Appears in my column at Business Mirror, 05.03.2010

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Sometime last year, the show Shop Talk at ANC invited my daughter Billie as its guest. The show invited children of finance personalities they often invite as guests in the show. It was nice to listen to young people talk about finances and how they deal with the issues involved.

One of the guests was a young boy, barely in his teens, but was talking confidently about managing his portfolio. The host of the show was amazed at this wonder boy and how he was doing what he was talking about. I found out later that he had brothers who were all financially savvy. In my curiosity, I spoke to their father to find out more about them.

They are the Fausto brothers —Martin, Enrique and Anton—sons of Marvin and Rose Fausto. Marvin used to be the Head of Trust of Equitable PCI Bank; he is now the Head of Investments of Banco De Oro. Rose, prior to becoming a full-time homemaker, was also an investment banker.

Martin, the oldest, is 19 years old and an incoming junior taking up Management at the Ateneo de Manila University. Enrique, the second, turned 17 last month, an incoming high-school senior in Xavier School. Anton, the youngest, is 13. He graduated with honors from the Ateneo Grade School in March. His ambition is to be the country’s youngest billionaire. The boys are well-rounded, with passions involving sports, music and dance.

The brothers have been exposed to financial literacy very early in life. When they were still babies, their parents opened their individual savings accounts. They have since been saving from their allowance, cash gifts and occasional earnings from different endeavors. They were also gifted a few shares of stocks of companies that they could easily understand when they were still very young. Today, they buy their own stocks with their own money. Since last year, their parents have transferred to them the responsibility of updating their individual balance sheets on a quarterly basis.

These boys can put many adults to shame. In fact, I can say they are even wealthier than most married people I know! As young as they are, I know they have a great future ahead of them.

What sets these boys apart from many kids out there? Their parents decided early to impart very important values to them, especially financial literacy.

Unfortunately, the Fausto family is a very rare breed and the Fausto brothers are really exceptions to the rule. Many parents often teach their children the wrong values; they put too much emphasis on academic excellence and forget to teach the their children the realities of life—like financial principles. While it is definitely important, academic education is often incomplete, limited and at times even irrelevant. As parents, we should also teach our children values and principles that will hone their character and practical education that will shape their future like finance and entrepreneurship.

It is a fact that parents are the best teachers. Yet we leave the complete education of our children to educational institutions. Isn’t it time we examined how our children are being educated? Let us take part in this very important stage in their lives…that is the best thing we can do for them. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”—Proverbs 22:6, NIV.

Victory Greenhills, in cooperation with the Registered Financial Planner Institute, brings you BLUE CHIP: Financial Literacy Program for the Youth. This is a two-day learning session on practical finance for high-school and college students (ages 13 to 20) and will be on May 13 and 14 at the Victory Center, Upper Level, Promenade Greenhills. For inquiries on BLUE CHIP, please get in touch with Sheryn Alvarez at 744-8121 or 0917-5117796.

This time, it’s for the next generation… the Youth!

One of those things us Pinoy find difficult to do is to get help. Many drivers, myself included, find it difficult to ask for directions – never mind that we run the risk of getting lost. I remember as students, we seldom approach our teachers for help, even at the risk of failing the subject. As married couples, the idea of getting counseling seems to be very alien to us even if we are at the brink of separation. In my younger years, the idea of self-help was always the best way to go and the concept of asking, let alone getting help, was too much for my pride to handle. At times when we do get help, we are very selective as to who to seek out help from – usually just very close relatives only or very good friends even if they are not really qualified to help. Somehow, our egos are bruised whenever we get help. In many instances, by the time we do get help, we are already in a desperate situation.

In the area of personal finance, many of us bring about the same disdain for getting help. Somehow we chose to ignore the many writings on the wall that becomes evident, until it’s too late. Logic dictates that when we can’t do things for ourselves, we should seek help. However, human beings are not always known to follow logic, this writer included. Just like refusing to get help when we are into substance abuse, we also refuse to get help when we are losing control over our financial future. The same results will always be guaranteed, a lot of stress that are really going to consume us.

Take the case of excessive borrowing – even if we are buried in debt, it takes us a long time to get help and in most cases, our situation is so desperate, there are very few who can help us. We feel that we can solve our own problems and that they are temporary but in most cases, we can’t solve our problems and they are not temporary.  We have this belief that getting help is a sign of weakness and that foolish belief has blinded us from being delivered from our folly sooner than later. When we do get help, our actions may already be too late and we find ourselves in despair and our self-worth beyond redemption. Some of us have become cynical because we feel that others will not help us and on the extreme, some feels that being helped is the obligation of others. Here’s my view, it is because of our own actions that we are where we are — in trouble. Therefore, we ought to get help so we have a better chance of improving our situation.

Help isn’t always an outright dole-out. In many cases, sound, objective and sensible advice are all we need. If our problems are financial in nature, it is best to seek out the help and counsel of someone who you know is financially responsible and adequate. You wouldn’t get marital advice from someone who has a failed marriage right? Same with help that is financial in nature.

When you get help, make sure that the person you approach is credible and objective; otherwise your situation might even be compromised. Just like seeking a doctor for your medical concern, you may also seek financial professionals to help you. There are credible financial planners today who are more than capable to help you by giving you sound advice – and you’d be surprise that they would not charge you an arm and a leg for their services. My tip is to look for independent financial planners who are charges a fee as against financial planners who sell financial products as buying financial products may not be in your best interest until your situation improves. You can also get help from non-financial people – those who have a good command of their finances, their real-life experiences makes them very qualified.

You may also want to start listening to people who can help you – responsible friends, church leaders, superiors at work or your HR Department (if you are employed). Reading books and attending seminars are also forms of getting help.

Don’t try to delay your act of getting help as your situation will not get any better unless you are proactive about it – these are one of those things that “the sooner, the better”.

“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. – Proverbs 15:22, NIV”

Catch Chinkee Tan, Cito Beltran and myself at a life-changing event entitled “All About Money: Living the Life You Can Afford” on April 24, 2010 (Saturday) from 9am to 1pm at the Victory Ortigas Center, 4^th Level, West Wing, Robinsons Galleria. Tickets are only at P400.00. For ticket inquiries, call or text Jenny Ignacio – Magalong at 09391177856 or send email to jcignacio.magalong@gmail.com.