I was browsing at the bookstore and chanced upon an intriguing book called “One Person/Multiple Careers” by Marci Alboher. It grabbed me instantly because it describes exactly what I do.

Whenever people ask me what I do for a living, I often stammer for an answer. It is quite strange really when you’re juggling four or five things at the same time. I’m not exactly a freelancer or free agent, as I once defined myself, though I am that. I’m not exactly an entrepreneur either, though I am that as well.

It’s not moonlighting or working several temp jobs. It’s having literally multiple careers in different fields. Some call it a portfolio career or parallel entrepreneurship. Marci Alboher labels it a slash career, as in lawyer/chef. And it’s not so much related fields such as singer/songwriter or writer/editor as incongruous combinations like rock star/humanitarian (Bono) or surgeon/news correspondent (Dr. Sanjay Gupta).

I know of a number of “slashes” so to speak. In my case, I’ve had simultaneous careers all throughout my working life. I was desktop publisher/trainer/writer, and then I became a banker/editor, after which I turned into a Web producer/editor, morphing into marketing communicator/event organizer. When I left full-time work, I quickly became a financial advisor/freelance writer/managing director/sales rep. So I’m used to juggling multiple jobs.

This is my slash career right now: publisher/editor/banker/consultant/freelancer/project director/seminar producer. It is heartening to know I’m not alone, and that there lots of people who chose this path. In a column called “Blurring by Choice and Passion” for the New York Times, Marci calls it work/life blurring and describes the kind of work/life we have. Marci explains the reasons behind the explosion of careers with slashes in this BusinessWeek interview:

• Now that so much work can be done flexibly, portably, and virtually, it’s easy to do many kinds of work in the same workweek or even workday.
• Economic security no longer exists unless you create it. Having multiple income streams is one of the best ways to create stability.
• People are living and working longer, creating a large canvas on which to paint a career.
• We are all craving fulfillment and meaning in our careers, so it’s becoming more common to combine work for security with work that feeds a passion.

It is a satisfying approach to work/life balance and an invigorating (and yes, exhausting) fulfillment of being able to pursue my different passions and learn varied skills. And per my experience, it’s even more financially rewarding. I would never go back to a one-job, full-time corporate career again.

I haven’t read the book “The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and The Middle Class” but just from the table of contents, I can already get the gist. Here’s how I think I stack up:

Distinction 10:
Millionaires think long-term.
The middle class thinks short-term.
[I'm the guy with the 10-year plan. Sure I care about the short-term; it would be irresponsible not to be, but I always have my eye on the big picture and the future.]

Distinction 9:
Millionaires talk about ideas.
The middle class talks about things and other people.
[I always talk about ideas. I am known as the guy with the ideas.]

Distinction 8:
Millionaires embrace change.
The middle class is threatened by change.
[With several career changes, I know and am open to change. It's not that I'm not scared by it; it's just that I'm used to it.]

Distinction 7:
Millionaires take calculated risks.
The middle class is afraid to take risks.
[In terms of career decisions, I'm a dare-devil. In terms of investing, I'm a moderate risk-taker. In terms of business, I'm a little risk-averse.]

Distinction 6:
Millionaires continually learn and grow.
The middle class thinks learning ended with school.
[I love learning. It's one of my passions.]

Distinction 5:
Millionaires work for profits.
The middle class works for wages.
[Somehow, I'm able to marry the two with monthly retainers and regular fees as well as profit sharing and business income.]

Distinction 4:
Millionaires believe they must be generous.
The middle class believes it can’t afford to give.
[I give generously to things we believe matter and when there's a real need. But admittedly, we can't yet give as generously as we hope to.]

Distinction 3:
Millionaires have multiple sources of income.
The middle class has only one or two.
[I have at least five.]

Distinction 2:
Millionaires focuses on increasing their net worth.
The middle class focuses on increasing its paychecks.
[I think income is important, but I agree that net worth is more important. Let me clarify that: a net worth that is made up of income-producing and price-appreciating assets is to me the ideal.]

Distinction 1:
Millionaires ask themselves empowering questions.
The middle class ask themselves disempowering questions.
[I have self-doubts, sure, but I do cling on to empowering beliefs.]

Looks like I have a millionaire mindset (and yes, I am a millionaire several times over in peso terms, but not yet in dollar terms). If there’s one thing I need to work on, it’s distinction 7. I need to take more risks in business.

2007 had been a good year for us, financially and in other areas as well. And I expect/hope that 2008 will even be a better year. From a personal finance perspective, I’ve set a number of goals this year:

1. Build our house. We should start construction by next month and our dream house should be done by the second or third quarter of the year. This project is going to be a challenge to our cash flow. We’ve already taken care of financing the monthly amortization, but we have fees, furniture, fixtures, and appliances to contend with.

