What Is Your Secret To Wealth?

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source: http://www.mobivation.com

I was reading this book by Bo Sanchez " 40 Stories of Passion" and as I flipped the pages I got to the story of Nieves Verneza. 

Who is she?

I bet you never heard of her but I found a secret in her last words in Bo's interview and I quote:

"Live a simple lifestyle. Eat vegetables and fish. Avoid stress. Don't have too much worries. Pray.At magtipid. Mag-ipon. At lahat ng kita itago. Ilagay sa negosyo o sa paupahan."

She was a teenager when the World War 2 broke and indeed wars are great equalizer, it doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor. Just like the tycoons and great entrepreneurs we have like Washington Sycip,   John Gokongwei Jr., Henry Sy Sr., and Socorro Ramos. Some of them were rich and some poor and yet when the war broke they lost everything and after the war they started picking up the pieces and were able to be wealthy. I guess they have discovered the secret to wealth.

Looking back at what Nanay Nieves said, it is indeed possible to be  wealthy even coming from scratch. She was a very young girl during the war and since it is a sink or swim situation she has to do all she can to survive. She look for things she can sell and at the same time risk her life from Japanese soldier who might take away the things she sells or even be raped thus she has to look dingy. 

She married at an early age . Both of them, who barely have education, work hard to survive. After the war with all the savings they have her husband bought a jeepney and use it to service a school as its bus driver. From the savings they were able to get another jeepney and save all their small savings. With all that they have and after loaning from a friend who agreed on pay when able scheme. They purchase a lot and started building apartments.

Little by little the started their apartment business and in the end they prospered.

Understanding her secret to wealth

Let's breakdown here words of wisdom and learn form them.

Live a simple lifestyle. Yes this has always been one of the key factors towards wealth. The research done by William Danko and Thomas Stanley in their book The Millionaire Nextdoor have proven that living a lifestyle beyond one's menas will surely deplete even if you have a billion dollar wealth. A person's wealth is not measured by the number of cars he drives, the number of branded bags she uses every other day, or the places where they go to party. Simple living allows one to accumulate wealth and able to value one's hard earned money when one experiences that things are more enjoyable in simpler forms.

Eat vegetables and fish. Having a good health is itself wealth. You may have all the money in the world but even with all that if you have poor health or if you are terminally ill such money won't have anymore use to you.

Avoid stress. How can you enjoy your wealth if you are stressed? Or how can you earn more if your source of income is stressful, do you think you would pursue it? 

Don't have too much worries. A lot of people wanted to have this and that and thus ended up loaning or borrowing money and after all having things they are now worried on how they will pay for the loan or borrowed money. As my friend said, save and invest and avoid liabilities. 

Pray. Yes! We should not be too proud not to ask God. Always remember that all things we have is from God and that He can give a hundredfold more at the same time He can take it all away just like as Job said:

Job 1:21  He said,  “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there.The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;blessed be the name of the LORD!”

"At magtipid." It means be frugal. One has to be frugal in order to live simply. Such should not only be done by one member of a household but it should each member of the household. Not that it won't be fair but rather it should be a collective effort. If only  one member is frugal and the rest are not such effort will be pointless but if all is frugal that would have a tremendous effect.

"Mag-ipon." Always save and better yet setup an emergency fund. You never know when will bad or unexpected things strike thus always having a buffer is a wise step to do.

"At lahat ng kita itago. Ilagay sa negosyo o paupahan." It is here we should be aware of. As I have always mentioned about Bob Proctor's wise words "money should be circulated." She did not say "itago ang pera"(keep money) but rather "itago ang kita(keep earnings). Also put money into work by either investing it in a business or lend it with interest. Money should not be keep idle. It should be use to earn wealth. It should also be continually re-invested so that it will grow on its own.

I hope these words will help us in achieving our financially free goals. How about you, do you have any "secret" to wealth?