Where to put your extra P5,000 to P10,000

As you know, I attended Bo Sanchez' How to be Truly Rich Seminar last February 6, 2010 at the St. Francis Theater in Lourdes Mandaluyong and there Bo Sanchez talked about investing your money in the right places. He advises us to save 20% of our income every month.

What do we do with the 20 percent? It depends on your current situation.You also have your current finance and debt situation to consider. Here are some questions to think about:

1. Do you already have an Emergency Fund?

      What's an emergency fund you say? An emergency fund is just that, money set aside for a rainy day or any emergency. Your emergency fund should be equal to at least 3 to 6 times your monthly salary. So, for example, if you're retrenched or get sick, you'll have enough money to cover your expenses for the next few months til you get better or find another job.

2. Do you have any debts?

     This is self explanatory. If you owe any one or any company any money then you have debt.You can use what is called a FREEDOM FUND to hasten your debt payments. Let's say, for example, you pay P5,000 monthly for your car. You add the FREEDOM FUND to your monthly payment of P5,000 so that your balance will go down much faster. The next thing you know you're already debt free!

So if you don't have an emergency fund yet plus you also have debt. Here's how you divide your 20%
     Place 1/3 of 20% in EMERGENCY FUND
     Place 1/3 of 20% in FREEDOM FUND (for paying off debt)
     Place 1/3 of 20% in WEALTH FUND (money for investing)

Just adjust this accordingly depending on your situation. Once you already have your Emergency Fund in place then you can then already allocate 1/2 each to your Freedom and Wealth Fund or if you don't have any debts then allocate half each to building your Emergency Fund and Wealth Fund.

Also remember, if you have any particular debts that must already be paid then you can put your full 20% towards your FREEDOM FUND.

Additionally, if your emergency fund is already in place and you're debt-free then you can also place the entire 20% in your Wealth Fund.

We'll talk more about the Wealth Fund soon.


- designstudentny

Friends, McDonalds and Your Life

 I never really thought that the words FRIENDS, MCDONALD'S and LIFE can actually go together for a very valuable lesson in life - directed at a 4 year old no less.

Take the time to read this. It's a short letter with a very good lesson within it.

P.S. It's not just for 4 year olds!

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A NOTE TO CHEYANNE
by Ron White

 

This is something I wrote to my 4 year old cousin Cheyanne when I was 30 years old. I have edited it for this article for the lesson that we as adults can learn from her.
Cheyanne,

If we stay as good of friends as we are now, I know you will read this one day. You said something in the car that made me think. I asked you if you were looking forward to preschool starting.

'No!'

'Cheyanne, why not? Don't you want to meet some friends and have some kids at your birthday party? All you know is adults.'

'I don't want friends at school. I want friends at McDonalds!'

It brought our conversation to an abrupt halt. Because, Cheyanne, I am a 30 year old man and sometimes I don't want friends at school either. I also want friends at McDonald's.

 

There have been times in my life when I chased the McDonald's friends. To this day, women from McDonald's still cause my head to turn. Sometimes I let the happy meal distract me, instead of the delayed gratification of the degree. Sometimes friends from McDonald's seem fun and carefree and friends from school seem boring.

Of course, these are metaphors and I am not talking about fast food or degrees. Cheyanne, it is the same at 4 as it is 30. Human nature tells us that we need what is on the other side, the forbidden, or what doesn't take much effort. Human nature tells us that what takes work and moves slower can't be fun. But, that is wrong.

Life is no happy meal. It isn't instant gratification. It takes the discipline of school but the reward is so much more than a chocolate sundae and a Hamburger slide.

Cheyanne, I hope that you want the friends that it is initially hard to want. I pray that you want the friends who will be there when the happy meal is over and will walk with you towards faithfulness, self control, success, hope, hard work, goal setting, focus, self-discipline, honesty, integrity and love.

I don't claim to be a wise man, a poet or a saint. But, my heart beats as loud as thunder for the things that I believe and I believe to my core that delayed gratification is the hardest thing to teach – yet one of life’s most important lessons.

I love you very much Cheyanne. I have 26 years on you and I struggle with the same thing. However, who you surround yourself with will determine the outcome of your life. Make the choices VERY carefully.

You have to live with the choices you make.

Your Favorite Cousin,
Ronnie

Money to Make Your Dreams

 

If you've ever watched The Secret then you've probably heard of how Jack Canfield earned his first $100,000.

Jack Canfield had just met W. Clement Stone and had him (Stone) become his first mentor. W. Clement Stone asked him, as his first task, to create a goal so big that if he achieved it he would know that it would definitely be because Jack applied the lessons that W. Clement Stone taught him. So Jack Canfield made the goal of making $100,000 in a year.

To aid him in visualizing his goal of earning $100,000, he got a $1 bill and he wrote 5 zeros beside the $1 number on the bill and pasted it on his ceiling.

To make the long story short, after a year, Jack Canfield had an idea to sell one of his books and he earned $92,000+.

Well I instantly remembered this story when I chanced upon this article from hotnez.com. The 10 Poorest Countries in the World lists exactly that. Zimbabwe is the top 3 poorest country in the world and so much so that according to the article, in March 5, 2008, their currency tumbled to Z$25,000,000 to US$1.

Photo courtesy of Peat Bakke on Flickr

Okay, so it's really sad but, of course, I still found a positive thing in a truly depressing article. When I saw the bill I had the idea of using one such bill in the same way that Jack Canfield did!

I bought these super cool bills from lighweightbackpacker on Ebay and they only cost me $9.99 or roughly P460!

Forget that it's value at next to nothing. It's just really cool to have those bills in my hand and technically be able to call my self a trillionaire. So what I do is look at one of the bills (I'm starting with the 500 Million and when I'm already a millionaire, I'll move on to the billion bill) and imagine myself as already a millionaire.

Don't knock it till you try it. It's really fun!


- designstudentny

Below are the books and dvds that I read/watched that taught me about this technique: