Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
Foreword
Once upon a time, Allan Inocente was buried in credit card debt.
I've met many people who never recovered from their "slavery" of debt. But Allan not only
rose from this slavery, he now is like Moses who everyday leads other slaves to financial
freedom.
Because this book contains the most important and most essential tools you need to start
your journey towards becoming Truly Rich.
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Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
“It addressed issues that I hadn't recognized in myself before and also it came just at a time when I
was starting up a business. Now I am always looking out for what I may be doing wrong and making sure
that this time around I am developing only rich money habits.”
- Lissa from Lusaka, Zambia
“I like best the idea to protect your money from its enemy, of course to include yourself. Also the idea to
invest early in life like planting a tiny seed to reap the fruits early, if you want to succeed financially.
Fantastic, this is a great idea I think every poor and struggling Filipino should be taught of. Had I
read your blogs early I should have protected my money retirement money. But its not too late anyway I got
the idea and applied it to myself and share it to others.”
- Eduardo from Malaybalay City
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Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
“Very personal, very simple from the heart lessons about finances!”
- Anna from Mandaluyong City
“Thought provoking!”
- Rod from General Santos City
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Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
The author has tried as far as humanly possible to make the information accurate as of the time of
its original publication. However, the information should be used only as a general guide and there’s
no guarantee that the information is free of typographical or content errors.
No part of this publication shall be reproduced, transmitted, or sold in whole or part in any form,
without the prior written consent of the author. All trademarks and registered trademarks appearing
in this book are the property of their respective owners.
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Dedication
To my wife, Anna.
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Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
Preface
It has been said that we are creatures of habit. Some money habits make us poor, while others
make us rich. The key to being rich is knowing which is which. And the goal of this book is to help
you get started in recognizing those money habits so you can achieve your dream of financial
freedom.
Rich Money Habits was born out of my desire to help people take control of their own money habits.
It starts with recognizing that years and years of “poor” money habits programming cannot be
undone overnight. It takes constant exposure to rich financial habits, making your own financial
mistakes, and having the courage to take action in spite of financial failures.
The book is based on the popular article series titled "Rich Money Habits 101 - 8 Ways to Shift Your
Money Habits and Be Rich". The book reveals the 8 secret money habits that have personally
helped me get out of debt, build an emergency fund, and allowed me to start investing for me and
my family's future.
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Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
Allan Inocente is the owner of Rich Money Habits by akosiallan.com blog. In spite of working as an
IT programmer for a credit card company for a good number of years, he still got burned in credit
card debt. The experience opened his eyes to his own poor money habits and lived to tell how he
was able to pay off the debt and get started learning better money habits in his journey to financial
freedom. He graduated with Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering at the University of the
Philippines Diliman.
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Table of Contents
Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich
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To be rich, you must believe in your heart that you want it so much, you will do anything to be rich.
You need to decide to be rich. Once you decide, the responsibility falls on you and there's no turning
back. Your mind will force itself to look for ways to make whatever you decided happen. It will seem
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like a new world is opening before your eyes, fortunate events happen unexpectedly to deliver what
you asked for.
Another good friend of mine, Eden April Alemania-Dayrit is a young lady, who is already a multi-
millionaire, having bought and sold more than a dozen houses through rent-to-own schemes. She's
been featured in TV, got invited to share her knowledge by speaking at the Money Summit Seminar,
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and now keeps herself busy mentoring other people through her Real-Estate Local Coaching
Program. And she has not even reached 30!Her goal is to create 1 million millionaires by 2020. Do
you think she can make it happen? You bet she'll make it happen.
Lastly, I would also like to mention my good friend Jomar Hilario. He is widely known as the internet-
marketing consultant of Bo Sanchez, who holds his own Internet Marketing Workshops in Manila
and Cebu as well as offering his 1-Year Online Mentoring Club. He got started into internet
marketing when he helped Bo Sanchez promote the Jars of Clay concert in Manila within 30 days
while still working full-time as an IT manager for a multinational consulting firm in the country. When
recession struck just a couple of years ago, the multinational company he was working for had to let
go of people, Jomar was one of them. Instead of being saddened by the event, he actually
celebrated it, because it allowed him to focus on his business full-time.
