Towards the end of 2008 and in the midst of the worst financial crisis in recent history, I decided to quit my job and leave the comforts of a steady  corporate job and a good paying one at that. To do what? To do what I have been doing in the last 10 years or so — being an advocate of personal finance: speaking, writing, teaching, traveling, counselling and engaging anyone who needs to learn personal finance.

What I do is exciting but can also be exhausting. I speak about 150 times a year; I do back to back seminars that runs the whole day; I move from one place to another; travel a lot (and be away from my family); guests in so many multi-media platforms; write a lot (and I don’t like writing) and meet and speak to so many people. Why? I believe I need to do my part to make sure that Filipinos become financially empowered. Being financially empowered is very important to all of us and everyone of us should make this a top goal in our lives. We all have our reasons why we need to be financially empowered—we do it for our goals, we do it for our families, we do it for our communities, and so forth. I believe we all have noble reasons why we need to experience financial freedom and, more importantly, financial peace.

However, I would like to seek a deeper purpose on why we all need to be financially-abled and why we need to be blessed with financial empowerment. I believe that the true purpose of wealth goes beyond the comforts of life or a good future for our children. I strongly believe that we should become financially-abled because we need to be a channel of blessing for God to use to advance His kingdom.

We are not placed on earth for our own purposes. We need to constantly seek the Lord’s purpose for us and focus towards achieving such a purpose. Financial empowerment is not an end goal; it is merely a tool for a greater purpose. I believe that my true purpose goes beyond my own financial enablement—my true purpose is to worship God. Everything I do and everything I will do should be an act of worship. Remember, wealth and the ability to create wealth comes from God. It is not to achieve our own purposes, but to achieve His.

My personal experience has led me to embrace the truth that every financial decision (and all other decisions) I make is likewise a spiritual decision. When I gave my life to Jesus, I found my purpose and I found all the answers—financial and otherwise. Seek Him, and there you will find what true peace is all about. Yes, even financial peace.

“But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33, NIV

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Join me and my friends at the biggest and most empowering investment conference of the country #iCON2019. We are already running on our 7th year and this year will be even bigger and better than the previous ones!

Details and registration via www.bit.ly/ICON_2019