Updated: January 24, 2014
Yes, it’s my birthday. Woot!
Looking back at the past year, all I could say is that it was a blast and I enjoyed every moment of it.
I met new friends, and learned new skills.
I launched a couple of new businesses, and opened new investments.
I traveled to new places, and added great new memories to my personal diary.
And as I close another chapter of my life, I’d like to end it by asking you for a small favor – a simple gift, which I’d very much appreciate for my birthday.
Can you share how Ready To Be Rich has helped you?
This blog is a big part of my life, and I’d like to know how it has become part of yours.
Please share how my articles have helped you in the past year.
Actual numbers are great, such as “helped me pay off P50,000 in credit card debts” or “motivated me to save P80,000 in the bank”.
Or it can be goals that you’ve achieved, such as “learned how to finally invest in the stock market” or “helped me quit my job and put up my very first business”.
I did this last year, and the testimonials I read have been a great source of personal inspiration and motivation.
And I’m looking forward to hearing from you again, and reading your story in the comments section below.
Thank you! *hugs*
Happy Birthday!
Hi Fitz,
Happy birthday!
I’ve been reading your blog for the past year and I’ve learned several things. But the most important is how to start preparing for my future. I’ve been working for around 4 years, but only started saving in 2013. As of now, I’ve saved around 60k as an emergency fund and invested around 40k in stocks and UITF. Not much but it’s a start! Thank you for simplifying the investment process and inspiring Filipinos to save and invest. I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts. All the best!
happy birthday sir fitz! thank you so much for being an inspiration to us all =) God bless you!
Happy Birthday… (:
Ive been contemplating on putting a portion of my small savings at UITF. Did my research and asked around friends for quite sime time… But after reading your blogs i was truly conviced that it was the right thing to do… So finally after much thinking YOU were the one who really pushed me to go to the bank and signed up to invest… I am totally READY TO BE RICH. Thanks and happy birthday (:
Helped me to better understand investing and financial planning! I checked your blog daily!
Hi Fitz,
First off, I want to greet you a happy birthday.
You don’t know me and I’m pretty sure we haven’t met in person but I just want to say I regularly read your blog and you’re one of the reasons why I ventured in blogging and started to build my emergency fund.
Today, I already own 3 blogs, one of which is http://www.filipiknow.net. It is currently the leading trivia blog in the Philippines and also one of my highest earning blogs. On average, I now earn at least $500 in Adsense. It’s not that much compared to yours but at least I took all your suggestions by heart and applied them immediately.
I don’t have any background in business and was really clueless in personal finance. But thanks to your blog, I now have 90,000 pesos (and still growing)in my savings account which will serve as my emergency fund. I’m also planning to start investing this year but I need to establish a concrete financial plan first.
Again, I really enjoyed your blog and although we haven’t personally met, I consider you as one of my mentors, along with Bo Sanchez, Randell Tiongson and Frank Colayco.
This is my first time to comment just to show how I appreciate your advocacy.
Thanks and more power to Ready To Be Rich!
Hi Fitz!
First of all I would like to greet you a Happy and Blessed Brithday! ^_^ Wish you success to all your plans and goals and most especially a great health to be able to do all that you’ve planned.
I’ve been reading your blog since 2010, if my memory serves me right I think it was the last quarter of that year. And up until now I’m still an avid reader, I like your blogs because it has a lot new ideas, opportunities, and knowledge that I learned, and also it has a lot of new blogs to share (if I’m not mistaken 3 to 4 write-ups every week) so visiting your site is part of my weekly routine already. In fact I already bookmarked it in my office machine. =)
When I was still a newbie here, all my savings are just kept in my bank account. Saving for me is not a big problem even before when I was in college, so this was not a big challenge for me. But I realized there’s something that I am not aware of am Im missing a very big opportunity, or rather I’m aware it’s just that I didn’t know what to do or how to do it. So when I began reading your blogs, that’s when I became aware how I handle my finances.
I realized that I’m doing good compare to others who find it hard to save, but I lacked the knowledge what to do after saving. My savings just sleep in my bank account, and me, myself, working hard to earn it, all I know is to save. I did not leverage the money that I have, that in fact can work for me as well.
It’s a paradigm shift for me to get out from my comfort zone and started to bring in new knowledge to my brain and learn to take risk and opportunities, especially if I dream of financial freedom.
Fast track from that day:
-I am now investing in the Stock Market for more than 2 years now
-I also invested in Mutual Funds
-Since I’m still an employee I take advantage of the Share Purchase Plan that my company offers, it’s buying the sahre of our company at a discounted price.
