Financial Planning (Action Plan portion)

I would like to share my Financial Action Plan which I carefully and painstakingly thought of! It is actually easy to think of any action plan but the challenge is how to execute and make them happen.I really do hope that these would become reality, but it is really up to me to turn these plans into reality. Wish me luck!

ACTION PLAN

INCREASE INCOME

1. Perform beyond expectations at work to receive better performance bonus and annual salary increases

2. Aim to be promoted for the next 2 years

3. Enhance skills on interest areas which can be a source of additional income:

a. Photography

b. Travel (as agent or organizer)

c. Events host/emcee

DECREASE LIVING EXPENSES

1. Make use of public transportation instead of own car to reduce fuel expenses

DECREASE INDEBTEDNESS

1. Stop taking advantage of installment offers from Credit Card companies

2. Limit credit card owned to 2 only.

3. Stop negative spending (spending before payday comes)

PROPOSED OPTIONS

REFERRALS/RECOMMENDED TRAINING

n/a

SETTING YOUR GOALS (Short & Long Term)

Be on a senior management role in 2 years time

Complete MBA by end of 2015

Have zero credit card debts bty end of 2014

Maintain savings worth at least 6 months of salary within 3-4 years time

Reflection - The Smartest Guys in the Room

The movie The Smartest Guys in the Room is a perfect way to show how intelligence, a God given gift, can be used to harm many. Enron was one of the most admired and looked up Organizations during its time. So many dreams were built around it not just by its owners, but also employees and investors. It started from humble beginnings and rose up with the extravagant aspirations of its owners and executives. It has reached its peak and enjoyed so many financial rewards until one day everything went away. Enron collapsed.

It was considered as one of USA's controversial corporate scandals in the history and has drawn so much attention even from the Government. After all the financial successes of Enron, it appeared that everything was orchestrated and made out of anomalies. Enron was no longer profiting as a business but the executives did not show this to the stakeholders but hid the truth by manipulating financial data and reports. What's worse is that during the time that the Company is about to fall and prices of stocks are still high, they were the first to cash in their stocks. When everything was exposed and Enron has declared bankruptcy, the rest of the stakeholders were left with nothing. Stock prices plunged to its lowest, investors lost their investments, employees lost their jobs, and worse those who have given their loyalty and half of their lives serving Enron was left with very little to zero pension fund. 

Being a leader in an Organization is a calling and the talent we use to run a business is a gift. That being said, everything that we do must be for the benefit of the many. I believe that the personalities behind Enron are gifted. They had the vision and the influence to make people's lives better. However, this gift was not utilized well when Enron started to become successful. The top level executives were consumed by greed for money and totally forgot their purpose and the purpose of Enron to the society which led to the fall of the Company and many dreams being shattered. 

There are so many things that can be learned from Enron. I believe as Business Leaders, it is a must that we uphold integrity and always bear in mind the common good. Earning so much many will make a huge difference in one's life. However, I don't think wealth will be meaningful if one cannot sleep peacefully because of so many anomalies and destroying so many dreams because of a wrong doing. It is still better to live a simple life knowing that you were able to do things rightfully and you were able to make use of your gifts for the betterment of those who work with you.

Vocation of a Business Leader

The workplace has become a very dynamic arena where one is able to interact, influence others, and make a difference. Business leaders play a vital part in running the businesses to meet the set objectives, which he/she is held liable. When I say Business Leaders, we don’t just mean those on the key positions such as those on the C level. All of us who lead a portion of an Organization is called a Business Leader. Often times, we, the Business Leaders, are so focused in attaining our primary business goal – financial success.

The article Vocation of the Business Leader helps us focus on a more important goal – common good. The article tells us to rethink how we do things at work. A key take away for me after reading the article first is to balance decisions between the business and people. We somehow disregard how others would feel about a business decision or how they would take it. It’s a business decision, period. Taking into consideration the people side will let a business leader manifest respect for people’s feelings, welfare, and dignity. As leaders we should also provide a workplace that will unleash the best of each employee. Empower them, teach them, equip and develop them. Encourage work-life balance by equally distributing work load. Make fair and humane decisions. Provide constructive feedback and never personally attack an offending employee if ever they commit any violation or any action against a company’s policy.

External factors must be considered also when making decisions. A product may be profitable but would it harm the environment? How will it impact the community where it was produced and will be used?

Last but not the least, we should be guided by our conscience when making decisions wherever we are. Regardless of our position, we should be guided by our conscience and regularly consult Him for whatever decisions we make at work.

Reflection - Pat Gelsinger's Video

How does the average person cope with commitments to God and family compared to others who are far more capable or talented?  Don’t average people need to work even harder to be great employees, making achieving balance impossible for the average person?

