Events of my last weekend reinforced my passion to help prepare the next generation. I often feel that my generation has not done much for the next generation. One of the biggest mistake my generation can commit is not preparing the way for the next generation.

As parents, the future of our children is always foremost in our minds. I am actually looking forward to the day my children will spread their wings and explore the world and the only thing I can do is pray for them as they make decisions that will define their destinies.

Last Saturday, I partnered with a mother and son team to bring about a repeat of Blue Chip, a program that teaches the youth on finance and entrepreneurship. Christopher Young is only 17 and a junior high student, he took the task of organizing Blue Chip for his friends and acquaintances, with the help of his energetic mother, Karen Young. There were more than 40 young ones taking the program and all this because a young boy believed that a program like Blue Chip will really help him and people of his age. A supportive mother like Karen brings out the best in our youth as she guided him, supported him and co-labored with him to ensure that Blue Chip will be a success. When the organizing of the program became difficult as participants were not responding the way it was forecasted and sponsors were lukewarm in their support, Chris and Karen were steadfast in their commitment to Blue Chip despite the odds. The audacity of a 17 year old boy to mount a program like Blue Chip was inspiring — stories like these make me feel secure that the next generation will do great things in the future. Parents like Karen are great role models in nurturing successful children.

I was so honored to share the platform with other speakers who shared the vision for the next generation. My friend and Pastor, Jayson Lo touched the hearts of the kids by reminding them what is really important in life imploring them to invest in relationships and value character above everything else. Carlo Ople, the country’s most notable personality in the social media environment was a big hit with the kids as they really learned from someone who understands and share their passion on social media. Carlo espoused the role of communication for business and career building. Paulo Tibig encouraged the youth to dream and dream big and strive for success. He reminded the youth that success is not achieved overnight and those are winning strategies for success as an entrepreneur. Jaret Garcia shared his story as a student making money and the challenges he needed to overcome business challenges. My lecture was about financial management and investing and I echoed the value of discipline in handling money. A real treat that day was interviewing and listening to the young Anton Fausto, a 14 year old investment whiz kid who also shared how he manages his own portfolio. More than inspiring the youth, the Blue Chip speakers gave practical instructions in achieving successes in money and business.

The day after Blue Chip, I attend Sunday service at Victory Green Hills and was delighted that the topic for the service is about the next generation. A very youthful pastor named Bojo Bonifacio was preaching about the next generation using biblical context. Hearing Bojo was a treat – a young 26 year old pastor leads a throng of exuberant teens, raging hormones and all that and remaining to be relevant and yet grounded on biblical truth. I was in store for another treat when Pastor Bojo called for 2 women on stage, a teenager to pray for the youth and a mother to pray for the parents. Praying for the youth is my 17 year old daughter Gabbie, a freshman in college. She admonished the youth to be in faith and be steadfast in their faith as well as challenging them to follow the examples of Christ and not of the world. My beautiful wife prayed for the parents, petitioning the Lord to give parents the grace, patience, temperament and love as they are tasked with the difficult role of parenting. Hearing my wife and daughter pray one after another warms my heart and I can only thank the Lord for such a blessing.

I admonish everyone to do everything they can to prepare the NEXT GEN. The greatest atrocity we can do in this generation is to forsake the next.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6, ESV

Video recap of the June 11, 2011 Blue Chip courtesy of Kris Young.

Question: Why are the citizens of our Asian neighbors much richer than us Filipinos?—Name withheld by request

Answer: This is a question that ‘hits the spot,’ as the saying goes.

I just read an article stating that Singapore has the highest concentration of millionaires in the world with 16 percent of its households having at least $1 million in assets, as determined by a study released by the Boston Consulting Group.

Switzerland comes next on the list with 9.9 percent of its households having $1 million in assets. Hong Kong comes in at fourth with 8.7 percent and the United States is at 7th with 4.5 percent.

Don’t even ask where the Philippines ranks as I can’t seem to find it in the news feeds… ouch!

I was in Singapore last weekend on a business trip and whenever I am there, I marvel at how progressive a tiny country with hardly any natural resource can be. I enjoy going to Singapore because it gives me an image of how the Philippines can be when we put our acts together.

We don’t need to limit our sights to Singapore; we can also look at …

Read full column at http://business.inquirer.net/3554/why-our-neighbors-are-richer-than-us

The rising cost of goods and services have been a big concern to us Filipinos for many months now. Official numbers puts inflation at around 4% but it seems that the rising prices goes beyond the official numbers. Generally, the barometer to measure inflation is the Consumer Price Index of the CPI. An earlier 3 part blog delved a lot about the rising prices and how we can survive amidst the higher cost of goods and services. For me, CPI is not a very realistic measurement of personal inflation since there are many items in our budget that are not being measured in the index such as education, among others. We all experience that tuition and education related expenses are somewhere between 5 to as much as 12% and if education composes a big chunk of our budgets, actual realized inflation will be much higher than the index.

Read Rising prices blog, part 1, part 2, part 3

I was listening to a podcast earlier and hyperinflation in Zimbabwe was referred to in a coy manner. Zimbabwe has suffered an incredible rise in prices in the past that actual measurement of inflation is rather moot. It was said that hyperinflation in that African country was so bad that prices doubles every 30 hours or so.

Just what is hyperinflation anyway? Investopedia has this to say:

Extremely rapid or out of control inflation. There is no precise numerical definition to hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is a situation where the price increases are so out of control that the concept of inflation is meaningless.

Investopedia further explains…

When associated with depressions, hyperinflation often occurs when there is a large increase in the money supply not supported by gross domestic product (GDP) growth, resulting in an imbalance in the supply and demand for the money. Left unchecked this causes prices to increase, as the currency loses its value.

One of the most famous examples of hyperinflation occurred in Germany between January 1922 and November 1923. By some estimates, the average price level increased by a factor of 20 billion, doubling every 28 hours.

The experience of Zimbabwe is now for the books… they actually have multi-billion dollar notes so the term ‘Billionaire’ does not really mean anything there. The good news is Zimbabwe has since been able to curb its unbelievable hyperinflation and is trying to put it’s macroeconomic situation in order.

Looking at the situation of Zimbabwe or even other countries which registers double-digit inflation gives us a bit of relief and we must acknowledge that we are still a blessed nation despite our many issues.  There are many things we should be thankful for, we just need to be reminded from time to time.

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! – Psalm 107:15 (English Standard Version)