I was lucky to be invited by BPI to listen to Suze Orman with her educational talk about investing and personal finance last Friday. Suze Orman, as you may know, is a personal finance guru who is known for her Suze Orman Show and several other books that she has published on the topic of finance.
She mentioned a lot of truth about personal finances for Filipinos – from sending all their money to family, to getting stuck with credit card debt, to buying insurances, and keeping savings accounts.
What stuck to me after the event was something that she said about investing in the stock index funds of the Philippines and here’s what she said that I’m going to share with you:
“Have faith in your country.”
- Suze Orman
I have a friend advising against mutual funds but I’m just convinced that this is a right move to do after all the news about increased investment grade rating from S&P Rating and Fitch Rating. What do ratings like those mean for us? It means that other countries can now legally invest in the Philippines because of these ratings. Before they weren’t able to do so because it’s too speculative.
The statement above is very powerful for business owners and online entrepreneurs. How many times do we grunt and whine when the Paypal exchange rate for PHP goes up? How many times do we prefer doing online shopping on Amazon than visiting our local malls and buy local products? Many times, I’d guess.
This is something that would be applicable not just in the investing but in entrepreneurship in general. What it implies for you, my fellow entrepreneurs, would be that we are given the power and the nod to start looking at the Philippines in a positive way.
Other points she left for us to ruminate on. Take these tips with caution though and use your gut feeling in making decision (Stand your truth!).
- Money’s purpose is to make you feel safe, sound, and secure. So you can easily sleep at night. So something can support and hold you when you can no longer hold yourself.
- Every single NO points to you to a YES.
- You don’t have to accept whatever advise people give to you. Trust your gut feeling.
- Finance should be a family affair.
- Power attracts money but powerlessness repels it. Power also attracts people. Money on its own cannot do anything.
- Pledge to yourself that you will never get credit card debt.
- Use peso cost averaging. Put something in no matter what happens.
- Do not take more than what makes you feel safe, sound, and secure.
- If you feel one way but act another, that is powerlessness.
- Money is a physical manifestation of yourself.
- If investing makes you feel afraid, don’t invest.
- When investing, have a strategy and goal.
- Invest according to what is happening to the economy.
- Get term life insurance policies, not whole life insurance.
- If you are not sure what to do, do half. All in is more risky. Never be all or nothing
Those are some things that could definitely help Filipinos who are into investing and business.
Which tip from Suze Orman you found most helpful?
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