A Reiteration To Have Discipline in Investing

One, I have no huge capital yet. What I have is a very small sum which I intend to grow overtime. 

Two, my plan is long term. 

I have to be reminded of the two things mentioned above. Always. No one can do the slap for me but myself. Today the PSE market is down though opened strongly and positively on the news that the US Fed decided to taper slightly on its bond-buying program (QE).

What If The US Fed Decides to Taper on December 17-18 FOMC Meeting?

Update: December 19, 2013

The Federal Reserves decided to start tapering by January 2014. This means that the monthly $85Billion bond-buying will be reduced to $75Billion. Contrary to many, the taper resulted to record high in market indexes upon knowing FED FOMC decision of tapering. 

With the positive reaction of global markets, will I trade short-term?

Stock Investing Gives Me One Important Thing in Life: Focus

Investing in stocks gives me perhaps one of the best things in life. Focus. Yes I mean financial focus.

Compared to years of multidirectional, mostly wasteful and confused, also synonymous with non-directional financial mindset, stock investing compels me to be focused on one thing in my life, my future.

I want to retire rich. And I am committed to be rich in the near future. Ilan na sa atin ang pagod maging isang kahig isang tuka? I am not yet there but the good thing is that I already started something which I call a relative breakthrough in my life. Someday I will no longer be a isang kahig isang tuka guy.

Don't Want to Become Gastador Anymore? Here is One Way I Do It.

For the most part of my life, I was a one-day-millionaire guy. Meaning, I was used to spending my salary like there is no tomorrow. Before I know it, tomorrow arrives and I have to endure and struggle surviving about fourteen days before the next pay day. That horrible cycle of life went on for a very long time. I bet you can not lie. Perhaps, the same thing happens to you too. 

Well, I got bored with that kind of life. I no longer want that. So here is a one way how I managed  to change my way albeit slowly....

The One Powerful Question That Forever Changed My Pera Habits

I met someone who asked me something that forever changed how I conduct myself financially. The question is utterly simple yet powerful enough to change my financial habits.

He questioned me:

How long can you stay afloat if, say, today you will be out of job or income?

Again…..

"How long can you stay afloat if, say, today you will be out of job or income?!!!"

My honest answer was two or three days the most…….. And that moment something struck me big time. I finally decided to take action for the better.

Ikaw ilang araw ang kaya mo? (You, how long can you last?). Answer it honestly and you know what the question really means in a positive note.

Anticipating and Mitigating the Risk in Stock Investing

They said that a business involving stocks is a risky business. That is true. In fact, however, all types and kinds of business have inherent risks. Risk is always involved either when robbing a bank or selling beauty products. The point is that businesses have risks. 

In stock investing, the risk is clearly identified. Of course, money-wise, there is no other risk other than the risk of losing the money invested. And this is the reason why the Filipino (or even global) population density investing or trading in stocks is so small. The investing risk is impressed to many as too much and it is not worth to be undertaken by many. Based on my experience, that was my belief too. That is why only lately that I have opened an account in stock investing.

Why Did I Create Engot the Rich Blog?

A future millionaire

My kids will never stay babies. They will grow in no time. This blog is for them. I want that someday, maybe ten years from now, I will forever 'infect' them with a millionaire mindset. This blog would serve as my financial record of what I was.

Financial knowledge I know is no more taught in gradeschools, specially public schools, like it should be. Much of what schools teach is about how to be a good citizen and never been more about how to be a productive individual. I hope to fill the gap for my kids.

Learning at an early age about finance management is one of the things that never happened to me. Yes, there were instance that I saved in a piggy bank. But it is more of an abstract idea driven by an abstract motivation why I do it. Only lately that I understood what saving in a piggy really mean. If only there was someone in my younger years who tried to nurture me on matters about money, who knows, I could have been raking the fruits of early learning now. I was spent in a poor man’s paradigm for so long before I woke up from it.

Why Do Poor People Stay Poor? It's the Mindset, Stupid!

Ok, the right question should be on the first person, on my person. Thus, why do I stay poor?