-I also know ways how to properly budget and spend my hard earned money.
-How to avoid debt especially credit card debt.
-Learened how to change my mind set to think like rich people do, how to deal with life challenges in a positive way. .
-And recently, I met Doc Jaime Lorenzo of IMG Wealth Academy (see how much I am an avid reader of yours =)), I attended their Series 1 and Series, and planning to be a member. I hope that I may be able to meet you there and rub elbows with you (this is part of my bucket list).hehe
-This year I’m trying to learn more about Real Estate Investing, as I am involve to paper asset investing I want to learn other means to get to my Financial Goals. So i wish you can write-up more about it.
I’m still in a long way to reach my financial goals, but with your guidance and teachings through your blogs, and other financial mentors that have the same mission as you (to increase the Financial IQ of every Filipinos) I know it’s not an impossible dream for me and to all of us who shared the same goal.
Thank you Fitz for your stories you’ve shared and for the future blogs you will write as well. Thank you for knowing a person like you who continue to educate and inspire others. More power and may God bless you more!
-Phee
Happy birthday Fitz ! More power and God bless.
Happy Birthday Sir! Keep on inspiring!
4 years ago i encounter your blog and since then i became a follower. i can say that i have learned to save more and invest thru your articles and it help my networth to reach 7 digits ( because you ask for number 🙂 so with that a big big thanks! may you inspire more and more people to do business, to blog, to save and to invest! Godbless you!
btw, did i already mentioned i named my son Fitz Euro
hello sir fitz.
for me 2013 has been a year of enlightenment, learning, and transformation. all thanks to your articles, i have learned a lot through your blog posts and it really changed my point of view about financial literacy, money, and success. its been a source of inspiration and valuable information for me which will help me in my future undertakings in business and life. thank you sir! 🙂
Happy Birthday Fitz. It’s been a year now since I follow your blog, and indeed Its a great help for me to pursue my dreams in life.
Long Live Fits and have a great day ahead! Enjoy your day.
I like your blog. It’s precise and direct to the point. Your articles helped me improve my knowledge on financial investments and motivated me to focus on what I love to do. Last 2013, I finally quit my IT job for 15 years and focused on my business which is my passion (www.paccube.com). I’m so happy right now doing what I love to do and spending more time with my daughter. I’m looking forward to reading more of your articles about business and investments. 🙂 Keep on writing! 🙂
Happy Birthday! I chanced upon ur blog while googling how to invest in UITF. I got inspired. Your blog about it helped me a lot to save and invest. Thank you. May you continue to bde an inspiration to others.
Your blog made me realize how important it is to be financially knowledgeable and to give a great importance into taking care of finances, managing investments or to even just plain saving money! Your concepts has made me financially stable and independent. So thank you very very much sir Fitz and a happy Happy birthday! 😀
HI Fitz,
you have helped me a lot financially with the knowledge you’ve shared on passive income. How to have it and where to invest to get more of it. The interest income I’m receiving from cooperative banks is higher compared to putting money in commercial banks. The amount we get yearly has helped us finance the tuition fee of our son in UST who took Philosophy. Almost a year now our son has graduated. Now we use our passive income from investing in cooperative banks through time deposits to finance tuition fees of our daughter in CEU taking up dentistry. I have shared to my children even posted in their fb walls the principles I’ve learned from your blog on how to save more and become richer or financially independent in the future. Tnx fitz for your witts and God bless. Hapi bday. P.S. Pls continue to sahre us your articles coz I know I can pick up new learnings on how to run our small business – a mini-grocery…Anie
Hi! I teach financial literacy as an advocacy (no pay) on my free time – so I thought I was pretty good already. But she I read your blog pointing out “sins” we usually commit when shopping, I realised I do respond that way – to freebies and promos, running after an amount to get an incentive, etc…and buying things that I didn’t need just by being influenced by the marketing gimmick! It was really helpful and relevant so that now, I’m much more aware when I go shopping and avoid the “traps” you mentioned!
i also learned from your layman’s description of types of investments adn your advie is the same as what another financial guru, Francisco Colayco, one said – to invest regularly, the same amount, and that over time you’re bound to earn. Your illustration was helpful in “proving” the theory.
Thanks,
Tess
Hi Fitz,
Happy Birthday!
I started out with the investing in the stock market thru the seminar of Bo Sanchez but I wanted more information. Somehow I stumbled upon your blog. I have learned so much from here and I have attended the Investing for Beginners Seminar. Hope you remember my question regarding factoring in inflation on investing.
Your story of being financially free is inspiring. I hope to be also financially free in the future.
