MONEY wouldn't guarantee good fortune –but it can get anybody there if he or she knows how to use it. So said two business experts in view of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao's P50-million prize money and overseas Filipino workers' view that most OFWs need to know what to do with hard-earned money.

Ruperto P. Alonzo of the Institute of Small-Scale Industries (ISSI), who I interviewed when I was still business reporter with Today newspaper, is one. The other is Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Professor Rafael Azanza, who was highly recommended by a friend, AIM
Dean Ricardo Lim. While ISSI director Alonzo's office is a stone throw away from my abode in the University of the Philippines, like AIM Graduate School of Business's Lim, we have relied on electronic mail to communicate views on business.

Ditto with Jose Rhoel Marcelle Aquino, a computer programmer missing Filipino dessert in the desert of Al Khobar for two years now, who told me via email that most OFWs he's talked to in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, wants to know which business and investment their surplus money should go to. Another OFW is Robert Almodal, an electrical engineer avoiding hot pipes under the Jeddah Marriott Hotel. Almodal asked me about business opportunities for OFWs before he flew back just last March for another year's contractual work. Though OFWs won't get P50 million by slugging against grime in a toilet in Rome or Hong Kong, like Manny did against Erik Morales in Las Vegas, Alonzo said what matters is "is [s/he] entrepreneurial? Does [s/he] have what it takes to go into business?" "[Manny] has … in boxing," Alonzo added. "Is he persistent –prepared to try and fail and try again? He seems to be …in boxing, for he has been beaten badly but able to bounce back."

Alonzo hinted that being entrepreneurial is very different from being a boxer, or an OFW planning to return permanently to the Philippines for that matter. Manny has the physical stamina that has made him a boxing great, Alonzo said. "But he must also consider the psychological stamina needed to cope with working long and 'unholy hours' in order to
establish a business."

Wealth management
"Fifty million is NOT a lot of money, if you consider one's whole life," said Azanza, who teaches future businessmen in AIM's Master in Business Administration program. He advised people with money like Manny to, first, "resist the urge to give money away to your relatives, your neighbors, people who will bug you."

Aquino said most Filipinos who worked abroad for the first time tended to become one-day millionaires, "holding parties attended by the whole barangay [village]."

"Remember that it takes only one severe injury or illness and the medical bills will wipe out your wealth," Azanza said, referring to those with high-risk jobs like Pacquiao's. "Do not think you are on easy street. You are not."

Azanza added people should "remember that your life is still ahead of you –hopefully a long life, [so] plan to save and invest a lot [but] retire with your health intact."

Alonzo said a large part of money should be placed in a bank "and let the bank manage it."
"Because of the keen competition, many big banks offer asset management services at very reasonable fees," Alonzo added. "He [or she] can choose from a variety of options: from purely fixed income securities (time deposits, treasury bills and bonds) to mutual funds that also invest in the stock market."

For people with money like Pacquiao, Azanza said the first thing is put P30 million into very safe investments. "That means government fairly short-term notes denominated in Philippine pesos, US dollars, and euros," Azanza said. "These AAA-grade fixed-income investments will earn definite, reliable, predictable interest income."

Azanza added "the reason for investing in pesos, dollars, and euros is to diversify wealth [since] it is a financial sin to 'put all your eggs in one basket'."

"You spread your bets, so that not all investments will go down at the same time, and if one goes down, the chances are that another will go up," said the former president and reasurer of private company Asian Consulting and Training Group Inc.

Azanza added that if he were Manny, another P10 million into the Philippine stockmarket.
"It's a good time now: prices are down and good stocks (such as Jollibee Foods, Meralco, First Philippine Holdings, Petron, and Philex) can be bought fairly cheaply," he said.

The last P10 million, "is the ONLY money that I think Manny should invest into a business in [his hometown] General Santos [City, in Mindanao]," Azanza added.

[Next week: The business cycle]

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