On a personal note, 2010 has been an awesome year for me as well. My advocacy of financial literacy for the Filipinos have brought me to many places like Albay, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Cebu, Palawan and even Singapore. My audiences have been varied, from Doctors, Architects, Real Estate Brokers, Teachers, Students, Armed Forces, among others. This year has been a great year for collaboration with people I really admire as well – Cito Beltran, Francis Kong, Chinkee Tan, Eric Villarama, Carlo Ople, Jen Magalong, Paulo Tibig and others. My participation in the Registered Financial Planner Institute has allowed me to be part of the competency building of over 100 would be Financial Planners just for the year. My involvement with Go Negosyo allowed me to touch base with thousands of entrepreneurs. I think I’ve spoken in more campuses this year as well and I was very happy to successfully run the Blue Chip program, a 2 day financial literacy program for the youth. And to cap the year, I am so privileged to be part of the 2011 UCC Beacons of Change Program. It is not your typical coffee planner but really a vision log book that will help you usher genuine change in your life and that of your environment. I was selected to be part of this collaboration along with Francis Kong (for Inspiration) and Raju Mandhyan (for Mind Mapping); my module is all about the 12 steps to financial wellness. My quote “you build your empire/fortune one peso at a time” in the UCC Planner Launch became a bit popular as it was picked up in many blogs, articles and tweets.

… catch part 2

What should we do? Well, we should continue to build more professional practitioners, teach them well and make them adhere to values like competence, integrity and commitment. At the same time, those who are in a position to create awareness should go double time. Write more books, have more seminars, build more websites, blog more frequently, publish more articles… the list goes on. Take awareness to more main stream avenues like the mass media but it can go beyond that. I am ecstatic whenever our church (Victory Green Hills) will tackle topics that will revolve around money and personal finance. The church needs to look after its flock, money issues are foremost in their concerns. Church related celebrities like Bo Sanchez and Chinkee Tan have been talking about money and personal finance from a biblical perspective and are convincing people that God truly wants them to live victorious lives. I was once interviewed by a Bishop for his TV talk show and the topic is personal finance. I asked the Bishop why he felt that there is a need; he told me that the church is really concerned about the welfare of the people, spiritually and physically (or financially). The Bible is full of verses that relates directly to money issues and when you read it, you can really feel that God wants us to be living great lives in all aspects. Bo, Chinkee and many more are making people realize that… great! I am encouraged to see more authors write about the topic and its great that their books have been selling well. My good friends Efren Cruz (Pwede Na! series), Chinkee Tan (Till Debt Do Us Part, For Richer & For Poorer) are great & practical books to help people. I also endorsed a new book by Ardy Roberto on biblical finance. The country’s leading motivational and inspirational guru, Francis Kong, has been encouraging people to take control of their financial lives through many of his seminars and talks. These are all great… and we need more, more, more! Sometimes I do wonder if I’m making any impact at all, even a miniscule one – I guess only time will tell. However, I will continue to do what I am doing for the next 20+ years and longer, I hope. I want to encourage people in the profession not to give up too easily when their job becomes too challenging. I would like to encourage my peers in the training profession to continue to teach. I would hope that people like Efren, Chinkee, Ardy & Francis will continue to write books and speak to as many Filipinos as they can. I pray that there will be many of us who will help our brothers’ plan for their future.

22+ years in the industry. The past was good and the future will be bright if we do the right things in the present. Looking forward to my next 20+ years! Let’s go and help people plan for the future!

Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. – Romans 12:13, NIV

The fact that many in this profession are more interested in making a sale than actually helping people only adds to the difficulties. Making a sale is not an issue, one need to earn from his profession and sale of financial instruments is a very honorable profession. However, when a practitioner starts to misrepresent and mislead clients, that’s a big problem. Many practitioners would make unfounded claims for their products, like a low risk and high yield product — yeah right! Unscrupulous practitioners should be behind bars or at least barred from practicing. These practices make it very difficult for legitimate practitioners from gaining the trust of prospective clients.

Trust — it is the key to helping plan their financial future. A financial planner needs to build his competency and exhibit utmost professionalism at all times so that he will be listened to. If one wants to experience success in the financial practitioner profession, he needs to really build himself well.

Unscrupulous practitioners notwithstanding, Filipinos really need to hear from professional practitioners and must have open minds and open hearts. Our average financial condition is really disturbing and causing us a lot of difficulties in life. Further, the economic impact of a nation of uninsured poor savers is really precarious.

… to be continued

For many years, I’ve been blessed to interact with countless people, not only do I get to share my knowledge and passion with them, I get to learn a great deal from them as well. Rolly Robles, a former boss of mine once shared me the concept of S.P.I.C.E. – S for Service, P for Personal and Professional Growth, I for Income, C for Challenge and E for Enjoyment. If I sum up my many years in this industry, I’d like to say that the concept is pretty much accurate.

So what do I really do? Many things. I’m an speaker, writer, trainer, consultant and a ‘trying hard’ entrepreneur. But to be more accurate, I mostly help people plan their financial future or teach people on how to help other people. For the past years, I’ve been doing more of the later, in my capacity as a teacher.

