I

nvest
ingFi
l
ipi
nos

Forthemostpar t,Fil
ipinoslovetospendandnotf ondt oinvest.Soi fyou
askedsomeone, "I
fyouhadami l
l
ion,whatwouldyoudo? "Theanswerwoul d
be,"Ah,I'
m goi
ngt obuyhouseandl ot
."Buynow!t hat'
swhati tsay sri
ght
away.Sowhathappens,wheny ougoabr oadorhavet heopportunit
ytoear n,
thehouseandlandwi l
l beboughtimmedi at
ely
.Thatisgoodbecausewewant
togiveshelt
ertoourl ov edonesrightaway.Butwhent heflowoff inanceis
notsustai
ned,l
aterthehouseandl andarealsomortgaged.

Doy ouseet heChi neseandChi nesei nourt own?Twogener ationshav e

passed,t hosear epoor .Butwhent hatmoney ,forexampl etherewasf i
fty
pesos,i twouldnotbespentany wher e.Thatwi llbuyaf r
yingpanf orf if
teen
pesoseachandagasst ov efortenpesoseach.Thenhewi l
lbuyal ittl
esaba,
anot herbanana- cue,itwillbesoldi nt hecor nersandl aterhisfif
tywi llbesi xty
pesos.Lat eri
twi l
lbeei ghtypesosandl atery ouwillbethatassi st
ant .Didy ou
seet hef ormerv endorst here,whowoul dr eportshout i
ng" Taho!"or" bote!"?
Nowt heyaret heonesl ivinginplushv i
llages.Theyknowhowt oinv est .Even
i
ft hathadmoney ,thatwoul dn’ti
mmedi at el
ybuyahouseandl and.All theydo,
i
shi reasmal lshop.mer chants,dwel lonasi deorcor ner,andendur e.They
wer ewear i
ngonl yshirt
sbutwedi dn'tknow, theyhadal otofmoney .Andl ater
when suddenl ymov i
ng,t o ForbesPar ki mmedi ately.Almost70% oft he
peopl ei nourv i
l
lagesar ef or
mermer chant s;theyar ealreadyr i
chbecause
theyknowhowt oinvest.

Andwhatcanwesayt ooury out

ht oday?GivethatP1,000andbuyj eansfor
P900each.Don' tthi
nk,"Icanbuyhandker chi
efsatDi vi
soriaandsellthem to
makemoney ."
Of t
enforus,whatwespendi sthei nv
estment,noty ourprofi
t.Forexample,
thereisastore,i
tdoesn'tgrowbecauset hesalesarebeingspentev ery
where.
It
'snotjusttheprofi
tthatisspent,butalsotheinvestmentwhi chisaffect
ed.
Andwhent hei nvest
menti sgone,how come?Wewi llworkandbecome
slavesofthewiseinvestors.Oneofthev i
cesofthistowni sit
sspending.This
mustchange.