Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

We often hear we need to work hard. It reminds me of what I heard back when I was in late elementary, when I hated high school with a passion, and when I actually ended up telling people, "Do you ever wonder why the Philippines doesn't improve?" Of course, if hard work were all there was to it , why are some people stuck in financial difficulty?  Teaching people how not to be too busy to accept improvements I wrote an article that one should never  be too "busy" to accept improvements . We can see that one can work hard without working smart. The two people are introduced to the better round wheel. However, the two aren't thinking that if they had the round wheel , their hard work would pay off better . Changing the wheels from the square tire to the round tire would allow more hard work to be done. How much hard work (that is, delivering rocks) can be accomplished at a faster, more effective rate if they went for the round wheel? Sadly, some people think th...

  It's fascinating (and annoying) that people want to get rich quick. The bad news is it's easy come and easy go. People do all sorts of crazy stuff trying to get rich quick. Back in 2022 while repairs after the Odette disaster were done, I wrote an article about not investing while having a gambling addiction . Some people may have pulled their money out of the index funds and played Axie Infinity trying to make a quick buck. Some people got into cryptocurrency with the same hopes of getting rich quick fast. Before cryptocurrencies and  Axie Infinity , the lottery ticket has been treated like a "golden ticket". When I mention "golden ticket", some people may have seen the classic Willie Wonka movie where each child had a golden ticket. Only one of the children could inherit the main character's candy factory.  It makes me laugh (and cringe) that people waste their money on the lottery ticket. A wife can complain about her husband buying lottery tickets ...

I was checking on GInvest and I'm not surprised that the ATRAM stock investments have gone down. I checked my current portfolio and things went down. I was tempted to panic-sell until I recalled Grandpa Warren Edward Buffet's advice. It's sad that business schools, based on my experience, never taught students how to invest in stocks properly, not even the business schools. It's a good thing that Buffett himself speaks in such a way that I can understand it. I may not be the Oracle of Cebu City (nor do I intend to). I decided to Google Warren Buffett again for advice. I might need to buy a book by Buffett though before I can continue this project.  The article (from Yahoo! Finance ) I found was written last October 23, 2010. Here's some advice that I should heed instead of social media gossip: But numbers are only part of the equation; Buffett also emphasizes the human element in investing. As he stated in his interview, " Some people should not own stocks at a...

Back then, I wrote an article where I discussed the stupidity of the "If it's bitter, just add sugar." mindset . In Cebuano, it's, "Kung pait, butangi lang ug asukal". The mentality itself has kept many people poor. It would go with how people just want to have a good time. It can be observed in how people deal with their salary hence explaining their financial situation (read here ). With Christmas just around the corner (read here ), it's very easy to land into the dreaded Holiday Debt Trap (read here ). What's next? Would those members of the labor union blame the government and entrepreneurs for the bad decisions they made themselves?  What's with the typical Filipino mindset about money (and sugar)?  Please note that I'm not attacking every single Filipino  there are Filipinos who are mindful of their money. Instead, I'm tackling the predominant mindset brought about by the "Kung pait, butangi lang ug asukal" mindset. It se...

I do have the nasty habit of checking my portfolio on a daily basis. It's sort of me choosing between buying more units of participation or is it the time to sell here? When I mean time to tell, it's not about panic-selling but selling it because I want some cash. Last year, I wrote about why I'm also investing in ATRAM's Global Technology Feeder Fund . I've noticed that the NAVPU has increased and it may reach up to PHP 270.00 or even up to PHP 300.00. I'm still invested in the ATRAM Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund. It's sort of like not putting all my eggs into one basket. Also, I'd like to say I finally paid my five-year plan with AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund. I did plan to pull out my ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund ASAP. It was because I was planning to buy myself a UPS because of the voltage fluctuations. I bought the UPS because I have big dreams for this site. Big dreams in the sense that I'll be a...

Previously, I wrote about how the Philippines can never get rich by blaming its richer Asian neighbors . Right now, I think I want to write this new short where I'm talking about the anti-successful people mindset. I remembered a couple of people I met in college who had this bad habit of saying, "It's the fault of the rich that we're poor!" I was often told that I "bullied" them because I was one of those whom they call "may kaya" (those who are better off). Such statements happen when I also mention something like, "Do you people wonder why you have little to no money?" I must "applaud" the stupidity of the argument that says, "It's the fault of the rich that we're poor!"  Why is it common for some poor people to rudely generalize the rich as insensitive people while they're the victim?  Psychology Today  presents this on why some people will always blame others . It's really something when you th...

Read.Cash There are so many financial gurus right now. I kep hearing stories of people who became so rich so fast. However, the basic drill of any claim is that if it's too good to be true then run . This is why people fall for people like the late Charles Ponzi and the even more infamous, the late Bernard Madoff. Now, you have people who claim that they could easily earn that much money in such a short amount of time . This is really no less fishy than the claims that you can earn high returns with very little risk. I feel like revisiting moments claimed to have achieved "so much" at my age. Some people even claim that they had made (or have) that much money at such a young age. This isn't the case for big entrepreneurs since it took years for people like the late Henry Sy Sr., John Gokongwei Jr., Lucio Tan Sr., and maybe I can say Warren Edward Buffett never became rich so fast! I could easily lie right now that I have this amount of money. I could easily take photo...

I'm a graduate of a business school. I felt ashamed (to a certain extent) that I wasn't accepted into the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) course. I decided to pursue business school instead as planned after my first year in my Associate in Computer Science (ACS) course. I decided to take a master's degree to impress others or to convince them I'm not a fool. Later on, while taking my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree--I fell into a scam by a family friend and later didn't even know what Cash 2 Go in the Metrobank credit card was. After a heated argument with someone questioning my course, I was finally told the hard truth I needed to hear, "That proves the Filipino education system really sucks !" I finally had my MBA. Later, I discovered a lot of stuff that I was never taught . One of them was actually the best investment to put into even in the finance classes! Sure, finance classes are needed but shouldn't we teach...