These are just three people making waves, making something happen in their lives, and getting
richer and richer everyday. They are people just like you and me. The only difference is that they
decided to be rich and make it happen.
Next, you'll learn the first rich money habit in your journey to financial freedom - Pay Your Self First!
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When I was a kid, I used to have this small piggy bank given to me by my parents. Whenever I get a
perfect score in school, I get PhP 1 as reward. It was fun getting an award every now and then. At
some point, I realized I was already getting better at school because my piggy bank was almost full
with coins. Saving money was a lot simpler then. And I was even keeping all the money I saved, not
just a part of it.
Unfortunately, that simple lesson didn't stay with me for very long.
When I started earning money from my very first job, all the money I earned, I just spent them away.
I spent it so quickly a few days after my paycheck arrived, I was already looking forward to the next
pay day. It didn't cross my mind that I was living a dangerous lifestyle which was made even worse
by the new credit card that arrived in the mail.
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It was really frustrating. You're working very hard to earn money. You look at your payslip and you
find out that a huge chunk of your paycheck is taken away as taxes. After all the deductions, you are
left with very little money you're supposed to stretch to pay for your credit card debts and your basic
needs.
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Start Small
What worked for me, and worked so well, was enrolling into an automatic savings plan in our
company. One day after getting really frustrated with my "lack of discipline", I went ahead and
enrolled into the automatic savings plan. I initially chose the smallest percentage possible (i.e. 2%)
to be the deducted from my paycheck and transferred into my savings account every month. Even
though that amount seems small right now, at that time, it was really a big deal. I felt that 2% of my
already very little money was being taken away from me.
At first, it was hard to let go of the idea that the small amount that I was earning was still being
reduced. Later on, I realized that I can actually live with the 98% without sacrificing a lot of things.
Most importantly, it gave me confidence that I CAN actually save money. That realization was a big
thing because it gave me the courage to face the world with head held high knowing that I have
money saved somewhere, even if it is only a small amount.
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Gain Confidence
Encouraged by the results, I increased my savings percentage to 5% of my paycheck. At that time,
going from 2% to 5% was a big deal. The extra 3% was a huge deduction from whatever I can
spend. I knew I needed to be watchful of how I spend my money if I ever want to make it work.
For example, I used to pay fees when withdrawing money from a different bank. Because my life
seemed to be always in constant emergency, I always fell into the trap of having to withdraw the
money right away and be forced to withdraw it from a different bank and incur an ATM
interconnection fee. The fee is small but when you take into account how many times I had to pay
the fee, it really becomes significant.
After a few months, I increased my savings again to 10% of my paycheck. At this point, I was really
enjoying seeing my savings continually grow every month. After a year, I got promoted.
Consequently, my salary increased much higher. As a result, I felt confident enough to increase my
savings allocation even further to the maximum percentage allowed, which was at 20%. It was really
a stretch for me at that time, but seeing how my money was growing every month was a source of
inspiration for me.
Make it automatic
The great thing about making this process automatic was that it takes away the decision making
from my hands (at least after I've set it up). Before, I had to always remind myself to have the
discipline to save and not touch it. Now, all I do is choose the percentage and forget about it. More
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importantly, getting my hands into that money had a certain inconvenience attached to it. To
withdraw, I had to go through all the trouble of going to the cashier's office (which was open only for
specific hours two times a week), fill-up the form, wait for it to be processed and receive the amount.
The inconvenience was enough for me to just decide to leave the money there.
When I resigned from that company a few years after, the money I got from that automatic savings
plan was able to help me out when I transitioned to a job overseas. Some of it was also used as
initial budget in preparation for me and my wife's wedding.
Looking back, these blessings would not have been possible if not for that first step to decide saving
just 2% of what I earn. The good news is that you too can save. Start small. Take baby steps. Build
that confidence. Set it up and forget about it. And soon, you just might be surprised how BIG it would
have grown.
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Did you know that Billionaire Donald Trump has once owed millions of dollars? One day when he
passed by a beggar on the street, he realized that the beggar (which had zero net worth) was richer
than him (negative million dollars in net worth). That realization fueled his desire to pay off his debts.