My immediate excuse why I am poor up to this day is: I was born in a poor family. My parents are poor. My mother came from a poor family. My father is a fisherman and my mother is a plain housewife. So with both of them poor, what would I expect to have? Apparently, that is the very cause why I am up to this day poor.

Not that I don’t have a work today. I have a work. But my work did not make me richer. I am still the same as I was.

Yet what I am actually pointing out is the real reason why I am still poor. The real reason I have found out is that I carry a mindset that was very difficult to notice.

image from www.occupy.com

I was born with a family with a mindset of poor human beings. I was surrounded by people who only think within the box of just enough survival and not outside the box of poverty. From parents, relatives, siblings, village people, all of them contributed to the financial psyche I held for a very long time.

Raising My Capital by Taking a Bank Loan

Based on my current cash inflow capacity, in one year I can have my PhP100,000.00 if I do a diligent and consistent saving. However, I can also have that PhP100K in just one week. How? Bank loan.

Don Engot's Overall Wealth Strategy

My general wealth accumulation strategy comprised mainly of:

1. Living within my means

2. Have a multiple source of income

3. Invest for retirement

image from www.generatorgroup.net

What if My Money Could Grow 2100%?!! A Stock Investing Inspirational Story

Me

I am definitely inspired. The guy mentioned below made millions in just four years!

I copied the following story from COL’s technical spotlight report on November 28, 2013. A story like this is rarely shared. I take the chance to share it with everybody.

“A Thanksgiving Story

• Yesterday I met a COL customer who visited our business center and asked for our help in re-activating his account which he had not looked over since 2009. The market was not doing well then and he had bought some shares 1-2 years before that and he wanted to see how he fared. He travelled from the province and told me he had no internet and wanted to check on things. He asked me about the 5 stocks he held, one of which was URC to which he purchased for P100,000 at P5.30/share. URC is closer to P120/share today and that investment is now valued at over P2,100,000! Its amazing at what time, patience, and faith in buying a good company can do over apparently dreary times… Happy Thanksgiving Sir! “ ~ COL 

Don Engot is not envious. Don Engot is fired-up and inspired. 

My Number One Rule to Become Rich: Cook My Own Food

Yes, I am really committed to become rich. I believe cooking my own food can help a lot. 

Cooking could help me save a lot of money. The resulting extra money can be used in my other investments.

Food is a major expense of most. It can never be unbudgeted. But if I learn to cook even only my own meals I can save as much half of my food expense compared to someone who always dines out.

COLing the Shots November 26, 2013 (Choosing my Stockbroker)

One reason why I chose COL Financial is that I knew nothing about stocks and a personal money teacher suggested it to me. He said that COL is engaged personally with its clients. Apart from the reason that a newbie could open a trading account cheaply with COL Financial (only PhP5,000.00 to start), I was enticed to be its client mainly because of the idea that COL would act both as my stockbroker and financial mentor.

Apart from its usual daily investments guides and technical analyses, it publishes a monthly report on how the economy is doing. The report includes recommendations how clients must react on the economic circumstances to increase the potential of earning or what to do to mitigate the risk of capital loss.

This monthly report is called COLing the Shots. Below is the excerpt of the their TUESDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 2013 report. (PDF file can be downloaded from here)

How to Invest in Stocks – For Beginners Like Me

I bought my first PSE stocks on July 2013. My first buy was a minimum Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) stocks with the price of PhP92.9/share. I was so excited to finally have done it. And in the succeeding months I bought the same amount of BPI stocks with a slightly lower price.

A year ago, I never knew anything about stock investing and how people are doing it.

Noting Manny Pacquiao’s Humility Even in Fame

OK off-road topic muna. About my sports hero, Manny Pacquiao!

His boxing skill can not be doubted to be one of the best, if not the only best. And people can’t run out of praise and favorable opinions on Pacman’s ability in the boxing ring.

But his boxing prowess is not the only thing in Manny that is worth noting. More notable, for me, is his human character. He is superbly naturally humble. Yes he is a ferocious fighter in the ring but I did not fail to notice his compassion towards his opponents. I can feel he is compassionate.

