Category Archives: The Beginning

How We Did It

September 25 7:55 pm ,

 

A Door, Windows

“Did”.  I am not sure about that word.  Because it is in the past tense and means the fun and the adventures are over.  When they are not.  We are just beginning.A reader wanted to know how we “did it”.  She said she read my first post but that I just skimmed the surface of how we overcame the bleak prophesies of our first financial planner, that I did not really explain how we got that 24% increase in our annual income, and more importantly, how we overshot it.  If you have not read that first post, here is what our first financial planner said:

“While the couple’s Emergency Fund Ratio (EFR) will be over 1x by the end of 2007, the ideal ratio is 3x.  The couple would need to add around Php149,000 to their annual income to meet such a ratio.  To raise their savings rate to 18.1% from 6.7%, the couple would need additional annual income of Php262,000, or add 24% to their current annual income.”

So, how?

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Posted in: Financial Education, Life Stories, The Beginning , Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

A First Anniversary Celebration

June 12 11:43 pm ,
Independence Day

Independence Day

Exactly one year ago today, You Want To Be Rich made its debut in the blogosphere.

Interestingly, June 12 is also independence day in the Philippines so I thought it would make for a great beginning – an independence day for people who wanted financial freedom.  And it was a great year.  Although it was a challenge to keep writing and internalizing and coming up with interesting insights and articles, I enjoyed every minute of it.

But let me confess something –the days leading to this first anniversary were not easy ones.  As a matter of fact, they were the most challenging of my life.

But let today be one of celebration because it is, in very many ways.  Please allow me to process what has happened this past week and I will share it with you in the coming days.

For this anniversary month, I am also launching a contest.  Please read the details here.

To all my readers and supporters, know that I am very grateful – one year after – to still have you with me on this journey.

Be rich,

Issa

Article by Issa.  Painting by D. Copyright 2010.
website: www.YouWantToBeRich.com
 email: issa@youwanttoberich.com

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Posted in: Contests, The Beginning, The Philippines , Tagged: , , , ,

100th Post and a Dash of Thank You’s

May 22 6:33 am ,

Thank You

After 99 posts, 453 comments (54 of which are spam which I have not deleted nor approved) and 699 tags, I come to this, my 100th post.

To think that YouWantToBeRich started as just a requirement to get a certificate in MavenSecrets, a professional blogging and internet marketing education seminar that I attended in 2009.

I did not know that it would change my life and give it colors that I never knew existed, or give me opportunities for self-expression and advocacy in a niche that I was just getting really interested in at that time.

At first, I thought I would go into food and travel because like Anton’s OurAwesomePlanet, it was my passion.  I even asked hubby to buy me a camera to herald my entry into the blogosphere via a food and travel blog.

But I am glad I went down the path of learning about money and people and their money idiosyncracies (especially my own and my family’s).  It felt good to chronicle this journey and to look back and learn from it again.

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Posted in: Mentors, The Beginning , Tagged: , , , , , ,

Memories of Richie Rich

April 25 5:40 pm ,

 

Window to the Past

I admit.  I just recently read worldwide phenomenon Neil Gaiman and the first of his Sandman series.

I do not know if it was because I was pregnant, but my reading of it was occupied by vivid, haunted dreams.  I am not sure if I will be able to read the rest of the series (sorry, Gaiman fans).  Just wrong timing maybe.  And hubby says he (or his artist) has since has developed the graphics for it.  Because that was what made it a little horrible for me.  Okay, the ideas it germinated too.

But having that comic book in my hands made me think of the comic book that launched dreams of riches in my head.

Richie Rich.

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Posted in: Children's Stories, The Beginning , Tagged: , , ,

Announcement: YouWantToBeRich is now on print! (can I smile here?)

October 5 11:55 pm ,
Beauty In Diversity

Beauty In Diversity

Yes, just a little announcement.

Beginning October 10, 2009, YouWantToBeRich (YTBR) will be published in Asia, the Journal of Culture and Commerce, Southern California’s award-winning newspaper serving the Asian and Pacific Islander Community.  Asia comes out weekly in San Diego and Los Angeles, California.  Asia is also publishing digital and print editions of YTBR in Thailand and Malaysia.

To my publishers and mentors, Len Novarro and Roz Carmen, my heartfelt thanks.

To my family and my readers, thank you for continuing to inspire me.

To the world…

Be rich,

Issa

Article by Issa. Art by D. Copyright 2009.
Website: www.YouWantToBeRich.com
Email: issa@youwanttoberich.com

Posted in: The Beginning , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Remembering How the Philippine Economy Was In Year 2007

August 7 12:38 am ,
To Remember is to Learn

To Remember is to Learn

When in November 2007 a tank pummeled down the gilded glass doors of the Manila Peninsula Hotel at the main business district of Makati City in Manila, Philippines, heads began to shake. The country had been experiencing a re-emergence, a resurgence of some sorts, economically. Filipinos had begun to cling to threads, albeit thin, of hope – that the country may finally be shaking the vestiges of its zest for change and choose one unbending path as a nation.

But then another madman decided he wanted to hold the reins of the country. The government had to show that it was in control, hence, the tank. It took all of six hours before he was crushed, but in his wake came threats of another martial rule marked by the imposition of a curfew and the suppression of press freedom. Filipinos waited with bated breath for a crash.

After all, thus was the fate of the Philippine economy – it stumbles at the onslaught of both the familiar and the unfamiliar, teeters at the brink of a dark night.

And the Philippines was just starting to get it right.

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Posted in: The Beginning, The Philippines

Wealth and Health

August 1 12:46 am ,
Getting There

Getting There

I was immortal until I filled out a life insurance policy application and received the results of my laboratory test.  I was “rated”.  It meant I was “substandard”.  I was not sure I liked the sound of that.

SUBSTANDARD – below average insurability.  Acceptable but on modified basis or at increased premium rates. Certain hazardous occupations, physical impairments, unfavorable conditions or personal and family history may cause higher rates of death or higher mortality than normal and will necessitate acceptance of any applicant only on modified basis or at an increased rate.  These cases are normally referred to as substandard risks.

I was floored by this realization.  I need to pay a higher premium and I could die.

I tried to find out what my laboratory tests meant.  But several additional tests and doctors and google could not satisfactorily explain what an elevated reading of an enzyme meant or what causes it or what will happen to me.  Head hung low, I paid up.  At least I was insurable.  There was no other way to go but face the truth and try to be healthy.  And hopefully reverse my “rating”.

Because what will I do with all my wealth when I could not live long enough to enjoy it.

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Posted in: The Beginning

Do You Want to be Rich?

June 12 12:08 pm ,
ytb-rich-headshot1

A Look Into the Future

It just happened.

I was in law school, one daughter, one husband, a house, no mortgage, no money.  Husband wanted to quit work and start business and asked my permission to which I said, um, okay, how…?, yes.

If there is one important thing I learned in married life, it is the power of believing.  If I believed in D, let’s call my one husband D, he suddenly soared, flew, made miracles, painted rainbows.  If I nagged him, he would flail, shrink to nothingness, felled by my ungraciousness and unbelief.  In the many years of our marriage, I always resorted to lashing out.  In my years of law school, I who never put food on our table all those remaining law school years, would slay D with my words  – and everything that remained – our confidence, peace, sanity – would shatter.

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Posted in: The Beginning , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,