SOCIAL MEDIA

3 Financial Lessons We Can Learn From Michael Martinez

Image from Inquirer

The country is beaming with pride as we have the first and the country’s sole representative to the Winter Olympics. He is no less than Michael Martinez. Ever since he held our flag in the opening ceremonies, he has been making waves in the country, in Southeast Asia and even the world. International media organization from the United States and Canada are also interested in Michael’s life story. After all, he was the youngest in the free skating men’s division and even more the Philippines was able to have one representative to the said Olympics even if we don’t have snow here.

Because of Michael I slept late last night. Ok, I’m definitely not blaming him. Seeing him in the ice brought tears to my eyes. And wow it rhymes. I am simply proud of this little lad. He has more potential, he can offer more in the ice skating ring on the next Winter Olympics, he is more flexible and charismatic.

However, what sparks more interest with regards to Michael Martinez is the notion that he gets no support at all from the Philippine Government. Yet, the government claims that they have provided before. No wonder many are fuming with fire because the ones who are supporting him financially would be the ones from the private sector and from donations. If it weren’t for them, Philippines would not be making history in the Sochi (very cute name) Winter Olympics. There have also been reports that the family even mortgage their home in order to bring Michael to Russia.

With that said, what are the financial lessons we can learn from this 17 year old talented lad?

Start with a dream and work for it

So what makes Michael Martinez the first figure skater for the country and Southeast Asia? It all started with a dream. Michael was always in pursuit of the Winter Olympics dream. Ever since he set foot in a mall’s ice skating rink, he always has that goal in mind. With that, he competed in the qualifying rounds in Russia. Even more, he toiled and labor every skate of the way training in the country and the United States. Similar with our financial plans, we need to have a clear dream in mind. Michael was very specific with this Olympic dream. How about your financial goal? Are you being specific? What are they? 

Invest on your dream

I clearly remember Mrs. Martinez interview when she said “It’s a crazy investment”. She was actually referring to the pre-Olympic tournaments wherein travel costs for international tournaments are required. I know it is indeed one crazy investment but needless to say if you are chasing a dream, investing on it is due. And I must say such kind of investment is worth doing. Same thing with your finances. If you have been dreaming to build up a business, invest on it. Look for ways where you can improve your ability to manage and to do the task. With regards to your dream, have you been working today to achieve it? As much as possible we must align our efforts and our time in order to attain it in the near future. For instance, if you want to build your own sweet shop, make sure you will know how to bake in the first place. So, invest in baking school and your ingredients and equipment. If you want to invest in the stock market, learn stock market. Remember the best investment you could do is to improve yourself. And Michael is a good example of that.

Varied and available sources for your dream

Michael Martinez was able to compete from varied tournaments abroad and even hire a coach because of the varied financial help he received. As a matter of fact, the Winter Olympics is considered one of the most expensive Olympic because athletes shell out tons with regards to travel and training. Michael started training in a mall for unlimited use. However, we must agree that the cost is even beyond our minimum wage. Yet, when determined we can have varied financial sources to help us. This is evident in Michael. Many individuals and companies have pulled in their finances to help him. Needless to say, they have been there in the first place ready to fund a dream. Same goes with you. In terms of our financial goal, we have many sources we can ask just like banks, friends and more. Many can help us and support us. But are we maximizing them? Or do we even know they exist in the first place?

Michael Martinez let us realize that indeed nothing is impossible. I am certain right after Winter Olympics, help would be pouring in to him and his family so that he can represent us again in the next Olympics. Same goes with our financial dream.  It is not impossible to achieve it. We might experience rough waves at the beginning however sooner or later you would realize those waves were worth it. And we would definitely emerge a champion on top of it all. So let’s chase that financial Olympic dream of ours today.





P.S. To those doing the 52 Week Money Challenge and 52 Week Money Challenge Version 2, it is Week 7 already! Did you deposit the next amount yet?

P.P.S Want to know more about investing, savings, stock market and more, check out my reference here. You can download free ebooks and resources too.