Hi fitz Happy Birthday…Your blog helps me a lot, I learned to invest,and save for tuition fee of my children and also the beauty of the places you’ve shared. I also learned the different kind of mutual funds because of you, just continue blogging because you can help a lot of people..God bless you more fitz…(the last time we saw was the xmas party of IMG)
Happy Birthday Sir Fitz!
As a young employee, your blog thought me how to save for the future.
To know what is the need and wants, and that also affects my family.
I have now an emergency fund and still building it.
Hoping that someday I could have a Time deposit, UITF and invest in stock market. 🙂
Continue what you are doing Sir Fitz! Happy Birthday again. 🙂
Hello sir fritz!
Around a year ago, I have decided that no matter
how huge my and my fiancé’s earnings are, we can never save enough because of our financial attitude. I needed something to push us and stir us to the right direction. Of course, I looked for other famous mentors but what set you apart is that you are aware of the country’s economy and financial ways.
Your advises, helped us asses where we are how to go about reaching our short-time goal. And we did! We got to finance our upcoming wedding!
Please continue educating us about money and inspiring us not just to be rich but to be genuinely happy and rich in life.
More Power po!
You’re blog gives me the courage to blog, its one of my goals that I could now check.
Happy bday Fitz. 🙂
-Bill
Your blog gives me the courage to blog, its one of my goals that I could now check.
Happy bday Fitz. 🙂
-Bill
Happy birthday Fitz!
Your blog inspire me how to be financially independent and that saving for the future is an important aspect especially for a seafarer like me since I work on a contractual basis. You opened my eyes to see the road that leads to financial literacy though I only attended 1 of your seminars and this lead me to grasp for more. I may still be that far in reaching for that goal but I know that through the inspirations & knowledge you are sharing with us it would be possible. Thank u Fitz & I wish good health & more success. May the Good Lord always bless you.
Happy birthday sir Fitz! Of all who talk about stuff here in the Internet, yours are the most practical and very reader-friendly. I’m still working on my finances, still building my EF and establishing semi-passive incomes that will convert one day to passive through your investment ideas. God bless you with more after all the generosity you offer to financialknowledge-deprived Filipinos. Will never get tired of reading your email updates! Best of health to u and ur loved ones!
I stumbled across your blog last year when I got interested about investing in stocks. After reading and rereading your articles about stock investing, I finally started with peso cost-averaging UITF balanced fund with P5,000 investment every month. This year, I plan to: open a separate savings and time deposit for my emergency fund, invest more in equities, open a COL account, get health and term life insurance. My ultimate goal is to have multiple streams of passive income. Your blog has been a great help. Thank you for sharing your financial knowledge! Happy birthday to you Sir Fitz! Wishing you wealth in all areas of your life.
happy birthday sir fitz!
its been a year that i will check my email if i have something to read and learn from your blog. From my learnings, i able to save 150,000 in time deposits with an interest of 3.75% pa and invest in the stock market for 20,000 equivalent to 250 shares..and looking forward as it grows.
thank you so much for the inspiration.
Hi Sir Fitz,
Happy birthday.. May God continue to bless you..more.. 🙂 I’ve encountered your blog only a month ago, and from that moment i realized the thing that i have been looking for all this time. Same as you i am yearning as well to have much more time for myself. Financial Freedom indeed is the answer to my dream of having much more quality time in life. So far i am blessed and proud to tell you that i am already invested in different uitfs and invested as well in the stock market. My investments already gained around 4.09% in less than a month!not that much, but i’m thankful that i have encountered your blog. hope to see you and i hope i could join IMG and meet you there. You’ve really been a blessing to me in many little ways..
by the way, i am also a civil engineer(26y/o) just like you and is already thinking of retiring once i reached the financial freedom that i’ve been working on..hopefully when i reach 32y/o i could still share it here in your blog my story. hehe..God bless you Sir Fitz!
Happy Birthday Sir Fitz! 🙂
Thanks for inspiring us through your blogs.may God bless you more birthdays to come para mas marami ka pang matulungan at maipalaganap mo pa ang iyong misyon at adhikain. Stay what you are & who you are kahit gaano ka pa ka-succesful sa ginagawa mo.keep your feet on the ground & continue your advocacy to spread financial literacy to everyone.
