My Quest to be Wealthy

I am the eldest in the family. I only have one sibling, a sister who is more than a decade younger than me. My Mama is a housewife. My Papa is a businessman but because he’s already in his mid 70s he does not earn as much as before. It has been years that we are no longer relying on his income. So basically I am the breadwinner of the family.


The eldest becoming the breadwinner in the family as the parents reach retirement age is typical in Philippines setting. Most Filipinos do not give much priority about financial education and financial planning. They avoid insurance agents like the plague. They do not know the importance of setting up an emergency fund. They do not have retirement funds because they consider their children as their retirement plan. And to make matters worse, we are turning out to be a country of consumers. Look at all the malls growing like kabote (mushrooms) everywhere. Every payday people come in droves to these malls as if they can’t wait to empty out their pay checks or they itch to swipe their credit cards since they have already paid the required minimum from their salaries. Thus sad to say, most Filipinos are immersed in consumer debts.

So I have this big dream. I want to be wealthy.

I reconciled myself with the idea of money, i.e. whether it is good or evil. Money in itself is not evil. It is the love for money that makes people evil. Like the matapobre Don and Donyas in usual Filipino teleseryes (soap operas) who are driven by greed to earn more money only for themselves. Money is just a tool; Money is a magnifier. If you are a bad person, you will become worse - evil. If you are a good person, you will become a better human being as more money enables you to help more people.

I want to be wealthy because I want to bless more people... To bless first and foremost my loved ones, and with people who are incapable of earning for themselves.

I also have this dream of more Filipinos becoming wealthy. So we can live the life that God wants us to enjoy - a life of abundance so more people can share  with those who are really in need and empower those who have the ability to earn. I also want to help spread financial literacy to every Filipino. To help our country transition from being a country of consumers, to being a country of investors. But first I have to start with myself. I am taking the first step. I am going to attend seminars on financial education, read books – study, study, study! I want to keep on learning to improve myself in terms of handling, managing and growing our finances.

Join me in my quest. Let us learn together. Let us be wealthy!