Stock Investing for every Cebuano
What I like about what I do is I get to travel and meet different people from different walks of life. As we we’re organizing and planning out Stock Smarts Cebu, I had the honor to come across our organizers who had such a passion to share financial literacy to the Cebuanos.
I’d like to share the heart and passion of a local Cebuana, Bernadette Sotto, and why she wants more people from Cebu to learn how to earn in the stock market. I share her heart and passion and I really believe that it’s time for more and more people to take this step towards financial freedom!
I hope you enjoy the “7 Reasons why Cebuanos should invest!”
Catch me in my live training events! (quick plug)
The heart of why I do this seminars is I want to build a generation of Filipinos with the right foundation in stock investing. I want to bring smart investing to every Filipino around the world! If you would like to know more on how you could time the market checkout the trainings below.
1. Business is booming
Cebu is the 2nd largest economy in the country, and yet we seem to be missing on the action.Roughly 75% of investors in the stock market are from Manila, less than 5% comes from the Visayas and Mindanao. It’s time we take a bigger piece of the pie. Cebu being the 2nd biggest economy after Manila should be enough to encourage Cebuanos to take a bigger role in the market. That 5% for the whole Visayas and Mindanao is just way too low.
Infrastructures are booming, indicative of growth. More infrastructures, more jobs, better economy. Recently I’ve read an article of a laundry list of infrastructures that are planned and underway for Cebu. One is the MCIAA, which is already awarded to Megawide; another is the Bus Rapid Transit System recently approved by NEDA. Then there is the 15-Billion 3rd Cebu-Mactan bridge. We are not lagging behind, and we’re certainly not going to sit here and watch things happen. Let’s have a piece of the action to ourselves as well!
2. Stocks are poised for growth.
Historically, the market is shown to correct itself. Studies have proved that equities are one of the best long-term investment in the marketplace. Cebuanos need to take that opportunity and make it work for them. I envision me and my husband happily lounging in our farm when we’re 60, away from the chaos and pressures of city life. Money should be the least of our concerns by then. But I cannot make that happen if I don’t worry about growing our money right now.
3. Dividends. Dividends. Dividends
For us who don’t like trading and the risk involved, there are income stocks– stocks that offer income in the form of dividends. How does receiving yearly dividends from your purchased stocks sounds like?
4. The tide is shifting
We need a new generation of investors. One that can propel this country to greatness. I wasn’t brought up that way, I have no exposure to such. I want to learn as much as I can on whatever source I can get my hands into. One of the things that encourage me aside from personal growth, is to raise my kids this way. I want my children to start their awareness at 10 years old. I plan to be there to guide them and learn with them. Hopefully by then, I’d have years of investing experience behind me.
5. Preparation time is never wasted time
Item #4 largely relates to the sad state of our culture of financial dependency. As a parent myself, I understand how we want all the best for our kids. To provide for them, give them a better future. Yet we don’t prepare the unexpected. We are so easily taken by financial emergencies. In one fell swoop, all of our hard-earned savings in the bank are gone. Leaving nothing for our kids’ future. Leaving nothing for our old age. I don’t want that for my children. I want to prepare for those emergencies. And at the same time, I want my kids to be financially educated enough to give them confidence to grow their hard-earned money.
6. Banks won’t make you financially free
We keep all of our savings in the bank. Why? Because we thought that the interest rate we earn from our Time Deposits would cancel out the amount we suffer through inflation. We couldn’t be any more wrong. Banks can give us as much as 1.5% interest per year, while the inflation is beating us at a whooping 3-4% per year. We’re losing more that we care to admit. However, we need to put a certain amount of money in the bank. Enough to cover the emergencies and enough to tide us over. The rest should be earning more than what the banks can give me.
7. Research and study more
Having said all that, we Cebuanos do put premium in trust. This is the reason why Cebu is touted to be the most difficult people to please, the most difficult to market. This should not be a bad thing. In fact, this should drive us to research more on the topic, read up on studies and historical trends. Couple this with grit and we should be on the right track.
I firmly believe that we as a nation can be great again. There is no more exciting place like where we are right now. The international community’s growing confidence in the market, infrastructures and businesses coming in the country, and a lot more are happening at the same time, it’s sometimes hard to get everything all in! Personally, aside from the advocacies I am passionate about, investing in the Philippine Stock Market is my other way of contributing to the growth of this country.
New book and other books on Investing, Business and Finance.
