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Three Friends and Three Years


Three Friends and Three Years
Three friends received their 13th month pay on that faithful day of December 8, 2010. It was Thursday, and they were excited to meet each other over the weekend to plan how they would spend their money, or when they could visit a nearby mall to do some “gadget-hunting”.

These friends share a lot of things in common, including their unhealthy spending habits.


The first guy worked as an Engineer from a software-provider company. The second was a Computer Instructor from an IT School. The third guy was an IT Consultant from an international company.

Along came a “hero”
The following day, however, they met someone who turned out to be their personal finance hero. Thishero” first met Mr. Engineer. He discussed some investments with him where he can put some of his money. He taught him how he could invest directly on the stock market or open a Mutual Funds account. Mr. Engineer was amazed on what he learned that day! Immediately, he texted both Mr. Instructor and Mr. Consultant about his encounter with “hero”. And so “hero” went on to discuss the same thing with Mr. Instructor and Mr. Consultant on the very same day.

To save or to invest?
It was Friday (December 10), and these three friends were now a day away from meeting each other to plan their “get-away”. But Mr. Engineer was so moved by the possibility of growing his money and decided to inform his two friends that he'll show up on their meeting but won't be joining on their gadget-hunting activity. He suggested that they could watch a movie together instead.

Mr. Instructor, upon reading Mr. Engineer's text message, flashed a quick smile on his face. “So I wasn't alone who thinks of doing this after all, he told himself. So he quickly replied and told Mr. Engineer about his plans of investing too.

After learning what his two friends' plans were, Mr. Consultant was quite unhappy. “How could they replace our gadget-hunting with this investment thing?” he quipped. Besides, investing is risky! I'd rather put my money on the bank.”

So Mr. Consultant, knowing that their gadget-hunt activity was cancelled, decided to open a savings account instead.
 
Regular Savings Deposit

Mr. Engineer, who opened an account with an on-line broker the day before, decided to buy shares from his favorite fast-food restaurant - Jollibee! He invested 10,000 pesos of his bonus (which was originally intended to be used for either their gadget-hunting). He was able to buy 110 shares of Jollibee at 90.10 per share. 

Jollibee Shares December 2010


Meanwhile, Mr. Instructor opted to invest his P10,000 on PhilEquity Inc. He was advised by “hero” that investing in the stock market himself would require some monitoring. And since he works on a busy schedule, he considered opening a Mutual Funds account instead of investing directly in the stock market like what Mr. Engineer did. He was able to buy 484 shares at 19.9279 each.  

PhilEquity NAVPS December 2010

 
The three friends met as scheduled on the weekend and spent most of the time discussing their decisions. Mr. Consultant went on to challenge his two friends' decision by telling them not to touch their investments for the next 3 years! 

After their agreement, everyone went home: with two faces wearing smiles and one shaking his head -- feeling sorry for what he claimed to be “poor decisions made by his two friends.
 
And just like any other movie that travels time -- days became weeks...weeks became months...and months became years -- three years had passed since then.
 
After 3 years..
It was December 11, 2013, three years since the day the three friends agreed to see how their investments did...
Jollibee Shares December 2013

Mr. Engineer grew his money by 84%. One share of Jollibee by December 11, 2013 already cost 166 pesos! He was able to buy it at just 90.10 per share three years ago! His 110 shares of Jollibee is now worth 18,319 pesos.

PhilEquity NAVPS December 2013


Mr. Instructor, on the other hand, grew his money by 39%. NAVPS or Net Asset Value Per Share for PhilEquity on December 11, 2013 is already 28.8115. He bought his shares with NAVPS of only 19.9279 three years ago!


Savings December 2013

Mr. Consultant barely grew his money by putting it on a regular savings account on a bank. It gave him 2% growth in a span of three long years!
 
Can I share a secret?
I was one of the three friends in the story. And if you're thinking that I'm probably either Mr. Engineer or Mr. Instructor, sorry - wrong answer.
 
Sadly, I was Mr. Consultant.
 
Three years ago, I worked as an IT Consultant on an international company that paid me more than what I actually put on the bank in the story. But here's another secret: I was not able to keep that 10,000 pesos on the bank for three years! I would withdraw some amount from that savings account whenever I feel I needed to, until the account was closed. So the figure regarding my money growing by at least 2% is somewhat imaginary. I wished I listened to “hero” and to my two friends three years ago. I would have been about 84% or 39% wealthier today had I listened to them.
 
Time is Gold
Time is indeed your ally when building your wealth or growing your money. But it can also be your enemy if you don't maximize its use. Like in my case, all I could do back then was to regret on my poor decision of not investing that money. But just as the saying goes, “It's better late than never. True enough, when I finally listened to our “hero” and started investing both on my financial knowledge and money vehicles, I was able to catch up with my two friends.

I think there is never too late when investing, after all. I hope you learned some valuable lessons on my own story.

When do you plan to invest?
If three years from now and you read this article again, you'd be surprised how much the numbers here might have changed. Jollibee's price per share as of today (December 2014), for example, is already trading around 200 Pesos per share! And PhilEquity's NAVPS is already at 36 Pesos! Can you imagine the next three years?

Then you'll say either of the two:

Thank God I decided to invest three years ago!

or

Oh God. How I wish I decided to invest three years ago.

I hope its number 1.

PS: Can this article be your “hero”?

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8 comments:

  1. Hi, we're on the same here. I remember, It was January 2012, I was planning to enter stock market and to buy jfc shares, during that time, it was about 90 per share, but due to procrastination and not enough willingness to invest, I didn't do it. Now JFC price is around 200 per share, how I wish I started investing way back 2012. Anyways, today, I have already started investing in stock market. I've just opened an account in COL last october. As they said, better late than never.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! That's great to hear from another person who *used to be*. ^_^

      Congrats on the decision you made 2 years ago! Better late than never, indeed! Cheers!!

      Delete
  2. great article!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was 2011 when I started in investing, OFW here and when I discover COL I did not waste my time. TIME is gold. My first buy. JFC @ 70. Kept on buying since then on regular monthly basis for 1 year and still im holding my shares. Some shares sold with good returns. Now, its 206.
    This is what I am telling to my collegue.... after a year with results, they followed my steps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. sana na specify kung saan bank dineposit. wala ba silang pang apat na kaibigan na ininvest nmn sa uitf?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yung isa dapat nagBitcoin nalang po hehe

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's good to read this. I invested way back 2015 and do bitcoins too. Not a fan of buying stuff that i just want. Always think 48hrs before buying things. Decide and think wisely. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Extremely useful info specifically the last part :) I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this certain information for a long time. Thank you and best of luck. andar bahar live casino

    ReplyDelete

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