Your Wealthy Mind

The Five Laws of Money: A Few Simple Tips to Increase Your Wealth

November 23, 2019 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

George S. Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon is one of the most popular money and personal finance books out there, and I’d definitely recommend it to you. Fortunately, people consider it to be public domain so it should be easy to find some digital copies online for free.

In my opinion, one of the best things about the book is that although it’s about a complicated topic like money management, it uses simple stories to teach several valuable lessons about wealth. One very important chapter is about the “five laws of gold”. Those five tips about money are what we’ll talk about here, so keep reading to learn more!

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R.A. 9049 Medal of Valor Benefits

November 9, 2019 by Ray L. 1 Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Before we talk about the Medal of Valor benefits under R.A. 9049, let me share with you a little story that happened last April of 1996…

One fateful night near Barangay Sinepetan, a huge group of over 400 heavily armed Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels marched towards the town of Carmen in North Cotabato. Due to the overwhelming number of hostile forces, some AFP officers in the area have been told to stand down.

One Scout Ranger officer, however, decided to ignore that order to save the town of Carmen. That night, in what’s widely considered one of the most dangerous missions ever done by an elite unit in the AFP, Capt. Robert Edward Lucero took an elite team of 14 Scout Rangers and they went on to attack the rebels directly.

For 9 hours, the small team held the line to protect the town of Carmen without receiving any backup or support. As they ran out of bullets and grenades, Capt. Lucero noticed the enemy 50 Cal. machine gun and the mortars that caused the most casualties to his team. In an all-or-nothing gamble, he stealthily crawled through the battlefield alone using the cover of darkness to his advantage. Through his act of courage, he was able to kill the rebel machine gunner, and take control of the machine gun from within enemy lines. By killing over 29 enemy rebels and their commander named Mangyan, he was able to turn the tide of battle, thus forcing most of the rebels to flee.

While firing at the remaining rebels, tending to his wounded comrades and maneuvering them to safer positions, Capt. Lucero, unfortunately, was shot in the head by an enemy sniper and was killed in battle.

He paid the ultimate sacrifice in service of the country.

That… was the story of my father, Capt. Robert Edward M. Lucero. “The Hero of Carmen, Cotabato”, he is one of the rare few who have been awarded the Medal of Valor, the highest combat award in the Philippine military.

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Five Things Leaders Need to Remember

October 25, 2019 by Ray L. 1 Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Being self-employed, there’s not a lot of opportunities for me to lead groups, so it was a nice surprise when I was chosen to lead a certain hiking organization’s training climb. I made a lot of terrible mistakes and I consider my work on that climb a near complete failure. I’m just thankful the experience taught me a lot of lessons.

Still, that’s a story for another time. For now, here are a few things leaders need to remember.

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“Too Good to be True” (and How to Spot Scams)

October 3, 2019 by Ray L. 5 Comments

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Some time ago my mother discovered a real estate investment opportunity. A luxury resort was accepting investors, so for the price of around P200,000, you can own a room at the resort and get a share of the profit whenever you rent it out. In my opinion, it sounded like a decent deal. It was somewhat risky as we don’t know how much business that new resort will get and the location might not be that good.

I had my doubts especially when they didn’t immediately send us the terms and conditions of the contract and they only gave us a brochure, but our family did have money for it. After my mother sent the first deposit and she started asking about the full terms, the representative finally told her the details. We’ll get to use or rent out a room… for one week every two years. We’ll also need to pay some maintenance fees every month.

That’s no investment. That was a scam! It was WAY different from the “own a resort room and rent it out” deal that the first promoter said. It was blatant false advertising. Although my mother couldn’t withdraw the initial P18,000 deposit, we were glad to have exited that scam before things got worse.

Well, that was just one example of a scam. What does it mean when something seems “too good to be true”? Let’s talk about the most popular kinds of scams here in the Philippines next.

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How I shop according to my values

September 19, 2019 by Ray L. 1 Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Want a quote about money that will make you think? Read this:

“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
— Joe Biden

Personally, I agree with that message. The places where we spend our money and the things we purchase reflect what we value most. For example, some people spend their money traveling the world to broaden their horizons. Others spend their money on expensive brand-name clothes so they can brag and show off. Some people spend their money on things that will improve their children’s lives and future prospects. Others spend their money on alcohol and illegal drugs. What people spend money on reflect the things they value most in life.

Take note of your spending habits. What do YOU value?

We “vote” with our wallets.

Similar to how we vote for politicians we support (because they support what’s important to us), we do the same thing with our cash. We “vote” and give our cash to products and companies we like, and we avoid those we hate.

While most of us spend according to our personal preferences, we also sometimes spend according to our values. Think of people who support and buy “green” and “eco-friendly” products. People who avoid products that do animal testing and abuse. People who support local businesses (like me) and small entrepreneurs.

We can spend according to our values.

Personally, I have my own set of values which I use to decide on my purchases. I support local products and businesses, I hate the destruction of the West Philippine Sea and its coral reefs, I hate a certain government’s “debt trap” policies, I hate intellectual property theft, historical censorship, and more. That’s why I have a shopping style that support those values.

A lot of people wanted to try this shopping style (before a certain political shift happened), but many found it too hard. Some think literally “EVERYTHING” is made in that country so it’s “impossible”, but I’m here to prove that wrong. There are LOTS of brands and items that are made locally, and there are several brands and items not made in that certain country.

You just need to take a closer look. Keep reading to learn more!

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