What value does a million hold?


Last week I talked about “Our obsession with Millionaires is Dangerous”. Today I want to look closer at the value of a million pesos today since everyone wants to become a millionaire, right?

If someone gave you a million pesos, what will you do with it? Aside from getting the title “millionaire” what else is there? Most of us just probably think of how to spend it than save or even grow it. But that is definitely easier said than done!

Careful financial planning is highly essential these days and take into account the long term purpose rather than short term success whether we like it or not. But that also doesn’t mean depriving yourself of life’s pleasures. If you still don’t agree with thinking long term, simply consider the existence of “inflation.” We experience inflation over and over again while our salaries or income may seldom increase plus we also have lifestyle habits.

What I will do with that amount is probably do a financial audit on myself then prioritize minimizing risks, so I’d get some insurance. Because I believe that health is wealth, I’ll also take care of that too.

One million can buy you socialized housing but that comes with qualifications so you really have no choice but to grow that million to let’s say five or ten million pesos unless one chooses to buy a lot in the province and build a house over time.

As you can see we are somewhat following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, so once you are able to secure your immediate needs, we can focus on growing that amount and not simply go shopping for all the “wants.” Have you heard of the saying “one-day millionaire”, well most of us by default fall into this category especially if we do not set financial goals and not enough self-control – we don’t want that.

Growing that million

* Business – one can start a part of that as start-up capital; pursue your passion (fashion accessories, food shop, café, exporter..etc..) or maybe go into social business enterprises that not only earns money but also helps the community.

* Franchising – if you don’t want to start from scratch, you can choose this but make sure the franchise cost is below 1 million; what you are paying for is the franchise fee and license for a specific number of years, you still need to have working capital!

* Money markets – stock market, forex, pooled fund, and let’s include VULs too

* Learning – the above have their own world of technicalities, you can start by investing in yourself; although there are free learning sessions out there, you may still end up spending for more specialized training before entering into business, franchising, and investing.

A million is not a big amount

When you think about it, one million pesos is really not that big when we look at the things we want to buy plus our needed spending, there are so many more life pressures that can eat out that million such as: children’s education, family support, hobbies and wants, lifestyle pressures of bucket lists & the like.

Whoever said that life in general or becoming a millionaire was easy? Don’t go broke trying to look rich!

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The writer is an RFP® - registered financial planner of RFP PH, Licensed Real Estate Broker and Director of CERTA, Inc., a family estate planning and investment advisory firm. To know more, please visit www.certa.ph

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Originally Published in Philstar - The Freeman Newspaper last October 18, 2016.
What value does a million hold? What value does a million hold? Reviewed by Vernon Joseph Go on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 Rating: 5

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