Is it Wrong to Have More Money?

Is it Wrong to Have More Money?

Sean: The next question is, what do you think are the best monetary goals for beginners to set?

Randell: It starts with you understanding how money moves around in your life. You have to have good control over what comes in and what goes out. So you have to have a sound cash flow structure. So that’s very important. I mean goals are important but the mechanism to get to those goals is just as important.

So some goals, number one, there has to be a savings goal. I mean if you’re talking about emergency funds, it’s like three to six months of your monthly spending. Or the pandemic taught us maybe you need a little bit longer more. So that’s one

Second, what are you looking for? What are you preparing? What are your priorities? Maybe you want to buy a house when you’re 30 y/o or you feel like you’re going to get married at 25 y/o or 28 y/o. So these are goals, the more specific it is, the better and in a way it kind of motivates you because you’re trying to build on towards that goal.

Then when you do that, then you identify what are the instruments to use for these things. For example, you’re 21 y/o and you want to build a house at 30 y/o, now you have nine years and then maybe you can do stock market, equities, and that’s going to change.

But assuming that you want to use this money for your marriage, you plan to get married in two years, maybe you should not put it in the stock market. Maybe you should take a look at less risky stuff. Those are important. Those are goals that you identify and define first as early as you can and be specific about your goals.

Sean: Good stuff. I’m in my twenties, how much should I save?

Randell: As much as you can! It’s as simple as that. Save as much as you can. I mean saving is a muscle that you need to build. Of course, you need to save for an objective. Generally speaking, I’d tell you, save as much as you can. One of my regrets is I did not save enough when I was younger. You can’t undo that.

I have this rule about maybe saving at least 20% of what you make. That’s possible and then you build onto that. If it’s only 10% or 5%, you start with that, but you build it. Saving is like a muscle, you have to keep doing it. Then you’ll get the groove and you’ll be surprised.

You realized by the year end, “Wow! I saved this much.” Unlike when the year end comes and you’ll be like, “What happened to my money?” I have years like that, “Where did my money really go?” So now, I’m past that already.

Sean: So save as much as you can.

Randell: Especially when you’re in your 20’s, Sean. Probably, they are still living with their parents. This is probably not having to repeat parents, they are not yet paying the rent, maybe not paying that much. You know, take advantage of that time.

Sean: Unless the parents are asking them to pay for some stuff.

Randell: That’s another story. That’s another podcast altogether. When you start talking about those things, Sean, you’re going to be flooded with questions.

Sean: So, yeah, if you’re like Marvin Germo, you probably saved 99% of your income.

Randell: During the iCon I said, you know, I take it very simple. I have this belief that money not invested is money going to be spent. And you know I save, I invest, and then forget it and move on to more important things. Unless you’re Marvin Germo. He’s super controlled, super calculating and all these things. I like my life. I like doing other things. I probably put more thought in the food that I cook than the money that I invest.

Sean: Wow! Yeah.

Randell: That’s why with crypto, it was a challenge for me, because I have to study. I’ve also memorized funds and everything over the years. Now I have to study. I told you I have a group chat with my son-in-law. He likes to research and explain to me. I told him, “Why do you like VeChain so much?” And he will explain. Now I understand from a business perspective. It works that way.

Sean: Yeah. It keeps you on the edge. What is a simple rule for managing your finances?

Randell: Well, number one, simple rule, I’ve been married for more than 30 years. My wife told me, “What is yours is mine and what’s mine is mine.” That’s the rule. That’s the only rule I live by. know this man is in that role as the only rule. I live by it.

I guess for me, number one is I respect money. I know money is more and everything, but I respect money. I know it’s a limitation and I also need to manage my behavior around it. I heard this from Marvin, that it’s not wrong for you to have money, what is wrong is for money to have you. So money for me is just a great tool, but not the end goal. That’s very clear on my end.

My rule is number one, and this is just me sharing it, automatically, I tight. This is a value system that I’m not going to debate whether it should be tight or not, but this is something that my wife and I believe in and practice it and stand by it. So we tight. Next is, we save. We have to provide for the family’s needs. That’s clear, but you also save. So apart from providing, you’re also saving. That saving will lead into investing. And also we give.