Is it easy? Sometimes it is, but most of the time it isn’t. Acquiring the necessary technical skills can be challenging but financial planning isn’t really rocket science. There are gazillion books, websites, and training programs on personal finance. There are many credible sites in the internet on financial planning and my favorite local program would be the Registered Financial Planner Institute, where I stand as one of its Directors. Acquisition of technical skills isn’t all too difficult — learning soft skills so you can apply the technical skill are the hard part.

Telling people that they need to take personal financial planning seriously is easier said than done. Majority of Filipinos are more interested in many things other than personal finance. Our savings rates are amongst the lowest in the world. Filipinos with insurance coverage are likewise just as low. Less than 1% of us invest in the stock market. Mutual Funds, UITF, Index Funds are not something your average Filipino will know, let alone understand. I’m really excited about the PERA Law but I wonder if our brothers and sisters will take advantage of it properly once it is enacted (anxiously awaiting the implementing guidelines). Average people are aware that they need to plan for retirement but still fail to do so. Common reasons you will hear is that they don’t have enough money to plan with. Agreed, that’s enough reason — but isn’t that enough reason to take planning seriously as well? If income is hardly enough today, isn’t it logical to concern ourselves with proper financial planning? If living expenses are not enough with our income, how will we survive when we don’t have the capacity to produce income anymore? …

… to be continued.

God bless.

A. Financial planning will give you a clear picture, perhaps for the first time, of where you stand financially. Many families have no idea of the value of their estate, how they spend their money, or what their money can do for them.

Financial planning will provide direction and discipline. Without this direction and discipline it is very probable you will make impulsive, random decisions; you might buy this insurance, invest in that hot investment, adopt the latest tax strategy. The pieces not only don’t fit together, they may actually conflict with each other and compound the problem. Financial planning integrates your assets with your goals and objectives.

Financial planning can give you peace of mind. Uncertainty about finances creates anxiety. Money is the most common cause of marital stress and divorce. If you know where you stand financially, where you are going, and how you’re going to get there, you’ll feel more confident about your financial situation, about yourself and about your relationships.

From http://www.rfp-philippines.com/

2. Gathering client data, including goals.

The financial planner should ask for information about your financial situation. You and the planner should mutually define your personal and financial goals, understand your time frame for results and discuss, if relevant, how you feel about risk. The financial planner should gather all the necessary documents before giving you the advice you need.

3. Analyzing and evaluating your financial status.

The financial planner should analyze your information to assess your current situation and determine what you must do to meet your goals. Depending on what services you have asked for, this could include analyzing your assets, liabilities and cash flow, current insurance coverage, investments or tax strategies.

4. Developing and presenting financial planning recommendations and/or alternatives.

The financial planner should offer financial planning recommendations that address your goals, based on the information you provide. The planner should go over the recommendations with you to help you understand them so that you can make informed decisions. The planner should also listen to your concerns and revise the recommendations as appropriate.

5. Implementing the financial planning recommendations.

You and the planner should agree on how the recommendations will be carried out. The planner may carry out the recommendations or serve as your “coach,” coordinating the whole process with you and other professionals such as attorneys or stockbrokers.

6. Monitoring the financial planning recommendations.

You and the planner should agree on who will monitor your progress towards your goals. If the planner is in charge of the process, she should report to you periodically to review your situation and adjust the recommendations, if needed, as your life changes.

In the Philippines, the leading organization for Financial Planner certification is probably the Registered Financial Planner Institute, a local chapter from Ohio, U.S.A. There are about  400+ individuals who have taken the program since its inception in 2005 in the Philippines. The program boasts of several comprehensive programs on Financial Planning, Investment Planning, Insurance Planning, Estate Planning and more. The local chapter also boasts of several well respected and credentialed moderators who are University Professors, Columnists, Best-Selling Authors, Corporate Executives, etc.

It is always best to check out your financial planner. Is he credible? Does he have the credentials? Does he have the necessary experience? And more importantly, does he have the right character as trust is the most important foundation in a planner-client relationship.

Be careful in choosing a financial planner but don’t dilly-dally in getting one, it really is a wise decision to make.

“The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” – Proverbs 14:8, NIV

The benefits of having a Financial Planner makes it a great idea. A Financial Planner’s best trait is that he sees the ‘big picture’ of your financial life and will be more objective and more deliberate in helping you achieve your financial goals.

However, just like in any profession, not everyone deserves to be called a ‘professional’.  In the absence of any local regulation or guidelines, anyone can call himself a ‘Financial Planner’ without having the necessary training, education or certification. Worse, there are self-serving companies that certify their own people as financial planners. There are so many individuals who decided to start putting the term ‘Financial Planner’ in their business cards and the public got more confused as to who is a financial planner and what a financial planner really does. Agents of financial services products started to ride on the wave of financial planning, calling themselves financial planners and yet their only objective is to sell their products. There’s nothing wrong with selling financial products, it is a very noble profession but my beef is when the public is being mislead just so that one can make a sale.

