money Financial Planning

[JohannBeckham]

@Neville the fact that your're thinking about your financial position that means you're way ahead of the thousands even millions of people in the Philippines. You're even meeting with a Financial Advisor (which i hope is a fiduciary and not just some insurance sales people who want to make 45% commission out of your VLIs or any other insurance products), you're way ahead of the game. Here are few things that i learn from my journey towards Financial Independence:

1. Compare your Financial Status to the Nevile of yesterday, and not with anyone else.

- basically dont compare yourself to others. Mas importante that you are progressing. Take it one step at a time.

2. Insurance is protection sa mga taong umaasa sa income mo. Kung single ka at wlng umaasa sa income mo or wla kang planong pamanahan ng insurance mo, basically it could be use for you're burial cost which is 1.2 Million. Is it too much? You can answer that. If its VLI and you want the investment part of it, there's a big chance na mas Ok pang i separate mo ang insurance sa investment (BUY TERM, INVEST THE DIFFERENCE).

3. Focus on your savings rate. The higher, the better

- plan how you can increase your income, decrease some expenses and invest

[PenetrayShawn]

Thanks for the input guys! Glad to hear everyone’s perspective.

 

Just to sum up, and verify if I got the information right:

 

@mrroughsex – 25% gross - low risk instruments (index etf); 7% gross - high (indiv. Stocks). I’m assuming all profits are re-rolled back into themselves? Also, I’m assuming monthly mo ito ginagawa and probably automated?

Would also like to know how you came up with the 25 - 7 figure haha!

 

@johannbeckham – 50% net – mixed etf. Same assumptions as above?

Also, agree with what you’re saying on risk. Thank you also for the reminder. I’m coming from a position kasi where risk is an everyday thing, so sometimes I downplay it haha! I was born in the darkness haha! Just as a backgrounder, i’m running a few businesses in the motherland, but focusing on one of them at the moment. As a side gig, I’m doing the consultation thing during my free time, which is where I got most of the businesses that I have – directly and indirectly. Risk – reward dynamic is very apparent sa day-to-day. Also appreciate your comment on time and effort. I agree with this 100%. I think this is probably the reason why I invest so much into these start-ups that I’m helping. Mas sulit yung effort for me, especially since time is really a limited resource for me.

 

@penetrayshawn – 5% gross - bitcoin. I’m assuming you put majority of your money into another instrument?

Agree with your mindset on investing in what you know. For most of my early years, what I did was buy and sell, which I felt was much controllable for me since I understood the items and the selling aspect. During that time though, I was getting into financial independence and had 20% net salary going into UITFs haha!

 

mga 50% index funds because i believe that the stock market does go up over time but really slowly so i'm in it for the long haul and i'm lazy. 20% cash siguro na easily accessible in case of emergencies. the rest bonds and some medium term investments. the 50% index funds is pretty constant. the medium term investments/bonds change from time to time

 

 

Guys what are you're thoughts on the U.S. - China Trade War? What's you're strategy? I just hope that the trade war stay like that, a trade war and not a full scale war. It's highly unlikely so I'm not really worried. Personally, one of my motto is "Don't trust the Communist" and I'm biased that way. So I think Trump is doing a good job leveling the playing field here. I don't invest in China (or if my broad based ETFs has some china companies in there it would be miniscule) so in terms of value, my investments won't be impacted that much. I invest big chunk (30%) of my ETFs in U.S. and I intend to increase that to 40% or even 45% sometime in the future for I do believe in U.S. growth capacity and ingenuity, unlike Australia who's still highly invested in old Industries like Banking and Mining.

 

How about you guys, what are you're investment "play" or strategies with regards to the trade war? Do you share my "Don't trust the Communist" motto and apply it in you're investment strategy? Let me know.

 

same on not trusting communists. i prefer to invest in philippine index fund, i think philippines is in a good position to take advantage of the job flight due to the trade war. i'm curious on investing in obscure places like africa where china is trying to gain influence

 

 

Ignore the rant of an over thinker if you prefer.

 

 

I have this feeling that my life is in chaos in the sense that the direction I'm taking is not commensurate to the financial goal I wish for myself.

 

Yes I do have some investments in the stock market totalling 300k, some money in the bank, and a job that gets me to pay for two insurance plans with a combined total of 1.2M and to travel in and out of the country.

 

Still, I feel it's not enough. Well,if it should last me until my 80s, yes, it's not.

 

My point? I feel I'm not doing the investing fast enough, correctly, or heavily enough.

