My Journey from Financial Literacy to Accounting

As a theological educator since 1991, I am confident to teach subjects like Theology, Old Testament, Church History, and Homiletics. Though not my major, the other two subjects that I taught in the past include The Life and Works of Dr. Jose P. Rizal and Introduction to Christian Education.

Currently, the subjects I am handling in our school are Theology 1, Apologetics, and Church & Society. I incorporate into that last subject the insights I glean from reading literature written by Austrian economists. After informally studying this specific school of economics for five years, somehow, I gain familiarity with the jargon that at first, I found strange and alien.

My shift from theological education to the world of finance was not voluntary. It was caused by great discomfort. One is personal and the other is ministerial.

It happened in 2009. Thinking that my field was already shut down for me, I searched for a way to survive and provide for my family. That was the time I got involved with a business community composed of Filipinos and Chinese. That was also the year I started my journey in financial literacy.

Realizing the importance of capital in doing business and investment ventures, after four years I decided to go abroad. The only country open to me was South Korea. After four years of working in South Korea, I was able to save some amount, which I intended to use to start a small business.

As for my involvement in the Philippine stock market, my original plan was to invest long-term. However, after knowing that long-term investment in the stock market was not appropriate for my personality, I shifted to short-term trading. For a start, I used $4,000.00 as my initial capital.

My first year was a disaster. I lost 49% of my capital. That’s the time I study technical analysis and trading psychology. Since then, the bleeding stopped and I had a decent ROI. My trading philosophy at that time was:

I don't aim for a home run in trading. Gaining minimal but consistent profit is enough for me.

However, despite the gains, I could not monitor my progress for I failed to keep a trading journal. After five years of trading, finally I started keeping records.

Another event that caused me to shift my interest was the pandemic and the lockdown. Since July 2021, I seldom visit my trading account. I only have one stock in the telecom sector and I still hold a small number of shares. My focus this time is blockchain technology.

My journey in blockchain technology is still very young. Most of the lingo in the space remains strange to me. If I will describe my familiarity in this field in terms of percentage, I could say it’s between 10 to 20%. I am still not that confident talking about blockchain, crypto, and anything related to financial technology.

Just last month, another situation calls for another adjustment in terms of learning a new field. Having been transferred to the Business and Finance Department, I am forced to study accounting, and that is why I shared in my profile yesterday that since 2008 I was traveling from financial literacy (2008-2012) to economics (2012 – 2021) to blockchain (2021 to present), and now to accounting. And the first book that I picked up is the one written by Michele Cagan, The Everything Accounting Book. The book was published in 2007. In the coming weeks, I intend to share my reading of this book.

Grace and peace!

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