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Finance topic is sometime boring right?

It’s normal to be sceptical in going to seminars or conference. What I learned from FINANCIAL FREEDOM SEMINAR? Most will be in question of what they can get out of it. Others have a notion that it is just a way of gathering crowd of many sellers or advertisers. For some, it is a boring and tiring kind of day. Just by siting for hours and listening to different speakers. But there’s a saying, “you’ll never know ’til you get there”.

Financial Freedom seminar is a smart way to learn about Finances. Numerous speakers with different expertise talk about many topics on finances. To some of my friends, this is sound like just for people who have more than enough financial capability to set aside some money to invest. Like the usual mentality that investment is just for rich people. But the truth is, FINANCIAL LITERACY is a must for everyone with different walk of life.

That is the reason why the awareness about financial freedom should be part of an individual’s education at early age. Financial literacy is important. Because there is a little financial literacy in many communities, especially in the Philippines, many are experiencing the rat trap. Many studied shown that there is a little percentage Filipinos among Asian countries that has investment or has savings.

HOW AND WHY I GET INTERESTED ABOUT FINANCIAL FREEDOM?

When I’m having a coffee date with my friends years back, along with the long conversation one talked about how her and his boyfriend earning a passive income. She discussed a bit of their investment, the stock market. And encourage us to read the RICH DAD, POOR DAD book by Robert T. Kiyosaki. I read the book. RICH DAD, POOR DAD is a great book for a person who doesn’t have much background about investment. It’s easy to understand story about the difference of a person who have financial literacy compare to a hardworking one who don’t understand how money works.

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Consequently, I looked to some more resources that can help me understand more about investment. The reason for this move is I don’t want to be like the poor dad in the story; I don’t want to leave owning money. Like the rich dad, I want to leave with enough resources for my family. I read finance and motivating books. I watch videos that are educational and broaden my knowledge about investment. And also, I attended financial freedom seminar. First financial literacy seminar I attended was TGFI FINANCIAL LITERACY Summit last April 2017.

Then I search on HOW TO OPEN TO OPEN ONLINE STOCK TRADING ACCOUNT.

Moving on, these are what I learned from FINANCIAL FREEDOM SEMINAR.

Setting a GOAL

Remember when we are young and we have this “when I grow up, I want to be a teacher”. Some kids will say, “when I grow up, I want to be a pilot”. Those are promising dreams or a goal why we want to. Growing up taking steps towards our dreams or goal, we study and learn. Then we go to school, we grow up and realise the reality about life.

Some achieved their dream job, but mostly not. We land on our first job. We finally got our first check. The felling of independence and fulfilment is undeniable especially we are the one already responsible for our own bills. We can travel anywhere we want and buy things we want. It’s like a life with this pattern; work, home, have fun, pay bills, repeat. Unconsciously, we are trapped on a “rat race” (endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit). Therefore, we end up with paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. This happened because we lack of setting a goal especially on our finances.

Thinking too much about the bills and some other household expenses make it looks like it’s impossible to set a “financial goal” or “financial freedom plan”. Ever tried listing down all the bills and other expenses like the grocery, dine-out and other expenses? Contrary to the mind-set that it’s not enough, sometimes you’ll be surprised how many times you spend on impulsive shopping. And how many times you had a coffee date or dine-out with your friends.

After listing down all the spending, try to trim it down only with the NECCESARY EXPENSES. Set a goal, as an example, college fund for kids, fund to open and investment, and some other like big family outing as a reward. Along with the goal setting, make a timeline when do you want this goal to be achieved. Most of us, would like to save out of the bills and expenses, do the other way. It is recommended to set a certain percentage % of the income as a saving before the other expenses.

What is your motivation for investing? What is your attitude toward risk? How much time can you give for investing? What is your level of knowledge? These are some of the questions that you need to set a goal to achieve financial freedom.

Living WITHIN YOUR MEANS

Aside from setting financial goal, most speakers also talked about how lifestyle greatly affects our financial ability. Lack of discipline is the most struggles among us.

