I met Madam Auring today.

I could not believe it was her beyond the gossamer curtains.  What is this famous (or dare I say infamous) madame doing, encamped, in the crowded walkway of Ever Gotesco Commonwealth? Behind her was a stall selling shirt for kids – 3 for 100 (your name in textile glue – for free).  And what am I doing here?  Should I entrust my future to a P250 session – unlimited questions – with a madame known more for her beauty enhancement procedures and penchant for younger men than her magical prowess?

Joe said we should, so I did.  I held out my hand and then came a barrage of hula.

At Max’s, after the show, Joe exclaimed, “And that is the point of the exercise.”  He explains that everything in this money game is hula – where you put your money, what stocks would give the highest yield, what is stable, what is sure – is hula.  Nothing is sure. One has to rely on his gut, on luck, on his God, on the rise and fall of the sun’s rays, on change, on the ephemeral-ness of everything.

The future is a gossamer sheet, like the one separating the world and Madame.  What is beyond is visible but hazy, one is never sure about it, or if it will still be there when the sheet is parted.  Joe says that nothing beats learning the game, knowing how it is played – on your own – and reading, reading, reading, forming your own opinions, winning some, losing some, recovering, daring. 

And so we dare (or try).

Post Script from MoneySmarts:

The first three months of the Money Makeover exercise for Diego and Bianca were spent on ferreting out the couple’s money personalities, understanding their goals, recognizing their spending urges, shining a light on their real monthly expenses and making sense of their net worth. By that time, financial planner Augustus J.V. Ferreria, had spent more than 20 hours with the couple. He said it was time to teach them about investing.

He was mysterious about it all. It would be fun to find out what Madam Auring sees in our future, he said with a laugh. I was not a fan of tarot cards, so I went to Ever Gotesco with a big crease on my forehead. But hey, I enjoyed it. Madam Auring was one of a kind :D . Behind the showbiz exterior and the gaudy curtains seemed to be a kind woman, surprisingly.

“Now, you will never forget the day of your first lesson from me on investing,” Joe said after the whole tarot card caper. So, that was it. An emotional bookmark of sorts.

As Bianca said in her guest post above, the whole point is to understand that it takes some kind of genius in intelligent and informed guessing to make it big in the stock market. The whole thing drove home the point that it can be fun, too. Now Diego and Bianca are raring to begin real investing in stocks.

Joe has one more pleasant surprise though.

“I will ask them to also trade P100,000 of my own personal money. This way, it becomes even more interesting. Now, we will also see if I am a good teacher.”

Abangan…

(In Money Makeover, we matched volunteers with financial planners who will coach them for one year so they can reach their financial goals. Through this series, MoneySmarts hopes to show how a good financial plan can change the course of people’s lives. People don’t need another Sermon on the Mount on financial planning. They need to see how financial planning can be done well. By the way, Diego and Bianca are aliases to protect the couple’s identities. Click here to read earlier Money Makeover articles.)