In this content, I will be sharing with you the best pandemic proof investment you can make.
The best investment is on self-education. I am not talking about the formal education, not the college or graduate schools. Growing up, we often hear that the best gift that our parents can give us is education. I could not agree more. However, most of us stop learning when we graduated from school. Let me share an inspiring quote from Jim Rohn.
“Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.”
– Jim Rohn
How about the return of investment?
Let me give you an example, I started the month by buying three books on stock market investing, it cost me PHP 3,000 or $60. Those books are Think and Trade Like a Champion, Trading Mentors and The Trading Code. I haven’t finished those books yet; I’ve applied the lessons I learned so far and at the end of the month I earned net realized profit of PHP 103,440.42 or $2,000.
I will be creating a video on how I did that, like my video on How I made a PHP 80,000 in 30 days from stock market. If you want to be notified, just subscribe to my YouTube channel Kevin Umali and hit the notification bell.
I am not saying that the PHP 100,000 profit in one month only came from those 3 books. The lessons learned from these books were added to my previous knowledge and provided better return. The knowledge just like investing it is compounding and gives exponential return.
Snowball Effect
The return from self-education is never ending as long as I apply it to my career, relationship, health business and investments. In other words, once you have applied your learnings, it is not diminished rather it is enhanced. It has a snowball effect. I would like to share with you a quote from one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffet:
“Read 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest.”
– Warren Buffet
How it all started?
I hate reading. It is so boring for me. My mother, when we are still young, she kept on telling us that we should read books. In fairness to my mother, she is a single mother and working as a public-school teacher with a very small salary but she borrowed money and bought Encyclopedia. We did not have access to the internet and google at that time. Indeed, mother knows best. Did you know Elon Musk read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica at age nine? Of course, I have not read the entire encyclopedia because if I have read that, maybe I am the next Elon Musk. Just kidding.
After graduating and passing the board exam, I have free time and I try what my mother is telling me to just read books. I bought my first books, Rich Dad Poor Dad and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. After applying what I learned from those books and it gave a good result in my career and finances. I keep on buying more books. Just a trivia, do you know what is common to big mansions or houses of truly rich and successful people? It is not entertainment room, but a personal library.
How much I invested?
After graduation up to this date, I have purchased over 500 books. This includes physical books, audio books and e-books like kindle copies. The cost of each book ranges from PHP 500 to PHP 1,500. As a rough estimate, assuming that the average cost is PHP 700, I’ve spent PHP350,000 ($7,000) for books. Moreover, I also paid for seminars, workshops and online courses. Those seminars and courses range from PHP 2,000 pesos up to PHP 100,000. My recent online course is consulting accelerator which is PHP 100,000 or $2,000. I can say it is the best online course I have taken and if you want to start it you can get it with $500 off by clicking on the affiliate link here. As an estimate I’ve spent over PHP 500,000 pesos or over $10,000 in self-education.
Shortcut to learning
If you have enough time for self-education or reading and learning is boring for you, do not worry as I have created a mentor tips newsletter and book club. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you will be receiving book reviews and summarized tips from top mentors that are easy to read or watch. Subscribing to my newsletter and book club is FREE by clicking HERE. Just visit KevinUmali.com/free
Why I am giving this for free, it is my passion and I’ve found purpose and meaning in doing this. As Charlie Munger said “The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”
“The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”
– Charlie Munger
The Dark Side
The more you learn, the more you wanted to learn. It may cause analysis paralysis. Do not procrastinate. It is about what you do with what you know. As they say, “knowledge is power” but the truth is, “Knowledge has potential power”. It will bring you no good until you put it into action.