WHY A MAN MUST SAVE AND INVEST
By Ernie D. Delfin
Founder-Charter President, Global Kalinga e-Rotary Club
Past Asst. District Governor, District 5320
Our education, experiences and memories are three things that we cannot bequeath to our heirs. When we die, all these "precious" things die with us and are gone forever. After living a half century on this planet Earth, as a precocious child of God, I have learned so much from the University of Hard Knocks --- many valuable life's lessons which at this stage of my life, I feel now the urge to share with those I love dearly, including my many clients, friends and loyal readers. Had I started from a higher socio-economic ground and had I known and applied these time-tested Principles of Success (in all of Life's quadrants: physical, social, mental and spiritual) much earlier in life, I would have been a better, happier and more fulfilled successful person today. However, considering my humble beginnings in a progressive farming village in the Philippines, versus Orange Country where I am today, I feel that it is not really that bad life’s journey after all.
I used to say I am a self-made man, but it is now more appropriate (with humility) to say that I did the best I can with the talents that That Somebody Up There has given me and He graciously blest my human efforts that brought me and my family to where we are today. Indeed, our life is our gift from God, and what we do with
our life is our gift to God.
Among the things I have learned early in life that became more valuable every year I've lived in America is in the area of savings and investments. As workers, employees, laborers and breadwinners, young and old are pre-occupied with the business of living, I feel the extreme importance, like a parent to a child, to convey and leave some gems of wisdom so that the child can have a better life than his parents. To the young people of the world, I plead you to read and heed this financial advice on savings which everyone who is earning a living has the power to create and control its continued existence or cause its premature death.
You must start believing that savings have that profound value that becomes more apparent with the passage of time. The growth of your savings is somewhat analogous to the invisible yet magical rewards of responsible parents in witnessing their children metamorphose into good citizens and becoming their own successful and fulfilled human being.
With that emotionally charged introduction, Let me now share you my TOP TEN REASONS why a man must save (and invest):
1. Your savings affect the way you stand, the way you walk, and even the tone of your voice. In short, your physical well being and self-confidence. A man without savings is always running. He must take the first job offered, or nearly so. He sits nervously on life's chairs because any small emergency throws him into the hands of others.
2. Without savings, a man must be too grateful. Gratitude is a fine thing in its right place. But a constant state of gratitude is a horrible place in which to live. A man with savings can walk tall. He may appraise opportunities in a more relaxed manner, have time for judicious estimates and not be rushed by economic necessities.
3. A man without savings is always prone to react often displaying more form than substance. Without savings, a person's confidence is easily eroded as his daily chores revolve around tension-relieving activities instead of indulging in income producing endeavors while surrounded with more relaxed, happier and productive people.
4. Without savings, a man delays decisions that are good for him and his family and often misses opportunities in his lifetime, like associating or running with true winners in life. For lack of savings, he is relegated to the backseats of life, envying the gaiety and camaraderie of those who have.
5. A man with savings can afford to resign from his job when his principles so do dictate. And for this reason he will never need to do so. A man who can afford to quit is much more useful to his company, and therefore more promo table as he can afford to give his company the benefit of his most candid judgments. He does not need to kiss somebody's you-know-what.
6. A man with savings can afford the wonderful privilege of being generous to this family or to his
neighborhood's emergencies. He can take the level stare of any man, friend, stranger, or even his enemies.
This priceless commodity adds to his personality and character.
7. With savings, a person can afford to order from "left to right" in expensive hotels or resorts without being
nervous with the bill. Man without savings is forced to stay with friends and relatives' homes when he is out of
town.
8. With savings, you do not have to feign your happiness or contentment; you do not have to live in a far-away fantasyland. While it is true that money (savings) can never buy true happiness, it definitely serves as a nice down payment! Believe it or not, it is more fun to suffer in comfort than to agonize in misery.
