It was a great privilege!
Last Saturday was the culmination of a lot of hard work, anticipation, excitement, stress for our family.
It began in Ginza, Tokyo when we had our annual family goal setting last December 2014. We decided to hold a bigger version of our 2013 Family FQ Workshop. It was a daring decision, but as they say, “The growth is outside your comfort zone!”
The months that followed involved writing to potential sponsors and event partners, looking for the right venue, pencil pushing, meetings on the content, asking for suggestions from different groups of people. Then somewhere in the middle I decided to include the launch of the Filipino version of my Babylon book, Ang Muliling Pagsasalaysay ng Ang Pinakamayamang Tao sa Babilonya with the help of Ron Capinding.
All of these were happening in middle of the busy schedules of each family member: final exams, IRC competitions which included a trip to the US, dance competitions, presentations at work, husband’s big project, talking engagements in between.
It really felt like preparing for a major concert. The challenge was to make it informative, yet still light and fun, catering to the parents, teenagers and young kids. It was not an easy task but we had to do it this way because our ambition was to involve the entire family!
On the preparation side, I also involved the whole family. Of course, Marvin and I took care of getting the sponsors and partners. The contribution of each son was valuable as well. In any family affair, it’s best to tap each family member based on his skills and talents. Martin is our videoman and so he took care of preparing our videos – the Intro video and the onsite video at the end of the workshop. (I am so amazed how kids can work so fast). Enrique has a good speaking voice and he’s our resident voice talent. He and Martin also worked out to finetune the video script. We also counted on him on the technical aspects like adding some effects to my presentation, etc. Anton is our master choreographer and so he did the choreography of the opening number.
And the best part was this: Each one of them prepared their talk in the flavor that they’re very comfortable with so that it will rub off on the audience as something fun and easy to do.
And boy did they succeed! The feedback was overwhelming! A lot of participants said the boys “owned” the stage. Marvin and I were once again beaming with pride.
The participants loved the simplicity and clarity the way concepts of saving and investing were presented, the sharing of actual experiences of each family member, the involvement of the whole family that inspired them to involve their entire family as well. On the whole, the feedback was what we describe in Filipino as nakakataba ng puso at nakaka-palakpak tenga!
An article that came out on Mother’s Day right after the event gave it a comprehensive review written by a journalist I didn’t know until I read her article, here’s the link: http: Motherhood and Money: Rose Fres Fausto on Raising High FQ Kids
On top of the glowing feedback written on the Feedback Forms, I received emails and PMs that they were very happy to have attended, some even narrating their not so comfortable trips from outside of Metro Manila like Thea who said, “The FQ Workshop was a blast! Kudos to the Fausto Family! Although we experienced sobrang siksikan sa MRT plus the heavy rain, because we came straight from Pampanga, being part of your activity was all worth it!” Alfonso Gonzales, a great example of a long-term investor, who came all the way from Vietnam said, “The Fausto Workshop was a blast, so happy to fly in for this.” Gus Cosio, First Metro Asset Management president, said, “It was very well organized and very wholesome. I like the format, i.e. a family presentation. I think the format had very high impact. The content itself was more than substantial which I think is good for first time participants. You did a good job overall.”
Going beyond the workshop:
Even as we hear a lot of people say that “Education is the key to improving the financial literacy.” Behavioral Economics studies show that only a dismal 6% improves their financial condition after listening to financial literacy talks. And this, we shared with our participants. We challenged them to break this 6% and do some “hacks” in order to automate things. At least most of them were with their family members so they were already better off than the usual groups of participants because the family provides significant reinforcement in whatever new commitments we make.
We also challenged our participants to do something about what they learned right away. Studies show that if a person doesn’t do anything within the next 48 hours, chances of doing something diminishes significantly. And so we were thrilled to hear these updates from them within the next 48 hours after the workshop:
- Right after the workshop, they discussed the lessons during dinner, involving some of the family members who were absent.
- Children asked their parents to allow them to be actively involved in investing their money.
- Children (and parents) opened their COL accounts and bank accounts.
- Husband and wife scheduled their family trip and will include setting goals together as a family in the itinerary.
- They brought home copies of the book to share the 3 basic laws of money to their loved ones.
- They started implementing the ABCs of building wealth in their family asap.
- They started teaching money to their children and loved ones in a fun way.
- They transferred some of their cash from savings/current accounts and time deposits to higher yielding investment instruments.
These are exactly what we were hoping to happen! It was indeed a great privilege to have affected these families last Saturday at the Family FQ Workshop.
Maraming Salamat po sa inyong lahat na dumalo.
I wish to leave you with this onsite video prepared by my son Martin. Please click this link: Family FQ Workshop OSV by Martin or the video thumbnail above.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
- The CFA Society is holding its Philippine Retail Investment Conference on May 16, 2014 at the SMX Convention, SM Aura 8:00 am – 5:30 pm. I will be moderating the part on the topic Preserving Family Wealth Through Generations. As part of my perks, I can invite guests to come for free. If you want to attend the conference worth P2,500 for free, please email me at FQMomm@gmail.com with Subject: I want to attend the Investment Conference for free on May 16
Conference topics include the following:
Retirement Essentials
Creating a Personalized Investment Policy Statement
Frauds, Scams and Consumer Protection
12 Common Mistakes Investors Make
Risk and Return Outlook of Stocks, Bonds, Properties and Private Equity
How to Analyze Mutual Funds (to be handled by Marvin Fausto)
Preserving Family Wealth Through Generations
- Another round of thanks to our sponsors and partners who helped us during the event:
Platinum Sponsors – COL Financial & D&L Industries
Gold Sponsors – 8990 Holdings, Inc. and SLAMCI
Silver Sponsors – BDO and Moneymax.ph
Event Partners – DivinaLaw, FMAP, GSN+i Design Studio, FAME, HSBC
Media Parners – PhilStar, ANC, Rappler, BetterMe, MommyMundo
Event Coordinator – Joanne Atienza
Online and Onsite Registration – ThinkBit Solutions
Photography by Arwin Doloricon, Video coverage by Caloy Magsalay
This article is also published in PhilStar.com and RaisingPinoyBoys.com.
