Have you ever experienced getting squeezed between intellectual friends or acquaintances in one chatting occasion? Like you were in a middle of three English-speaking geeks talking about Star Trek and Harry Potter when in fact you still do not understand until now what those movies really are all about?
Or how about getting stuck in an elevator with a couple of your officemates yakking about the places they’ve been to, like Paris, London, New York, or Cambodia, or Singapore, or Korea. Even to the point that they even mention the names of eskinitas in those cities. You roll your eyes because the farthest place you’ve been to was Katipunan Avenue.
You just stare at them with jaws dropped like you’ve seen a couple of owls speaking human language. You want to excuse yourself and go to the toilet. But you end up in the washroom packed with more geeks. Sigh.
I dig you, doug. I’ve been to similar situations before. Six or seven years back, I met some friends who were already investing in various financial instruments. They talk about retail treasury bonds, stock market, mutual funds, treasury bills, money market, and how they earn lots of money from them. They argue about who’s the best investment advisor in town and who their stockbrokers are. And their favorite section of the newspapers is the obituary. Joke lang. Siempre, sports and entertainment section. 😛
I was an accountant and an auditor during that time, yet I was not too familiar with how those financial instruments really work. What I only knew was that the company and clients I was serving back then were into hedging or forward contracting and are keeping a few of their extra cash in time deposit accounts. But our banks were doing all those mess for us. We were either just recording or reviewing the controls in handling those investments. Hehe.
Kasalanan ng professor namin yan. Hindi ipinaliwanag ng husto. (My professors in college are to be blamed. They did not explain those subjects to us in details.)
So, imagine that scene. I didn’t know what the heck they were talking about. Asking questions was even more dangerous. I remember myself shrinking in embarrassment for asking one of them, “Are stocks insured by PDIC?” Eeeeennngggg….boom!!!
I know. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut. (On the contrary, I thought it was a valid question from a dumb accountant.)
Thank God, after that forgettable incident I was able to talk to Bo Sanchez in one of our spiritual gatherings and heard about investing in mutual funds. He even gave the names of his trusted fund managers if you want to start investing right away. There was only one problem: I didn’t have savings to start with.
Just read my previous post http://wp.me/p1vgjS-12 to see what happened next.
What I’m trying to point out in this post is that we should keep on learning. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Keep on reading good books and articles. Watch videos and programs that feed your mind and soul. Learn not only about investing, or starting and managing a business, or improving your personal finances but simply learn about everything in life.
Learn to have the discipline to achieve what you want to know. Learn how to have that passion to learn more. Learn how to build solid relationships. And best of all, know your purpose of wanting to learn that particular area in your life. Know what and where your strengths are for you to succeed.
So that you’ll know how to respond to questions that you could not answer before. So that you will be able to help more people with what you learned.
You see, it’s not just money that you can use to save lives. And I think you know what they are.
You don’t need to be a geek though. ;-P
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