9. The ability to save, fortunately, has nothing to do with the size of one's income. Many high-income people spend it all. They are on the treadmill, darting through life like minnows. In his classic book, The Riches Man of Babylon, Clayson admonishes strongly that every person must affirm and declare, "I must pay myself first because a part of my earnings is mine to keep!"
10. Lastly, heed the advice given by the Dean of American bankers, J.P. Morgan, to a young broker, "Take waste out of your spending; You'll drive the enjoyment out of your life!"
Perchance some of us no longer need more money for college, a home, retirement or vacation in a nice resort, and then we must just save for self-confidence, and as a role model for others. The state of our savings does have a lot to do with how tall we (or a nation, for that matter) talk or walk in this world.
After all, next to our personal relationship with our own God, faithful action in taking care of our families is our primary responsibility and this can be fortified by habitual savings and investing them wisely. Religiously doing this habit builds not only our character but increases a comfortable nest egg. What we do now, not tomorrow, is the beginning of what we do next. Our savings are the seeds of what we can harvest tomorrow.
THEREFORE SAVE NOW AND INVEST !!
Content ©
Copyright (c) 2004. Progressive Times Action Group. All rights reserved.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
PROPHETS, PROFITS AND POLITICS Mar 2012
THE METAMORPHOSIS
By
ERNIE DELFIN
PROPHETS, PROFITS AND POLITICS
It is raining now in Orange County that is making this day very conducive to work at home. It is also affording me the opportunity to finish this column, a self-imposed obligation to pen at least one column every other week. With another GOP primary election scheduled today (Feb 28) in Arizona and Michigan, during this Lenten season amidst an anemic U.S. economy, I thought of adding my thoughts on these timely and interesting topics on Prophets, Profits and Politics, not necessarily in that order of importance.
As the vast majority of my readers most likely are Christians (many are Catholics like me) this Season of Lent that started on Ash Wednesday when the priests and their Eucharistic Ministers like me put ashes into the foreheads of the faithful, reminding them to “Repent and believe in the gospel” it is quite apropos to take inventory of what we as Christians to take inventory of what we have (or don’t have) particularly during these difficult times and make the necessary fine tunings to make our lives worth living for. Metaphysically, it is healthy to pause and take minute vacations in our hectic lives to stop accumulating perishable “things” and unneeded calories and instead creating or finding some “empty spaces” in our lives to fill up with wholesome and more valuable things that really matter. So for the Christian world, the Lenten Season whose climax occurs after 40 days on Easter Sunday, is indeed an opportunity to be more reflective, generous and kinder to our fellow human beings.
The biblical readings in all the Christian churches this holy season of Lent will center on the teachings of Christ during His public life, His return to JerUSAlem, His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, His passion and his triumphant resurrection. For us Christians these biblical events were not only amazing but incredibly mysterious, considering that they were prophesied by many Prophets, like Elijah thousands of years before Christ was born as a human being, suffered and then crucified and died for our redemption.
It is against this Lenten backdrop that I find it quite inspiring and titillating to analyze and comment as a neophyte “philosopher” on these current events in our world today that is quite preoccupied with the l business of profits and politics especially this presidential election year here in the United States.
* * *
The wide contrast between the GOP (Republicans) and the Democratic parties will be accentuated in the coming months as the Republicans will do their best to destroy the records of President Obama to force him to be just a one time (4-year) president, while the Democrats will scare us, the people, that the Republicans are there only to foster their selfish and vested interest, to remain the in the one percent mega-wealthy at the expense of the 99 percent, reminiscent of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. With the continuing debacle of the real estate industry that has caused millions of foreclosures and underwater properties ( when the mortgage is higher than the market value of said property) and the concomitant high unemployment (still hovering at around 10% nationwide) the victory of one party over the other will revolve on economic and financial issues popularized with that catchy phrase “It’s the economy, stupid!” A pragmatic voter will choose his candidate over the other candidates based on his personal conviction (or perception) that his choice will make his own personal economic condition better than what it is now.