2. Start our business. This has been in the planning stage for far too long. This is the year we are launching. I expect to add at least P120,000 to our annual income. But I’d be happier if we can double or even triple that.

3. Increase earned income by P300,000. At least. With the new business, plus 1 or 2 side projects, it’s possible to meet this goal.

4. Start saving for “retirement.” We haven’t really set aside regularly for our goal of financial independence. I ran the numbers, and “just” saving and investing P300,000 a year for the next 20 years at a compounded average return of 12% (reasonable I think) will yield P24 million.

5. Lower my taxes. I’ve already created a company partly as a tax shelter, so that should save me hundreds of thousands of pesos in personal income tax. Since I am not an employee, I shouldn’t be taxed like one. And with the BMBE tax exemption for small businesses, I only need to pay either a 3% percentage tax or a 12% VAT. Guess which category I’m in?

6. Sell our residential lot. Since we decided to live in another area, we won’t need the lot we purchased a few years ago. By now, we’ve built P1.4 million in equity, net of our mortgage balance (thanks to a 34% rise in market value). Minus capital gains tax, we should have a comfy P1.3 million in cash if we’re able to sell it. I can place that in an investment that can earn 15%, which translates to almost P200,000 a year in passive income. Add my P300,000 earned income and that should add half a million a year.

7 . Look into rental properties. Maybe it’s time I dip into investing in rental properties. At the very least, I should start doing some research into small (and therefore easier to rent out) condo or apartment units that can sell for a million or so and that I can rent out for P10,000 a month. If I can buy one property per year using leverage, I can at least offset part, if not all, of the monthly amortization and maintenance cost with rental income, and wait for the market value to rise.

8. Increase our net worth by another million. It is possible, though I have to really work my butt off. And God willing, if we can sell our property, that’s an instant million!

9. Increase our giving. We’ve proven that tithing works and we’ve given generously to our church’s building fund. But we are not yet at the point of being able to freely and generously give to others.

10. Teach others about managing their money. We’ve always said we are quite savvy when it comes to personal finances. But we know this is something we can and should share with others.

These are certainly ambitious but achievable goals. No one said it was going to be easy.

We dropped by a Hyundai showroom, curious about the new Grand Starex. It was — how shall I put it? — love at first sight. Our sedan and pick-up truck are 7 and 9 years old already, not yet senior citizens but certainly no spring chickens.

I’ve been wanting to have a family van that has enormous space for long drives. And this 10-seater (a 12-seater is also available) is it. The second row “captain seats” can slide, recline, fold, and swivel to face the third row. The third row can also slide to give more cargo space. You can, in fact, put a mattress on the floor to nap. Or custom-fit a mini-office inside. The possibilities! It has a 174-horsepower CRDi diesel engine that translates to power and fuel economy.

We also liked the Sante Fe, an SUV that can seat 7 (three rows with a back row that can fold for cargo space) and with a CRDi diesel engine as well, perfect for city driving. And I love the stylish design.

It doesn’t cost to dream, but the roughly P1.5 million ($35,000) Sante Fe or the slightly more expensive Starex is not in our budget. And a new car isn’t just in our list of top priorities. The same goes for that Mediterranean cruise that my parents and siblings are planning for March (the second time we chose to stay behind).

The house that we’re putting up, well, that’s going to take a big bite out of our budget and possibly dip into our savings. It is very tempting to just go to Europe or buy a new van or SUV, but that may mean charging more of our expenses to plastic, and not paying the full amount. That could mean doing extra work or forcing my wife to get a job to help pay for our growing overhead. And that would lead to anxiety, stress, bickering, and, well, you know where I’m getting at.

Life is a series of choices, of trade-offs. For us, we’d rather “sacrifice” immediate luxuries and hold off even on other minor discretionary expenses just to make sure we don’t strain ourselves especially in the next couple of years when we have to build the house, pay all those fees, buy new furniture and appliances, and adjust to a new overhead budget.

We have agreed, my wife and I, that our house is our priority. Having a place of our own, to raise our kids, to make our own rules, to plant our roots, to live the balanced and full life we aspire to, that’s what we want. And if that means driving an aging car for a few more years and taking short local trips instead, then so be it. We’re putting our big rocks first.

Just caught this BBC series called “The Real…” which takes viewers off the beaten track of well-known cities. It so happened they were featuring Tokyo, one of my favorite cities. What caught my attention, however, was the profile of Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu, a Japanese inventor who holds 3,000 inventions (more than Thomas Edison), a world record, including the floppy disk, the CD and DVD, the digital watch, the taxi meter, and some really wacky inventions (including his own brain food and coffee as well as the Love Jet sexual stimulation spray!). He even claims to have invented the cooking pot for his (and my) favorite Japanese dish shabu-shabu.

