BANKS: The Only Option For Savings?

Money is an object we as adults work hard for. It is a medium wherein we use to exchange for something that adds value to our life. Every people have different definition of what money is and what it is for – positive or negative or both. This allows us to have things that answer your basic needs and wants. The more money you have, the more you become comfortable mentally simply because you are assured that for the coming days your basic needs would be provided for. It really makes the world go round.

All our lives, rich or poor, educated or not, we work just to earn money. Poor people, as early as they can think, they are trained to make money in whatever way possible – begging, collecting and selling garbage, and sometimes committing crimes. For us educated people, we were trained for 16 years more or less from nursery to college also to make money. We specialize on a certain field which will turn out to be our career that would provide us high paying salaries or business earnings. At the end of our formal educating years, what do we do next? Yes, make money. Everyone does, except of course kids who don’t want to work because they have filthy rich parents.

Once we start earning money, we take care of our basic personal needs. Then when our salaries will eventually be bigger than our basic needs we now can afford things beyond our basic needs – shopping, travel, etc. But there will be a time, either right away or later, when you would realize that this wouldn’t go on forever. Thus, we start saving money for our future.

Before, saving money is very simple. Keep it in a safe place in your house which would make it very vulnerable or keep it in a bank. This traditional way of saving is still being used right now. Banks certainly bring a lot of convenience to us. Deposit in your account, and the bank would be the one to protect it. Need money? Withdraw using ATM or through the bank teller. This makes us love banks even more. But will your money ever grow with them? I don’t think so.

Savings account earns 1% minus tax. Time deposit earns you 3-5% minus tax depending on the amount of deposit. Our inflation rate sometimes reaches to 5%. TRANSLATION: Your money isn’t earning well in the bank or sometimes the value even depreciates. Not everybody understands this, but you should! Your hard earned money depreciates in value over time in the bank. What if 10 years or so of saving you still haven’t found an investment vehicle? Then your money just depreciated before your eyes.

Are there any other savings tools aside from banks? My answer could create different reactions: LIFE INSURANCE. How? Through investment linked products of Life Insurance. Yup Life Insurance today isn’t just about claiming a lump sum amount when somebody dies. You can use it as a savings tool that earns 6% or more.

This savings tool is a bargain because it gives you life insurance coverage for free. The moment you open an account, not only did you simply open an account, you also are covered immediately. How’s great is that for a savings account? And just like the bank, you can withdraw and deposit.

That right there is an alternative when it comes to savings. But I am not saying that you empty your bank account and move it to insurance companies. Your bank account should be for immediate cash need purposes and Life Insurance for long term savings purposes because it out grows inflation rate and earns way bigger than banks.

So my question to you is, do you just let your hard earned money depreciate like that in banks? Or do you let it grow for savings purposes until you have come up with an idea where to invest it? What’s your pick? - DE

P.S.

Do you have a better savings tool? Comment here or contact me! Should you want to know more about investment linked products of life insurance, you watch out for my coming blog about that it. It would be a simple explanation of what it is. But if you want to know about it in full details, you can contact me through email first. Cheers!

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Paper for Now, Food for Later

Life Insurance in the Philippines always has had a bad image. Its image is more of an expense, rather than a benefit. When annual bill comes, the policy owner frowns instead of smile, would rather feel like buying gadgets than to pay insurance. Why can’t people see the importance of Life insurance?

When Life Insurance policy owner reaches 5 years or more of paying, they would suddenly feel like it has been a liability to them because they haven’t received anything yet. They will forget the reason why they bought it in the first place – to protect their family or prepare for a major expense to come or plan for retirement.

There are reasons why Life Insurance has a bad image here in the Philippines. First of all, most Filipinos have very short patience when it comes to money. They want big returns in just a short amount of time with very low or no risk at all. So after 5 years or so of putting their money in insurance, they feel that it’s a bad investment because they aren’t receiving anything yet.

Another reason is that people think that pre-need companies like CAP are the same with Life insurance companies like AXA Philippines, SunLife Financials, Manulife, etc. Yes they both have products that provide solution for future needs, but they belong to different governing bodies - Insurance Commission for Life Insurance and Securities and Exchange Commission for Pre-Need. The recent crash of CAP frightened investors to place their money in Life insurance companies.

Lastly, insurance agents usually don’t explain everything about the policy they are selling to their clients or sometimes misrepresenting the company by promising things that the company doesn’t provide. Add to that, after making a sale, these agents disappear immediately. Agents play a major role in this business because after-sales-service is a must. Unfortunately, only a few genuine hearted agents do this. They are responsible of reminding their clients the importance of life insurance to them and to their family and to remind them to pay so as not to experience lapse (policy would not be in-force once one payment is missed).

Filipinos should understand the importance of a Life Insurance Policy not only to them but also to their family. It may be tiring to pay these plans for years but if you understood fully the importance of it, it wouldn’t be much of a load on your shoulders. If something happens to you, your family would be guaranteed to receive the amount of money that your salary would have brought, should be enough of a reason for you to love insurance.

