My journey with you in this community will surely be one of the best moments as a humble and an enthusiastic writer and an auditor. I would like to share a piece of life, my first heart break with Mr. Market, and some interesting stuff.
How I got into Steem?
It was a normal day in 18th of May, surfing random stuff then came across with a Telegram promotional campaign of a certain blockchain project where it allows people to win weekly prizes if you qualify as one of the top contributors through making stickers, gifs, and articles for the community.
“Oh, this is great!” I love writing, though I’m still looking for more ways in curating write ups. Nevertheless, did my best in the campaign and was able to gain experience using editorial platforms.
We can use Medium, Bitcointalk, Steemit, and other social media platforms. I made it to Medium and utilized it for publicizing my thoughts. At one time, Michelle from a certain Medium publication, Data Driven Investor, took interest in one of the short articles I published online about how data analytics can help investors in the crypto market.
It is great to be part of that publication, however, it felt there is something lacking and was looking for more engagement to broaden my wisdom or knowledge with new things especially fintech, market, innovations, and life.
I searched for Steemit and then found a great community! It is a gem platform. I am fascinated on how the community members engage and help each other grow mutually. Thousands of everyday users interact with posts of other fellows. They share their knowledge on the specific area, thoughts, and constructive criticisms for improvements. I want to be part of this revolutionary platform of ideas exchange.
Hoping I will be able to contribute my knowledge, wisdom, and opinions about investing and its psychology, accounting, auditing, technological developments, thoughts on emerging blockchain platforms, some literary pieces, and other types of articles.
I have to thank that blockchain platform for running the campaign and to Jerry (
This is a link to his tutorial channel. Check it out! It’s worth it!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/dukeacem/
Here are two links of short articles I submitted for the campaign in my Medium account published in Data Driven Investor publication:
1.) https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/making-data-analytics-work-on-a-blockchain-469db12b7557
2.) https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/sustainable-blockchain-businesses-is-it-possible-d92ce5daedd7
I am also a part of the admin team for two Facebook pages:
1.) Mankayan Unofficial Story which features authentic unheard stories of Mankayan (located 3-4 hours away from Baguio City) natives as gold rich town, and
2.) SOWM Arrows which publishes daily inspirational quotes and other events.
Here are some helpful links to our pages and read some of our articles published:
1.) https://www.facebook.com/EverydayBenguet/
2.) https://www.facebook.com/TheArrowsofSOWM/
You can also connect with me:
1.) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ali.aswegui
2.) Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasonCrisologo
3.) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-aswegui-14246b153/
A piece of my life
(This is me together with my friend Glen, it was taken recently in our send-off party for examinees at Heritage Mansion, Baguio City right after our board examination on October 13 of the same year.)
My name is Ali Aswegui, took my accounting program at Saint Louis University founded by Belgian missionaries in Baguio City (Summer capital of the Philippines).
I have a robotic life when I was in college; wake up early, go to school, take lectures, and then go home.
I do watch movie series for hours like five an hour episodes of Game of Thrones plus Arrow and others, surf the net, playing arcade games, ignoring homework then eventually making a hero-like cramming claiming to do piled chores at its best (Most of the time, making half or even less of the scores, especially minor art subjects and other advanced accounting topics).
Wanted to share all of it but I would like to give more emphasis with the problem on sexual immorality. It is a sensitive issue, but would still want to share my point of views as a man.
Pornography is one the problematic issues in our society right now, it does not only concern men but it includes women, children, teens, young professionals, and married adults. Engaging our lives with it literally kills relationships, families, friends, and worst, it could have a long term effect to productivity or career. Some reasons include searching for something that would relieve us from problem temporarily and the longing to fill emptiness and desires.
I for one was having problems with it before. It literally downgrades every aspect of my life. Instead of performing more productive tasks such as doing subject reviews, it eats a lot of my time. It’s as if something is pulling me to engage with the activity every time I surf the internet. I also lose another level of communication with my friends and family much like distancing myself. I frequently don’t beat deadlines and miss good opportunities for personal improvement. The end result, I’m only hurting myself.
When everything is not working the way it was meant to be, I thought I would lose myself and consumed by this world like a prodigal. Then I met my Marketing teacher, Lailanie, who opened my eyes that it’s not too late. She has the ability to tell personalities of people even she have met him for the first time and their related tendencies. Strange gift she has, but it’s proven among her 50 students per class. I took the chance, then I was surprised, “She was all right on the mark!” I got scared, ashamed of the truth, and at the same time disturbed about a statement she said. “If you question God, it will result to your fall down.”
