‘If a man empties his purse into his head no man can take it from him. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.’ – Benjamin Franklin

This is a longer version of the usual quote “An investment in knowledge…” The author expresses a straight forward saying, which means that there will be a great outcome if you start focusing on nurturing your intellectual being. You’ll gain a better understanding over some matters, and this is not something that anyone can take away from you.

This kind of investment is something that we tapped without noticing. But add a little consciousness to it and you’ll see its essentiality.

The essentiality today

In a recent study, 60 % of the Philippine population would be people of ages 30 and below, a portion of which are the millennials. From my past blog about “Personal Finance for Millennials,” 75% of the latter spends more on experience rather than material goods. They have this hardworking, motivated, “everything in an instant” attitude, that gives them a fast pace of knowing things.

Experiences correlate with knowledge as these two are the foundation of wisdom. It is not enough if you just know it without doing it, as the same goes to if you just do it and don’t learn from it.

But, millennial or not, all of us need to keep up with the changes and learn as much as we can.

Where to find them

The technological or digital age is our period where information is within grasp. The least we can do is to make the most out of it. With the aid of a powerful tool called the internet, we know that searching for what we need now can be done easily.

Whether it is searching for a nearby library, a current event, a technological advancement, socialize to learn, etc. it’s just one click away.

It’s a great way to start on consciously investing on knowledge for its compact-ability and multiple platform-compatibility. It gives you an experience where you’ll gain knowledge at ease. This article too, is a contributor to your intellect as it gives you an insight on the essentiality of the subject matter.

But, that is just one of the sources.

One of the most effective way of consciously finding an investment opportunity in both intellect and business setting is by attending business seminars and conferences, more specifically, in the field of finance. The eminent and selfless transfer of knowledge from one body to a numerous number of persons is a great opportunity to be a part of. The people who may came from different parts of the country, yet unifies them in a single interest that gives them a sense of belongingness. Those are some things that I have observed from numerous seminars and conferences that I have been on.

The bottom-line

Our brain works in many ways, and what we need is to give input for it to make it work with ease. Knowledge is an essential investment in your intellectual well-being. It takes you to a point of view with deeper understanding of a subject.

Also, it takes out the fear of the unknown. It brightens the grey areas of your thoughts and gives you a confidence boost on what you want to endeavor, especially in business. It can be really tricky for a person who doesn’t know much how business works rather than the principle of spending money to earn money.

Being financially knowledgeable is a great way for you to know how to intelligently cope up with the ups and downs of daily business operation; Trends that you can see fit to venture in to, in order to make your money grow while spending less; And how to make your money work for you.

You can start investing in knowledge now by attending the fourth install of my Investment conference dubbed as #iCon 2016 this coming May 28, 2016 at the SM Aura Samsung Hall in Taguig City.

Take part of this iCON-ic event as with a bigger innovation, we have gathered a stronger group of local finance authorities in the country to talk about basic finance and how the recent innovation affected the economy through Marvin Germo, one of the most passionate personal finance experts in the Philippines; Diwa Guinigundo, an economist and Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Paulo Tibig, one of the most sought after professional speakers in the entrepreneurship community; Rex Mendoza, Founder and Managing Director of Rampver Financials and the most dynamic financial speakers in the Philippines; Jose Feron “Dodong” Cacanando, a businessman who owns Moriah Farms, Inc. and Karmel HA-Moriyah, Inc. and a truly inspiring business speaker; Valerie Pama, the President of Sun Life Asset Management, one of the country’s biggest mutual funds, and yours truly.

For transmission confirmation or questions contact Deniece Pineda at (+632) 750-6510 or 0926-691-0126 or at [email protected].

REGISTER NOW AT bit.ly/GO_ICON2016

Years of steady structural reforms under 4 Presidents, improved demographics, technology shifts and many other factors have been factors behind the Philippine growth story. I would like to personally thank the BSP for being a strong institution that has made all this growth a reality.

As I close this 2015 Outlook series, I believe that the best way to do so is to feature the views of one of my favorite economic icons in the country, BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo. How I wish more and more people can learn from him which will not only give you wisdom, it will help you with your faith.

The 2015 Outlook of BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo

I continue to see the Philippine economy performing in accordance to its higher potential capacity. Four factors support this trend that many people may not be exactly aware.

One, with sustained technology application, total factor productivity has improved over the years. Two, economic efficiency has gained more traction. Three, labor market dynamics have been favorable with more educated, more trained graduates joining the labor pool. And finally, demographic factor has been supportive with more young people keeping the dependency ratio relatively low.

What drove these growth-positive factors have been the twenty years of steady policy and structural reforms. These are clearly a demonstration that the Philippine Government has attained a good sense of governance. Four presidencies have continued with building institutions. If nations fail because of bad institutions, one can therefore argue that the Philippines has achieved strong resiliency because it has been heavily engaged in institution building even through the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-2009.