 

Hopefully, my FA will point out whatever needs corrections when we meet next month.

 

I am not yet even worth a million pesos (in cash), I just can't wait to reach that level.

 

 

Someone slap me.

 

 

 

 

 

some people say the first million is the hardest because you're still trying to figure things out. after that it's probably just a matter of scaling things up

 

in the meantime maybe you could determine milestone amounts? but, correct me if i'm wrong, i understand that you're more of in this for the long haul, in which case maybe you could invest in riskier assets so you can have tangible experiences sooner?

[JohannBeckham]

in the meantime maybe you could determine milestone amounts? but, correct me if i'm wrong, i understand that you're more of in this for the long haul, in which case maybe you could invest in riskier assets so you can have tangible experiences sooner?

This is excellent advice! Sabi nga ni Zig Ziglar (one of my favorite author), "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it everytime" so set some goal and put some milestone. Good or bad, face your situation truthfully.

 

I'm a spreadsheet guy and I track my ETFs in Google sheets so i'm able to track where iam with respect to the milestones and goals i set. I also calculated in google sheet how long more before i be financially independent.

I also track my dividends income and have projections how much dividend income i'll receive.

Just like when you run a marathon and you see distance marker (whether your 20k or 10k away etc) it gives you sense of accomplishment and could give you motivation to keep on going.

Edited May 31, 2019 by JohannBeckham

[MRROUGHSEX]

@neville, continue accumulating lang. I track my goal for the year here and believe me, when I see that it is going up month by month, it brings me satisfaction that something great is happening in my life especially when I feel down.

 

I would encourage everybody to track their goals here as well. The only competition is yourself because it is your goals.

 

Be patient. Like others have said, give it a long term view so that the material benefit of compounding takes into effect. Pinapalaki natin yung base at this time. For example, a 7% annual growth on a base of Php300K is Php21K BUT a on a base of Php1M is Php70K.

 

It probably takes 20 years to get the first million, but 12 years to get the 2nd.

This I am happy about. Bakit hindi nauso ito nung kapanahunan ko after college. :D

 

https://www.rappler.com/business/231850-more-filipino-middle-class-millennials-investing-stock-market

[neville]

@Neville the fact that your're thinking about your financial position that means you're way ahead of the thousands even millions of people in the Philippines. You're even meeting with a Financial Advisor (which i hope is a fiduciary and not just some insurance sales people who want to make 45% commission out of your VLIs or any other insurance products), you're way ahead of the game. Here are few things that i learn from my journey towards Financial Independence:

1. Compare your Financial Status to the Nevile of yesterday, and not with anyone else.

- basically dont compare yourself to others. Mas importante that you are progressing. Take it one step at a time.

2. Insurance is protection sa mga taong umaasa sa income mo. Kung single ka at wlng umaasa sa income mo or wla kang planong pamanahan ng insurance mo, basically it could be use for you're burial cost which is 1.2 Million. Is it too much? You can answer that. If its VLI and you want the investment part of it, there's a big chance na mas Ok pang i separate mo ang insurance sa investment (BUY TERM, INVEST THE DIFFERENCE).

3. Focus on your savings rate. The higher, the better

- plan how you can increase your income, decrease some expenses and invest

 

JohannBeckham, the FA is an old colleague i personally reached out to because I know she will not act like the typical ahente who is simply out there to push their insurance products on me.

 

insan, feeling ko, abusado ako kasi ginagawa ko siyang financial planner. lol. she knows where i stand financially, she knows what my monthly budget is, my long-term goal (to be worth US $1M in today's value), and my short-term financial goals, too. it does not hurt that she finished economics, and worked for a local brokerage house here so when she encouraged me to finally invest in stocks and mutual funds via COL, i knew she knows what she was talking about.

 

compared with myself last year, I have a feeling i'm way better off financially. against my Ate who has 8 digits in savings alone, i am still poor. but of course, she has no investments like i do, so all she has is cash and some real estate. cash reserve-wise, she's my bar of excellence.

 

pamana sa Ate at mga pamangkin ko ang insurance. I never see it as an investment like what others want me to. for me, it is merely a long-term savings, which can only be tapped if i die (the one worth 800K). the one worth 400K has critical illness riders i hope i will not have no need for given the diet i follow...and hopefully, with me leaving the graveyard shift next month, a more normal sleeping schedule will make me healthier..add some more walking time and yoga...ayos

 

would bars accept women in their 40s and big as sako ng patatas as dancers? i think such a gig would help me add moolah to my coffers. exotic.

