What happens to trichloroethylene when it enters the environment?

• Trichloroethylene dissolves a little in water, but it can remain in ground water for a long time.
• Trichloroethylene quickly evaporates from surface water, so it is commonly found as a vapor in the air.
• Trichloroethylene evaporates less easily from the soil than from surface water. It may stick to particles and remain for a long time.
• Trichloroethylene may stick to particles in water, which will cause it to eventually settle to the bottom sediment.
• Trichloroethylene does not build up significantly in plants and animals.

What is Trichloroethylene?

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a nonflammable, colorless liquid with a somewhat sweet odor and a sweet, burning taste. It is used mainly as a solvent to remove grease from metal parts, but it is also an ingredient in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids, and spot removers.

Trichloroethylene is not thought to occur naturally in the environment. However, it has been found in underground water sources and many surface waters as a result of the manufacture, use, and disposal of the chemical

Bad Day

Recognizing A Stroke

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke ---totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE. Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke . Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

• S Ask the individual to SMILE.
• T Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today).
• R Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

Lion Hug

THIS WOMAN IN THE VIDEO FOUND THIS LION INJURED IN THE FOREST READY TO DIE. SHE TOOK THE LION AND NURSED HIM BACK TO HEALTH. WHEN THE LION WAS BETTER SHE MADE ARRANGEMENTS WITH A ZOO TO TAKE THE LION AND GIVE HIM A NEW AND HAPPY HOME.

THIS VIDEO WAS TAKEN WHEN THE WOMAN AFTER SOME TIME WENT TO GO VISIT THE LION TO SEE HOW HE WAS DOING. WATCH THE LION'S REACTION WHEN HE SEES HER.

AMAZING !!!!!

Ensure Your Money Lasts

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT
This table will show how long a pool of assets will last and how much you can withdraw each year.

The key question for most retirees is, "Will my money last as long as I do?" This table from Taking Charge of Your Retirement, by Deena Katz, will help you with the answer by showing you how long a pool of assets will last depending on the earnings rate of the pool and how much you withdraw each year. The table assumes that your initial withdrawal increases each year to keep up with an inflation rate of 3%, the historical average.
Here is how to get ready to use the table:

• Calculate your annual income shortfall. Begin by adding up annual expenses. The table does not take taxes into account, so factor them in by adding the estimated amount you'll owe -- on interest, dividends and taxable withdrawals from retirement plans -- to your expenses. Now subtract social security and pension benefits and other steady income you receive. A married couple can combine data. (If you're still on the job, estimate what you'll receive when you retire.) The difference is your shortfall.
  
• Add up your nest egg. This is the total you have (or expect to have) in IRAs and Keogh, 401(k) and other company plans. Add any other savings designated for retirement, including any cash you expect to pocket if you sell the family home.
• Divide the income shortfall by the total of your investments and multiply by 100 to find your withdrawal rate. For example, if your nest egg is $700,000 and you have a shortfall in annual retirement expenses of $29,000, divide $29,000 by $700,000 and multiply the answer by 100. The result -- a bit over 4% -- is your withdrawal rate.
  
• Then find 4% in the left column and read across the row to see how long the pool will last at different earnings rates. For example, if your pretax rate of return is 7%, your assets will last more than 50 years. And that's great news.It means you can afford to improve the quality of your life. You could start with a 5% withdrawal rate ($35,000 instead of $29,000) and still expect the money to last 36 years, assuming a 7% annual return.
  

How Long the Money Will Last (in years)

Making It All Work

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT
Tips to help your retirement-spending plan run smoothly.

Here are some tips to make your retirement-spending plan run smoothly:

• Keep at least six months' to one year's worth of funds in a money-market account and other liquid investments to draw on for living expenses.
  
• Consolidate investments in a cash-management-type account, such as a SchwabOne account. That makes it easier for you and for your heirs.
  
• Organize information about your finances. Books such as Everything Your Heirs Need to Know (Dearborn Financial, $19.95) or computer software such as Personal RecordKeeper (Nolo Press, $35.97) can help.
  
• Finally, review your entire plan at least once a year or when there is a death, divorce, new tax law or major change in the stock market.

Which Money to Spend First?

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT
The retirement accounts you tap can affect the taxes you pay.

Tax planning in retirement is a complicated business, so you may need expert help. If you don't have to take minimum required distributions from your IRA or 401(k) plan yet, it makes sense to leave that money tucked in its tax shelter as long as possible. Rely on social security, pension benefits and money produced by taxable accounts before invading tax-sheltered accounts.
Remember that when you draw money out of a taxable account, it goes much further than when you pull cash out of a tax-deferred account. Why? Because you've already paid at least part of the taxes on assets stashed in a taxable account. Everything coming out of an IRA or company plan is taxable (unless you made nondeductible contributions or are tapping a Roth IRA).
Say you need $10,000 for a long-planned European vacation. If you tap a taxable mutual fund account in which shares have appreciated an average of 20%, you'd need to withdraw just $10,415 to have your $10,000 after taxes. Dip into an IRA, though, and you'd have to pull out almost $14,000 to have the same amount left after Uncle Sam claims his share (assuming you're in the 27% bracket). If you take state taxes into account, the gap grows wider.
And don't assume you'll drop to a lower marginal tax bracket in retirement. While that may happen, required withdrawals from large 401(k) plans and other tax-deferred accounts may push you into a higher bracket than before.
If you work in retirement, consider funding a Roth IRA. There's no deduction for such contributions, but earnings are tax-free once you're 59½ or older and the account has been open at least five years. (The clock starts ticking when you open your first Roth account.) Roth IRAs also have an interesting estate-planning use: Because you never have to make a withdrawal from the account, a Roth IRA can continue to grow tax-free. Anything left at your death passes to your heirs income-tax-free.

The Right Investment Mix

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT
Find out how you should allocate your assets.

