Bogged down with allergies, I spent the weekend sleeping (because of the medicines that can make you drowsy), spring cleaning my documents and other papers and reading “Financial Planning for the Fast Changing World” written by Christopher Cervantes.  The author is a Registered Financial Planner® and a seaman.

In his book, he mentioned that he was not a good writer and it was his first attempt to write a book so I didn’t have any expectations about the book but when I was reading the book I liked the simplicity and practicality of the book.  He mentions and keeps on reiterating about the importance of education via attending seminars, getting a mentor and reading books.  This is a must read book that I will recommend to friends and fellow investors.

One of the seminars I attended here in Singapore was arranged by IMG and they invited Noel Arandia as the guest speaker.  I remember he mentioned that the world is changing fast that the same strategy that our grandparents were using to save were not applicable anymore.  Mr.  Arandia said that for the fast changing times we also have to change our strategies in order to retire comfortably.

He said that our grandparents’ strategy of putting their money in a savings account was applicable then because of the attractive interest rates but now has become obsolete because of low interest, tax and inflation.  The strategy needs to be changed to invest money in different investment vehicles like mutual funds, UITFs or stock market in order for our money to grow and outpace inflation.

I was thinking I still have a lot of things to learn about financial management and the other investment vehicles available so with this in mind, I felt compelled to buy the book by Mr. Cervantes without any idea who the author is.  He is very open to share his story of starting from nothing and like me, he is also a work in progress and he feels that it is his mission to help his fellow OFWs and seamen achieve financial independence by teaching them about money management and also changing of mindset.

He is also a Bicolano with roots in Bulan, Sorsogon.  His book will inspire you that his dreams to become abundantly rich is the fuel that drives him to become an achiever to study hard and to work hard.  I invite you to grab a copy of the book for I am sure you will learn something new from it.  Just to give you a sneak preview of his book I am attaching the table of contents.  Enjoy reading and learning 🙂  It’s an investment for the future 🙂