The P50M story

If I would win P50 million from the lottery, i'd probably retire from work and live on interest with my P50 million intact, stashed away in a time deposit.

But I do not have P50 million just yet, but I will, one day (claiming this in faith!). And I sure know I am ready for when that P50 million comes.

I read a blog over at Moneymatters about this story of a Chinese businessman who lives on interest from his P50 million investment and is yet to buy a house because he can afford to pay house rent at P85,000 monthly anyway.

Now isnt that both genius and stupid converging on one nerve.

If you have P50 million stashed away, your interest earnings for the next three months is enough to buy you a four-bedroom house. If you don't like that, a year of interest earnings from that P50 million will even allow you to buy a mansion.

But he'd rather rent, since nobody would know anyway if the house he had is his or not.

But you also have to give him credit for being wise enough to save up for the rainy day and P85,000 is just a fraction of at least P1.2 million he can possibly get from today's most conservative interest rate for a 30-day time deposit.

Perhaps this is one lesson we can learn about laddering certificates of deposit. I am happy that me and my husband are now trying to ladder our investments to increase our income streams. It is not yet P50 million worth, but at least, we are starting somewhere.

For a start, we have to learn the hardest part. Forego a chunk of what we have to a 30-day time deposit term and roll it over until it earns a substantial interest to be credited to our savings on a monthly basis.

As what most of my financial mentors say, liquidity is king nowadays. And we will be directing our investments to where it can be easily liquified or disposed of. And a house and lot is one of the more lucrative investments.