If you lived too long, you’ll feel like paying insurance is too heavy of a load on your back. Well you should be glad that you’re not claiming it yet because you’re still alive. Be thankful for that. And, this would be fund that would let you live the lifestyle you have when you grow old.

If you feel that you don’t need Life Insurance, just think about your family. If something happens to you, would you want them to die with you? Do you love yourself and your money more that you love your family? Don’t be selfish. Start thinking and plan a better future for you and for them. Don’t hide from financial advisors; they might the answers to problems you haven’t even thought of. For now it’s just a paper, but someday it would be food for your family.- DE

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If You Don't Need It, Don't Buy It

I grew up in a family that loves to save. From as early as 7 years old, my dad taught me how to manage my money. Yes, I already have money by that time. But it wasn’t easy, I have to earn it. For every perfect quiz I make, I get money as a reward. Not bad eh? I get motivated to study as hard as I could, I also receive rewards. Even if one perfect quiz is only worth P20, I rack up at least P200 per month!

Though I was trained to work hard to earn, that wasn’t the only reason why they let me do it. Later on I found out that it was training for me to manage my money. I keep every peso in my piggy bank and would count it every weekend with my family. I only use a portion of my savings to buy things that bring little joy to any kid – candies, DEC shakes (much like Quickly), potato corner French fries and sometimes toys.

Studying hard to learn and to earn made me love studying even more. As I grew older, the rewards faded away and my wants changed. I wanted to buy many things, from mobile phones, to gadgets, to clothes, game consoles.

Since I don’t earn anymore from quizzes, I always go to my father whenever I want to buy something. The answer I usually get is “If you don’t need it, even if it is cheap, we won’t buy it. If you need it, even if it is expensive, we will buy it.”

I usually get pissed when I hear this because I actually don’t understand it because at that time. A bubble always pops out of my mind saying “We have the money, why don’t you just buy me the damn thing?” This continuously went on throughout college.

Until one day, I received my very first paycheck from work that made me realize that the principle my dad taught me was very simple to understand. Money is hard earned, but you can easily lose it if you don’t know how to control yourself. You should only spend it on things that you need. Unable to buy what you want won’t kill you anyway.

From that day forward, I am doing what I was doing as a kid. Whenever and wherever I get money, I save it not to a piggy bank anymore but in a bank account. I just withdraw and spend a specific amount for my needs. And sometimes I reward myself by buying some things I like. Bottom line is learn to save up, spend only what’s needed. You’ll be surprised that this will slowly shape up your financial future. -DE

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The Devastating NO

Children are born pure, bright, carefree, imaginative, confident and ambitious. From the moment their mind started working, their imagination continuously works. You would see them imitating whatever and whoever they see, be it by words or actions. They are just being kids, having fun, wanting to be who they want to be each moment. Their mind could think of thousands of ideas a day.

Father and Son

Kids could be influenced with what they see, what they hear and what they experience. They copy what they hear; they do what they see because at this stage they think everything is right. This is called modeling, everything that gets stored in their mind is from their experiences, words they hear, and things they see while growing up.

Growing up, kids would start to dream big dreams. You would often hear that they would want to be a doctor, astronaut, fireman, police, dentist, rock star, athlete, own buildings and resorts, etc. They feel so happy when they think of these and when they share these dreams to people. Spirits are sky high that this would really happen soon. For them, nothing is impossible.

Unfortunately, no matter how high their belief in their dreams, the fire of desire eventually dies down and they start dreaming smaller and smaller. Why does this happen? It is because of the environment. This includes family, friends, school, village, TV, etc. Society is dictating what you should do when you reach a certain age. By this age you should be doing this and that. THAT AIN’T RIGHT!

Another very sad reality is that the people who crushes or steals the dreams of kids are their own parents. Parents always say the word “NO” and more often than not they don’t explain why. This single word hurts kids and crushes their imagination and dreams.

For example, a kid wants to play basketball with friends because he wants to be a pro-athlete and just to have fun with friends. The kid asks permission from his parents if he could play outside after school, but the mother replies with “No, it’s very dangerous, you might get hurt”. Although the boy’s mother cares so much, this isn’t helping the child’s confidence with himself and his dreams. What her mother said gets stored in his mind and he will carry it until he gets old. For him, basketball could not be a dream anymore because it is very dangerous and he might get hurt. How sad is that?

Discipline

Another example, a girl wants to attend ballet lessons or piano lessons during summer. This girl wanted to be a ballerina and an excellent musician. She keeps dreaming about this even before summer came. When she asked her parents if she could attend these workshops, the reply she got was “No honey, we don’t have money for that, those are only for rich people, and that couldn’t contribute in your life after college.” Immediately, the girl’s dream gets crushed. For her, being a ballerina and an artist are not for her. Instead it is just for rich people.

I would often hear parents tell their kids “you can’t be a model, you’re fat” or “you can’t be a basketball player, you’re too small and unskilled” or worse “we don’t have money for that”. These statements are brutal but this really happens and it doesn't help kids at all. This just pounds their spirits. Imagine the people they love are the one’s who does this to them.