Clearly, the more your investments make, the longer your money will last (or the more you can spend each year). And that brings us back to the stock market. You know that history shows that the stock market is the best place to be for the long haul.
Don't suddenly forget that lesson in retirement. The companies in the S&P 500 have posted an annualized return of 11% over the past seven decades, about double the return on five-year government bonds and about three times as much as one-year Treasury bills.
Throughout retirement, says financial planner Deena Katz, "you should have a minimum of 50% in stocks -- but 60% to 75% is better, especially early on."
Exhaustive research by William Bengen, a financial planner in El Cajon, Cal., suggests that retirees should have between 50% and 75% of their retirement money in a diversified portfolio of large-company stocks or mutual funds. Based on market behavior over the past 70 years, that mix produced the best overall returns. Anyone holding less than 50% or more than 75% in stocks is being "controlled either by fear or greed," he says.
Once you begin tapping the nest egg, Bengen says, you can decrease your initial stock-allocation percentage by one percentage point per year without seriously affecting your ability to withdraw funds over 30 years. If you had 75% in stocks at age 65, then by age 80 you'd be down to 60% in stocks.
Bengen's formula means that the percentage of a portfolio that a conservative retiree should have invested in stocks is 115 minus his or her age. That would mean 50% if you were age 65, for example, falling to 35% 15 years later, when you hit 80. For an aggressive investor, the percentage should be 140 minus age -- or 75% at age 65 and 60% at 80.
Based on historical market performance, Bengen's research shows that a 65-year-old invested 50% in stocks can withdraw between 4% and 5% of a tax-deferred portfolio (slightly less for a taxable portfolio) in the first year of retirement (and the same amount increased by inflation in each of the succeeding 30 years) and not run out of money even during market downturns. This means that if you have a $700,000 portfolio, at 4% you can withdraw $28,000 in the first year. Applying a 3% inflation rate, in year two you could take out $28,840, in year three $29,705, and so on throughout the 30 years.
When setting your own allocation, keep in mind that at least part of your money at 65 will be invested for ten years or more. That makes you a long-term investor.
But what if having 50% or more of your portfolio in stocks still gives you the jitters? Then just say no. Any allocation has to take your risk tolerance into account. You can invest more conservatively -- but you may be cutting short the life of your assets.

How Much Do You Need?

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT
A key to making your money last is knowing how much it costs to live the way you like.

A key to making your money last is knowing how long it has to last -- a guesstimate, at best. A 65-year-old today has a life expectancy of about 20 years, according to government tables. But these are average figures. Lots of people live longer, so it's smart to plan a buffer into your retirement years.
By the time you hit retirement, you should have a pretty good handle on how much money it takes to live the way you like. The old rule of thumb that retirees can live on 70% to 80% of preretirement income doesn't work for everybody.
Retirement spending, especially in the early years when you're active and healthy, often pushes a budget above preretirement levels. Travel expenses may go up. Medical-insurance costs may soar if you retire when you are too young for medicare and you have no employer-provided retiree health benefit.
Other expenses may go down. Job-related costs will disappear, including the portion of your salary you're now shoveling into retirement accounts. Your mortgage payments may end, too. Will you drop or cut back on life insurance?
Once you have a target of how much you'll need each year, consider the resources you have. Although social security is likely to be remodeled in the future, current and soon-to-be retirees are still in the catbird's seat. To find out how much to expect, get an estimate of your benefits from the Social Security Administration. You'll also need to figure how much you'll get from company pensions you racked up in various jobs over your career.
Can You Afford to Retire?
In a blow to the old precept that says never invade principal, plan to cash out of certain investments over time to add to your spending pool. Why strain to keep the nest egg intact for your heirs if it means struggling through your retirement? The key is how deeply you can dip into assets each year without depleting the pool too quickly.
That's where the table comes in. Use it to see how long your money will last, assuming a certain rate of withdrawal and a certain rate of return on your investments. Or to put it another way, see how much of your assets you can spend each year.

How to Invest in Retirement

These tips will help you spend smart and invest for a long retirement.
By Ronaleen Roha

Regardless of the market's inevitable misbehaviors, the long-term nature of investingin retirement still means that a healthy investment in stocks is the key to preserving financial security for the rest of your life.
In the past, conventional wisdom suggested that retirees follow two basic precepts: Switch your investments from stocks to safe, income-producing securities, such as bonds and CDs, and never spend your principal. Baloney. Today, for many retirees, especially younger ones, following either dictum could lead to financial calamity.
The new reality is that retirement is getting longer, perhaps 30 or 40 years or more, as more people retire earlier and lifespans steadily increase. Over such a long period, running from the possibility of stock-market risk by investing in fixed-income securities guarantees that you'll run straight into the risk of inflation.
"Inflation is your enemy, even if it's not hyperinflation," warns financial planner Deena Katz of Coral Gables, Fla. If, for example, prices rose at a rate of 3% a year, the cost of living would double in 24 years; at 5%, it would take only 14 years.

Should You Manage Your Own Investments?

From Joshua Kennon, Your Guide to Investing for Beginners.

Maybe you dabble in stocks by reading the business section of your local newspaper. You've begun to think about managing some of your own capital through a brokerage account on your own. Is this a wise move? Here are some questions to ask yourself before making that very important decision.

Do You Have an Intellectual Framework for Investing?

Quick! Before you have time to think about it, grab a piece of paper and write down the investment principles by which you operate your portfolio and the characteristics you look for in the stocks you buy.
What’s the point of this exercise? If you had to think about your answer, you may be making a mistake by managing your own investments. It may indicate that you lack a structural framework that allows you to remain emotionally detached from your investments – a detachment that is vital if you are to make intelligent decisions based upon rational analysis of a business rather than emotional reactions to market changes in market prices.
On the other hand, if you are truly an investor this exercise should take no effort or time. That’s because you think from a business perspective. As someone of the Graham and Dodd school of value investing, for example, I’m aware that stocks with certain characteristics such as low price to earnings ratios, low price to book values, high returns on tangible capital, low debt to equity ratios, and stable dividend policies have tended to outperform the market over long periods. These things, among others, are what I search for when I seek out potential new investments. The list may vary by your specialty and area of interest – turnarounds, startups, oil companies, etc.

Can You Value the Cash Flows?

A business is only worth the cash flows that it will generate from now until doomsday discounted back to the present value at an appropriate rate (typically the long-term U.S. Government bond plus an inflation kicker). If you don’t understand that sentence nor do not have the skill set to discount annuity streams, it is probably a very bad idea for you to be selecting individual investments for your portfolio. Without the ability to arrive at an independent, reasonable valuation you can find yourself vulnerable to unethical promoters that simply push seemingly attractive (often high-priced) initial public offerings or the like.
Can You Spot Aggressive Accounting?
Many new investors don’t realize that the reported net income and earnings per share in a company’s annual report are, at best, a rough estimate. That’s because even the simplest business with the cleanest balance sheet has numerous estimations and assumptions that management must make – the percentage of customers that aren’t likely to pay their bill, the appropriate rate of depreciation on buildings and machinery, the estimated level of product returns, future returns on pension assets … and that’s just a few of the most obvious examples!
The downside of this is that unscrupulous management can game the numbers to look better than they are by utilizing aggressive accounting techniques. Knowing how to spot these is vital to protecting yourself. Again, if you can’t do it, you shouldn’t be investing your own capital without the assistance of a qualified professional.

Do You Understand the Fundamental Business?