You are one of my inspirations sir fitz! gaya mo, i am civil engineer by profession at gaya mo rin, gusto ko mag-shift to be a full-time entrepreneur someday.for now, im still working here in saudi arabia, habang nag-iinvest sa stock market at uitf & may maliit na negosyo sa pinas. I am an avid follower of Ready To Be Rich at marami akong natutunang bago sa mga blog post mo, na naging inspirasyon ko para gumawa rin ng sariling blog.ngayon,masasabi ko, na I am READY TO BE RICH! 😀
Again, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday sir Fitz! Godbless! 😀
Happy Birthday Sir Fitz! 🙂
Thanks for inspiring us through your blogs.may God bless you more birthdays to come para mas marami ka pang matulungan at maipalaganap mo pa ang iyong misyon at adhikain. Stay what you are & who you are kahit gaano ka pa ka-succesful sa ginagawa mo.keep your feet on the ground & continue your advocacy to spread financial literacy to everyone.
You are one of my inspirations sir fitz! gaya mo, i am civil engineer by profession at gaya mo rin, gusto ko mag-shift to be a full-time entrepreneur someday.for now, im still working here in saudi arabia, habang nag-iinvest sa stock market at uitf & may maliit na negosyo sa pinas. I am an avid follower of Ready To Be Rich at marami akong natutunang bago sa mga blog post mo, na naging inspirasyon ko para gumawa rin ng sariling blog.ngayon,masasabi ko, na I am READY TO BE RICH! 😀
Again, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday sir Fitz! Godbless! 😀
Happy Birthday Sir Fitz! 🙂
Thanks for inspiring us through your blogs.may God bless you more birthdays to come para mas marami ka pang matulungan at maipalaganap mo pa ang iyong misyon at adhikain. Stay what you are & who you are kahit gaano ka pa ka-succesful sa ginagawa mo.keep your feet on the ground & continue your advocacy to spread financial literacy to everyone.
You are one of my inspirations sir fitz! gaya mo, i am civil engineer by profession at gaya mo rin, gusto ko mag-shift to be a full-time entrepreneur someday.for now, im still working here in saudi arabia, habang nag-iinvest sa stock market at uitf & may maliit na negosyo sa pinas. I am an avid follower of Ready To Be Rich at marami akong natutunang bago sa mga blog post mo, na naging inspirasyon ko para gumawa rin ng sariling blog.ngayon,masasabi ko, na I am READY TO BE RICH! 😀
Again, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday sir Fitz! Godbless! 😀
Every Topic is well explained. This is the most visited site on my favorites. Happy Bday to you Man. Keep sharing what you’ve learn and keep up the good work.
Hi Fitz,
Happy Birthday!
Your blog helped me a lot in many ways. Through your blog I attended my First Money Summit Seminar. Back Then you awarded tickets on three of your pick comments regarding savings. In that seminar I learned a lot about financial literacy. Because of that I attended more seminars even if it wasn’t free anymore. Through this I learned to earn money as a freelancer and learned internet marketing as well. But most of all I learned how to invest in the stock market. Thanks and God bless you more.
Happy Birthday Sir Fitz!
Thanks for the inspiration and motivation for me to be a better person when it comes to my finances. Journeying with this blog ever since my first year at work has helped me to pursue my goals in life. Thanks for encouraging me to finally invest in the stock market. Whatever challenges I may meet along the way, i always have the reason to pursue my dreams because of this blog. Thanks for teaching me how to be brave to start, how to persevere to go on and how to always inspire myself in pursuing my goals.
May God Bless you always! I hope to see you in person someday!
Hi Sir Fitz! Belated Happy Birthday!
I just want to say thank you for all the things that you have done to us (followers), especially for making those hard informations available and understandable for us. Your blog has been and always be my choice as i also continue my journey towards financial independence!
Thank you again for everything.c:
Happy Happy Birthday idol. 🙂
More power and GODBLESS you more!
Ready To Be Rich helped me alot how to be READY TO BE RICH.
Big Thanks to my virtual mentor aka @brodfitz!
I started overhauling my finances early 2012.
And READY TO BE RICH articles are really a great help.
This December 2014 i will become debt free!
Finally, yes! After 3 years of living in deep debt sea.
And come December 2015 my ultimate financial goal is.
A monthly income of 1 million pesos thru active stock investing business.
To seek wisdom, continue learning, have discipline, joy and passion to reach the summit.
Yes, I am more prepared now and READY TO BE Truly RICH! 🙂
Happy Happy Birthday idol! 🙂
More power and GODBLESS you more!
Ready To Be Rich helped me alot how to be READY TO BE RICH.
Big Thanks to my virtual mentor aka @brodfitz!
I started overhauling my finances early 2012.
And READY TO BE RICH articles are really a great help.
This December 2014 i will become debt free!
Finally, yes! After 3 years of living in deep debt sea.