My Stock Investing – Started with Conspiracy Theories

I love conspiracy theories. They provoke my thoughts. But I don’t own any conspiracy theory. I am just a fan.

        " I discovered the very reason why the price of goods rises more constantly than it drops."

Among conspiracy theories, the one that really caught my attention is the idea that this world and its entire people is under the control of few elites, the same individuals who control the world finance, most of them bankers. These elites control the global financial system by regulating all central banks and making them comply how money is to be made. These elites, according to conspiracy theorists, wield the greatest power of money control, so powerful that any form of government or whatever law does a country has is irrelevant.

I Am Don Engot

I have a lot of stories to share and lots of excitement about making myself rich someday. So I made this blog. It is a live journal of my make or break undertakings to change my financial standing. 

I am a very poor man with respect to financial matters. I don't have a huge savings. I don't have a big business or even small one. What I have are pika-pika lang. Mga sideline. Mga maliliit na diskarte. However, I have no plans to keep it that way. 

I have started my stocks investment about a year ago. And that brought me a good feeling about my financial future.

Why I Will Never Dump My Energy Development Corp (EDC) Stocks Even After Supertyphoon Yolanda

The day I made my first purchase of my first 100 shares of stocks from Energy Development Corp., it was PhP6.02 per share. But after the supertyphoon Yolanda, with international name Haiyan, struck Philippines particularly in the part of Samar and Leyte, the price went down to PhP4.40 per share on November 20, 2013, after just a week. The price went -26.9%. That is huge. (In 2008, the price of an EDC stock is P1.82)

EDC plunging price is due to the significant damage sustained by all EDC geothermal power plants in Leyte. The Leyte geothermal power plants accounts for about 53% of EDC capacity and about 40% of EDC revenue. Because of this, the prospect of company’s profitability was adversely affected. EDC stockholders sold their positions because of this.

I Am Just Above Minimum Wage, How Am I Surviving?

Minimum Wage

My monthly income is way below the combined demand of monthly personal and family sustenance. So, how do I manage to survive?

Sidelines. Diskarte.

Sideline is a term to mean a source of income apart from the regular source of income. The best about it is that it is never taxed. I am a private employee and I take slightly above minimum salary. I am forced to have other sources.

My Wife’s Emergency Health Concern Exposes a Failure in Me

Medical expenses again

For two weeks commencing on November 18, 2013, my wife had to visit the hospital almost everyday. She discovered 4 mass around her neck. She was so nervous about it. I understand her why. Her mother’s death came because of lymphoma. Lymphoma is a lymph node cancer. Nobody wants that.

Anyway, this article is not meant to tackle what my wife might have on her neck. My subject is mainly how was I, with her, coping up with the financial demand attending her two-week hospital consultations.

My wife stays in the province. But she has to make it to Manila for her medical checkup. Various expenses had to be expected. This included the budget for transportation, food and outpatient medicines.

My Kids Want to be Multi-millionaires!

My kids remind me one memorable event during my grade school years. They remind me of the time when my school teacher asked all of us in our class what we would want to be when we grow up. As a kid, I was excited. And I begun thinking what would I  wanted to be. 

Some kids wanted to be teachers. Other kids wanted to be policemen, firefighters, doctors, nurses and employees. None of what I have heard wanted to be a fisherman or a farmer. I now know because our community is a village of fishermen and farmers. Obviously no kids wanted to follow their parents. They wanted to become someone not like their parents.

Dealing With Financial Hopelessness

I am stuck in poverty!

The good thing is that I am not stuck in hopelessness and regrets. 

Hopelessness is to me a destructive residual effect of frustration. When frustration comes repeating itself often, the result would be hopelessness. Financial hopelessness based on my personal experience is caused by a barrage of frustrations.

My financial frustrations includes failure to pay debts, failure to sustain savings, failure to begin an investment and failure to be financially free. I knew I had plans to pay debts, to save, to begin investing and to be financially free however, what happens to me is that there seem to be things that always drag me down and make me unable to reach or complete my financial goals.