As an Independent voter, I personally like a few of the Republican values of “self-responsibility”, lesser intrusion of the government into our private lives, LOWER taxes, and other conservative stands on some issues. But I also like some of Democratic values of pro-people, the poor and the marginalized. But both parties have apparently gone extreme to my dislike: the Republicans believe that they know it all, that they often appear to be self-righteous in many ways, while the Democrats seem to believe that the government can cure all the social problems of our people, often exacting HIGHER taxes just to dole out to many underserving poor people. The former advocates for limited government and the latter tends to expand government bureaucracies. The Democratic Party has created countless welfare or entitlement programs that many conservatives believe have made millions of American citizens lazier and dependent upon the dole outs of their “rich” Uncle Sam.
Other issues clearly divides the two parties, like the issue of gun control (second amendment rights) where the right (GOP) insists on no gun control, while the left (Democrats) favor some degree of gun control . On the abortion issue, the Republicans generally are pro-life, aka anti-abortion, and the Democrats are generally pro-choice aka pro-abortion. On the death penalty issue, the GOP is generally favor the death penalty despite that they are also pro-life or anti-abortion, while the Democrats are generally anti death penalty. The Gay and Lesbian (gay marriage) issue also divides the two parties, the Republicans generally are against gay marriages but the Democrats are often more tolerant and approve of gay marriages.
These issues are often considered “religious” issues too but they are NOT the only elements or factors why voters vote for one candidate over the other. As a Christian voter, I will factor these issues into my criteria of selecting my candidate but they will not the sole determinants why I will vote for one candidate over his opponent.
Another important factor, I believe, is the candidate’s economic platform or programs to resuscitate or improve this ailing economy that caused millions of people suffering financially. Their economic programs, especially on their strategies how to put the unemployed back to working again, of each candidate will be magnified and scrutinized more closely to find a good match with the voters’ expectations. Of equal importance, I think, are the candidate’s foreign policy proposals particularly in the arena of USA’s being involved in foreign wars (to protect American interests?) that have drained billions of tax dollars the last 10 years. The loss of thousands of lives and the resulting economic catastrophe since the invasion of Iraq and the current Afghanistan war have made millions of American sick and tired of America being the Big Police of the world.
****
My vote is only one vote but that one vote will join millions of votes to elect the next president of my adopted country. My fearless forecast is that Mitt Romney (a Mormon) will be the eventual GOP candidate, after months of serious challenges from several candidates, namely: Rick Santorum (a Catholic) and Newt Gingrich (a Catholic convert) and Ron Paul (my underdog favorite). Romney has many good ideas in business, economy and in tax reforms. Unfortunately, he is failing miserably to market himself well to many independents, the working class and the minorities, particularly the Latino voters (ironically he is also an American of Mexican descent) His record in business in making millions of money for himself and his investors is very exceptionally lucrative, but the question lingers: (and could be exploited by the Democrats) did his business success also enure to the common people especially the independents and minorities? Romney’s mantra of “More jobs, less debt, smaller government” resonates very well to the independents, business people as well as the so-called Reagan Democrats. If he can consolidate and unify the Republican base as he tries to go a little bit to the center, he will give Pres. Obama a tough fight this November.
On the other hand, re-electionist Barack Obama has done not- too-good-nor-too-bad a record (considering that the economy started to falter even before his assuming into office, and inherited US involvement in Iraq which many believe was a colossal blunder and in Afghanistan from Republican G.W. Bush) has a fair 50-50 chance to be reelected, provided that the unemployment will continue to go down, the interest rates remaining low and the coming home of American soldiers from abroad continues as planned. Some other factors are going in Obama’s favor: he has more money for his re-election campaign than any of his Republican opponents; the damage brought about by his administration’s birth-control-pills policy that infuriated faith based agencies, particularly the Catholic Church, happened early enough to rectify his political blunder; the successful annihilation of the “poster boys” of world terrorism namely Sadam Hussein and Osama bin Laden; the outster of Mubarak of Egypt in the Arab Spring and the expected fall of Assad of Syria and other despots and dictators in the world. Lastly, his choices of Cabinet members and appointments to the judiciary and military are also considered very good and quite inclusive in the American perspectives of culture and politics.