Dr. NakaMats is the quintessential Japanese and mad scientist rolled into one — geeky, tech-crazy, goofy, offbeat, campy, and lovable. And he’s most certainly very rich. In his smart house, he has a sound-proof bathroom all decked in gold, including a gold toilet bowl, where he comes up with his creative ideas (where else?).

Here’s an example of someone who became successful doing what he loves, with a natural curiosity about everything, who loves life (he plans to live to be 140!), and became rich actually creating things that are of use to society (OK, including things that aren’t, but he’s Japanese).

Watch the episode!

What? Paris Hilton is no. 1? Forbes “Hottest Billionaire Heiresses” ranks the hotel heiress first and Ivanka Trump second?. Well, okay, maybe based on buzz, but in my book, Ivanka, uhm, trumps Paris any time of the day.

We just got approved for a 25-year, 11% fixed-rate, P4 million mortgage. That translates to around P44,000 per month. That’s actually a good deal. The total cost of building the 407 sq. m. house is around P5.2 million, on a lot that we already own. By US standards, the house is quite cheap. But the mortgage is pretty steep. Let’s dissect everything:

Home price
In the US, the median home price is $213,900 in 2005. But it can go upwards of $1 million. Our house, if you include the price of the lot, is approximately $155,800. Of course, ours is inherently cheaper given the more minimalist modern design (meaning lesser and cheaper materials) and the sub-urban location (on the fringes of the metropolis). Home prices in more upscale neighborhoods can reach California price levels.

House size
Single-family houses in the US have ballooned from an average size of 983 sq. ft. in 1950 to today’s 11,000 sq. ft. McMansions. But the average is around 2,349 sq. ft. Our house is about 4,380 sq. ft. Huge, you say. But the livable space (i.e. minus semi-enclosed areas like the garage and open spaces like the entrance court) is just 2,830 sq. ft. Surprisingly, our house is slightly larger than the average US home. But certainly nothing like those McMansions.

Average price per square footage
A rather simplistic division of the US median home price over the average home size will yield an average price per square footage of $91. Our house is around $55, a little more than half the price, which makes it a bargain.

Mortgage
In the US, the average mortgage is $230,000. I got mine (in this country, better known as “housing loan”) at $93,000. Technically, I’m paying less for a bigger home. So yes, it’s cheaper to live in a Third World country, especially in the exurbs.

Term
The typical term for US mortgages is either 15 years or 30 years. Here, it’s still 10 years, with just very few banks offering up to 25 years. Even a 10-year fixed rate was a relatively recent standard. A few years back, you can’t get any fixed rate longer than 5 years!

Monthly amortization
The average mortgage payment in the US is $1,687. Our is about $1,023. If you’re wondering why I’m paying just a few hundred dollars less when my mortgage is more than half less, read on.

Interest rate
Now, here’s where it gets lopsided. The national average mortgage rate in the US is only 6.26% fixed for a 30-year term. My 25-year fixed rate is 11%, almost twice. And that’s already one of the lowest in the market! No wonder the vast majority of residents in this country rent, not own their homes.

That’s just how things go. In the crazy unstable 80s, rates were double, triple, quadruple. So 11% is like “cheap” already. But as you can see, it’s most certainly not. But I’m not going to wait for a 6.26% fixed rate for 25 years. It’s probably not going to happen in my lifetime.

We all like to think that more money won’t bring real happiness for us. Yet, the truth is, our thoughts, actions, and behavior belie that. Aren’t we buying more stuff, eating out more, traveling around a lot, upgrading faster, and trying to earn as much as we can as fast as possible, somehow to feel happier?

The truth is, money does make us happier, but only to a certain extent. All the recent research and scientific evidence point to the fact that once we reach a comfortable lifestyle,when we don’t worry about our basic needs, having more money doesn’t bring more happiness. Science Magazine concludes:

“While those with incomes of $90,000 and more were nearly twice as likely to report being “very happy” as those with incomes below $20,000, there is hardly any difference between the $90,000-and-more group and the $50,000-to-$89,999 set.“

We also tend to compare ourselves with those in our age bracket (I know I do), and that can be the source of our content or discontent. Jason Zweig’s “Your Money and Your Brain” also mentions that we get a bigger thrill anticipating a reward (like a new car, a new laptop, whatever) than actually receiving it, and between things and experiences, our memory leaves longer, positive impressions about the latter (never mind if you and your spouse had a big fight during your beach vacation three years ago, you probably remember it now more for the other fun, happy experiences you had at that time…and I speak from experience).

