After the Money Expo

It was a rainy morning when I went to SMX for the Money Summit and Wealth Expo. It was my first time to go to SMX. I was unsure where the Expo was held since I saw a Travel Madness expo in the first floor. Thought I was in the wrong place. Good thing I saw a tarp near the escalator indicating that the Money Expo was held in the second floor.

After freshening up, I went to the room where free talks where held. I was able to attend the talk about Investing 101 Parts A and B.

Part A was given by finance blogger Fitz Villafuerte. He started the talk by commenting on the cold, rainy weather that day. Wouldn't it be nice to stay at home and sleep? But since we are employees, we don't have that kind of luxury. By that opening remarks, I was hooked! Mr. Villafuerte talked about the difference between saving and investing. He also discussed the important things before you invest. You can read his blog here.


After Mr. Villafuerte's talk, there was a speaker from an insurance company. The speaker held a P100 bill and asked who among us wanted money? An audience member immediately grabbed the P100 from the speaker's hand. The speaker said that was a test. All of us wants money but we don't grab it even if it's in front of us.


Investing 101 Part B was by My. Rienzie Biolena, a Registed Financial Planner (RFP). He talked about Objectives, Risks, Returns, and Diversification. He advised us to put our eggs (investments) in different baskets, and put different sizes of eggs in those baskets. I will always remember what he said, time is the only thing in life that you cannot recover. You can recover lost money, failed relationships, etc. but not time. So, it's better to invest early on.

After the talks, I went to the expo to see the different booths of companies offering investments products from mutual funds to real estate. I got some freebies and lots of brochures. I even bought a book by Robert Kiyosaki, "Guide to Investing".