The Earlier, The Better

According to estimate, Filipino life span is in the average of 70 years. But supposing active lifestyle stops at 60 years, I think putting the average active lifespan on this age is reasonable.

Whenever I think about investing, I found that this numerical estimate is very useful in always encouraging myself to actively invest. Also in speaking with others I usually start the conversation with knowing their age.

How much time do I get?

What Does 'Living Within Means' Mean?

As a matter of perspective, there are two varying interpretations on the idea of living within means. Interpretation could be either:

1.      Keep expenses below revenue, and the other;

2.      Keep revenue above expenses

The first one is what I call the Expense-side interpretation. The second one is the Revenue-side interpretation. And these two interpretations, though they point to the same idea about living within means, suggest two distinct financial attitudes of individuals.

On Living Within My Means

Living within my own means tells it all how I should manage my finances in order to be financially free in the future.

There are three departments I know that are directly tied to the idea of living within my own means. The three are my Department of Revenues, my Department of Expenses, and my Department of Means [of Revenue].

image credit: www.mint.com 

Revenue is Why I Join Elections

I do not join elections to vote. I am a registered voter yet no appetite to cast my vote. But I go to the place of election nonetheless. But why? What is the use loitering myself in there if I do not exercise my privilege to vote? You will like my reasons and these are:

1. Lot of people go to the election venue
2. I sell food and drinks to them

Yeah, you are right. I have turned every Election Day into Revenue Day. I know at the course of the day’s activity, people are going to get tired, hungry and thirsty. And out of convenience they would surely buy what I sell. Their need will bring me revenue instantly.

Here is How Zero Networth I Am

Today is November  7, 2013.

This is a huge confession for me. This is to at least give you an idea how awful my financial standing is. If you are lucky to be in a better situation, you would not want to be in my shoes. But for those who feel they have worse conditions than mine, I hope they would resonate the fiery feeling of bringing on the fight for financial freedom. 

To track my progress, I think being honest to my current financial situation is a good start. I call it my benchmark. This will serve as my calibration how far have I gone, success or failure (whichever will come first) when I look back to this point.

But before anything else, it is important for you to know that I have NONE of the following:

1. House and Lot
2. No cars
3. No jewelries
4. No physical stocks of silver or gold
5. No home appliances

What I have, luckily, is a fixed monthly income. And that is, both sadly and fortunately, the only regular income I have.

And for a much lesser good thing, I have debts.

So here is my financial tabulation. I guess not a few people are also under the same proportion.

Asset:

Monthly income	PhP15,000.00
Income Total	PhP15,000.00

Liabilities/Debts/Expenses (monthly)                            

Loan deductions (SSS, HDMF, Salary)	PhP6,000.00
Monthly Food	PhP4,500.00
Transportation	PhP750.00
Medication/Supplements	PhP560.00
Allotment for my kids	PhP5,000.00
Boarding House rent(bed spacer)	PhP1,800.00
Liabilities Total	PhP18,610.00

Net Worth = negative PhP3,610.00. Isn’t that awful?

As you can see, nothing is so good. In few months I should be starving to death already. I am not actually zero net worth person. What I have is a negative net worth. =(. But probably you will ask, how come I can survive daily with a much negative income? (The story will be told later on how I cope up even with that red figure. )

I have a college diploma in computer engineering. But because I am that engot, my diploma was of no use except be used to qualify me for a paper shuffling job in an insurance company. Yes, I felt the regrets for not having the job I tried really hard to learn in college for five years. Those five years were gone and another ten years passed without a work that is related to my college course.

Yes I am stuck with poverty. However, the good part is I am not stuck with hopelessness and regrets. I have to move on for the better. And I have plans that are slowly implemented. And I am here to tell you my stories.

Welcoming Don Engot

Hello World!

Poverty has always been my persistent companion for decades now. I heard it has no desire of leaving me. But I do. And I have plans to finally leave this  this dear fellow of mine behind. 

I prefer to be known as the great Don Engot someday. Engot is a local language for having a bottom level of intelligence or for being stupid. I was once called "engot" mainly because my family name sounds that way. But I have no problem with that.

image credit www.generatorgroup.net