It will be a very interesting election year to follow and it will be a very close election unlike the landslide victory of Reagan over Carter in 1980. I challenge you, my readers, to follow the election drama and get involved in your own way as it will affect your future, especially if you are a living in this country that is seemingly losing its luster in the world the last several years.
---- 3 0 ----
Email writer: ernie.delfin@gmail.com or drbannatiran@yahoo.com
By
ERNIE DELFIN
PROPHETS, PROFITS AND POLITICS
It is raining now in Orange County that is making this day very conducive to work at home. It is also affording me the opportunity to finish this column, a self-imposed obligation to pen at least one column every other week. With another GOP primary election scheduled today (Feb 28) in Arizona and Michigan, during this Lenten season amidst an anemic U.S. economy, I thought of adding my thoughts on these timely and interesting topics on Prophets, Profits and Politics, not necessarily in that order of importance.
As the vast majority of my readers most likely are Christians (many are Catholics like me) this Season of Lent that started on Ash Wednesday when the priests and their Eucharistic Ministers like me put ashes into the foreheads of the faithful, reminding them to “Repent and believe in the gospel” it is quite apropos to take inventory of what we as Christians to take inventory of what we have (or don’t have) particularly during these difficult times and make the necessary fine tunings to make our lives worth living for. Metaphysically, it is healthy to pause and take minute vacations in our hectic lives to stop accumulating perishable “things” and unneeded calories and instead creating or finding some “empty spaces” in our lives to fill up with wholesome and more valuable things that really matter. So for the Christian world, the Lenten Season whose climax occurs after 40 days on Easter Sunday, is indeed an opportunity to be more reflective, generous and kinder to our fellow human beings.
The biblical readings in all the Christian churches this holy season of Lent will center on the teachings of Christ during His public life, His return to JerUSAlem, His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, His passion and his triumphant resurrection. For us Christians these biblical events were not only amazing but incredibly mysterious, considering that they were prophesied by many Prophets, like Elijah thousands of years before Christ was born as a human being, suffered and then crucified and died for our redemption.
It is against this Lenten backdrop that I find it quite inspiring and titillating to analyze and comment as a neophyte “philosopher” on these current events in our world today that is quite preoccupied with the l business of profits and politics especially this presidential election year here in the United States.
* * *
The wide contrast between the GOP (Republicans) and the Democratic parties will be accentuated in the coming months as the Republicans will do their best to destroy the records of President Obama to force him to be just a one time (4-year) president, while the Democrats will scare us, the people, that the Republicans are there only to foster their selfish and vested interest, to remain the in the one percent mega-wealthy at the expense of the 99 percent, reminiscent of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. With the continuing debacle of the real estate industry that has caused millions of foreclosures and underwater properties ( when the mortgage is higher than the market value of said property) and the concomitant high unemployment (still hovering at around 10% nationwide) the victory of one party over the other will revolve on economic and financial issues popularized with that catchy phrase “It’s the economy, stupid!” A pragmatic voter will choose his candidate over the other candidates based on his personal conviction (or perception) that his choice will make his own personal economic condition better than what it is now.
As an Independent voter, I personally like a few of the Republican values of “self-responsibility”, lesser intrusion of the government into our private lives, LOWER taxes, and other conservative stands on some issues. But I also like some of Democratic values of pro-people, the poor and the marginalized. But both parties have apparently gone extreme to my dislike: the Republicans believe that they know it all, that they often appear to be self-righteous in many ways, while the Democrats seem to believe that the government can cure all the social problems of our people, often exacting HIGHER taxes just to dole out to many underserving poor people. The former advocates for limited government and the latter tends to expand government bureaucracies. The Democratic Party has created countless welfare or entitlement programs that many conservatives believe have made millions of American citizens lazier and dependent upon the dole outs of their “rich” Uncle Sam.