These are just some examples but you get what I am saying don’t you? With those few words, it can affect kids in very big way. Their self-esteem will be in an all time low until they grow old. Why don’t parents just let their children be who they really want to be and just support all the way?SUPPORT is all they need! -DE

Support

“Anything is possible in a world of dreams.” - Mike Cunningham

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Investing is RISKY

We would often hear this from people that are afraid or haven’t tried investing. Why do they say it is risky? If it is risky, why are there many investors who gets wealthy? They say it out of fear. FEAR OF LOSING MONEY. For now let’s just call them Courage. Now, these cowards isolate themselves from good investment vehicles that would propel them to the wealthy class. Instead, they settle for secured but very low return investments like time deposit.

“Low risk, low return. High risk, high returns.” This has always been the statement when it comes to investing. And this is how investing will always be. Then why is investing risky for Courage? It’s simply because they know nothing about that vehicle. Not only that, they refuse to know and are too lazy to study opportunities. Worst of all, they influence other people not to invest. They not only take the opportunity out of their hands but also from other people who could benefit from it.

When you do not know about an investment vehicle, you become uncomfortable, thus, believing it is risky. Investments aren’t for the faint hearted. Courage simply hates being uncomfortable. You have to be tough mentally, emotionally and financially because investing is a money game. You have to be ready to lose some money because it is part of investing. With every failure, you gain knowledge and experience, thus making you tougher in investing.

Henry Sy

So what do you have to do when you encounter risks? One word:STUDY! That is the only secret to lower the risk. Think of it this way, Henry Sy is already a master when it comes to building malls. But before he went into real estate developing, it was risky for him. How did it become less risky? By studying it!

Another example? How about Warren Buffet? Do you think he’s a genius when it comes to picking stocks and buying companies since birth? NO! He studied what he needs to know about stocks and companies, and then took ACTION. Though he did not earn instantly, his failures lead him to become more knowledgeable about stocks. You see, he took the risk of investing in stocks at a very early age.

Through mistakes they learned then eventually mastered it. But it starts with studying what you don’t know. Fail to succeed. For it is the best way to learn. -DE

Warren Buffet

“Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.” – Warren Buffet

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE by Moony

Where is the purpose in your life
Where is the truth, do you remember your hopes, your dreams
They are no longer your own
This day is for living your own life
Don't let this world capture your heart
Your passion lost to a thousand themes
Surrendered to the screen

What do I want to happen in my life?

This is not a story, this is not a book
This is your life
And this is not a play, some TV show you've seen
This is real life, you know that
This is your, this is your life, hey hey hey
This is your, this is your life

You act like a child playing games now
Play and pretend, art of disguise
Alone and lost in all your lies

There is no rehearsal, no second chance
No false start, no better circumstance,
THIS IS REAL LIFE!

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Time Depositors Aren't Real Investors

Time deposits could be one of ways to earn money. All you have to do is to deposit your money in a bank for a specific span of time, with interest. However, those interests aren’t enough to make you big bucks. You will feel the growth of money if you deposit at least a million.

Simple Sample Earning from TD per annum

The illustration above is a sample earning from time deposit. 5% interest rate is a very good rate that you can rarely find, but if you do, it requires you to deposit very big amount of money. However 3% and below is what you will usually find in banks.

Let me give an example, imagine you’ve deposited Php 100,000 and the bank gave you 3% interest rate per year. You would earn a puny Php 3,000 minus income tax! How lame is that?

Time deposit would not be very significant unless of course you have tens, hundreds of millions of excess money to put aside. Time deposits doesn’t give you the privilege of being lazy! Saying “right now it’s the only option I can think of “ or “risks in time deposits are low” are very lame excuses. You’re either too dumb to see/know that there are other opportunities or you’re a chicken – scared of risks. You want very low risks for your money, you will definitely get small returns. Hate to break it to you pal! You’re not a real investor! You don’t even have the right to call yourself an investor if time deposit is the only thing you do.

Now, I am not saying that you shouldn’t place your money in time deposit. All I’m saying is that time deposits is a tool to give you money ONLY if you know how and when to use it. And time deposit are intended for excess (I mean really many) money you can set aside for a specified time.

The good thing though, you still have time to explore other ways to earn passive income. All you have to do is delete the poor mindset of yours and change it to a wealthy mindset. You’d surprised how many opportunities passes us by each day. -DE

To a wealthier mindset and brighter future ahead! Cheers!

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Elliot

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Have You Asked Yourself?

A lot of people don't realize that almost all schools train us to be excellent employees. What you're doing right now is only a weapon you can use to make money. Millions of people taking a path that only accommodates one position. Have you seriously thought about that? Nor your future?

Yes you're excellent academically, you may have a master's degree, and you’ll definitely make money. But would that make you rich? Moreover, would that make you happy?

Read on, you might relate your life to my blogs. And hopefully you would get to ask yourself these:

• Do I have a clear/defined goal?
• AM I HAPPY?
• Would what I do get me closer to that goal?
• Would this make me rich?

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