The experience gave him the confidence to be able to build his billion dollar empire today.
While I have run into debts myself, it has certainly not reached millions yet. But just the same, the
experience has made me realize one thing. Getting into debt is easy, but paying for it is really, really
hard.
I've read it somewhere that when you realize you've dug your self a big hole (e.g. huge credit card
debts), the first thing you need to do is to STOP digging (in my case, to stop using my credit card,
period.) I wish I could say I stopped immediately upon realizing this. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the
case.
It took me quite some time to finally decide to stop using my credit card. Month after month, I would
find myself in front of the ATM doing another cash advance to have the money to pay for rent. Until
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one day, I decided enough is enough. The stress of dealing with the credit
card debt was killing me. I decided to stop using my credit card and finally
pay off my debts no matter what it takes.
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Did you know that the newly passed Credit Card law in the U.S. requires
issuers to disclose how many months/years it would take to pay off the
entire balance if you pay only the minimum? The answer in most cases, is
a long, long time. This is not surprising. If you pay only the minimum,
most of it will be just enough to pay off the interest and a little bit to pay
off some of your balance. It is to your advantage then to pay more than
the minimum each month, so that whatever is left is used to reduce more
of your balance, not just interest.
Earn more money
Another way to pay for your debt is to look for any "sideline" business or odd jobs that will earn you
extra money. Then use that extra money to pay more off your balance. When I was in debt, I tried
doing some programming projects for friends. I even entered the world of network marketing, tried
selling wellness products and failed miserably. I remember that my only "downlines" (a term
indicating those you've recruited into the business) was my mother, my aunt, and a few of my
friends. While my ventures were not big successes, the extra money I earned certainly strengthened
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More importantly, give yourself a big pat in the back! You deserve it. Congratulations! Go celebrate
and stay debt free.
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Reducing your expenses has its place. It allows you to have the discipline to focus on the things that
really matter to you. It's maximizing the resources that you have. But it does have its limit. At some
point you can no longer reduce your expenses without sacrificing
your own health and being.
Increasing your income, on the other hand, has limitless potential.
However, it is not always as surefire as many people think. A lot of
people are still struggling to make money. Jobless rates in the US is
at an all-time highs. In the Philippines, we all know that a lot of
people are struggling even to put food on their table. I don't want to
sound cruel, but the reality is not many people know how to create
their own money.
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I shared the story to you for two reasons. First, when I first read the story, I remembered how it felt
playing as a child like. As a child, me and my friends had our own little world. There were no
inhibitions. There were no restrictions. There were no limiting beliefs. Second, just like Robert and
Mike, I learned printing your own money isn't as easy as it seems. As a child, all I really knew about
making money was growing my own vegetables, raising goats and pigs and doing odd jobs like
cleaning our neighbor's house and occasionally helping my mom to harvest tobacco leaves at a
nearby town while enduring the excruciating heat of the sun.
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There were odd jobs I got into while studying in the university to help out my parents pay for my
school expenses. One was a fingerprint-identification project and the other a security system. It
seems more technical than it sounds but actually it is just some programming work I did which was
related to what I was doing in school anyway. It didn't pay much but it was a start.
My very first real job is as a Mainframe COBOL programmer from a multinational IT company. At that
time they offered me PhP16,000 as an entry-level programmer. It was a BIG amount for me then
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considering I was fresh out of College. I enjoyed it so much especially when after one month, the
company did some restructuring and I ended up having a PhP1,000 increase. Coming from earning
a few bucks here and there to thousands of pesos was a big leap for me.
I was so grateful with the opportunity, I decided early on that I would work hard at my job. I could say
it paid off quite handsomely since I got promoted almost every year, but it didn't exactly start out that
way. During my first few years, I was content in doing a good job
and just keeping everything to myself. There was a certain pride “In creating your own
in my mind thinking that if what I did was good enough, my boss
money, it is very
would somehow find out about it one way or another. At first it
worked out fine, but later on I started to wonder how come some important to stay true to
of my colleagues who I thought was not so strong technically was your virtues. When you
getting ahead while I was stuck where I was. That year I didn't get fail, get up. When in
promoted. I was adamant. I was frustrated. I felt I should be the doubt, surge forward.
one getting the promotion. That's when I realized I needed to When you're afraid, feel
become bigger if I ever want to get to the next level.
the fear but do it anyway.
