Manila, Philippines - A target number of 2000 individuals will be attending The Global Filipino Investors’ 4th big event, Financial Literacy Summit Manila 2018, this April 7 & 8 at the SMX Mall of Asia Convention Center, Pasay City. The summit will highlight the trends and innovative strategies on how to be successful in making investments, building an online business, entrepreneurship, and real estate through the 4 breakout sessions and more than 20 speakers who have made a big name in their respective industries.
The theme for this year’s event is“Financial Literacy Revolution”.
Financial literacy is important to be instilled in every Filipino because it does a lot of wonders in their lives. It gives them the power to understand their financial situation so that they can think critically and utilize money wisely. This is crucial to help people save enough to provide adequate income in retirement. How comfortable and secure it must be if every Filipino family is free from debt, insured, and can provide enough for their needs?
TGFI believes that this vision will become a reality.
Founded by a diverse and passionate group of Pinoy investors and entrepreneurs in the different parts of the world, The Global Filipino Investors is in a quest to break the endless cycle of Filipinos mismanaging their wealth or entering wrong investments due to the misgivings of a lack of proper financial education program in the country --- a consequence that often leads to broken dreams and broken families. Today, the group has over 200,000 community members (and growing) in more than 12 countries.
Day 1 of the summit will start with inspirational talks during the plenary session. In the breakout sessions, attendees are encouraged to design their own journey by choosing one track per day. Participants can choose between the Investment Revolution and Real Estate Revolution on the first day, and between Digital Revolution and Entrepreneurship Revolution on the last day. Each track consists of topics that will allow the participants to gain advanced knowledge on how to earn profitably and be successful in different industries.
Aside from the plenary and breakout sessions, there will be an area where participants can explore and interact with various businesses through more than 30 booths on display, so that they would apply what they learned from the sessions and bring them to the right place where they can invest without experiencing the high-pressure selling environment. There are prizes to be given away to lucky attendees as well.
For tickets and inquiries, you can visit the event website events.tgfiph.com or contact TGFI through these numbers 2188815/ 0949-889-2086/09568665399 and email address info@tgfi.co
TGFI STORY
After getting himself financially in troublspending 70% of his monthly salary for a luxury watch, finding himself bankrupt due to multiple credit card debts and more—Floi Wycoco, TGFI’s founder, capitalized on his unfortunate experience and found the inspiration to break the endless cycle of Filipinos mismanaging their wealth; preventing them from entering the wrong investments due to the lack of proper financial education programs in the country.
Floi Wycoco had 8 jobs before finding the career he always wanted. He was with several telecommunication companies and was also a manager at an insurance company prior to TGFI. Not only that, Floi was once one an Overseas Filipino Worker in Singapore where he worked for two years. During that time, Floi was living from paycheck to paycheck, working hard to earn a lot and spending all of it. Eventually, he found himself in deep amount of debt to the point of bankruptcy. Floi decided he needed a change in the way he lived his life.
In 2012, Floi shared his experiences and ideas with Magellan Fetalino and Dr. Khristian Santos. United by their advocacy, they started their own company and social media platform, The Global Filipino Investors, which initially had only around a thousand members.
For the past 5 years, the group has been advocating financial literacy through digital media and regular meet-ups among members in their respective country of residence. Communities have been formed in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Brunei, Greece, Australia, Manila, Cebu, to name a few. TGFI’s methods and advocacy gained the recognition of multiple business and financial organizations like COL Financial, different Philippine Embassies, AFFI, Money Summit, as well as media groups in the Philippines like ANC – On the Money and CNN Philippines.
Today, the group has over 90,000 members (and growing) and has formed communities in more than 10 countries. Barely 1% of the total population, their journey for a financially literate Philippines is just beginning.
Over the years, investing has been made more available to Filipinos. Through financial literacy seminars and Facebook groups focused on money matters, more people are taking interest in their finances. Take a quick look at personal finance blogs and Facebook groups and you will see that more of our kababayans are asking the important questions.
How can I start investing? What kind of insurance should I get? What are the best stocks to buy?
The Global Filipino Investors (TGFI) Facebook group is one of the best avenues to talk about money matters. From how to apply for a stock investing account to the basics of getting life insurance, the 55,000-strong community is more than willing to welcome anyone willing to learn – beginner and expert alike.