Other issues clearly divides the two parties, like the issue of gun control (second amendment rights) where the right (GOP) insists on no gun control, while the left (Democrats) favor some degree of gun control . On the abortion issue, the Republicans generally are pro-life, aka anti-abortion, and the Democrats are generally pro-choice aka pro-abortion. On the death penalty issue, the GOP is generally favor the death penalty despite that they are also pro-life or anti-abortion, while the Democrats are generally anti death penalty. The Gay and Lesbian (gay marriage) issue also divides the two parties, the Republicans generally are against gay marriages but the Democrats are often more tolerant and approve of gay marriages.
These issues are often considered “religious” issues too but they are NOT the only elements or factors why voters vote for one candidate over the other. As a Christian voter, I will factor these issues into my criteria of selecting my candidate but they will not the sole determinants why I will vote for one candidate over his opponent.
Another important factor, I believe, is the candidate’s economic platform or programs to resuscitate or improve this ailing economy that caused millions of people suffering financially. Their economic programs, especially on their strategies how to put the unemployed back to working again, of each candidate will be magnified and scrutinized more closely to find a good match with the voters’ expectations. Of equal importance, I think, are the candidate’s foreign policy proposals particularly in the arena of USA’s being involved in foreign wars (to protect American interests?) that have drained billions of tax dollars the last 10 years. The loss of thousands of lives and the resulting economic catastrophe since the invasion of Iraq and the current Afghanistan war have made millions of American sick and tired of America being the Big Police of the world.
****
My vote is only one vote but that one vote will join millions of votes to elect the next president of my adopted country. My fearless forecast is that Mitt Romney (a Mormon) will be the eventual GOP candidate, after months of serious challenges from several candidates, namely: Rick Santorum (a Catholic) and Newt Gingrich (a Catholic convert) and Ron Paul (my underdog favorite). Romney has many good ideas in business, economy and in tax reforms. Unfortunately, he is failing miserably to market himself well to many independents, the working class and the minorities, particularly the Latino voters (ironically he is also an American of Mexican descent) His record in business in making millions of money for himself and his investors is very exceptionally lucrative, but the question lingers: (and could be exploited by the Democrats) did his business success also enure to the common people especially the independents and minorities? Romney’s mantra of “More jobs, less debt, smaller government” resonates very well to the independents, business people as well as the so-called Reagan Democrats. If he can consolidate and unify the Republican base as he tries to go a little bit to the center, he will give Pres. Obama a tough fight this November.
On the other hand, re-electionist Barack Obama has done not- too-good-nor-too-bad a record (considering that the economy started to falter even before his assuming into office, and inherited US involvement in Iraq which many believe was a colossal blunder and in Afghanistan from Republican G.W. Bush) has a fair 50-50 chance to be reelected, provided that the unemployment will continue to go down, the interest rates remaining low and the coming home of American soldiers from abroad continues as planned. Some other factors are going in Obama’s favor: he has more money for his re-election campaign than any of his Republican opponents; the damage brought about by his administration’s birth-control-pills policy that infuriated faith based agencies, particularly the Catholic Church, happened early enough to rectify his political blunder; the successful annihilation of the “poster boys” of world terrorism namely Sadam Hussein and Osama bin Laden; the outster of Mubarak of Egypt in the Arab Spring and the expected fall of Assad of Syria and other despots and dictators in the world. Lastly, his choices of Cabinet members and appointments to the judiciary and military are also considered very good and quite inclusive in the American perspectives of culture and politics.
It will be a very interesting election year to follow and it will be a very close election unlike the landslide victory of Reagan over Carter in 1980. I challenge you, my readers, to follow the election drama and get involved in your own way as it will affect your future, especially if you are a living in this country that is seemingly losing its luster in the world the last several years.
---- 3 0 ----
Email writer: ernie.delfin@gmail.com or drbannatiran@yahoo.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)