The following Feature Story is an edited excerpt from the best-selling book “Think Rich, Pinoy!” by Dr. Larry Gamboa.

Pinoys Are Thinking Poor

According to latest reports from National Statistics Office, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Philippines is widening, with the richest 10 percent of families raking in more than a third of the country's total income. This comes as no surprise when majority of Pinoys have the habit of thinking poor. Yes, you got it right, thinking poor is a habit.
This is what afflicts most Pinoys, the habit of thinking poor. They are not poor because the rich exploits them. That is a myth. They are poor because they have chosen to stay poor. It starts off as a mindset or an attitude. They want to be rich. Who doesn’t want that? Only they think there’s no road to riches and give up even before they start looking for ways of making money. That’s when the attitude becomes a habit. When they close their minds, they lock all doors of opportunity before them. And they stay poor, desperate and hopeless.
Let’s look at two common scenarios of a typical Pinoy family.

Ang Kuwento ni Pogi
Pogi is employed as a family driver. Before that, he worked in the Middle East and earned good money --- enough to buy his own little house in Bayanan and send his older kid through automotive school. But when the Middle East situation got too hot, he had to come home. Luckily for him, he got a job as a family driver.
Costs went up in the Philippines so his family of five had to make do with a lot less than what they had gotten used to spending when he was in Saudi. With some belt tightening, he managed to put his bunso (youngest child) through college. “Nakaraos din! It’s done!” he said with relief. He hoped his son would get a job soon and be able to help out. But, even for college graduates, job pickings were thin.
It was a hand-to-mouth existence. Every Saturday, Pogi was paid his weekly wages. Before it even warmed his pocket, his wife had already apportioned it. This much for food, this much for water, this much for electricity, and this much for transportation. After the basics were dealt with, he got a little allowance, barely enough for his fare to and from his boss’s house so that he could work for his next paycheck. If he got sick for a day, he lost that day’s wage and things just got tighter at home.
Pogi is beginning to feel his age now. Though only 50, he looks and acts like he’s 60. Pogi has grown weaker and more sickly and he wonders how long he can continue to drive. He dreads the day when he has to stop work because that will mean no more income. He expects to die destitute.

BJ’s Story
If BJ gives it any thought, he’ll probably consider himself better than Pogi. At least, he’s middle class – in fact, he’s upper middle class. Not quite in the stratosphere of the very rich, but surely up there in the top 10% of the population.
BJ graduated from De La Salle University, an exclusive school. He worked hard and went on to take his masters degree, after which he immediately landed a nice job with a multinational company.
It looked like he had made it. He had a stable job with a good company. He married his sweetheart and started a family. He was the envy of his peers.
BJ began his slow climb up the corporate ladder. With each promotion came a pay rise. Though he made more and more money, his pay increases barely kept up with inflation. As the kids came, his expenses grew and grew.
The rent he was paying was money down the drain. So he borrowed from the bank and bought a little dream house outside the plush Ayala Alabang. Not quite in the enclave of the very rich, but near enough for some of the luster to rub off on his village.
As the economy worsened, the payments seemed to grow heavier and heavier. He could barely make ends meet. His credit cards were filled to the brim. “Perhaps it would help if the wife went out and took a job,” he thought. “Or I could get a job abroad, make a big pile of money and retire comfortably here at home. I’d be able to pay off the cards and the mortgage on the house.”
In contemplating joining the great diaspora of Filipinos (Pinoys are in 200 countries and in every corner of the globe), BJ is no different from his peers who have discovered that there are few big ladders to climb in the Philippines.
Seven million Pinoys have gone abroad in search of bigger ladders to scale. But ladder climbers never reach the top. Somebody is already there --- the Owner. What they’ve done is exchange one rat race for another.
Whether here or abroad, BJ will likely find himself trapped. While he works, the money will come in month after month. But, month after month also, the bills, the credit card payments and the installments on the house, car and appliances come due. After all these are paid, BJ may find his wallet pretty thin. Sometimes, he’ll feel there’s more month than money. Heaven forbid that something should happen to BJ because, if he stops working, the money’s not going to come in.
And you know what’s startling about it? BJ and Pogi are in the same boat! No work, no money. If BJ stops work too soon, he may be unable to pay his debts and mortgages and may end up like Pogi --- facing a future of destitution.

Your Wake Up Call
If you see yourself in Pogi or BJ, you’re a subsistence worker, no better than a subsistence farmer or a subsistence fisherman. And this, my dear friend, is your wake up call!
But, you don’t need to down their path. You can be financially independent by deciding to get educated and inspired to take action toward financial freedom.

Larry Gamboa, Trace Trajano, and Bo Sanchez invites you to a full-day seminar/workshop (lunch and breaks included) on Financial Literacy, entitled Think Rich, Pinoy! Wealth Seminar on March 29, 2008, Saturday.

Q: For whom is the Think Rich, Pinoy! Wealth Seminar?

A: The seminar is both motivational and practical. It is targeted towards OFW professionals who have made substantial income but somehow still can't seem to get out of the trap of working day in and day out.

Q: What's the program?

A. In the first part of the seminar, Bo Sanchez debunks financial myths. Bo Sanchez is a preacher who has a heart for teaching financial literacy to the masses. He will share his perspective on wealth and spirituality. But more than that, he will also share his own tips on acquiring and accumulating wealth --- tips that he himself uses.

In the second part, Dr. Larry Gamboa will discuss his Seven Step plan for success in Real Estate Investing. This is a plan that can be applied by someone who has no experience at all in real estate. Within this plan, he will discuss practical techniques for acquiring and profiting from real estate deals. The main idea is, entering into the deal you should already know if you would make a profit or not. These techniques have been used and are must-haves in any investor's arsenal.

In the third part, Trace Trajano will discuss how to invest internationally and accelerate your accumulation of wealth.

The last part of the seminar is an interactive workshop teaching the basics of money management, accounting and investing through the highly-acclaimed game Cashflow 101.

We use the game to test the concepts learned and to give the participants a deeper insight into their beliefs and self-concepts towards the previously mentioned financial subjects. The game is a great tool for assessing your knowledge in accumulating wealth and teaching you financial literacy.

Hurry! Register Now!!!
To register contact Hansen Sy at 9230-5745 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Hurry! Limited seats only. Ticket price is at $200.

Visit www.ventajamanagement.blogspot.com for more details and promotional updates.