Further, a fancy designation, though helpful, is not a guarantee that a person is a real financial planner. The acid test of a financial planner is if he subscribes to an accepted financial planning process and willing to put his program on paper, also referred to as a financial plan. A good gauge to discern a real financial planner is if he subscribes to the internationally accepted 6 Step Financial Planning Process (by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards):

From http://www.cfp.net/

1. Establishing and defining the client-planner relationship.

The financial planner should clearly explain or document the services to be provided to you and define both his and your responsibilities. The planner should explain fully how he will be paid and by whom. You and the planner should agree on how long the professional relationship should last and on how decisions will be made.

… to be continued.

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Confession of a Financial Planner

MY wife Mia and I went on a date last night. Since my wife loves to watch movies and since the secret to a happy life is a happy wife, I instinctively knew she would prefer watching a movie.

I thought she would prefer watching the John Lloyd Cruz-Sarah Geronimo movie so I was trying to psyche myself to watching it, but I was so delighted to find out she wanted to watch something else. My wife knew I’m not a big fan of those movies so she wanted to watch something else for my sake. That’s one of the many reasons I love my wife so much—so unselfish! Not wanting to be a total jerk by asking her to watch an action movie, I suggested to meet half-way. As a result, we ended up watching the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. I was actually intrigued by it because my daughter Gabbie said it was a great movie while another daughter Billie liked the book.

How was the movie? It was awesome! In fact, I urge everyone reading this to watch the movie. Watching it is like attending a financial-literacy seminar, only more amusing, more relevant and actually more effective.

The plot revolves around a character named Rebecca Bloomwood (brilliantly portrayed by Isla Fisher) who has an exaggerated spending problem and ends up being a columnist for a personal-finance magazine. The main character represented many of us, albeit in a humorously exaggerated way. We live in a society that is afflicted with a debilitating disease called “consumerism.” This burden has manifested itself in a “spending problem,” resulting in many of us  living a debt-ridden life—a life that robs us of true freedom and of victory.

As a financial planner myself, I was endeared with the character in the movie. Her column gives out a lot of practical and great personal advice and has a lot of followers, despite her financial life being in complete havoc. Well, I wouldn’t say I’m exactly like Ms. Bloomwood in the sense that I don’t really have a shopping addiction, and I’m not too sure if I do have many followers. While my financial life is not in havoc, it is far from being ideal.

Many times, I find myself “preaching” to myself whenever I write or speak. It’s not very wise for someone like me to say that I don’t have an “ideal” financial life, but I want people to know that I, too, experience the difficulties of putting my financial life in order. I went through a lot of mistakes that I have been trying to rectify. I was also afflicted with a spending problem that nearly left me in ruins. I made so much mistakes I later on regretted, which I wrote about in this column many months ago. But I learned from those mistakes and I am in a very long process of rectification. What is crucial is the realization of one’s problems and the resolution to learn from them, and have a lasting solution for them.

I do not only write or speak from a theoretical point of view. I am writing from painful personal experiences. We can’t “undo” many things we have done, but it doesn’t matter anymore as what’s done is done. Like anything in our lives, we must learn to stand when we fall. In doing so, we become more resilient, stronger and, most important, wiser.

Here’s a wise advice: To really fix a problem, go to the source of the problem. When I found myself with a financial burden, I tried many ways to “fix” it but I noticed that while some of those remedies worked, most of them did not permanently solve the problem. Like the many “solutions” we try, I found myself applying mostly short-term or “Band-Aid” solutions.

If we have a financial problem or a spending problem, we should determine the root cause of the problem. Is it the lack of income or the way we spend? Why do we spend the way we spend? In my case, I got into a financial mess because I had a “want” issue: I wanted this, I wanted that. It wasn’t just with me, it was with my family, too. But it was a “want” problem nonetheless.

Over the years, my “wants” became bigger and bigger and I found myself doing everything just so I can satisfy my “wants.” It didn’t really feel wrong at that time. In fact, some people might even say that it helped motivate me to work harder and harder. In retrospect, I now know it was very foolish of me not to have stopped my insatiable desire to want more and more. I am glad  I came into my senses and was able to curb my “want” issues. I guess those desires are still there as I am only human, but I have developed a strong willpower to overcome them.

How was I able to overcome my weaknesses? Simple. I merely reexamined what is really important in my life. Do I want to impress others because of what I have, or do I want others pleased with me because of my character? Do I want to please my family with a life that I can hardly afford and, as a result, become a preoccupied husband or father? Or do I want my family to be pleased with me because I am a real and approachable head of the family for them, always there when they need me? Do I want people to listen to me because of what I have accomplished, or do I want people to have hope that they can have a good future by learning from the mistakes that I chose not to hide?

In the end, I chose what really was more important. I chose to have a meaningful relationship with what really is important in my life—my family and my savior, Jesus Christ. In doing so, I found a permanent solution to my deeply rooted “want” problems—the cause of my financial fall.

I fell down, I stood up, but I know I’ll fall down again—all these happen because God is molding something that is very important in me: my character. “…But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”—Romans 5:3-4 (NIV). Our character will determine our future, even our financial future.

This is my confession.