Don’t fall for the occasional spending that turns into habitual. Remember the BIG WHITE RED banner that says SALES. Friends will invite you to get great deals. Without knowing it, you’ve taken too much great deals that when you got home you’ll ask yourself; do I need all this stuffs? You’ll run into your pantry or cabinet you’ve got too much of the same things that you could build a store yourself. Keep in mind, malls and stores never run out of sales. There’s a holiday sales, midyear sale, quarterly sale and some other promotion or sales that we often fall into.

It’s not also the impulsive shopping that breaks our wallet. Beware of the too much spending on a “once in a blue moon trip” that turns into addiction. Celebrations are not just an excuse to party, so as to spend. Birthdays are ok. But sometimes we create our own celebration (LOL – laughing out loud). As an example, we reward ourselves too much through off the plan buys of materials that we dreamed about. Cellular phone is the biggest spending (reward?). Even though your old phone is still working, you would want to get a new one because of good features that lures the market. Or maybe you just want to go with the trend.

Sad to say, sometime it is true. We loan to have a new phone. But have we asked ourselves what other things are more important than having a new high-tech smart phone. There’s nothing wrong about it, rewarding ourselves. But we need to stay on track and have financial stability to achieve the goal(s) that we set.

If it’s TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, it probably is

A speaker illustrated a case when a hardworking person was scammed with an investment. It’s more than heart breaking when you know that you’ve been a victim by people you trusted your hard earned income. Along with the talk, the speaker gave key-points on how to avoid being a victim. There’s a saying, “if it’s TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, it probably is”. So better run away from people talk about close to impossible return within a small period of time. IT IS A TRAP. Keep in mind that there’s always a risk on investment. And greater risk on investment that you did not study first before putting your money in to it.

Check 5 essential tips for stock investment here

First key of losing or being a victim of financial hardship is BUYING EVEN IF YOU CANT AFFORD IT. Most of us have dreams of owning things that give fulfillment or some kind of achievement. Therefore, some buy things even though we don’t have enough cash. Therefore, loan is a solution. Then, it affects the normal household budget. Even harder for those who live paycheck-to-paycheck (most of us are), the premium and interest of loans piled up. The solution for this is to PRE-QUALIFY yourself. Assess your financial capability. Consider not just for the short-term but also the long-term effect of the decision.

Do not fall into scam by listening to the wrong people. Even if it’s your close friends that invite you to invest or participate to this scheme, the BAIT is the GREAT RETURN WITH LOW CAPITAL. Look harder through some research of other alternative or resources. Focus on your set goal by managing your finances. Prepare for emergency or contingency fund. And most of all, don’t procrastinate to study and learn any investment before venturing into. Due diligence is a must. You’ll often read the word “CAVEAT” – in Latin literally means “LET A PERSON BEWARE”

FINANCIAL LITERACY IS ESSENTIAL

Have you ever asked yourself these questions:

Why I do you need help in handling money?

How do you assess your skills in handling money?

Do you record your income and expenses?

Financial literacy is essential. Don’t be trap on a “rat race”. Never let yourself worked hard for years or decade without setting aside some money for your future. It doesn’t matter how small or big your saving is. What’s important is that you start and stick to it. After building a fund, look for different kinds of investments that will grow your saving more than the interest that the banks give.
There are many bank products that offers more interest than a saving accounts. Bond, Stocks, Investment Funds, Mutual Funds, Options, Retirement and some other investments are to choose from.

I realized the fruit of being relentless on studying about investment when I withdraw some of my gain from my online stock broker. And i wont deny that i learned a lot from TGFI FINANCIAL LITERACY Summit that I attended last April 2017.

Get an idea on how to withdraw fun from COL FINANCIAL (online stock broker) here.

FINAL THOUGHT

There’s a saying, never get yourself into something that you have no idea or know of. There are many resources to learn about investment one of them is attending a financial freedom seminar or money summit or some other financial conference. Never discount yourself from the benefits of learning how to handle your hard earned money. Invest to yourself first.

I hope you find this helpful. Also make you have positive perspective about FINANCIAL FREEDOM SEMINAR. Consider it as a good investment for financial literacy and self-development as well. Don’t hesitate to ask and email me therandomlady.chai@gmail.com

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