For months, I’ve been thinking about it. Thankfully, my friend Filemar, introduced me to their youth community in their ministry last year (Streams of Water Ministries) where they organize a quarterly event called Divine Appointment with God (DAG). At first, I doubt this event would change me but I am now forever grateful to him inviting me to their activity. I was able to know things on how to combat it and who to seek at times when it comes to my mind.
Right now, I attend our group meetings with other young men. It is a group where everyone confidently share their everyday struggles with life and acts as a great network support. Looking forward that our group will grow bigger and be filled with men committed to support each other in the bad and good times.
Given a chance, I would love to share more on how I conquered this bodily urges that enslaved me for years sometime in the near future with the community.
This freedom I obtained allowed me to grow more and do things which are more productive. Just this 21st of June 2018, I successfully graduated as an accounting student.
I reviewed in preparation for my Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination on October 6, 7, and 13.
The result was released after ten days and I passed it!
It was a tough 5-year journey but it was worth it having my license and working as an auditor in an auditing and accounting firm.
Now, here are more of my stories I’d like to share with you and my learnings.
My first heartbreak with Mr. Market!
“If you can’t beat the capitalist, join them!” says my sociology teacher Ms. Galicia.
That is one of the memorable lines I encountered during my sophomore year in college.
It was a rainy school day when my teacher is discussing about society, Marxist Theory, she emphasized that capitalist and workers co-exist to allow the community function smoothly. Well, it is a reasonable argument in some points. After, the lecture, she said that statement and immediately asked her, “How can I join the capitalists?” She smiled, and then recommended me to try the stock market in a brokerage firm in Baguio.
I was so excited so I processed all the necessary papers. After a month, I was set to go. Without researching and limited student fund, I bought two stocks (industrial and developer stocks) at $100 (Php5 000.00). Two months have passed and my account increased by 40%. I am thrilled how the stock market works and that’s where everything goes wrong. I buy with the crowd and dives with their speculations, little did I know that my account is down by 50%. Things didn’t end there, in order to fill my greediness, I bought shares of a new company worth $160 (Php8 000.00) in their Initial Public Offering because it looks like great (it’s just a feeling) through a loan with a friend, Marco. Plus, another borrowed stocks from my broker only to find it a wrong decision. A month after the IPO, the stock including those shares on loan slowly declined that forced me to sell them at a loss plus a responsibility to pay the credit. Even now, those companies are not performing well!
Got home that day so disappointed, as an ordinary student, it’s a big amount. Literally cried for few minutes and it sounds awkward for a man, but, real men do cry.
I got over it, and then was able to buy books in investing like The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham to educate myself. It paid off! Now, though not yet a big investor (I will be, in the near future. It’s not bad to make big ambitions if we’re doing our part in the process.) I’m making good returns with my humble investments with Mr. Market.
Five lessons I learned:
Don’t buy with the crowd or join mere speculations.
Do your homework. Research their products, management team, and their basic financial statements or other relevant financial information available.
Greed leads us to bad decisions.
Don’t overly time the market since it will cause you losing attention to other important aspects of life. If you have done your research, it should be enough accompanied by reading their periodic reports or announcements.
“Markets are never wrong, opinions are!” Jesse Livermore
How I got to blockchain industry?
A longtime bud and an innovation enthusiast, Filemar, introduced me to Bitcoin claiming that it could be one of the next greatest inventions. At first, did not believe that immediately and took me at least a week to research and learn more about it. Then, said “Okay, I get it. Looks promising!” but sadly, did not do anything after that.
Not until last year, a good friend, Leonardo James, stunningly borrowed $6, 000(Php300, 000) from his sister to invest in NEO platform when it was still trading at $19 (Php950)! He even doubled the amount when the price is sustainably rising. I was totally speechless and shocked with his courage.
If I asked that amount with my parents, of course, they would likely scold me believing in this new trending technology. So, I decided to use some extra savings from on allowances received.
I was encouraged and researched more about cryptocurrencies. Ripple was my first coin, to test the waters, I bought 352 XRP when it was trading at $.27 through Bittrex. In December to January, XRP hit the market peaking at more than $3 apiece. I sold them and used it to buy Stellar (XLM). Recently, I added few hundred bucks with XLM while also keeping some fund with stocks.
I am already working in an accounting and auditing firm now and have been consistently adding some of my savings with other working projects. And I’m so eager also to buy STEEM to support the growth of the community.
New innovations take part in reshaping the world and the global society. They shouldn’t be ignored!
Thank you for reading my story! I appreciate it. You can also comment your first heartbreak with the market, how you got into blockchain, and any thoughts you have. I would do my best to read them all.
I will be sharing more of my everyday experiences in these coming months and years with you as I gained more wisdom with my transition from my student life to corporate life and to my life as a family man (maybe 10 years from now).
Have a good day my Steemit fam!