Congratulations, You Wasted Money (And Making Excuses Again)

As promised, here’s the third outing of my “Congratulations” series to awaken our brethren and to bring them out of their senses. We do this to let them realize how they are losing money by spending beyond their means and how they are wasting opportunities to grow their little cash that they didn’t know what to do with in the first place.

The “Congratulations 1 and 2 were focused mainly on gadgets and expenses that should have been invested directly in stocks. If they only followed our recommendation to invest during the time they spent their hard-earned money (or borrowed maybe), they could have earned so much today they didn’t have to borrow money just to buy them.

Today, we will shift our gears in another investment vehicle called mutual funds. People who always had excuses that they don’t have time to time the market or to even check their portfolio at least once a month, investing indirectly in stocks via equity/stock funds of these mutual funds could be their last option to maximize their money’s growth. Vehicles with returns that will make them realize how they’re losing opportunities to become richer by procrastinating and spending on things that in reality they could not afford to buy.

1) The year-end bonus you used to buy your Canon EOS600D 18.0 Megapixel, 3.7 FPS, 3″ Display worth at least P40,000 in December would have grown to as much as P46,828 (with 17.07% return) this month if you invested it instead on First Metro’s (FAMI) Save and Learn Equity Fund in January 2013.

Canon EOS 600D with Canon EF 50mm F1.8

2) The prepaid mobile phone cards at P200 you spent per week the whole of 2012 totaling to at least P9,600 would have grown to P11,407 (18.82% return) today if you invested it in January 2013 on Sun Life’s Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund instead.

3) A ream of Marlboro Black 20’s (fliptop) worth P500 per month (tipid pa yan) from January to April 2013 totaling P2,000 would have become P2,407 (20.38% return) today by investing it in Philequity Fund in January 2013. Will you earn that P407 while smoking?

4) Your barkada/officemate monthly gimmick to different resorts and bars around the Metro and Luzon that you spent on at least once a month for P1,000 totaling to P12,000 the whole year of 2012, would have grown by as much as 18.29% today (would have become P14,195) if you invested it instead in Philam Strategic Growth Fund in January 2013.

5) Lunch at Megamall, Greenbelt or Glorietta 5 working days a week? That’s an average of P3,000 per month spent on “lunch-out” everyday. You could have cut it down to P1,000 per month if you brought your own packed lunch (baon) everyday.

If you invested the difference of P2,000 per month (P8,000 for January to April 2013) instead in ATRKE Alpha Opportunity Fund, you would have earned at least P1,724 (21.55% return) extra money today that you can use to buy more food for your family or medicine for your ailing parents.

Don’t give your excuses now that you don’t know how to invest indirectly in stocks. You know where to go now. Do some Googling now about these funds.

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P.S. 1. Bro. Bo Sanchez has appointed me as a coach for our young and new investors at the TrulyRichClub social site. It’s a fun, learning family with the purpose of “helping good people become rich”. I’m inviting you to join the TrulyRichClub too and email me at burngutierrezblog@yahoo.com.ph if you have any questions. Click here to join!

P.S. 2.  I’m inviting you to attend our financial coaching/Q&A session with Jess Emerson Uy, a Filipino financial consultant based in Singapore who conducts financial literacy seminars at the Philippine Embassy there, on October 9, 2013, 7PM at Starbucks Paseo de Roxas in Makati City.  This Q&A session dubbed as “Starting in Global Investing” will also be webcast LIVE over at the OFW UsapangPiso Webinar site. If you are based abroad and want to interact with Jess Uy live online, then register here. Those who are in Metro Manila may get in touch with Mr. Mon Lao at 09173262077 if you want to attend the coffeetable coaching sessions for FREE with Jess Uy at Starbucks Paseo de Roxas.


Photo credit: Canon EOS 600D, Wikimedia Commons

Facts and Figures: PIFA

 

9 thoughts on “Congratulations, You Wasted Money (And Making Excuses Again)”

  1. This is nonsense comparing call cards 200 per week expense to change not to spend it but to invest. How about that call is important..

    1. The samples above were taken from our group’s independent survey of around 50 OFW’s and dependents. Around half of them consume prepaid call cards just to say “kumusta” and “kumain ka na?” when in fact all of the 20 to 25 survey samples already greet their loved ones and send important messages via Facebook and Yahoo Messenger everyday.

  2. A good wake up reminder to all of us. The call option can be omitted in my opinion. But the rest must be trimmed down to a minimum or eliminated totally.

    1. The samples above were taken from our group’s independent survey of around 50 OFW’s and dependents. Around half of them consume prepaid call cards just to say “kumusta” and “kumain ka na?” or even use it for their “naughty” fantasies when in fact all of the 20 to 25 survey samples already greet their loved ones and send important messages via Facebook and Yahoo Messenger everyday.

  3. Good advice, bad analogy. So you’re basically saying we starve ourselves, stop going on vacations and stop spending routine expenses and enjoying the present so we can enjoy them in a much LATER part of our lives where we are OLDER and beyond our prime. A time where we mostly will appreciate those things less in our more “mature” age.

    This is similar to the quote saying that “an insurance is a binding contract to keep you poor all your life so you can die rich”.

    1. Apparently, this post is for those who don’t save up. Proper budgeting includes spending for NEEDs and then the WANTs. You don’t have to wait until you get old to enjoy life. You even have the freedom to watch a 5-digit ticket to see an NBA game at MOA but be responsible financially.

      1. In short, don’t be impulsive. 🙂

  4. Nice. Thanks for this information Sir Burn. Next, I got to know who among the MF’s company has the lesser fee’s 🙂

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