One of the most common feedback you will get when you work in For when you start
the corporate world is the issue of "visibility". In the simplest of something, the universe
terms, it means, when no one knows you or what you are capable will conspire to give you
of, getting a promotion will be very hard. The book The Magic of what you want.”
Thinking Big by David Schwartz was a big help in this area. If
you haven't read the book I suggest you start skimming
through it. It is while reading the book that I realized
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doing a good job is NOT only about completing a task. Being good in a job has a lot to do with
selling as well. You have to sell yourself every single day. You have to show your boss that you are a
valuable part of your team. You have to sell your ideas to your team mates. You have to show them
you really care. Be more proactive in sharing your ideas during meetings. You don't have to be
"proud" to make your point but you do have to speak up when you have something valuable to say.
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something. That was big for me. I realized I can actually sell.
I then told my friends I was selling VCDs of their favorite shows and my business started to boom.
Then an unexpected event happened. I receive an order from someone I didn't know. The order was
more than I have ever handled before. Overcome with greed, I accepted it. I bought the shows he
wanted from my supplier and waited in our meeting place. A few more hours and it started to dawn
on me, I was scammed. It felt like a big drum of cold water just flushed me into the toilet. I lost some
money.
That experience proved to be a turning point in my business. While I was able to make the money
back in some other ways, I realized I was sacrificing too much of my time making the business work.
I was the marketing guy. I was the delivery boy. I was the accountant. I was everything. To top it all,
my business was not even legal. I had to stop. I told all my contacts that I was no longer in the
business. It was painful. But it was all worth it. In the end, I felt better knowing that I could never live
with myself knowing that I was making money in the expense of someone else.
While I am not particularly proud of that business, I did learn a lot of things from the experience that
has served me well up to this day. The most important of which, is being true to your values, being
honest with the people you meet, and doing business legally and ethically.
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What does all the above have to do in making your own money? A lot I would say. In creating your
own money, it is very important to stay true to your virtues. When you fail, get up. When in doubt,
surge forward. When you're afraid, feel the fear but do it anyway. For when you start something, the
universe will conspire to give you what you want.
Once you start making money, you begin to realize that there's
more to it than what you initially expect. You can now buy
whatever you want. You can get that phone you've been dreaming
for months. You can now have that new car or house. With having
more money comes the dilemma of having to keep more of it, and
learning how to make it grow. You have to constantly worry about
whether spending your money is the best thing you can do to
achieve your financial goals.
A Typical Filipino Tale of Financial (Mis)Fortune
How to invest your money without falling into a scam? A lot of overseas filipino workers (OFWs) face
this dilemma more often than most people. I know because I was once an OFW. But this is not my
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looking to take your money away from you. Some are pure scoundrels that you have to avoid at all
costs. Some are well meaning relatives that offer you financial advice when they themselves cannot
even take care of their own money. Some simply just want to have a say on how you should invest
your own money.
You see, having money is not always the answer. You have to put in the time and effort to learn and
become better financially, starting with small things you can control. Why do you think a lot of lottery
winners end up poorer a few years after winning the jackpot? It’s because they haven't paid the
price of learning how to do it right.
3 Ways To Protect Your Money and Keep More of It
So how exactly do you protect your money? Here are three things to help you get started.
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When you have these 3 things under your belt, you will start to gain confidence and be more
comfortable about money. You will have the courage to take more challenging opportunities to grow
your money.
When you get to this point, don't stop. Take more baby steps. Make more money and continue to
save more. With the extra money you save, you can start learning to invest slowly but surely. Build a
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business. Invest in stocks, bonds or real-estate. You never know, one day you just might surprise
yourself how far you have gone.
When I was a kid I had this fascination of growing plants. Only later did I realize that growing your
plants is a lot like growing your own money.
One day during my childhood days as I was playing in our backyard, I noticed a corn seed by the
side. While looking at the corn seed, I saw another small corn plant beside it. I realized that from that
one seed a fully grown corn plant can bear fruit and produce hundreds more.