You might be surprised how few people actually know how their company makes money. Coca-Cola, for example, does not generate most of its profit from selling the drink you pick up in the grocery store. Instead, it sells concentrated syrups to bottlers throughout the world who then create the finished beverages and sell them to retailers. It’s likely that many Enron investors didn’t understand how the company made money.

Do You Understand Correlation Risk?

How many stocks does it take to be diversified? Philip Fisher talked about this very concept in his famous treatise Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits so many decades ago. Which portfolio, for example, do you consider more diversified? “Portfolio A” which has ten total stocks consisting of three banks, two insurance companies, and five real estate investment trusts or “Portfolio B” with five assets consisting of one real estate investment trust, one industrial giant, one oil company, one bank, and one international mutual fund?
In this case, the surprising answer is that you are probably more diversified owning five non-correlated stocks than twice as many equities in similar industries. That’s because when troubles come, they often effect entire sectors of the market; witness the banking crisis of the late 1980’s or the real estate collapse around the same time.

Are You Emotionally Vulnerable to Changes in Market Price?

Warren Buffett has often mused on the fact that stocks are the one thing that people want fewer of when they get cheaper. In every other areas of our life, we typically rejoice at a sale whether it is on hamburgers or silk ties or automobiles. As equities get less expense, however, we typically flee from them often saying foolish things such as, “I’ll wait till the price stabilizes and starts to rise again.” This makes no sense. If you are unable to watch your holdings fall by fifty percent or more without panicking or liquidating your positions, you shouldn’t be managing your own investments without professional help.

3 Secrets to Building a Great Fortune

From Joshua Kennon,
Your Guide to Investing for Beginners.


If you are reading the Investing for Beginners site, the odds are pretty good that you are interested in building your finances to enjoy a better life for you and your family. There are plenty of resources we've provided such as 10 Steps to Building a Complete Portfolio, How to Become Wealthy, 7 Rules of Wealth Building, and 5 Ways to Make Saving and Investing Easier. Now, for those nascent titans of industry out there who want to build fortunes that will serve as an admission ticket to the Forbes list, we've amassed some points that may help in your quest. For the rest of you, we thought it might be interesting to read now that the PowerBall Jackpot has reached $300,000,000.

1. Establish or acquire a business that generates astronomical returns on equity

The surest way to building an enormous fortune is to start or acquire a business that has three characteristics. First, it generates high returns on equity. Second, it is scalable; that means management can continue expanding easily such as McDonald or Wal-Mart's cookie-cutter model. Finally, the enterprise needs to boast endurable competitive advantages of some sort (what Warren Buffett calls "franchise value.") This can take the form of a regulated or de facto monopoly such as a town with a single newspaper back in the mid-twentieth century, patent protection on a key drug or formula, brand name such as Coca-Cola, or a cultural archetype such as Tiffany & Company.
Many of the greatest businesses on Wall Street and owned by private equity firms today were started in just this manner. Think Microsoft, Apple, Wal-Mart, Target, The Limited, Dell, Home Depot, Yankee Candle, The Bank of Granite, and CitiBank. The methods were different; some were retailers started by entrepreneurs while others were companies taken over by intelligent financial engineers who knew how to structure a business. They provided a vehicle that allowed them to earn more money than their labor alone could. That is the key. You cannot build a respectable fortune if you are reliant upon your own work to generate income. The owner of a chain of banks is collecting interest income as he has Christmas dinner with his family or goes fishing. Compare that to a hard-working hotel maid who must show up and scrub toilets to support her family.
The single most important factor when selecting a business is the return on equity capital. Over the long run, even if you were to pick up stocks or companies for far less than they were worth, it's going to be excessively hard to profit more than the long-term rate earned on shareholders' equity. For information on the components that comprise ROE, read about the DuPont analysis and how you can apply it in your own life or business.

2. Don't Dilute Your Equity Position

Sam Walton's family owned over 40% of Wal-Mart. In the early years, Bill Gate had around 44% of Microsoft before he began selling off shares for his foundation and diversification. Warren Buffett owns over 30% of Berkshire Hathaway. Notice a pattern? In order to build a truly epic fortune, it requires that you own as much of the company as possible. Many times, that means not diluting shares through printing more certificates for overpriced acquisitions.
Why are so few people able to do this? Growing a business takes capital. If you're not already wealthy, the only way to avoid issuing stock is to borrow so that debt makes up a large part of the capitalization structure, or own a company that allows you to use other people's money such as an insurance company which generates float from policyholders that is invested in stocks, bonds, and other assets.

3. Take Advantage of Favorable Tax Law

One way to build your wealth is to ensure that you keep as much money as possible. This includes working with ethical and intelligent financial advisors and certified public accountants that can help you structure your affairs so that you have more money compounding for you and your shareholders in the long run.

BBQ @ Atlanta

Kinda Like Dominoes Falling But Not

If you thought that the people who set up a room full of dominoes to have them knocked over later was amazing, you haven't seen anything yet....
There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in these images. Everything that you see happened in real time exactly as you see it..
The recording required 606 takes and in the first 605 takes there always was something, usually of minor importance, that didn't work. It was necessary for the recording team to install the set-up time after time and it took several weeks working day and night to achieve this effect.
The recording cost 6 million dollars and it took 3 months to finish, including the engineering design of the sequence.
The duration of the video is only 2 minutes, but every time that Honda shows the commercial on British television, they make enough money to support any of us for the rest of our lives. However, this commercial has turned out to be the most displayed in the history of the Internet.
Honda execs think that it will pay for itself simply because of the free showings (Honda is not paying one cent for you to see it) When Honda senior execs viewed it, they immediately approved it without hesitation-including costs.
There are only six Honda Accords built by hand in the whole world, and to the horror of Honda engineers, the recording team disassembled two of them for the recording.
Everything you see in the sequence (besides the walls, floor, ramp and untouched Honda Accord) is part of those two automobiles. The voice is that of Garrison Keiller. The commercial was so well received by Honda execs when they saw it, that their first comment was how amazing the computer graphics were. They almost fell out of their chairs when told that the recording was real without any graphics manipulation.
By the way, about the windshield wipers in the new Honda Accords, they are sensitive to water and designed to start working as soon as they get wet.

Find the Red Dot

Mercedes Benz SCL600

Jose = Pepe

Did you ever stop to wonder why José is familiarly or affectionately called Pepe?

Whenever the name of San José would appear, the abbreviated annotation in Latin would be appear next to it as P.P. for "pater putandis" (Latin) or "padre putativo" (Spanish) ... ergo, Pepe (double P in Spanish) became the nickname for José!