Balancing between work life, personal, and spiritual lives is challenging I would say. It is not easy to divide one’s time given a hectic schedule at work and at the same time attending to your personal responsibilities and obligations at home, in the community and to God. An average person, if I may define it, is someone who works 8 hours in a day, 5 days a week, gets paid for work done, someone who meets business expectations – the typical person you see coming in and out of an office building. In an organization you would have average Joes and Superstars. Superstars are those who are regarded as talented and have proven their capability on their professions. In my 10 years of professional life, I have proven myself that one does not necessarily need to be talented, intelligent, or even more capable than average employees in order to strike a balance between work and personal. I have seen a number of successful individuals who are successful on their career, yet had failed marriages. I’ll probably cite a former colleague as an example. I admire him for being intelligent and passionate on what he does. I cannot say anything about his commitment to work, and how he pushes everyone to succeed on his or her own capacity. In fact, I owe him a lot for helping me grow professionally from a Senior Supervisor to a Manager and for getting the experience of handling almost all functions within the Company. He is an achiever ever since. He graduated with honors and even pursued higher studies. He held key positions and had impressive credentials. In fact, he had established several Companies and Business Units in the past. Something an average person will not be able to do easily. Despite of his successes, he had a lonely personal life. He married and had 2 wonderful children. After some years, he and his wife decided to part ways primarily because of his busy schedule. He was on the peak of his career when he got married. He goes home to his family after office but continues to work at home. He cannot stop working because of his responsibilities and the demands of the Company. This started a regular fight between him and his wife. His wife constantly tells him that she envies his work laptop because it seems he spends more time on it rather than with the family. He constantly explains that he needs to do it for them and it is the nature of his job. After a while, both decided to separate to avoid worsening their situation.

Work life balance, for me, is a matter of choice and does not necessitate and amount of talent, capability, or greatness. You may be successful in your career, just like the example cited above, but may have difficulty juggling time with family, community, at times, God. On the other hand, an average person may not be that successful or may not hold a key position, but had made a commitment to devote time to their family after office hours and during weekends. Before, when I was starting to see a progression on my career, I believed that there is no such thing as work life balance. You need to make a choice between the two. I used to drown myself at work and spend more than 12 hours in the office and sometimes give up my rest days and leaves to finish some deliverables. I literally go home only to sleep, bathe, and change clothes. I believed that I needed to do it for me to progress quickly and for me to succeed. I am happy that what ever I did before paid off. I am on a Managerial position at the age of 25. I was happy and fulfilled not only because I was successful but I served as an inspiration to others. Years passed by and there is one instance when I had a realization – I was not happy, something is lacking. All I do is work, nothing else. Probably I came to the point that I wanted do other things apart from working. Maybe I have burned my self out already, as I felt quite exhausted. So I thought about things and had a realization – THERE IS LIFE OUTSIDE WORK. From then on I made a choice and a commitment to myself. I need to make time for myself, for my loved ones, for my community and God if there is an opportunity. After that realization, I decided to engage myself in Photography. I enrolled in a short course and applied what ever I learned every time I travel which I also regularly do. I started running too to get into a better shape. I committed myself to this activity so I can force myself to get off from work on time. And to my surprise, running is a great stress reliever! Lastly, I decided to pursue MBA which was my goal when I graduated from College. I told myself I need to pursue this now. It’s long overdue! In fact I had enrolled myself for a Masters degree in UPLB back in 2005. After earning 21 units, I decided to postpone it because of the demands of my job back then. 

At the moment I would say that I am still at the height of my career, though this time around I tend to take things lightly and easily. As much as possible, I go home after rendering 8 hours of work and extend only if there is an urgent need.  I still see to it that I make time for myself, see my loved ones every weekend, and go out with my friends every now and then. Hopefully, later on, I can find time to engage on activities to give back to the community and to God.

How do you know if you are in the right profession?  Could the struggle be because you are doing the wrong thing?