And come December 2015 my ultimate financial goal is.
A monthly income of 1 million pesos thru active stock investing business.
To seek wisdom, continue learning, have discipline, joy and passion to reach the summit.
Yes, I am more prepared now and READY TO BE Truly RICH! 🙂
Happy, happy birthday, Sir Fitz!
Your financial literacy advocacy truly is an inspiration. In my attempt to help you in my own little way, I took up the mantle of spreading awareness about PERA to my relatives and officemates. It amazes me how many people knew about it, what with all its perks relating to tax. 🙂 I hope, as a birthday gift to you, that the powers that be will finally roll it out this 2014. And yes, I also wish you the usuals: good health for you and your family, happiness and world peace. lol. Keep on rocking!
One little edit:
“It amazes me how many people knew about it, what with all its perks relating to tax.”
That should read: “It amazes me how few people knew about it, what with all its perks relating to tax.”
Again, happy birthday, Sir Fitz, my mentor whether you like it or not! 😉 Thanks for helping Juan fiscally and mentally.
Happy birthday, Fitz! Your blog has constantly prodded me on my journey to financial independence. The little bits of data sent regularly frequently remind me of my goals and were an antidote to laziness and consistency. Thank you and may the Good Lord continue to prosper you.
First and foremost, happy happy birthday Fitz! 🙂 When it comes to financial literacy, I always go to your site and no other. Ive checked other sites and they’re good as well, but I like yours the most. I have a pretty good idea about financial literacy, and its hard to find new info or new ideas from articles and its even harder to have an article stick out from the rest, but one article which really stuck to me was your article about your pizza experience which explained the sunk cost fallacy. Now I use the sunk cost fallacy not only in regards to finance, but other parts of my life. So again, this is how your site made a big impact in my life. Thanks and keep up the great work!
Hey Happy Birthday Fitz!
Thank u 4 your dedication in giving us helpful tips everytime. Your blogs helped me be conscious of my spending habits. Plus, now I got 2 be a member of IMG at last. I am excited how I will do this year financially so I am looking forward. Best wishes Fitz!
Hi Sir Fitz!
Belated Happy Birthday! I can’t remember the year I stumbled upon your blog. But I do remember that I chanced upon it because of my desire to improve what I know back then regarding Personal Finance. Because of your blog, I was able to learn about different kinds of investments. Particulary UITF, Mutual Fund, Stock Market, Foreign Currency Trading and others. I also learned about the Money Summit and IMG through your blog. I hope I’ll be able to be a member of IMG this year and attend the paid seminars / conferences this year of Money Summit (last year I was only able to attend the free seminars / talks due to financial restraints). GOD Bless you for helping a lot of people in reaching their journey towards financial freedom!
Happy Birthday, sir and thank you very much for your blogs about “money.” You explained “how to invest” in a simple & understandable way. I’ve read about finances online but it’s only in your blog I understood it. Also as per your advised I put more money for my emergency fund while I invest. Thank you, God bless !
I’ve only started reading your blogs late August, I think. This may be a birthday request eons ago, but one can still comment right?
Since I just finished paying for my brother’s education, it’s only now that I get to start saving. I initially wanted to make sure that I won’t just end up spending all my money from one payday to another.
Some of the fundamental things I’ve learned:
>Saving
-Pay yourself first.
-Build an emergency fund
-Don’t do impulse buying to save some cash
-Have a definite idea on the needed expenses. Allocate certain percentage of your pay
Investment:
-info about investments like UITF, Mutual Fund and Stock Market
-Since I’ve learned about a few things about stocks, I’ve learned how to browse through the PSE website. Just last week, I think I’m getting an idea about the term ‘board lot.’ Hahaha
-Since I I saw a blog about UITFs, I managed to get enough info. Just last week, my UITF application got registered. It’s still under moderately conservative portfolio. I’m planning to reassess my risk profile so that I can change my investment type. Though I might keep it as it is in the mean time. My energies are more focus on saving. Hopefully, by late part of this year (or early next year) I’ll manage to open a (balanced fund) mutual fund and/or stocks. I dream of having all three by next year. Hahaha
-I’m already considering signing up with COL in the coming months
-My view about my payday improved. I now anticipate the idea that I’ll eventually have enough money to try other investments.
-FOr the past 2 cut-offs, there’s still money left in my bank account. It’s empowering that to have more than 1K left from my previous pay. I finally started managing to live from one paycheck to another
I hope you can email me if you have some helpful tips or suggestions ^_^ Chances are, I won’t be able to see your reply on this page lest I back track all your blogs.