 

seriously, my translation job pays really well. however, i am about to search for avenues on how to make me a better translator and help the translation company my Ate and I set up get off the ground. sayang ang ibinayad namin sa SEC at bookkeeper/foot soldier kung hanggang pangalan lang siya.

 

since i will be home for most of the time, i hope to be way more frugal than now (crossing my fingers lol).

 

 

 

some people say the first million is the hardest because you're still trying to figure things out. after that it's probably just a matter of scaling things up

 

in the meantime maybe you could determine milestone amounts? but, correct me if i'm wrong, i understand that you're more of in this for the long haul, in which case maybe you could invest in riskier assets so you can have tangible experiences sooner?

 

amen to the first million being the hardest to achieve. nakakainip!

 

i have stocks via COL and mutual funds (equity and equity index), yes, long haul...as in within 19 years i have to be worth US $1M in today's value. ambitious, yes. very ambitious if other people will have their say. i'm still figuring out how i will achieve that. but i do know that i do not want to worry about my budget or expenses when i am old and wish to buy this or travel to some place like Estonia..

 

 

 

@neville, continue accumulating lang. I track my goal for the year here and believe me, when I see that it is going up month by month, it brings me satisfaction that something great is happening in my life especially when I feel down.

 

I would encourage everybody to track their goals here as well. The only competition is yourself because it is your goals.

 

Be patient. Like others have said, give it a long term view so that the material benefit of compounding takes into effect. Pinapalaki natin yung base at this time. For example, a 7% annual growth on a base of Php300K is Php21K BUT a on a base of Php1M is Php70K.

 

It probably takes 20 years to get the first million, but 12 years to get the 2nd.

This I am happy about. Bakit hindi nauso ito nung kapanahunan ko after college. :D

 

https://www.rappler.com/business/231850-more-filipino-middle-class-millennials-investing-stock-market

 

 

i think our generation and the baby boomers were not so concerned about being self-sufficient when we hit our golden years. we grew up with the mentality that we should marry, have kids, and be taken care of by the kids because that is what we do to our seniors: we take care of them.

 

will meet with my FA armed with my bank statements, credit card and utilities bills, other assets and liabilities lists in order to trace where i am financially this year. Juxtaposed with my short-term and long-term goals, we will adjust how i will achieve my goals.

 

last December, she predicted that my growth this year will be roughly 250K. I exclaimed, "yan lang?! Dapat mas malaki."

 

I hope I am doing that. i know the general picture, but since I'm an organized mess, I rely on her to comb through the details...and my Ate for the operational arm of our business.

 

 

 

the sermon happens later this month. I promise to send an update

[MRROUGHSEX]

OKay yang high vision but set up smaller goals that are realistically achievable during the year. That way psychologically it helps kasi you are hitting them and that means accomplishments.

 

When I bought my 2nd house, nanlulumo ko sa amount of debt that it impacted me negatively psychologically. That's when I started doing a smaller portion of it as my target debt (or mortgage). So for example, instead of the entire $180K debt, I only focused on paying the portion of $20K. And seeing $20K go down to zero fast helped me a lot, then I started again for the next $20K and so on.

[MRROUGHSEX]

 

 

i think our generation and the baby boomers were not so concerned about being self-sufficient when we hit our golden years. we grew up with the mentality that we should marry, have kids, and be taken care of by the kids because that is what we do to our seniors: we take care of them.

 

 

 

I think our generation is hit hardest kasi transitional. Meaning, we set aside money to fund parent's retirement AND at the same time set up OUR own retirement.

 

DOUBLE WHAMMY.

 

This is key kasi it adds stress financially. So hopefully everyone here is coping with such stress well.

[MRROUGHSEX]

Guys what are you're thoughts on the U.S. - China Trade War? What's you're strategy? I just hope that the trade war stay like that, a trade war and not a full scale war. It's highly unlikely so I'm not really worried. Personally, one of my motto is "Don't trust the Communist" and I'm biased that way. So I think Trump is doing a good job leveling the playing field here. I don't invest in China (or if my broad based ETFs has some china companies in there it would be miniscule) so in terms of value, my investments won't be impacted that much. I invest big chunk (30%) of my ETFs in U.S. and I intend to increase that to 40% or even 45% sometime in the future for I do believe in U.S. growth capacity and ingenuity, unlike Australia who's still highly invested in old Industries like Banking and Mining.

 

How about you guys, what are you're investment "play" or strategies with regards to the trade war? Do you share my "Don't trust the Communist" motto and apply it in you're investment strategy? Let me know.

