entrepreneur class. I bumped into a college friend and caught up about what's going on with each others' lives. But then I said, I have this idea of putting up a school. He seems to be interested in it because he said he wanted to teach. Even told me that it has been a dream of him to teach. We both grew in the same province. And we both want to change the way some subjects in school was taught. I told him, I would contact him if I pushed through with the idea.

I contacted him the next day and guess what? No reply.

Another time, I admire the professor at a school I went into. Having to commute for 2 hours just to get to school, I always go to school early to avoid traffic. I was 2 hours early this time and I found myself waiting with the teacher I admire. Only the 2 of us standing, waiting for the janitor to arrive for the key to the school.

It was my chance to pick the brain of this teacher. I wanted to have a conversation. Because in class, he was very chatty and friendly and always giving advice. But I was disappointed to realize that when outside, he was a different person. Every question I asked was answered with short answers. You know, when you want people to stop bugging you and you answer them back with short "yes", "no" and "maybe" answers? Something like that.

I have experienced a lot more of this kind situations in the past. Makes me think if the problem was with me and not other people.

I have a theory that people will put on a mask. And every time the situation is non threatening, or has no social pressure, they will put the mask down and reveal their true self. The mask was so that everyone would look at them in good light, more intelligent, etc. Like when you have to be good at the office, even if someone is pushing you around. That's the kind of mask what I'm talking about. A mask you put on when you arrive at the alumni homecoming. Projecting yourself that you're more successful than everybody else. Which is kind of sad when you think about it. Life is too short to live like that. And even if you think that you are doing no harm. People who believe in your mask thought that you can be a good friend or a lover or a teacher. You'll only break their heart when they found out.

Why is it so hard for everyone to just be themselves?

This is no different in the business setting. Investing in stocks is also one of the reason why you should be careful at this. CEO's and leaders of companies do put on a mask. Either to hide an anomaly or to gain investor confidence. You should always be wary of such people.

Dream Still Comes True - My School is Up

I know, I need to update this blog more often. Just an update, when I started this blog, I wrote on the Dream page the dreams that I want to fullfill. And now, one of those dreams has come true because of being financially free.

Actually, the dream became a reality last August 2014. But I forgot to update this blog. I have created a small school in our community, teaching young people Programming, since it is my background and have a passion for the craft. I can see that the products of universities in our community are not up to par to what I consider to be good at IT, CS or Engineering. Being lucky to be educated and have experience in the field, I thought to myself to give back.

The situation now has changed for the Goals page. I tried going to martial arts last year, to at least, start on my "Get a Black Belt in a Martial Art" goal. But the thing is, commuting for 2 hours is stressing me out. I like the part where I get to do martial arts, the sparring and all. But the commute to EDSA and MRT is just unhealthy and stressful for me. The whole ordeal, having to do it every single day, its making me feel depressed in some way. So I stopped. I hope to continue on that journey as soon as a martial arts gym becomes available nearby.

And for any decent martial art, its a miracle to get a black belt for a year. It takes years to master.

I will have to change goal and replace it with another one. And I have to punish myself with 2 goals for not having to push through with the original goal.

• Learn carpentry / wood working
• Learn welding / metal working

I hope to learn these skills this year. So I could build my own house/school and furnitures for it. It should be a fun project.

So for all of us, let's make 2015 a good year. :)

Why New Years Resolutions Don't Work

Man is a creature of habit. If you go about deciding to quit smoking this January while having smoked for 10 years straight. It won't work. Same as dieting, exercise or saving money. The reason is, we are a creature of habit and you can't go cold turkey once you decided you want to change.

Learning of this fact is one thing. Accepting it is another. The more you try to force yourself to change, the harder it is for you to really change something. And the weaker your self trust and will power will become. The key to this weakness of human nature, is to do the changes gradually.

Let's take for example our willingness to invest in the stock market. And eventually, retiring from the nest egg you accumulated, living off the dividends. This is a noble goal. Besides, who wants to work for the rest of their lives? But look closer, and you can see the problem. The reason you want to be free using the stock market is probably, your lifestyle as of now, is quite different from the vision of the future that you want. It might be because you have no money at the end of each month and just living from paycheck to paycheck and that's why you desire to retire using the stock market.

The fact is, you arrive at that situation in your life because of habit. A collection of small habits that made you lose money at the end of the month, just about right that you don't go into debt (or small debt) and not too much you have so much money. Surprisingly, whenever you have a bonus or increase in pay, you amazingly return to a break even point where you don't lose money nor you don't save money. Amazing isn't it?

Why does this happen?

Its because of habit.

Habits are too small to notice until they are too big to change. The collection of small habits that are reinforced over time becomes a lifestyle.

Once you embedded this habit into your life, changing them is hard. That is why, new years resolutions don't work. You are trying to break a habit that was reinforced in years.

If you've been spender for all these years and trying out the challenge of saving money in a piggy bank, you might succeed for a while. But habit is a habit and will take the best of you in other forms. How many people have you seen did this? They saved money for a year but then that money saved was used to buy gadgets or luxury bag?

The spending habit is still there, you just... delayed it. The real problem wasn't the saving... The habit was the spending. So saving might be easy for most people, and they will succeed in accumulating money. But what you do when the saving is done, is the hard part. Its another habit altogether. Some kind of like a web of habits reinforcing each bad habit after another. You might have conquered the "saving habit" now, but what about the "spending habit", "the eating habit", "the travel habit", "the fashion habit", "the giving to family members" habit? All those costs money. Even if you killed one habit, you still need to kill the others to make a significant change in your life. All of this requires conscious effort. All of this requires more than just a new years resolution. If you did not kill all the bad habits that links the chain of lifestyle that you currently live your life, you are not making any changes at all.

So what are we going to do? Are we helpless? Are we not able to change?

Of course we are able to change. But it requires a more conscious effort. What do I mean by that? Let me explain. As you know, I am a big fan of Benjamin Franklin. In his biography he once set out on a quest to become the perfect man. He wrote on a piece of paper the 13 virtues that he wanted to acquire:

1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

What he did was to assign each virtue to a day and practice it. For example, today is Monday and he assigned Industry to this day. He would then set out and practice Industry in everything that he do that day. And at night he would check it out on the paper indicating that the virtue has been practiced. He would then do this for the first 7 virtues, assigning each day to each virtue. Once he realized that he made a habit out of them, which means, he was practicing the virtues without consciously thinking about it, he would then replace it with a new virtue on the list. Franklin's "resolution" wasn't a one year thing, he told in his autobiography that it was a lifetime pursuit.

He was successful at making a habit at some of the virtues. But at the end of his life, he was honest to say that he found humility the hardest. Because, being a man of his stature, being well known in many parts of the world at that time, Humility for Franklin as he say is hard. He was a humble man as many people in history have indicated, perhaps Franklin has a high standard of what humility is and had trouble comparing himself to Jesus and Socrates.

So, if you want a habit to stick for you for life, make the real effort to change them for life. Firmly decide that what you're doing is a lifetime pursuit and not a fad. If the habit is worth acquiring, wouldn't it be better to pursue it for life?