For me, the indicator that you are in the right profession is that you find happiness and fulfillment in what you do no matter how difficult and repetitive it is. Finding one’s right profession is not easy. Sometimes, you have to jump ship and shift careers several time to find the right profession. When I got out of College back in 2003, I had a dilemma. I do not know exactly what job I wanted. I tried my luck with several companies. I thought I am the person who will thrive working alone and doing pure desk job. After 5 months of job-hunting, I landed on an Analyst post for a fast food chain. I was excited because I will be part of a well-known Company. After 2 months I decided to quit. I was not happy because of the nature of the job. It’s not my cup of tea, I told myself. So I moved on and landed on another Analyst job in one of the largest local Banks in the country. After 7 months, I again decided to quit due to several factors – I do not see myself growing with the type of job I had, I do not like my boss and the way feedback is provided, and compensation is too low that I cannot save up for my future studies. Since my ultimate goal then was to go back to the Academe and purse graduate studies after 2 years of graduating from College, I decided to get my self a job that will pay well and allow me to save up. I turned to the Call Center Industry which is known for giving above standard salary. I didn’t mind of the fact that I will not be able to apply what I learned in College and the fact that I will be performing the same job that is done by some people who never finished half of their collegiate studies. Initially, my goal is to stay only for 6 months to 1 year at most. Once I have enough savings, I will quit and study. Months passed by and I realized that the job was not easy. You wake up at 12 am and travel to the office when everyone else at home is sleeping. You talk on the phone day in day out. You get cursed as if you are a slave bought by those people calling. I get praises, commendations, and appreciations from callers who were satisfied on the service I provided them. I worked in a team and made new friends.  I get paid well and I am able to save up. Overall, I was happy and satisfied. I suddenly forgot of my objective of staying only for 6 months to at most a year. After 6 months, I got a promotion from Tier 1 to Tier 2 representative. After a month, I got a promotion again. This time around I was given the opportunity to supervise a team. I started managing people. A lot of challenges came along. A number of agents under my Supervision had to go due to a number of reasons (performance, attendance, etc.). After a while I was able to stabilize my team. I was able to develop each one of them to be proficient and passionate on what they do. I helped them progress and become better individuals. They succeeded as a team and received awards and citations from the Management. I was again happy and found fulfillment on what I do. So I continued on this line of work and up until now I am still a people manager.

Every time I look back and recall my fresh grad days, I cannot avoid but think that I was able to prove myself wrong. I am not for a job that will limit me to working alone and doing pure analytical work day in, day out. I later on realized that I needed to work in a team and handle people eventually. Maybe my calling is to manage people and help them become better professionals. The 1^st year of my professional is a struggle mainly because I was on the process of finding the right profession. I tried venturing in to my ideals but failed, only to find out later on that the track that I thought was not for me is actually the one that is meant for me.

Photo sources:

http://www.ncacpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WorkLifeBalance_blog.jpg

http://planyourmeetings.com/wp-content/uploads/Work-Life-Balance-Sign-post-by-Stuart-Miles.jpg

Reflection on the Life of St. John Baptist De La Salle

St. John Baptiste De La Salle, as a Saint, was totally unfamiliar to me until I watched the movie Who Are My Own. He was indeed a great person and he stood by his mission and belief despite of numerous criticism and challenges. What is more admirable about is that we willingly gave up his wealth and social status just to serve and fulfill his mission.

Below are some of his traits and some examples on how we can model our lives as Lasallian Business Leaders:

Risk Taker

St. La Salle is a risk taker in the sense he whole-heartedly gave up his Canonship and his family’s wealth to pursue his mission and live a life of poverty. This decision will surely appear crazy for many. But St. La Salle did not mind of his family’s wealth and what sacrifices he needs to make. He has a mission and vision and that is to educate the poor and establish schools at every corner of the world to serve the poor. Such decision of St. La Salle is difficult and risky. Imagine the wealth he decided to forego for something that he has no assurance of. As La Sallian business leaders, we may model this trait by sharing our effort and time to the needy. Such time can be considered wealth nowadays and spending them outside work and business to help other may not yield profit. Spending time for other to help will make a difference on their lives. Such difference will definitely be bigger compared to the amount of money that a person could have earned on that day.

Innovator

St. La Salle is an innovator by means of introducing a new method of teaching. Though this was challenged and opposed during his time, he continued to apply his method because he believed that the current practice was not effective. He introduced the classroom style of teaching, which is used by almost all schools nowadays.  As Lasallian Business leaders, we should continuously look for opportunities where we can improve, may it be for our own self or for the business. Challenges would come along our way but we should stand on our belief just like St. La Salle especially if we know that it will benefit the majority.

Servant Leader

St. La Salle was a great leader to his team. Though we came from a wealthy family, he was a leader, at the same time, a servant. He led by example and showed his heart to them. He was a leader with a heart. As Lasallian Leaders, we should always bear in mind that we were given the position not just to give orders and make things happen for the business. More importantly, we should be able to inspire and make a positive impact on our subordinates’ lives.

Mentor

As a mentor, St. La Salle provided guidance to his fellow brothers on how to carry out their mission. He stood by them in times of challenges. He was also a mentor to his students and he was loved because of this.  As leaders, we can be a mentor to our colleagues by collaborating with them and giving them guidance on how to execute their tasks and responsibilities. We should provide feedback constructively for their improvement and praise them for their successes.