It is nice to have dreams. A saying in Filipino is “Have dreams, they are free after all.” Ever since I was a child, I have been a dreamer–a daydreamer to be more precise. My classmates would find me staring afar. In those moments, I was not there; my mind was in a place I aim to be. Whether we call them aspirations or goals, they guide us where to go and what steps to undertake. They serve as our compass.
One financial “movement” that has clear cut goals was called F.I.R.E (Financial Independence, Retire Early). FIRE practitioners have the following goal: accumulate sum of money big enough so that you can live off the interests. They calculate it at roughly 4% annually. So if they have say 10 million (does not matter whether it is in dollars or other currency) in the bank, the 4% annual interest of that would be 400k.
It was simple, easy to understand and a clear goal.
I’m Not F.I.R.E
FIRE’s goal is nice. However, it is not for me. I take pride in building and owning things. So as long as I can support my monthly expenses, I hope to continue doing it until I am sick and tired of doing so. I do not have a set ultimate money amount in mind. What I do have though, are goals.
The ones I have listed below are more to my liking. There is something called “pride of ownership”, and I would like to own properties and businesses that generate a decent cashflow.
So, here are a few goals that I have thought off:
(1) To build and launch successful digital businesses. Whether they are SaaS, software or info products. The good thing about these kinds of businesses is that there are niches that are plentiful as long as you have the smarts to recognize them and pull off a software service that fits the market. You don’t have to be working in Silicon Valley or a first world country. You can be a humble guy in a humble country.
In fact, there is an inherent advantage by starting a business online as a Filipino. Your overhead’s going to be low. Having said that, my aim is to have digital businesses that cater to whoever needs them and it would not matter where they are physically.
(2) Real estate. I would like to grow my real estate portfolio. There are several ways I can do it:
- The immediate one is to double my portfolio. And once that is achieved, look to see if I can double it again..
- Own/build a commercial building. One of those mini buildings (3 to 6 story buildings) with businesses as tenants.
- Own/build apartments or townhouses.
- Own a gas station (or with the rise of electric vehicles, a charging station equivalent) in the future
(3) Income – I love working, and I can pursue this as a way to build my war chest of funds. But eventually I know I have to switch to businesses and assets instead of selling my time for money. For now, it is the quickest way to generate some good cashflow.
The goal is to make 500k/mo php. Eventually to earn 1M/mo php.
So there. Those are my goals. I’ll be talking about them in more detail in the next posts.
Until then, ciao!
