Monday, April 30, 2007

[Blog Review] Reaction to The Coach Kamote's blog post "How Pinoys Retire"

Are you Pinoy? Read this article:

http://digitalsolutions.ph/couchkamotereviews/how_pinoys_retire

Here is my reaction (supposedly a comment i will post) to that article:

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hi. i've forgotten now how i came across your website, but i thought of searching for "couch kamote" again to find your site, because i was interested to see if the ideas of "coach kamote" and my "coach potato" have any similarities. and through some clicking and clicking, i came across this blog post of yours.

my comment: ditto! i can truly relate to that. right now, although i am a little bit confident that my mom and perhaps my brother and i will be able to pay off this debt we have to acquire this certain property, i really thought that something else could have been done with the money that has been put into paying off this debt and the huge interest.

robert kiyosaki's philosophy come to mind again. save money, invest them in "assets" (real estate and/or businesses and other investments that can give you regular income), then use the earnings from your assets to buy your "liabilities" - your doodads, big toys, luxuries, and homes.

anyway, a friend said, "i think it's in their generation also - the post-war-born generation that experienced martial law and repression while they were in the prime of their youths."

alas, i myself am "stuck" with my mother who is expecting me and my brother to take care of her when she retires (approximately 5 years from now), and more than that, she expects me (and my brother) to shoulder her future around-the-world traveling expenses.

and so i am practically in the same predicament as you, except that i haven't yet "escaped" into marriage. i am looking at my potential salary (when i get work; i am presently "in between jobs") - and it will not let me reach my goals. of course i can change goals but... right now, let us just say that that is very difficult to do.

and yes, like you again, i would like to not become dependent on my (future) kids when i retire. for all i will give to them, i will not expect them to give back to me when i'm retired. i want them to enjoy their own lives even if i have retired, and they will most likely be married by then.

so what can i do? kiyosaki's philosophy is to not just depend on a salary. because with the salary, you stop earning when you stop working. the same is true when you're self-employed. he suggests saving money to go into business, stocks, real estate, and other investments that could yield higher returns than just saving in the bank. he actually suggests not saving in savings deposits because the interest rate is lower than the inflation rate, and thus you are actually losing money when they stay in the bank.

i am at the verge of doing that jump from employee to entrepreneur, but unfortunately, i don't presently have an operating system that makes me capable to go into business. i've been programmed to be an employee. plus, add to that the mixed messages from my mother. she herself has not been so greatly successful in entrepreneurship, but it's not that she is not a successful consultant. she would tell me to go into business, but when an enticing employment opportunity comes up, she asks me to consider. throughout my youth, my mom, not being really an entrepreneur herself, has given us fish, but has not really taught us how to fish.

anyway, my task right now is to talk to my mom, and convince her to support me going into business. i have these ideas already that are financially sound and potentially high profit-making. if not financial support, i really only need her moral support (i.e., hopefully she will not disown me or tell me "i told you so" if ever i should fail). and then i do hope that she can also live my lifestyle of delaying gratification. that is, you know, waiting for the chance to eat ice cream and to play the toy, if i can wait not playing with the toy just yet.

on my part, that is the difficult part. my mother has earned money through her consultancy business, and has spent it and lived the corresponding lifestyle. her philosophy is, when there's money, we spend. when we don't have money, we thrift. her money is hers, after all. and then she also has some sort of mentality that she's getting old, and she might not be able to enjoy the money that she has earned...

oh anyway, i've said too much. good luck to us all, and may we be able to provide ourselves and our own familes, as well as our parents, with what they need and want!

[sub-labels: CPC blogs]

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