Warren Buffet Trivia

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has Everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
   
6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
   
7. He has given his CEO's only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
   
8. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
   
9. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
   
10. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
    
11. His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

FishFace

John Gokongwei, Jr. - Ateneo 04

JOHN L GOKONGWEI'S SPEECH AT ATENEO
Speech of John Gokongwei before Ateneo 2004 Graduates

I wish I were one of you today, instead of a 77-year-old man, giving a speech you will probably forget when you wake up from your hangover tomorrow. You may be surprised I feel this way. Many of you are feeling fearful and apprehensive about your future. You are thinking that, perhaps, your Ateneo diploma will not mean a whole lot in the future in a country with too many problems. And you are probably right. You are thinking that our country is slipping-no, sliding. Again, you may be right.

Twenty years ago, we were at par with countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, we are left way behind. You know the facts.

Twenty years ago, the per capita income of the Filipino was 1,000 US dollars. Today, it's 1,100 dollars. That's a growth of only ten percent in twenty years. Meanwhile, Thailand's per capita income today is double ours; Malaysia, triple ours; and Singapore, almost twenty times ours.

With globalization coming, you know it is even more urgent to wake up. Trade barriers are falling, which means we will have to compete harder. In the new world, entrepreneurs will be forced to invest their money where it is most efficient. And that is not necessarily in the Philippines. Even for Filipino entrepreneurs, that can be the case.

For example, a Filipino brand like Maxx candy can be manufactured in Bangkok --where labor, taxes, power and financing are cheaper and more efficient -- and then exported to other ASEAN countries. This will be a common scenario if things do not change. Pretty soon, we will become a nation that buys everything and produces practically nothing. We will be like the prodigal son who took his father's money and spent it all. The difference is that we do not have a generous father to run back to. But despite this, I am still very excited about the future. I will tell you why later.

You have been taught at the Ateneo to be "a person for others." Of course, that is noble: To serve your countrymen. Question is: How? And my answer is: Be an entrepreneur!

You may think I am just a foolish man talking mundane stuff when the question before him is almost philosophical. But I am being very thoughtful here, and if I may presume this about myself, being patriotic as well. Entrepreneurship is the answer. We need young people who will find the idea, grab the opportunity, take the risk, and set aside comfort to set up businesses that will provide jobs.

But why? What are jobs? Jobs are what allow people to feel useful and build their self-esteem. Jobs make people productive members of the community. Jobs make people feel they are worthy citize ns. And jobs make a country worthy players in the world market.

In that order of things, it is the entrepreneurs who have the power to harness the creativity and talents of others to achieve a common good. This should leave the world a better place than it was. Let me make it clear: Job creation is a priority for any nation to move forward. For example, it is the young entrepreneurs of Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore who created the dynamic businesses that have propelled their countries to the top. Young people like yourselves.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, progress is slow. Very little is new. Hardly anything is fresh. With a few exceptions, the biggest companies before the war -- like PLDT, Ayala, and San Miguel -- are still the biggest companies today.

All right, being from the Ateneo, many of you probably have offers from these corporations already. You may even have offers from JG Summit. I say: Great! Take these offers, work as hard as you can, learn everything these companies can teach and then leave!

If you dream of creating something great, do not let a 9-to-5 job-even a high-paying one-lull you into a complacent, comfortable life. Let that high-paying job propel you toward entrepreneurship instead.

When I speak of the hardship ahead, I do not mean to be skeptical but realistic. Even you Ateneans, who are famous for your eloquence, you cannot talk your way out of this one. There is nothing to do but to deal with it. I learned this lesson when, as a 13-year-old, I lost my dad.

Before that, I was like many of you: a privileged kid. I went to Cebu's best school; lived in a big house; and got free entrance to the Vision, the largest movie house in Cebu, which my father owned. Then my dad died, and I lost all these. My family had become poor -- poor enough to split my family.

My mother and five siblings moved to China where the cost of living was lower. I was placed under the care of my Grand Uncle Manuel Gotianuy, who put me through school. But just two years later, the war broke out, and even my Uncle Manuel could no longer see me through. I was out in the streets -- literally.

Looking back, this time was one of the best times of my life. We lost everything, true, but so did everybody! War was the great equalizer. In that setting, anyone who was willing to size up the situation, use his wits, and work hard, could make it!

It was every man for himself, and I had to find a way to support myself and my family. I decided to be a market vendor. Why? Because it was something that I, a 15-year-old boy in short pants, could do.

I started by selling simple products in the palengke half an hour by bike from the city. I had a bicycle. I would wake up at five in the morning, load thread, soap and candles into my bike, and rush to the palengke. I would rent a stall for one peso a day, lay out my goods on a table as big as this podium, and begin selling. I did that the whole day.

I sold about twenty pesos of goods every day. Today, twenty pesos will only allow you to send twenty text messages to your crush, but 63 years ago, it was enough to support my family. And it left me enough to plow back into my small, but growing, business.

I was the youngest vendor in the palengke, but that didn't faze me. In fact, I rather saw it as an opportunity. Remember, that was 63 years and 100 pounds ago, so I could move faster, stay under the sun more, and keep selling longer than everyone else.

Then, when I had enough money and more confidence, I decided to travel to Manila from Cebu to sell all kinds of goods like rubber tires. Instead of my bike, I now traveled on a batel -- a boat so small that on windless days, we would just float there. On bad days, the trip could take two weeks!

During one trip, our batel sank! We would have all perished in the sea were it not for my inventory of tires. The viajeros were happy because my tires saved their lives, and I was happy because the viajeros, by hanging on to them, saved my tires. On these long and lonely trips I had to entertain myself with books, like Gone With The Wind.

After the war, I had saved up 50,000 pesos. That was when you could buy a chicken for 20 centavos and a car for 2,000 pesos. I was 19 years old.

Now I had enough money to bring my family home from China. Once they were all here, they helped me expand our trading business to include imports.

Remember that the war had left the Philippines with very few goods. So we imported whatever was needed and imported them from everywhere-including used clothes and textile remnants from the United States. We were probably the first ukay-ukay dealers here.

Then, when I had gained more experience and built my reputation, I borrowed money from the bank and got into manufacturing. I saw that coffee was abundant, and Nescafe of Nestle was too expensive for a country still rebuilding from the war, so my company created Blend 45.

That was our first branded hit. And from there, we had enough profits to launch Jack and Jill. From one market stall, we are now in nine core businesses-including retail, real estate, publishing, petrochemicals, textiles, banking, food manufacturing, Cebu Pacific Air and Sun Cellular.

When we had shown success in the smaller businesses, we were able to raise money in the capital markets -- through IPOs and bond offerings -- and then get into more complex, capital-intensive enterprises. We did it slow, but sure.

Success doesn't happen overnight. It's the small successes achieved day by day that build a company. So, don't be impatient or focused on immediate financial rewards. I only started flying business class when I got too fat to fit in the economy seats.