I'm the boring investor kasi I just stay the course regardless of the news or shall I say fake news. LOL.

 

Having said that, I favor the trade war as an American. This is because the big-brother small-relationship needs to end as China is already a superpower.

 

Connecting the trade war and the stock market, wala pa ako nakikitang effect. Too early to manifest perhaps. I like your taking advantage of the, what I call "health correction" discounts in US stocks though. Good strategy yan.

[JohannBeckham]

 

I think our generation is hit hardest kasi transitional. Meaning, we set aside money to fund parent's retirement AND at the same time set up OUR own retirement.

 

DOUBLE WHAMMY.

 

This is key kasi it adds stress financially. So hopefully everyone here is coping with such stress well.

Tumpak, nadale mo. Mahirap tlaga ang buhay nating "SANDWICH GENERATION".

 

Hopefully na Generation after us would have the courage and grit that most of us have kahit they dont have tough like we did.

[HouseBand]

here are my analytics derived from my journal (from June2018 until end of May2019)

Accuracy (%) 31.43%

Edge Ratio 1.77

Avg. Profit (Win Rate) (6.31%)

Avg. Loss (Burn Rate) (-5.56%)

Avg. Trade Length 9.36 days

Max Drawdown 6.25%

Profit Factor 0.80

so underwhelming pa ang aking PSE stock trading numbers.

i intend to keep at it and am trying to identify my best setups and also strengthen my risk management.

pero i've realized na malayo pa ako before i can fully trade for a living. so pivot ng onti to expending energies toward another income stream.

here's hoping i can make some headway into setting up a trucking/logistics business.

[HouseBand]

I'm curious as to what your thresholds are when it comes to limit on investments.

 

For context, I've been mulling over investing in a client's business. They've been consulting with me (I do consultancy for startups who need general direction and data on how to put up their businesses as a side-gig when time permits) for over 3 months. We ran the numbers and the business seems to be sound. The consultation fees that I charge are usually a per hour rate but when the business turns out to be good, I sometimes offer to invest in their company for a stake, or offer a loan to them and factor it into their numbers. Parang "okay, you owe me this much based on how many hours we've discussed, I'll give you an additional 300k for 15% of your company" something like that.

 

Right now, I'm looking to loan them money then maybe invest in their company later on, once they're established. They initially approached me to help them prepare the numbers that they can present to a bank to secure a loan, and am now mulling over lending them around half that amount then proceed to secure the other half from the bank as agreed. I'll be charging a higher interest compared to the bank loan, but we both know that it would help in securing better terms from the bank since the amount that they will be needing will be significantly less than what it originally was.

 

Part of me does this loan/investing, because I also believe in them and the hard work that they've put into preparing, part of it is definitely greed. As I get older, I feel that it may be wiser to temper it a bit and looking to know how others do it as well haha!

 

As mentioned, I'm curious to know everyone else's limit when it comes to investing - be it other people's businesses, stocks, crypto, other instruments.

 

Businesses kasi are inherently more risky but the returns that i've computed based on the numbers that I ran with the client are very promising.

i would say your investment limits should depend on your risk profile to start with.

from there, you'd probably move on to categorizing your different investment options and further divvying up your allocated investment funds into them based on what you've mapped as good based on their specific risk return ratio.

 

there's also your different investment horizons to consider against your age and current earning capacity.

 

 

i hope i don't come across as pandering or preaching to the choir. and that my reply actually helps.

[MRROUGHSEX]

Houseband, just curious in your data, what is "Accuracy"?

[MRROUGHSEX]

 

i intend to keep at it and am trying to identify my best setups and also strengthen my risk management.

pero i've realized na malayo pa ako before i can fully trade for a living. so pivot ng onti to expending energies toward another income stream.

here's hoping i can make some headway into setting up a trucking/logistics business.

Trucking/logistics, hindi ba capital intensive yan? Basically you need trucks AND warehouse.

[MRROUGHSEX]

Tumpak, nadale mo. Mahirap tlaga ang buhay nating "SANDWICH GENERATION".

 

Hopefully na Generation after us would have the courage and grit that most of us have kahit they dont have tough like we did.

Another note to this is while parents are dependents on us, unlike children, we can't claim parents as "dependents" for tax benefit purposes (at least here in US but also in PInas I believe).

[HouseBand]

Houseband, just curious in your data, what is "Accuracy"?

win percentage. so far, my trades (for that portfolio) end up profitable 31% of the time.