Tuesday, January 3, 2017

THE THINGS I LEARNED SINCE I STARTED INVESTING

One of my greatest joys is seeing someone’s life change for the better. And I feel honored to have known and be friends with Philip, who will share some investing lessons today.I am a witness to his journey from being an ordinary employee, to becoming a financial literacy advocate who’s been helping Filipino families to have a more secure future.

Let’s now read what he has to say below.I’ve been an investor for quite some time now; though not that long – I consider myself no longer a newbie but not yet an expert.
As years passed by since I started investing, I realized that it’s really more than just about the money, but also a character building journey for me.I learned a lot of important things and lessons, which for me are not only applicable in investing.Allow me to share some of these lessons and characters that I’ve developed through all these years as an investor.
DISCIPLINE
One important ingredient I learned in becoming an investor is to have discipline. From the discipline in making a monthly budget, making sure to follow it and to keep track of my everyday expenses.These are some of the habits I formed since then. The most important thing I learned is to live below what I earn, a simple task but definitely not an easy one.Also, the discipline to put regular investment to my investment portfolio monthly is a habit I mastered already, this is one way of paying myself first.
DELAY GRATIFICATION
It is not easy to stay away from the temptation of spending, to go on shopping, weekly gimmicks, buy the latest gadgets, and going on a monthly vacation.I feel the same way every time and also feel the urge to reward myself immediately.But I always keep in mind that the money I received from my income is not only to enjoy the present but also to enjoy my future as well.
PATIENCE
They say that anything that is worth having always takes some time to achieve.Building wealth takes time and to be patient is a character I developed since the day I started investing.One mentor said that it will take 10 years to build a sound investment portfolio and I’m committing myself towards that goal, perhaps even longer.
EMOTIONAL DISCIPLINE
As humans, we are emotional creatures and that’s normal. But in investing, I found out that being emotional towards my investment prevented me from reaching my investment goals.I remember when I was still new to investing, I always panic every time the shares of the company I bought goes down, and guess what, I sold them, and yes I lost money then.But now whenever I see prices dropped, I just smile and keep my emotions in control and continue to invest my money without a second thought.
VISION
You may wonder why I’m still at peace even when my investment goes down and it’s because of this. Having a vision towards my goal is one character that helped me to stay focus and calm in my investments.I learned that everything that hinders me from achieving my goals are just obstacles that I need to overcome.So it’s very important to know what you want to achieve if you want to start investing, to have a strong sense of commitment in your investments.
MOTIVATION
I learned to love motivational and inspirational quotes ever since I started investing because they help me to have a clearer picture of my vision.Investing is not always fun especially at times when the market is not doing good, or whenever I have to put off the stuff I want to buy in order to invest. So being motivated helped me a lot to stay committed in achieving my financial goals.Believe me, having a positive attitude really helps when every prices is in red.
MONEY IS JUST A TOOL
Here’s the funny thing I learned about investing. Even though I save and invest money, I learned that it is the least important of all (note that I mentioned “least” and not “not important”).
What is more important is who I have become in the process of building wealth and the character that I have developed.What’s more important are the dreams that I have fulfilled every time I reached the investment goals I set.What is important are the people that I was able to share joy because I was able to spend my resources with them.Money is just a creation of man, an idea, which we can use in making our lives better.A mentor once said that money is a great servant but a bad master. It is our responsibility to make sure to use it in the right way and enable it to help us in reaching our aspirations in life.
About the writer:
Philip Dayrit or “Phee” is a Systems Analyst in one of the IT Company here in the Philippines for almost 6 years. Outside work, he is an advocate of personal finance and investing, which started when his uncle died because of financial problems.
Right now, he’s a financial educator in IMG Wealth Academy, which promotes financial education to help people achieve financial freedom.


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