And I even wore a used overcoat while courting my wife-it came from my ukay-ukay business. Thank God Elizabeth didn't mind the mothball smell of my overcoat or maybe she wouldn't have married me.

Save what you earn and plow it back.

And never forget your families! Your parents denied themselves many things to send you here. They could have traveled around the world a couple of times with the money they set aside for your education, and your social life, an d your comforts. Remember them -- and thank them.

When you have families of your own, you must be home with them for at least one meal everyday. I did that while I was building my company. Now, with all my six children married, I ask that we spend every Sunday lunch together, when everything under the sun is discussed.

As it is with business, so it is with family. There are no short cuts for building either one. Remember, no short cuts.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, your patron saint, and founder of this 450-year old organization I admire, described an ideal Jesuit as one who "lives with one foot raised." I believe that means someone who is always ready to respond to opportunities.

Saint Ignatius knew that, to build a successful organization, he needed to recruit and educate men who were not afraid of change but were in fact excited by it. In fact, the Jesuits were one of the earliest practitioners of globalization. As early as the 16th century, upon reaching a foreign country, they compiled dictionaries in local languages like Tamil and Vietnamese so that they could spread their message in the local language. In a few centuries, they have been able to spread their mission in many countries through education.

The Jesuits have another quote. "Make the whole world your house" which means that the ideal Jesuit must be at home everywhere. By adapting to change, but at the same time staying true to their beliefs, the Society of Jesus has become the long-lasting and successful organization it is today and has made the world their house. So, let live with one foot raised in facing the next big opportunity: globalization.

Globalization can be your greatest enemy. It will be your downfall if you are too afraid and too weak to fight it out. But it can also be your biggest ally.

With the Asian Free Trade agreement and tariffs near zero, your market has grown from 80 million Filipinos to half a billion Southeast Asians. Imagine what that means to you as an entrepreneur if you are able to find a need and fill it. And imagine, too, what that will do for the economy of our country! Yes, our government may not be perfect, and our economic environment not ideal, but true entrepreneurs will find opportunities anywhere. Look at the young Filipino entrepreneurs who made it. When I say young-and I'm 77, remember-I am talking about those in their 50s and below. Tony Tan of Jollibee, Ben Chan of Bench, Rolando Hortaleza of Splash, and Wilson Lim of Abensons.

They're the guys who weren't content with the 9-to-5 job, who were willing to delay their gratification and comfort, and who created something new, something fresh.

Something Filipinos are now very proud of. They all started small but now sell their hamburgers, T-shirts and cosmetics in Asia, America, and the Middle East.

In doing so, these young Filipino entrepreneurs created jobs while doing something they were passionate about.

Globalization is an opportunity of a lifetime-for you. And that is why I want to be out there with you instead of here behind this podium-perhaps too old and too slow to seize the opportunities you can.

Let me leave you with one last thought. Trade barriers have fallen. The only barriers left are the barriers you have in your mind. So, Ateneans, Class of 2004, heed the call of entrepreneurship. With a little bit of will and a little bit of imagination, you can turn this crisis into your patriotic moment-and truly become a person for others. "Live with one foot raised and make the world your house."

To this great University, my sincerest thanks for this singular honor conferred on me today.

To the graduates, congratulations and Godspeed.

"Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam".

Thank you.

John Gokongwei, Jr. - Ad Congress Speech

John Gokongwei , Jr.
Ad Congress Speech Nov 21, 2007

Before I begin, I want to say please bear with me, an 81-year-old man who just flew in from San Francisco 36 hours ago and is still suffering from jet lag. However, I hope I will be able to say what you want to hear.

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Thank you very much for having me here tonight to open the Ad Congress. I know how important this event is for our marketing and advertising colleagues. My people get very excited and go into a panic, every other year, at this time.

I would like to talk about my life, entrepreneurship, and globalization. I would like to talk about how we can become a great nation.

You may wonder how one is connected to the other, but I promise that, as there is truth in advertising, the connection will come.

Let me begin with a story I have told many times. My own.

I was born to a rich Chinese-Filipino family. I spent my childhood in Cebu where my father owned a chain of movie houses, including the first air-conditioned one outside Manila . I was the eldest of six children and lived in a big house in Cebu 's Forbes Park .

A chauffeur drove me to school everyday as I went to San Carlos University , then and still one of the country's top schools. I topped my classes and had many friends. I would bring them to watch movies for free at my father's movie houses.

When I was 13, my father died suddenly of complications due to typhoid. Everything I enjoyed vanished instantly. My father's empire was built on credit. When he died, we lost everything-our big house, our cars, our business-to the banks.

I felt angry at the world for taking away my father, and for taking away all that I enjoyed before. When the free movies disappeared, I also lost half my friends. On the day I had to walk two miles to school for the very first time, I cried to my mother, a widow at 32. But she said: "You should feel lucky. Some people have no shoes to walk to school. What can you do? Your father died with 10 centavos in his pocket.

"So, what can I do? I worked.

My mother sent my siblings to China where living standards were lower. She and I stayed in Cebu to work, and we sent them money regularly. My mother sold her jewelry. When that ran out, we sold roasted peanuts in the backyard of our much-smaller home. When that wasn't enough, I opened a small stall in a palengke. I chose one among several palengkes a few miles outside the city because there were fewer goods available for the people there. I woke up at five o'clock every morning for the long bicycle ride to the palengke with my basket of goods.

There, I set up a table about three feet by two feet in size. I laid out my goods-soap, candles, and thread-and kept selling until everything was bought. Why these goods? Because these were hard times and this was a poor village, so people wanted and needed the basics-soap to keep them clean, candles to light the night, and thread to sew their clothes.

I was surrounded by other vendors, all of them much older. Many of them could be my grandparents. And they knew the ways of the palengke far more than a boy of 15, especially one who had never worked before.

But being young had its advantages. I did not tire as easily, and I moved more quickly. I was also more aggressive. After each day, I would make about 20 pesos in profit! There was enough to feed my siblings and still enough to pour back into the business. The pesos I made in the palengke were the pesos that went into building the business I have today.

After this experience, I told myself, "If I can compete with people so much older than me, if I can support my whole family at 15, I can do anything!"

Looking back, I wonder, what would have happened if my father had not left my family with nothing? Would I have become the man I am? Who knows?

The important thing to know is that life will always deal us a few bad cards. But we have to play those cards the best we can. And WE can play to win!

This was one lesson I picked up when I was a teenager. It has been my guiding principle ever since. And I have had 66 years to practice self-determination. When I wanted something, the best person to depend on was myself.