A big part of our income is used to support missionaries, campus missionaries, and long term missionaries in the advancement of God’s kingdom. This is on top of our tights. And my joke is, the amount of money we support can also provide for another family. It’s sort of like that because that’s our value system and that’s why I work.

During the pandemic, Sean, of course, when March hit, I was like, “What are we going to do?” Like all of us are not salary people and then we’re giving salaries. So I said, “What are we going to do? How long will this last? Do I need to liquidate? Do I sell something? How much money do I have?”

And then one of the things that bothered me in a good way is that you know I support a lot of these missionaries and give money to those things. What’s going to happen to them? They are dependent on what we give them. I mean not just me but collectively. So if I stop and everybody stops, what will happen to them?

So I made this prayer, “Lord, can you continue to give me work so that I can continue to support them?” And the Lord was so gracious. I never stopped working and I think I got busier. I never stopped working and not only did I not continue supporting, I added even more last year. I think this year I also added some. Do you get what I mean?

I even have increased my support to some of them because I feel inflation and everything and I’m assuming that some people were not able to support them, so I have to level up a little bit.

Sean: Wow, that’s amazing. That’s a very encouraging thing to share here.

Randell: Remember, like March, everyone is like, “Okay, what do we do?” Then April came, the scare of one week or two weeks, “Oh wait! This is taking longer.” So all my projects were put on hold. I was about to travel. I was supposed to go to Dubai, I had a crazy schedule for 2020. I was supposed to go to India. I was supposed to go to Dubai, Qatar, and Mongolia. I got invitations there. Of course, the usual Singapore, Japan, and others.

It’s all put there. We made iCon national. Prior to that we have Manila, Davao and Iloilo. Everything was planned and then a pandemic happened. What should I do? So you know, trust the Lord more and ask Him to give you wisdom. I’ve put this up for so long but it’s time for me to learn how to use digital. So I had to learn how Zoom works right away, and I have to. Not only do I need to do that because I support, but my mind is not just for me, it’s for something that’s bigger than that.

Sean: Amen! That’s so encouraging. During that time, I’m in the same predicament. I mean Apple and I, we also support missionaries, campus missionaries, and even some pastors. I’ve thought about them as well. And our clients were not paying. From March to June, a lot of them didn’t pay. I prayed. Same as you. What I haven’t done yet is to increase.

Good to hear from you that you did that. I’m going to pray and talk with Apple because I feel like we have to increase with some other people we support. That’s really good to hear and that’s encouraging. I think that’s an encouragement for me and maybe God is telling me to do that.

Randell: You don’t ask withholding. That’s a legitimate reason. It’s not that we’re greedy or anything. That’s legit. You can only give what you have. What if it’s gone down? Then that’s important you’re able to build your savings and you’re able to build your investments. So those things came in, but I’m just thankful I did not touch those things. I was ready. We don’t have much of a choice, right? It’s not that we don’t want to, we were ready.

You know, Sean, just to encourage people, in fact, last year, I invested more money than I did the previous years. That’s crazy. It’s because our expenses went down and we were not travelling. Of course, when I travel to talk, there are some additional expenses. Things like that, right? We’re now eating out less.

I looked at it and when I was doing it, I invested more money in 2020 than I did in 2019. And the funny thing is, there’s not a significant jump in my income and neither a significant jump in the money that I invested. So that’s it. God is faithful.

Sean: God is faithful. Amen! Same story here, guys. So for those of you listening in. It’s not about religion, it’s about how much faith you have. Give according to your faith. I always say that when people ask me how much we give, well, give according to your faith and what you think God is trying to tell you to give. Listen to that and pray. It’s all about faith. Giving is about faith.

Randell: This one I want to throw into some of you, and I say this is very controversial, especially in the world out there, everybody wants to be successful in everything. I tell people we were not called to be successful, we were called to be faithful. Never forget it’s not about all the success and followers.

I don’t really put any thought to those names. I don’t care how many people follow me. It’s not that I don’t appreciate, I do appreciate, but that’s not what my calling is for.