BASKETBALL FINANCE: Offensive Weapons

 “Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.”  Red Auerbach

Before anything elses, I'd like to greet my daughter, Gianna Carmela, happy 4th birthday!!!  We love you bright eyes!!!
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Now let's talk about basketball offense as it relates to personal finance....so who's your scorer?...who is your main man in the team?...is it MJ or Kobe or The Triggerman?...in personal finance, what is your bread and butter?.....if you're an employee, its your monthly salary....if you're self-employed, its your business income or sales commission or income from fees......
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But do you have an offensive strategy?....do you just rely on just one man to score and carry the team?....like in the PBA, do you just rely on your import?....or if you're Smart Gilas, do you just rely on Marcus Douthit?....I "doubt it" if you can win championships with this ...you need to have a strategy like the vaunted "triangle offense" made famous by Coach Phil Jackson when he was coaching MJ and the Chicago Bulls....
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In personal finance, do you have an offensive strategy?....do you rely solely on your monthly salary or your business income?....well, some might say, I have some money in the bank (i.e. savings or time deposit) and this earns me interest income....how much is the interest income?....is it higher than the average inflation rate of between 4 to 5%?....if not, then this is not a good strategy...you are losing money instead....
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Your offensive strategy may include having multiple sources of income.....for example, you are earning monthly salary and then you have other "sidelines"....like selling AVON, Tupperware....or doing networking.....or offering life, non-life insurance, memorial plans....or like my "millionaire" couple-friends, they are simple employees, but they have other sources of income (i.e. vendo machine, pawnshop business)....I say they are "millionaires" because they have more than a million of Net Worth (their Total Assets is greater that Total Liabilities).....actually, they literary have "zero-liabilities"....
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Another offensive strategy is to have passive incomes....going back to my "millionaire" couple-friends, they are millionaires because they have passive incomes too...they have investments in stocks, mutual funds, bonds, unit-investment trust funds (UITFs)....these savings/investments earn them more than the average inflation rate of 4-5%....imagine your money, earning 25 to 30% per year!!!!.....simply WOW!!!...and to add, they diversify their investments, so they do not rely on just one "main-man"....
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In a basketball team, a coach determines the strengths and weaknesses of each players....some players are good outside shooters...these are your 3-point specialists like my fave one, "The Triggerman"...while some are more of inside players...like my idol, Kareer Abdul Jabbar and Abet Guidaben....some can't shoot well from the free throw line like the SHAQ....SHAQ once said that “Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God’s way to say nobody’s perfect.” 
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 To be a good basketball team, you need these different specialists....similarly in personal finance, if you want to achieve your financial goals FASTER. you cannot be one dimensional...you need more ways to make your money work HARD for you!!!

Hope this helps!

Ge


Gerald Cantor is a Registered Financial Planner graduate, a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Internal Auditor.  He is also a Financial Consultant of Pru Life UK.  Ge is proud to be an ex-OFW, a "career-shifter", a "high-leaping" baller, a newby entrepreneur and most importantly, a "dedicated" dad of Gia (4yo) and Clarie (2yo).