And so I continued to work. In 1943, I expanded and began trading goods between Cebu and Manila . From Cebu , I would transport tires on a small boat called a batel. After traveling for five days to Lucena, I would load them into a truck for the six- hour trip to Manila . I would end up sitting on top of my goods so they would not be stolen! In Manila , I would then purchase other goods from the earnings I made from the tires, to sell in Cebu .

Then, when WWII ended, I saw the opportunity for trading goods in post-war Philippines . I was 20 years old. With my brother Henry, I put up Amasia Trading which imported onions, flour, used clothing, old newspapers and magazines, and fruits from the United States . In 1948, my mother and I got my siblings back from China . I also converted a two-story building in Cebu to se rv e as our home, office, and warehouse all at the same time. The whole family began helping out with the business.

In 1957, at age 31, I spotted an opportunity in corn-starch manufacturing. But I was going to compete with Ludo and Luym, the richest group in Cebu and the biggest cornstarch manufacturers. I borrowed money to finance the project. The first bank I approached made me wait for two hours, only to refuse my loan. The second one, China Bank, approved a P500,000-peso clean loan for me. Years later, the banker who extended that loan, Dr. Albino Sycip said that he saw something special in me. Today, I still wonder what that was, but I still thank Dr. Sycip to this day.

Upon launching our first product, Panda corn starch, a price war ensued. After the smoke cleared, Universal Corn Products was still left standing. It is the foundation upon which JG Summit Holdings now stands.

Interestingly, the price war also forced the closure of a third cornstarch company, and one of their chemists was Lucio Tan, who always kids me that I caused him to lose his job. I always reply that if it were not for me, he will not be one of the richest men in the Philippines today.

When my business grew, and it was time for me to bring in more people- my family, the professionals, the consultants, more employees- I knew that I had to be there to teach them what I knew. When dad died at age 34, he did not leave a succession plan. From that, I learned that one must teach people to take over a business at any time. The values of hard work that I learned from my father, I taught to my children. They started doing jobs here and there even when they were still in high school. Six years ago, I announced my retirement and handed the reins to my youngest brother James and only son Lance. But my children tease me because I still go to the office every day and make myself useful. I just hired my first Executive Assistant and moved into a bigger and nicer office.

Building a business to the size of JG Summit was not easy. Many challenges were thrown my way. I could have walked away from them, keeping the business small, but safe. Instead, I chose to fight. But this did not mean I won each time.

By 1976, at age 50, we had built significant businesses in food products anchored by a branded coffee called Blend 45, and agro- industrial products under the Robina Farms brand. That year, I faced one of my biggest challenges, and lost. And my loss was highly publicized, too. But I still believe that this was one of my defining moments.

In that decade, not many business opportunities were available due to the political and economic environment. Many Filipinos were already sending their money out of the country. As a Filipino, I felt that our money must be invested here. I decided to purchase shares in San Miguel, then one of the Philippines ' biggest corporations. By 1976, I had acquired enough shares to sit on its board.

The media called me an upstart. "Who is Gokongwei and why is he doing all those terrible things to San Miguel?" ran one headline of the day. In another article, I was described as a pygmy going up against the powers-that- be. The San Miguel board of directors itself even aid for an ad in all the country's top newspapers telling the public why I should not be on the board. On the day of reckoning, shareholders quickly filled up the auditorium to witness the battle. My brother James and I had prepared for many hours for this debate. We were ne rv ous and excited at the same time.

In the end, I did not get the board seat because of the Supreme Court Ruling. But I was able to prove to others-and to myself-that I was willing to put up a fight. I succeeded because I overcame my fear, and tried. I believe this battle helped define who I am today. In a twist to this story, I was invited to sit on the board of Anscor and San Miguel Hong Kong 5 years later. Lose some, win some.

Since then, I've become known as a serious player in the business world, but the challenges haven't stopped coming.

Let me tell you about the three most recent challenges. In all three, conventional wisdom bet against us. See, we set up businesses against market Goliaths in very high-capital industries: airline, telecoms, and beverage.

Challenge No. 1: In 1996, we decided to start an airline. At the time, the dominant airline in the country was PAL, and if you wanted to travel cheaply, you did not fly. You went by sea or by land.

However, my son Lance and I had a vision for Cebu Pacific: We wanted every Filipino to fly.

Inspired by the low-cost carrier models in the United States , we believed that an airline based on the no-frills concept would work here. No hot meals. No newspaper. Mono-class seating. Operating with a single aircraft type. Faster turn around time. It all worked, thus enabling Cebu Pacific to pass on savings to the consumer.

How did we do this? By sticking to our philosophy of "low cost, great value."

And we stick to that philosophy to this day. Cebu Pacific offers incentives. Customers can avail themselves of a tiered pricing scheme, with promotional seats for as low a P1. The earlier you book, the cheaper your ticket.

Cebu Pacific also made it convenient for passengers by making online booking available. This year, 1.25 million flights will be booked through our website. This reduced our distribution costs dramatically.

Low cost. Great value.

When we started 11 years ago, Cebu Pacific flew only 360,000 passengers, with 24 daily flights to 3 destinations. This year, we expect to fly more than five million passengers, with over 120 daily flights to 20 local destinations and 12 Asian cities. Today, we are the largest in terms of domestic flights, routes and destinations.

We also have the youngest fleet in the region after acquiring new Airbus 319s and 320s. In January, new ATR planes will arrive. These are smaller planes that can land on smaller air strips like those in Palawan and Caticlan. Now you don't have to take a two-hour ride by mini-bus to get to the beach.

Largely because of Cebu Pacific, the average Filipino can now afford to fly. In 2005, 1 out of 12 Filipinos flew within a year. In 2012, by continuing to offer low fares, we hope to reduce that ratio to 1 out of 6. We want to see more and more Filipinos see their country and the world!

Challenge No. 2: In 2003, we established Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. and developed a brand for the mobile phone business called Sun Cellular. Prior to the launch of the brand, we were actually involved in a transaction to purchase PLDT shares of the majority shareholder.

The question in everyone's mind was how we could measure up to the two telecom giants. They were entrenched and we were late by eight years! PLDT held the landline monopoly for quite a while, and was first in the mobile phone industry. Globe was a younger company, but it launched digital mobile technology here.

But being a late player had its advantages. We could now build our platform from a broader perspective. We worked with more advanced technologies and intelligent systems not available ten years ago. We chose our suppliers based on the most cost-efficient hardware and software. Being a Johnny-come- lately allowed us to create and launch more innovative products, more quickly.

All these provided us with the opportunity to give the consumers a choice that would rock their world. The concept was simple. We would offer Filipinos to call and text as much as they want for a fixed monthly fee. For P250 a month, they could get in touch with anyone within the Sun network at any time. This means great savings of as much as 2/3 of their regular phone bill! Suddenly, we gained traction. Within one year of its introduction, Sun hit one million customers.

