Almost everyone wants to be told what to do.
Put P10,000, P100,000, P1 million here, here and here. Choose this company, dump that one. Buy now, sell in three years. Sell Glutathione while it’s hot…
Attend a seminar to find your life-partner. Write your dreams, send your thoughts out to the cosmos at four in the morning everyday so that the universe can respond to your desires and one day you will wake up a multi-millionaire with a house in Ayala, Alabang.
It’s one thing to wake up early in the morning daily to work on those goals – whether it’s a sick-pack abs or a six-figure salary — by actually doing crunches or learning how to speak fluently in Mandarin. It’s another to think you can do it without working hard, sans discipline and determination.
Times are hard. People are desperate for solutions. They are looking for answers. What I don’t get is how some people can feed on this desperation by telling others all they have to do is visualize and attract wealth with their minds in a twisted version of Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling book “The Secret.” Believe me, the loyal flock is getting bigger and paying through the nose for these magic formulas.
Sounds familiar? Walk away quickly. Nothing beats paying yourself first, saving money consistently every month, living simply, getting out of debt even if it means no new clothes for a year, and burning the midnight oil learning about bonds, warrants and stocks, among others, just like this guy did.
Studying, making mistakes sometimes and crawling back up doesn’t sound as easy as merely visualizing your new vacation home in Tagaytay Highlands. But it sure is a lot more measurable. Boring, yes, but tested and true.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
@omski, i agree about the groceries
i was thinking the same thing after a trip to Landmark the other night. If government were to compute inflation for Landmark and SM, I wonder what the figure would be like.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:06 am
YES! The groceries are feeding on our financial desperation! shocked to see the prices go up just a week or so after our last visit…esp the cooking oil which is a basic commodity ..can DTI put a control on the basic items? dami dami coconut sa atin pati cooking oil ang mahal! eh, puro may gisa pa naman ang luto ng Pinoy…
June 10th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Just like any “good” task at hand, there’s a big difference between knowing whats right, and doing what’s necessary. The former is a requisite of the latter, but is useless without the action. Many people knew these are tough times and the only way is to live frugally inorder to survive. But only one out of ten Filipinos actually do that!
I hate scammers but I can only blame myself if I fell on to their schemes. Ignorance is not an excuse!
June 10th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Our school children should be taught the virtue of saving at an early age. But with most of our public, or even private, school teachers discussing with each other how and where they can borrow money next, what will the students learn.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:37 am
i think it’s a mistaken belief that you can get rich just by saving (your money in a bank that is)… you have to be making a lot of money from your job to save enough when you retire… inflation always beats bank interest rates… save and while you’re at it study how to invest what you are saving and when you have enough money put it in your investment of choice…