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Just like growing your plant, you have to take care of it. You have to cultivate it so that it sprouts and
becomes healthy. You have to let sunlight and water nurture it everyday.
You have to treat your money the same way you grow your plants. You start with only a small
amount from your savings each month. Then as it grows, you protect it from unnecessary spending.
Everyday, you continue to save your money until it grows.
Growing your money takes quite a bit of time. You need time to have your money work for you
through your investments. Otherwise, what you might call as investments are actually gambles you
are hoping would turn into a jackpot the next day.
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My wife and I also dabbled into private lending for a real-estate investment. We got lucky in that we
did business with a very trustworthy investment partner. In just 4 months, we already earned 4% of
the money on top of the capital. And we didn't have to do anything for it. It's all passive income.
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Make no mistake. I don't claim to be good at investing. Like you, I'm still just learning. Suffice it to
say, I've gotten very lucky so far.
Try something. Try anything. But only with money you can lose. When you lose, as they say,
charge it to "experience". Consider it as your tuition fee in your continuing financial education.
Take action. Learn everything you can, but know when to stop analyzing and get in the act of
doing. Only when you act will you get the feedback you need to know if what you're doing is working
or not.
Be patient. Life is not a soap opera. Your money may not earn anything substantial for quite
some time. If you need money RIGHT NOW, don't invest. Earn more! See Rich Money Habit #3.
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Be warned though. Once people know you have money to invest, all kinds of people will want to get
a piece of it. Some with not so good intentions.
One time, I was asked by a new friend for a short term loan (1 week) and promised a 3% interest on
the loan so she can fulfill the demand on her business. Reluctantly, I discussed the deal with my wife
and we ended up lending her the money thinking it's relatively safe since it's only for a week. At the
same time, since we got to know her through friends we were comfortable with, we thought it would
at least lessen the risk. Luckily, we did get our money back and the interest. But not without its
moments of doubts.
Later on, I realized that some of our friends also invested in her business and unfortunately they
didn't get their money back. Worse, they even asked some of their friends to invest too. Now both
their money and their business partners are nowhere in sight. The same thing could have happened
to us. We were very lucky indeed.
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There's only one investment that cannot be taken away from you --- your investment on yourself.
Your money can be taken away. Your house can be taken away. Your car can be taken away. But
anything you invest in yourself stays with you forever.
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Now, let me ask you. Were your thoughts generally positive or negative? Do you find yourself
complaining? Is your work stressful? Did you watch the news on TV? What thoughts ran through
your mind as you were watching?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, isn't it any wonder you are feeling tired? Your mind is
feeding off negative thoughts from bad news on TV, work complaints from other colleagues (and
may be even from you), and unhelpful ideas of self-pity or insecurities cropping through your mind.
What does it have to do with money, you say? If you want to make money, you have to feed your
mind with good ideas about money. There's a reason why the rich openly discuss about money
while the poor seem to be ashamed of it (for fear of being labelled as a drug-dealer, crooked
politician, a rich but evil TV show villain, or what have you.) Plant good seeds into your mind.
Cultivate it. Allow it to grow. Someday, those seeds will bear fruit. And money will come running
through your door.
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Do something. Do anything that interests you. One of my favorite subjects in College has to do
with building your own computer using only wires and computer chips. I like computer programming
because I can try anything just to see if it works. If it doesn't work, I can try again...and again until it
works. It's ironic that in school and at work, you are expected to know the correct answer right away.
They say, the goal is to get it right the first time. I'm not sure if it's only me but I learn better when I
try something and it fails. It makes me think of other ways to make it work.
Meet other like minded people. The old saying goes "tell me who your friends are and I will tell
you who you are." The basic assumption is that you are similar with the people you spend your most
time with. This is particularly interesting because it applies to money as well. They say, the amount
of money you earn is the average of the money earned by the 5 people you are spending the most
of your time with. How about in your case? Do you think it is accurate?
Expand your imagination. Nurture yourself with new experiences that you enjoy. Go on
vacation. Go somewhere you've never been to. Do something you've never done before. Get a
chance to meet people you've never met. By enjoying your present, you allow yourself to feel the
abundance that the world has to offer. Enjoy the moment. Relax.