Once again, the paradigm shifts - this time in the telecom industry. Sun's 24/7 Call and Text unlimited changed the landscape of mobile- phone usage.

Today, we have over 4 million subscribers and 2000 cell sites around the archipelago. In a country where 97% of the market is pre-paid, we believe we have hit on the right strategy.

Sun Cellular is a Johnny-come- lately, but it's doing all right. It is a third player, but a significant one, in an industry where Cassandras believed a third player would perish. And as we have done in the realm of air travel, so have we done in the telecom world: We have changed the marketplace.

In the end, it is all about making life better for the consumer by giving them choices.

Challenge No. 3: In 2004, we launched C2, the green tea drink that would change the face of the local beverage industry -- then, a playground of cola companies. Iced tea was just a sugary brown drink se rv ed bottomless in restaurants. For many years, hardly was there any significant product innovation in the beverage business.

Admittedly, we had little experience in this area. Universal Robina Corporation is the leader in snack foods but our only background in beverage was instant coffee. Moreover, we would be entering the playground of huge multinationals. We decided to play anyway.

It all began when I was in China in 2003 and noticed the immense popularity of bottled iced tea. I thought that this product would have huge potential here. We knew that the Philippines was not a traditional tea-drinking country since more familiar to consumers were colas in returnable glass bottles. But precisely, this made the market ready for a different kind of beverage. One that refreshes yet gives the health benefits of green tea. We positioned it as a "spa" in a bottle. A drink that cools and cleans.thus, C2 was born.

C2 immediately caught on with consumers. When we launched C2 in 2004, we sold 100,000 bottles in the first month. Three years later, Filipinos drink around 30 million bottles of C2 per month. Indeed, C2 is in a good place.

With Cebu Pacific, Sun Cellular, and C2, the JG Summit team took control of its destiny. And we did so in industries where old giants had set the rules of the game. It's not that we did not fear the giants. We knew we could have been crushed at the word go. So we just made sure we came prepared with great products and great strategies. We ended up changing the rules of the game instead.

There goes the principle of self-determination, again. I tell you, it works for individuals as it does for companies. And as I firmly believe, it works for nations.

I have always wondered, like many of us, why we Filipinos have not lived up to our potential. We have proven we can. Manny Pacquiao and Efren Bata Reyes in sports. Lea Salonga and the UP Madrigal Singers in performing arts. Monique Lhuillier and Rafe Totenco in fashion. And these are just the names made famous by the media. There are many more who may not be celebrities but who have gained respect on the world stage.

But to be a truly great nation, we must also excel as entrepreneurs before the world. We must create Filipino brands for the global market place.

If we want to be philosophical, we can say that, with a world-class brand, we create pride for our nation. If we want to be practical, we can say that, with brands that succeed in the world, we create more jobs for our people, right here.

Then, we are able to take part in what's really important-giving our people a big opportunity to raise their standards of living, giving them a real chance to improve their lives.

We can do it. Our neighbors have done it. So can we. In the last 54 years, Korea worked hard to rebuild itself after a world war and a civil war destroyed it. From an agricultural economy in 1945, it shifted to light industry, consumer products, and heavy industry in the '80s. At the turn of the 21st century, the Korean government focused on making Korea the world's leading IT nation. It did this by grabbing market share in key sectors like semiconductors, robotics, and biotechnology.

Today, one remarkable Korean brand has made it to the list of Top 100 Global Brands: Samsung. Less then a decade ago, Samsung meant nothing to consumers. By focusing on quality, design, and innovation, Samsung improved its products and its image. Today, it has surpassed the Japanese brand Sony. Now another Korean brand, LG Collins, is following in the footsteps of Samsung. It has also broken into the Top 100 Global Brands list.

What about China ? Who would have thought that only 30 years after opening itself up to a market economy, China would become the world's fourth largest economy? Goods made in China are still thought of as cheap. Yet many brands around the world outsource their manufacturing to this country. China 's own brands-like Lenovo, Haier, Chery QQ, and Huawei-are fast gaining ground as well. I have no doubt they will be the next big electronics, technology and car brands in the world.

Lee Kwan Yu's book "From Third World to First" captures Singapore 's aspiration to join the First World . According to the book, Singapore was a trading post that the British developed as a nodal point in its maritime empire. The racial riots there made its officials determined to build a "multiracial society that would give equality to all citizens, regardless of race, language or religion."

When Singapore was asked to leave the Malaysian Federation of States in 1965, Lee Kwan Yew developed strategies that he executed with single-mindedness despite their being unpopular. He and his cabinet started to build a nation by establishing the basics: building infrastructure, establishing an army, WEEDING OUT CORRUPTION,providin g mass housing, building a financial center. Forty short years after, Singapore has been transformed into the richest South East Asian country today, with a per capita income of US$32,000.

These days, Singapore is transforming itself once more. This time it wants to be the creative hub in Asia , maybe even the world. More and more, it is attracting the best minds from all over the world in filmmaking, biotechnology, media, and finance. Meantime, Singaporeans have also created world-class brands: Banyan Tree in the hospitality industry, Singapore Airlines in the Airline industry and Singapore Telecoms in the telco industry.

I often wonder: Why can't the Philippines , or a Filipino, do this?

Fifty years after independence, we have yet to create a truly global brand. We cannot say the Philippines is too small because it has 86 million people. Switzerland , with 9 million people, created Nestle. Sweden , also with 9 million people, created Ericsson. Finland , even smaller with five million people, created Nokia. All three are major global brands, among others.

Yes, our country is well-known for its labor, as we continue to export people around the world. And after India , we are grabbing a bigger chunk of the pie in the call-center and business-process- outsourcing industries. But by and large, the Philippines has no big industrial base, and Filipinos do not create world-class products.

We should not be afraid to try-even if we are laughed at. Japan , laughed at for its cars, produced Toyota . Korea , for its electronics, produced Samsung. Meanwhile, the Philippines ' biggest companies 50 years ago-majority of which are multinational corporations such as Coca- Cola, Procter and Gamble, and Unilever Philippines , for example-are still the biggest companies today. There are very few big, local challengers.

But already, hats off to Filipino entrepreneurs making strides to globalize their brands.

Goldilocks has had much success in the Unites States and Canada , where half of its customers are non-Filipinos. Coffee-chain Figaro may be a small player in the coffee world today, but it is making the leap to the big time. Two Filipinas, Bea Valdez and Tina Ocampo, are now selling their Philippine-made jewelry and bags all over the world. Their labels are now at Barney's and Bergdorf's in the U.S. and in many other high-end shops in Asia , Europe , and the Middle East .

