By Heinz Bulos

One of the funniest scenes from the comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery goes this way:

Dr. Evil: Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that a breakaway Russian Republic called Kreplachistan will be transferring a nuclear warhead to the United Nations in a few days. Here’s the plan. We get the warhead and we hold the world ransom for…ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

Number Two: Don’t you think we should ask for more than a million dollars? A million dollars isn’t exactly a lot of money these days. Virtucon alone makes over 9 billion dollars a year!

Dr. Evil: Really? That’s a lot of money. [pause] Okay then, we hold the world ransom for…one…hundred…BILLION DOLLARS!

Who would have thought inflation can be so hilarious? One million dollars in the sixties may sound a lot, but not much in the dot-com nineties. In the same way, a million pesos – while still relatively a lot given the average household income in this country – can only take you so far these days.

Last year, we came up with a “Millionaires’ Secrets” issue, which flew off the shelves. So we thought we’d up the ante with a “Billionaires’ Secrets” theme this time. It’s not that we think we’ll turn you into a Lucio Tan or a Manny Villar but we believe billionaires can teach us a thing or two about creating, growing, preserving, and giving away wealth.

Frankly, I have no aspirations of becoming a billionaire. My needs are simple and my wants are few. Don’t get me wrong, I desire to be a millionaire, i.e. in US dollar terms. If you think that’s a lot, try to compute how much retirement fund you need just to maintain a comfortable standard of living 20 to 30 years from now. You see for me, that’s enough. It may be too much for some, not enough for others. That’s because wealth is relative.

If you look at the richest Filipinos in Forbes’s ranking of “The World’s Billionaires” for 2008, only two made it – Lucio Tan, with $1.5 billion, and Henry Sy, with $1.4 billion. And they pale in comparison to the world’s richest – Warren Buffet, with $62 billion (it’s no longer Bill Gates, who slipped to number three after Carlos Slim). Tan and Sy were far down the list of 1,125 billionaires, at numbers 785 and 843, respectively.

Buffet himself is a third short of Dr. Evil’s ransom demand of $100 billion. And if you look at my $1 million target, it’s only .0001%.  Maybe for some of you, a million pesos is already enough. We all have to figure out when enough is enough.

A good place to start is simply to be content with what we already have. (I doubt this qualify as a billionaire’s secret.) Then work towards your “enough is enough” goal, i.e. that relative amount that you believe will provide you and your family the standard of living – and quality of life – you dream of. And once you reach that, and happen to have developed the knack of making more, maybe even a lot more, do what some billionaires like Buffet and Gates do – give most of it away. Because, really, one hundred billion dollars is just too much.

The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers
By Keith R. McFarland
Think of this book as “Good to Great” for mid-sized companies, given that author Keith McFarland was prodded by management guru Jim Collins to answer his own question about how companies are able to break through their initial stages while others struggle under similar circumstances. Using Collins’ own research methodology, McFarland and his team analyzed more than 7,000 companies, conducted a thorough field study over five years, and came up with nine firms that exemplify breakthrough companies. The key findings: crown the organization, up the ante by placing big bets, build true company character, sustain small company advantages, build and maximize networks, nurture “insultants,” and tackle tough times head on. These are not exactly breakthrough insights, but the findings are nevertheless substantial as they are based on solid research.

Readability: 4 out of 5
Usefulness: 5 out of 5

Available at NBS Best Sellers

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke—The Simple Change That Can Make Your Job Terrific
By Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson
The authors, creators of the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) at Best Buy, convincingly present an alternative to the traditional time-oriented definition of work. They’re persuasive because they’ve made it work at their Fortune 100 company. The basic premise in a ROWE is that employees control when, where, and how they work, as long they get the job done. It’s not flextime or telecommuting, which they argue often make things worse. It’s totally eradicating the culture of time, schedules, meetings, and the nasty comments about coming in late or going home early (which they call Sludge). It’s an impassioned book, with very clear arguments and guiding principles, though not much of an operating manual. But it should, as the authors intended, get you and your co-workers thinking and setting things in motion.

Readability: 4 out of 5
Usefulness: 5 out of 5

Available at NBS Best Sellers

By Lynda C. Corpuz

Knowing the hot job markets was the first step we cited in 10 Steps to OFW Riches (July-August OFW issue). But while we identified for you the top destinations and current opportunities, there are still other factors to consider in finding your own greener pasture:

Research about your preferred destination and prepare the documents required. This is obvious, but it is still important that you are going to work in a country that welcomes you, particularly your skills, and offers career opportunities. Completing papers though is time-consuming, and on occasion, nerve-wracking. Research about the country where you want to work, know if you either need a working permit or visa or residency visa, contact the nearest embassy, and scour the Web to give you an idea of the paperwork you will need to complete.

Identify what you want to and can do. Others go abroad and hop from one casual job to another, like bar tending or shop keeping. Before you jump on that plane, list down all your skills and work experience, and check if your preferred country is looking for foreign workers with your skill set. Right now, the demand is for jobs in cruise lines, hotel and food services, construction, education, and healthcare, according to the book Finding Work Abroad: A step-by-step guide.

Click the mouse. While it is easier to search for overseas jobs through the Internet, job portals like JobsDB and Jobstreet, among other similar Web sites, do not guarantee your employability, as they are solely designed for employment searching, recruitment systems, and the application process. You can also check online editions of newspapers globally that also post job vacancies. Be cautious of bogus Web sites of illegal recruiters, which victimize people by collecting placement fees for non-existent jobs, warns Carlos Canaberal, Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) planning and policy division chief.

POEA, through its Web site (www.poea.gov.ph), can also help you check if there are job orders placed by the country of your choice. You can search for job orders by position, country, and agency, gathered from the licensed recruitment agencies which have job orders for the last two years, and remain such after deducting the number of applicants whose papers were already for processing at the POEA, explains Carlos. “It’s important that an applicant verifies with the agency if the job order is still active or not,” Carlos reminds. Apart from local employment agencies, you can also contact international recruitment agencies, or those specializing in the job you are aiming. If you already have a company in mind in the country of your choice, apply through its Web site and fill out the necessary forms and answer inquiries (mostly pertaining to your suitability to work abroad, like if you have a passport and visa).

Get qualified. Getting qualified or gaining additional skills will be handy if you seek employment abroad. For instance, passing TOEFL or the Test of English as a Foreign Language is now not only required for non-native applicants at many English-speaking colleges and universities; even government agencies, businesses, and scholarship applications may require TOEFL, so you might want to consider taking this one. Alternatively, consider TEFL, or teaching English as a Foreign Language, which you could do while waiting for the job you really want.

Network actively. Think if you know people in your country (or better yet city) of choice, as their advice and assistance might help you get acclimatized to living and working there. It is said that expatriate Filipinos are eagerly helpful to their kababayans, so surely you will chance upon one to help you, like introducing you to employment contacts. Once you’re settled, be generous also to extend the same assistance to those who might need your help.

Recognize the cost of moving and working abroad. On top of work-related expenses you will be incurring, factor in also the initial outlay you will be needing, say for accommodation. On top of sending money back to your family in the Philippines, you should always have an amount reserved for you, like for a flight home, just in case you realize living and working overseas is not for you.

MoneySense is supporting an upcoming seminar entitled “Developing a Millionaire’s Mindset” this September 30 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC Plaza, Makati City. It showcases two of the country’s most inspiring speakers — Francis Kong and Chinkee Tan. You can learn more about it here.