So what does all these mean? If we want to be happier, here are what we need to do:

1. Make enough money to live comfortably. Being poor sucks. Being heavily in debt sucks. Not having enough money sucks. There is no virtue in poverty. So it’s important that we earn enough to meet our basic needs and then some.

2. Don’t aim to be filthy rich. The good news is we don’t have to be billionaires to be happy (besides, you’ve certainly read about billionaires who live miserable lives).As the data shows, there’s scant difference between someone earning $50,000-$89,999 and someone making $90,000 or more. We just have to aim for a debt-free, comfortable lifestyle with occasional splurges and luxuries.

3. Be content. Having a content heart and thankful attitude will lead to a happier life. That’s why the Bible warns against covetousness because “the love of money is the root of all evil.”

4. Don’t compare. This is a tricky one. We do tend to compare ourselves with peers of roughly the same age, or with siblings (even our parents). Wealth is really relative. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “Fooled By Randomness” noted, even if you’re doing well but live in a neighborhood where everyone else is doing better than you, you’d feel miserable. Move to an area where you’re relatively better off than most and you’d feel much better. Not exactly the morally soundest advice, but certainly a pragmatic one.

5. Buy experiences, not things. Accumulating stuff doesn’t make us happy. The research shows it. So where and how you spend your money will increase or decrease your happiness. And the evidence proves that doing things (experiences) generate more happiness than having things (stuff).

6. Focus on what’s important. That means your family, your health, your calling, and your relationships with other people. The research also shows that people with a deep and meaningful spiritual relationship with God are generally happier.

7. Be happy. That may sound counter-intuitive, but just having a positive, happy attitude will make you, well, happier. If you’re basically a happy person, you can just have enough, a lot, or a little, you’d still be happy. But if you’re a negative person, you can be the richest person in the world and still be miserable.

Just finished Marcus Buckingham’s “Go Put Your Strengths To Work”. A proponent of the strengths movement, Buckingham advances the whole idea that we can be most successful if we maximize our innate strengths, not by fixing our weaknesses to be more well-rounded. I fully agree.

I have a pretty good idea of what my strengths are, but as you may have inferred from my occasional ranting on this blog, maximizing them is easier said than done. In fact, the book revealed a study that most people are able to use their strengths less than a quarter of the time. That is so true. I find myself doing a lot of things that are just not making full use of my real strengths.

It’s also an important realization that only the things that we are good at and love to do are what we should consider our real strengths. We may be good at something but if it’s something we don’t like to do, then it’s actually a weakness. If we love to do something but we’re not good at them, it should be at best a hobby. Strengths are what exhilarate and excites us. Weaknesses are exhausting and draining.

The book takes readers to steps in identifying both strengths and weaknesses. Here are mine:

My Top 4 Strengths

Strength #1: I feel strongest when…
I conceptualize and start new projects, such as magazines, websites, and events, that are ground-breaking, defining their objectives, market, structure, content, and design.

Strength #2: I feel strongest when…
I write about things that interest, intrigue, or humor me, searching and sorting through sometimes complex information and present to readers in a comprehensive, insightful, accessible, or entertaining way.

Strength #3: I feel strongest when…
I create a strategic program or specific action plan that will solve a marketing or HR problem.

Strength #4: I feel strongest when…
I encourage people I supervise who do outstanding work and deliver the results I want.

My Top 4 Weaknesses

Weakness #1: I feel weakest when…
I have to do the nitty-gritty details of implementing, managing, and operating a business, program, or project, such as coordination, follow-ups, paperwork, and monitoring.

Weakness #2: I feel weakest when…
I have to write boring articles, business letters, PR stuff, scripts, and other things that I don’t care about.

Weakness #3: I feel weakest when…
I edit or proofread letters, ad copy, articles, and layouts.

Weakness #4: I feel weakest when…
I deal with problematic results, sub par performance, and uncooperative people.

It’s interesting that my strengths and weaknesses are actually mirror images of each other:

1. Conceptualizing vs. Implementing
2. Writing Interesting Things vs. Writing Boring Things
3. Strategic Planning vs. Detailed Work
4. Supervising Top Performers vs. Dealing With Bad Performers

Being very specific made me realize I do not hate writing, which was my conclusion not long ago, when I found myself corporate communication and public relations work (by the way, I do them well, but I despise doing them). I don’t hate writing per se. In fact, I love writing, but only stuff that interest me.

The real challenge after identifying strengths and weaknesses is doing more of the former and less of the latter. The author suggests concrete steps, although geared largely towards employees rather than the self-employed. But in fact, as a free agent and business owner, I ought to have greater freedom to do more of what I’m good at and what I love.

The ball, as they say, is now in my hands.