It should not therefore be surprising if I will uphold the government target of 7-8 percent economic growth in 2015 and 2016. I see more diversified sources of growth: more investment and public spending supporting private consumption, manufacturing, construction and agriculture contributing to the growth process complimentary to services. That growth range has been achieved at some point in the past, I don’t see any reason why that should be elusive in the future. What we need to see is more infrastructure and infrastructure.

With investment grade continuing to go up, both domestic and foreign investment should remain bullish about the Philippines. Infrastructure including power should remain the focus of these investments.

With good supply prospects and pro-active monetary policy, helped by the decline in oil and other commodity prices, I see inflation averaging at a rate comfortably within the lower target range of 2-4 percent for both 2015 and 2016. The BSP and the national government have good monetary and fiscal space, respectively, to continue promoting price stability and good public finance.

On the external front, I see our initial forecast of sustained external payments surplus continuing to be broadly appropriate. The balance of payments should be able to bounce back strongly from a shortfall in 2014 to a surplus in both 2015 and 2015, with the current account expected to show increasing positive position of at least $6.0 billion.

These are premised on one, recovery in the global economy but at an uneven pace. This dimension is important because unevenness should lead to divergent monetary policies. US is turning the corner so I expect it to start preparing the stage for some tightening which could result in some capital outflows in the Philippines. Europe and Japan remain soft so monetary policy is needed to be accommodative which could drive some capital to flow to emerging markets including the Philippines. China and India are the other difficult challenges with structural issues threatening to pull them down so we should see a generalized easing among many central banks. All told, the asynchronous policies could pull each other apart and generate some volatilities in the global and regional financial markets. The Philippines should be very vigilant in monitoring these developments and should be prepared to act decisively as necessary.

I also expect to see our strong and stable banking system continuing to provide additional resiliency to the economy. Financial intermediation is expected to remain supportive of economic growth. With key reforms in place and expected to be pursued, market confidence should remain strong and this is something that does not come by easily.

There would always be some risks even at the tail end. This is the reason why the BSP is always doing stress tests and scenario building exercises to ensure we are not surprised by external shocks. This is the reason why we have a stable of early warning systems on the key sectors of the economy including the business cycle.

So paraphrasing Einstein, let me say that what is incomprehensible about the economy is that it is comprehensible.

Mr. Guinigundo is the deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in charge of monetary policy and operations, international relations and operations, currency management and regional monetary affairs. He was the Philippines’ representative at the IMF, Washington, DC as alternate executive director. Previously, he was head of research at the Southeast Asian Central Banks Research and Training Center in Kuala Lumpur. At present, he chairs the SEACEN Experts Group on Capital Flows and a member of the SEACEN Executive Committee. He sits at the NEDA Board, National Food Authority Council and National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation Board.

Outside government, Mr Guinigundo is the senior pastor of a local Christian church, Fullness of Christ International Ministries, and advises the BSP Christian Fellowship. He leads in the nationwide Touching Heaven Changing Earth which aims to unite the body of Christ in the Philippines.

Join my last public event for 2014, the Money Manifesto Conference on November 29, 2014 at Room 1 at the SMX Aura in Taguig City.

What is this conference all about? 

This event will highlight valuable personal finance learnings that will instruct, inspire and empower the audience to achieve their goals in life.

Joining me for this event are my friends Jayson Lo and Carl Dy.

A much sought after motivational speaker, Jayson Lo is the best-selling authors of “YOUnique” and “Debtermined”. He will talk about the money behaviors people have and how to have the proper money mindset to get out of debt and achieve your goals in life.

Carl Dy is one of the country’s foremost expert in real estate investing. He recently authored a booklet titled “6 Steps to Renting out your Condo.” He will show us the right way to invest using real estate and that this is not an investment limited to the ultra rich.

Incidentally, my newest book “Money Manifesto” will also be launched during the conference. This book has been highly anticipated and has been recommended by BSP Deputy Gov. Diwa Guinigundo, Rivermaya front man Mark Escueta, economist Dr. Alivn Ang, international celebrity Christian Bautista, RFP’s Henry Ong, Stock Market expert Marvin Germo, BPI’s Marketing head Jojo Ocampo, international investing expert Jess Uy, and many more.

The conference is for only P750.00, a bargain for the quality of seminars we offer. What’s more, if you register and pay before November 12, 2014, you only need to invest P500.00

For inquiries and registration, please get in touch with Carl Magsino at 0917-4433832, 988-8469 or email [email protected]

You can also register on-line by visiting —  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1B_O0aF_qvsxzOgZQyhFRIF8oDOExiU95nkPtCBUvSzE/viewform

This conference is presented by BPI and Sun Life. Supported by the RFP, Angat Pilipinas Coalition and Alveo Land.