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Learn something new everyday, however small or trivial it may seem. Your education does not
stop after your graduation. It is only the beginning. Take small baby steps. First, you can develop the
habits to manage your own money. Next, you can start saving. Then you can build an emergency
fund. And then, you can move on to bigger things like learning how to build a business or investing
in the stock market or real-estate. Each step, however small, entails a conscious effort on your part
to learn. Keep in mind that big things always start from small beginnings.
Anything worth doing is worth doing bad...at the start. Start investing in yourself today. You may feel
awkward. You may feel unmotivated. You may feel discouraged. But keep it on. Take all the
emotions you're feeling and use them to move you into action. For if there's no action, there's no
growth. Without growth, there's no financial success. As Harv T. Eker said, "your money can only
grow up to the extent that you do"
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like a good friend will do. Go out of your way to give it to him. And soon, your customer will consider
you his friend, and be a customer for life.
When you start to open up, you will feel like everybody is a little bit easier to work with. Your
colleagues don't seem to be as bad you thought they would be. It would seem like everyone is doing
a great job.
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During christmas raffles, I'd almost always win some. It is really weird and it's hard to explain. Even
when I went to Malaysia to work as an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker), I'd often win in raffles in our
office events.
I haven't won any BIG ticket items like a round trip ticket out of the country or something like that.
But still, winning a bag of grocery or a box of chocolate without really working hard to get it is really
something. It is a gift from my greatest ally.
Feeling even more lucky
When I graduated from grade school, one of the more challenging obstacles I've had to face is to
qualify to a nearby university's Science High School program. It's where the creme of the crop of
graduating grade school students all go to. In order to get in, you have to pass the Entrance Exam
--- a two-fold exam where the first trims down the number of examiners to about a thousand (which I
passed, thankfully). And the last is to further trim it down to only around 30 - 40 students.
I can still remember how excited I was while shading through the answer sheet of the 2nd part of the
entrance exam. I lost track of time. Suddenly, I looked up at the clock and saw it's only about 5
minutes to go before the time is up. I decided to just randomly shade the answers to the remaining
50+ questions. I just guessed all of them. I didn't read the questions. I just shaded what felt right.
After that, I didn't know if I was going to pass or not...But months after, I got the shock of my life. Not
only did I pass --- I topped the entrance exam!
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You can just imagine the delight in my eyes and the proud smiles in my parents faces after they
heard the good news. I was nursing a chicken pox that time, but I gathered all my strength to go to
the university to check out if the news was really true. And there it was, I was #1 on the list of those
who passed. Little did they know, I just guessed some of the answers. Perhaps the gods must have
smiled at me that day. I don't know how it happened, but it did. And it changed my life.
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Epilogue
You’ve just completed reading through all 8 Rich Money Habits! Congratulations! Your journey to
financial freedom has now officially started. Now, it's time to take action!
Go and dare to dream again. Take small baby steps. And live your dreams!
As my way of thanking you for getting this far and to help kick start your journey to financial freedom,
here’s my special gifts for you.
Acknowledgement
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I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the following for making this book a reality.
To God, to whom all good things come from --- my greatest ally.
To my wife Anna Marie Villena-Inocente, who has been my great source of tremendous support
and inspiration. Thank you "bi" for your love and patience. Without your artistic skills, this book
would not have been possible.
To readers of my Rich Money Habits blog who continuously give me the courage to pursue this
financial journey even when I'm almost about to give up. Your kind words and encouragement is my
source of strength. Thank you for your continued support.
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Rich Money Habits - 8 Ways to Shift Your Money Habits and Be Rich .
To Bo Sanchez for writing the Foreword to this ebook without any hesitation, in spite of his very
busy schedule. You are a great blessing in this world we live in. May God bless you even more.
To the many inspiring authors I've never met but have learned a lot from through their books,
thank you for inspiring me to start my own journey.
...and lastly, to YOU, holding this book right now. Thank you for investing in this book. May this
book guide you in your own financial journey as you continue in your path to financial freedom. Go
and bless the world!
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