When we started our own foray outside the Philippines 30 years ago, it wasn't a walk in the park. We set up a small factory in Hong Kong to manufacture Jack and Jill potato chips there. Today, we are all over Asia . We have the number-one-potato- chips brand in Malaysia and Singapore . We are the leading biscuit manufacturer in Thailand , and a significant player in the candy market in Indonesia . Our Aces cereal brand is a market leader in many parts of China . C2 is now doing very well in Vietnam , selling over 3 million bottles a month there, after only 6 months in the market. Soon, we will launch C2 in other South East Asian markets.

I am 81 today. But I do not forget the little boy that I was in the palengke in Cebu . I still believe in family. I still want to make good. I still don't mind going up against those older and better than me. I still believe hard work will not fail me. And I still believe in people willing to think the same way.Through the years, the market place has expanded: between cities, between countries, between continents. I want to urge you all here to think bigger. Why se rv e 86 million when you can sell to four billion Asians? And that's just to start you off. Because there is still the world beyond Asia . When you go back to your offices, think of ways to sell and market your products and se rv ices to the world. Create world-class brands.

You can if you really tried. I did. As a boy, I sold peanuts from my backyard.

Today, I sell snacks to the world. I want to see other Filipinos do the same.

Thank you and good evening once again.

How to Become Wealthy

From Joshua Kennon, Your Guide to Investing for Beginners.
Nine Truths That Can Set You on the Path to Financial Freedom

1. Change the Way You Think About Money The general population has a love / hate relationship with wealth. They resent those who have it, but spend their entire lives attempting to get it for themselves. The reason a vast majority of people never accumulate a substantial nest egg is because they don't understand the nature of money or how it works.
   Cash, like a person, is a living thing. When you wake up in the morning and go to work, you are selling a product - yourself (or more specifically, your labor). When you realize that every morning your assets wake up and have the same potential to work as you do, you unlock a powerful key in your life. Each dollar you save is like an employee. Over the course of time, the goal is to make your employees work hard, and eventually, they will make enough money to hire more workers (cash).
   When you have become truly successful, you no longer have to sell your own labor, but can live off of the labor of your assets.
2. Develop an Understanding of the Power of Small Amounts The biggest mistake most people make is that they think they have to start with an entire Napoleon-like army. They suffer from the "not enough" mentality; namely that if they aren't making $1,000 or $5,000 investments at a time, they will never become rich. What these people don't realize is that entire armies are built one soldier at a time; so too is their financial arsenal.
   A friend of mine once knew a woman who worked as a dishwasher and made her purses out of used liquid detergent bottles. This woman invested and saved everything she had despite it never being more than a few dollars at a time. Now, her portfolio is worth millions upon millions of dollars, all of which was built upon small investments. I am not suggesting you become this frugal, but the lesson is still a valuable one. Do not despise the day of small beginnings!
3. With Each Dollar You Save, You Are Buying Yourself Freedom When you put it in these terms, you see how spending $20 here and $40 there can make a huge difference in the long run. Since money has the ability to work in your place, the more of it you employ, the faster and larger it will grow. Along with more money comes more freedom - the freedom to stay home with your kids, the freedom to retire and travel around the world, or the freedom to quit your job. If you have any source of income, it is possible for you to start building wealth today. It may only be $5 or $10 at a time, but each of those investments is a stone in the foundation of your financial freedom.
4. You Are Responsible for Where You Are in Your Life Years ago, a friend told me she didn't want to invest in stocks because she "didn't want to wait ten years to be rich..." she would rather enjoy her money now. The folly with this school of thinking is that the odds are, you are going to be alive in ten years. The question is whether or not you will be better off when you arrive there. Where you are right now is the sum total of the decisions you have made in the past. Why not set the stage for your life in the future right now?
5. Instead of Buying the Product... Buy the Stock! Someone once asked me why they weren't wealthy. They always felt like they were putting money aside, yet never seemed to get any further ahead. The answer is simple. I told them to stop buying the products companies sell and start buying the company itself! A survey of America's affluent (those who make over $225,000 a year or own $3,000,000 in assets) revealed that 27-30% of all the income the wealthy earned went into investments and savings. That isn't a result of being rich, that is why they are rich. When the pain of getting out of the bondage of financial slavery is greater than the pain of changing your spending habits, you will become rich. Either change, or be content to live as you are.
6. Study and Admire Success and Those Who Have Achieved It... Then Emulate ItA very wise investor once said to pick the traits you admire and dislike the most about your heroes, then do everything in your power to develop the traits you like and reject the ones you don't. Mold yourself into who you want to become. You'll find that by investing in yourself first, money will begin to flow into your life. Success and wealth beget success and wealth. You have to purchase your way into that cycle, and you do so by building your army one soldier at a time and putting your money to work for you.
7. Realize that More Money is Not the Answer More money is not going to solve your problem. Money is a magnifying glass; it will accelerate and bring to light your true habits.
   If you are not capable of handling a job paying $18,000 a year, the worst possible thing that could happen to you is for you to earn six figures. It would destroy you. I have met too many people earning $100,000 a year who are living from paycheck to paycheck and don't understand why it is happening. The problem isn't the size of their checkbook, it is the way in which they were taught to use money.
8. Unless Your Parents Were Wealthy, Don't Do What They Did The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If your parents were not living the life you want to live then don't do what they did! You must break away from the mentality of past generations if you want to have a different lifestyle than they had.
   To achieve the financial freedom and success that your family may or may not have had, you have to do two things. First, make a firm commitment to get out of debt. To find out which debts should be paid off before you invest and those that are acceptable, read Pay Off Your Debt or Invest?. Second, make saving and investing the highest financial priority in your life; one technique is to pay yourself first.
   Purchasing equity is vital to your financial success as an individual whether you are in need of cash income or desire long-term appreciation in stock value. Nowhere else can your money do as much for you as when you use it to invest in a business that has wonderful long-term prospects.
9. Don't Worry The miracle of life is that it doesn't matter so much where you are, it matters where you are going. Once you have made the choice to take control back of your life by building up your net worth, don't give a second thought to the "what ifs". Every moment that goes by, you are growing closer and closer to your ultimate goal - control and freedom.
   Every dollar that passes through your hands is a seed to your financial future. Rest assured, if you are diligent and responsible, financial prosperity is an inevitability. The day will come when you make your last payment on your car, your house, or whatever else it is you owe. Until then, enjoy the process.
   

LD605

KOLORA INK AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION (Manufacturer of Printing Inks)
Address : #54 Judge J. Luna Street. San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City, Philippines Telephone Numbers : +63 (2) 371-6398Fax Number : +63 (2) 371-6396 Email Address : kolora_inks@rlgroupphils.com

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