Moneymax.ph caught up with TGFI founder, Floi Wycoco, to share his story on why he started the TGFI Facebook group and TGFIWeb Academy and why he hopes every Filipino will start investing – one of his core pillars to being financially free.
Have you always been interested in personal finance?
No. When I was a fresh grad with my first job, I was an impulsive spender. The first thing I did with my first salary was to take my friends out and treat them all. On the next paycheck, I went to the casino and gambled everything. Instead of the Filipino tradition of giving a portion of my income to my parents, I kept everything to myself, and that mindset continued for the next five years, so no, during my younger years, I wasn’t into personal finance.
What changed your mindset?
One day when I checked my ATM, I saw that my balance was zero. Someone pretending to be a police even went to my home to collect payments for my credit card debt. It was then that I realized I needed to do something, so I decided to look for a job with a higher pay. That started my life as an OFW in Singapore. Sadly, my lifestyle continued. The first time I received my paycheck, I bought a Php 70,000 watch. The extravagant spending continued on for 6 months, and by that time, I racked up seven digits’ worth of credit card debt.
Then, I was invited to a financial literacy seminar, and that’s when I realized things needed to change. I’d been working for five years, but nothing was happening – walang direksyon buhay ko. Despite my six-figure salary, I was still in debt. My wedding was also in the following month. With the seminar, I realized I needed to start budgeting and investing.
The first step is education, and that’s when I realized I needed to share my stories sa mga kapwa kababayan.
How did you start investing?
BeforeI Istarted investing, I used a 5-step ladder system. This system helped me prepare for investing.
That continued during my stay in Singapore as an OFW, naging adik ako sa saving at investing. By age 25, I invested in mutual funds, stocks, and real estate. I didn’t do them all at once, but I went one by one. I started with Php 5,000 in each investment, and when my Php 5,000 started to grow, I started putting in Php 20,000 and then Php 30,000.
How are your investments today after five years?
My mutual funds have a 20% annual return on investment (ROI) while my stocks are in the 30-40% range for annual ROI.
How do you pick which and where to invest in? Do you have an investment strategy?
For beginners, my best advice would be to follow and master the 5-step ladder system. All those five steps teach you the importance of discipline when it comes to your money, and this discipline translates to dealing with your investments.
When you invest in stocks and the market drops, you won’t panic and sell your holdings in a snap. Because of the discipline you practiced when you were paying down debt or growing your emergency fund, you are emotionally and financially secure enough to wait it out until the market improves. Personally, when the market drops, I take the opportunity to buy more stocks at much lower prices.
Aside from the 5-step ladder process, do you practice any other strategies?Learning is very important to me, and this is one of the reasons why I started The Global Filipino Investors (TGFI) group.
If it weren’t for the seminar I attended, I probably would’ve never started improving my finances. The first step is education, and that’s when I realized I needed to share my stories sa mga kapwa kababayan. I searched for groups on stocks and investing, but the ones I found were centered on business and entrepreneurship. That’s when I started TGFI.
TGFI allows people to come in, ask questions, exchange ideas, and share their experiences. The members of the group include the country’s top personal finance professionals, so that adds a touch of reliability to the community. Aside from the Facebook group, there’s also the TGFIWeb Academy we produce webinars and seminars to reach more Filipinos.
What personal finance quote do you live by?
“It’s not about how much you earn, but how much you save.”
Final thoughts
The discipline you need in saving and budgeting trickles down to other areas in your life – investing included. You need discipline when you allocate a portion of your income to your investments, when you stay put when your investments lose value, and even when you feel the itch to withdraw your gains instead of waiting it out. We hope Floi’s story gives you the inspiration to start investing. If Floi was able to get out of seven-figure debt and invest, then any Filipino can find financial freedom as well.
Realizing the need to promote financial literacy in the Philippines, a group of young Filipino investors established The Global Filipino Investors (TGFI) through social media. TGFI aims to inspire a generation of financially savvy Filipinos. Our mission is to help Filipinos worldwide gain financial knowledge, understand available investment options for them to grow their money and achieve financial freedom.
We’re sparking a movement toward financial literacy, and we’d like to help the country’s economy by encouraging fellow Filipinos to invest. At the moment, TGFI holds seminars and webinars in various locations in and out of the country to spread the investment bug and maintains an active Facebook group to provide a forum for its members. Our TGFI Web site was launched to offer financial insights and share market information and analyses to Filipino investors.
