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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

So, you want to start investing? (Part 1)

I am lucky to have been given the chance to attend Saint Louis University's (SLU) Financial Wellness Seminar. My only regret at this point is that I have not learned the things I know now early in life.

Truth to tell, after graduating from UST, I right away landed on a well-paying job. And it was a fairly easy job--to teach basic English. I could have done some tutoring job on the side (because some were asking me to) but I felt I did not need the extra money.

Eventually, I applied for a teaching position in Russia given my cross-cultural experience in language teaching (ahem). Luckily, I qualified. I taught there for one quarter. I felt lonely and homesick, so, I came back home.

And, in the last four years, I have been teaching in U.P and SLU (both well-paying institutions, compared to others [or so I heard]).

But going back way earlier, being honest to myself, I was given allowance in college enough to start me a small-scale business venture (like Smart/Globe/Sun retail, Royale membership, etc.) Although, of course, when we were in college, we always complained to our parents that our allowance wasn't enough. And we know, this claim, more often than not, is fallacious. (I hope my mom does not read this.)

With this said, even if my math is bad, I estimate that I would have been a multi-millionaire when turned 30! But, since I only started to manage my personal finance late last year, I have been making up double time for the lost chances to grow my funds. So, here I am, still a little short to earning my first million. I really can't believe I've wasted so many chances to earn and wasted so much money on things I did  not need. But life is such, we learn from our past.

If you are reading this post now, and your idea about financial management is little to none, consider yourself fortunate. I and many other online sources are now available to help you with this.

In the seminar we SLU faculty members were invited to attend, the speaker's last words were these:

We gave you this seminar for free. We only hope that you repay SLU by passing it (the things we have learned) on to the next person who needs it.

Moving, isn't it?

And so, from then on, I have taken it upon me to help people about this as much/far as I can. I have started this journey to financial wellness from that moment on, and I never wanted to stop learning more. I have found ways to make my funds grow (however little)--not without mistakes, of course, because I made lots of it (and still making some now) but with less hassle and less sleepless nights thinking about losses. Teaching is already a tough job as it is; I need sleep. And I need lots of it.

I will write this post into parts because it is long. I will also be quoting my mentors every now and then because the things I know now are partly because of their help (and patience!). Besides, I still have a long way to go. I am still trying to master disciplining myself, and still trying to master my emotions. What can I say, I'm a stubborn Taurus.

I hope, you yourselves are ready to commit, too.

If you think succeeding in this endeavor looks something like this:


My boy, you are absolutely mistaken. This illustration below is pretty much what you're going to go through:




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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

So, you want to start investing? (Part 1)

I am lucky to have been given the chance to attend Saint Louis University's (SLU) Financial Wellness Seminar. My only regret at this point is that I have not learned the things I know now early in life.

Truth to tell, after graduating from UST, I right away landed on a well-paying job. And it was a fairly easy job--to teach basic English. I could have done some tutoring job on the side (because some were asking me to) but I felt I did not need the extra money.

Eventually, I applied for a teaching position in Russia given my cross-cultural experience in language teaching (ahem). Luckily, I qualified. I taught there for one quarter. I felt lonely and homesick, so, I came back home.

And, in the last four years, I have been teaching in U.P and SLU (both well-paying institutions, compared to others [or so I heard]).

But going back way earlier, being honest to myself, I was given allowance in college enough to start me a small-scale business venture (like Smart/Globe/Sun retail, Royale membership, etc.) Although, of course, when we were in college, we always complained to our parents that our allowance wasn't enough. And we know, this claim, more often than not, is fallacious. (I hope my mom does not read this.)

With this said, even if my math is bad, I estimate that I would have been a multi-millionaire when turned 30! But, since I only started to manage my personal finance late last year, I have been making up double time for the lost chances to grow my funds. So, here I am, still a little short to earning my first million. I really can't believe I've wasted so many chances to earn and wasted so much money on things I did  not need. But life is such, we learn from our past.

If you are reading this post now, and your idea about financial management is little to none, consider yourself fortunate. I and many other online sources are now available to help you with this.

In the seminar we SLU faculty members were invited to attend, the speaker's last words were these:

We gave you this seminar for free. We only hope that you repay SLU by passing it (the things we have learned) on to the next person who needs it.

Moving, isn't it?

And so, from then on, I have taken it upon me to help people about this as much/far as I can. I have started this journey to financial wellness from that moment on, and I never wanted to stop learning more. I have found ways to make my funds grow (however little)--not without mistakes, of course, because I made lots of it (and still making some now) but with less hassle and less sleepless nights thinking about losses. Teaching is already a tough job as it is; I need sleep. And I need lots of it.

I will write this post into parts because it is long. I will also be quoting my mentors every now and then because the things I know now are partly because of their help (and patience!). Besides, I still have a long way to go. I am still trying to master disciplining myself, and still trying to master my emotions. What can I say, I'm a stubborn Taurus.

I hope, you yourselves are ready to commit, too.

If you think succeeding in this endeavor looks something like this:


My boy, you are absolutely mistaken. This illustration below is pretty much what you're going to go through: