A Study on the Billionaire’s Effect to the

Selected Grade 9 and Grade 11 ABM Students’

Mentality and Lifestyle

Alingarog, Calvin Lui M.

Filamor, Elliot Joseph Gayon

Lampa, Kevin Martine S.

Orina, Marious Gerome R.

Santiago, Claude Lewis

Tiotuyco, Glen Ivan S.

Cimbracruz, Jesusa Christina

Tan, Andrea

ABM-1

Mr. Paulo G. Raymundo

 Chapter I: The Problem and Its Background

Introduction:

Money is a very powerful material and has a significant role in this

world politically, personally, mentally etc. It can be a driving force of many

human decisions. Some people who are wealthy enough become powerful to

influence others. And these people have the popularity because money

gains you one. And some extremes reach billions as net worth and they are

called Billionaires.

The Billionaires of today are mostly entrepreneurs. There are more

billionaires than ever before — 2,473 — but the three-comma club is still an

exclusive one: There is only one billionaire for every 2.95 million people on

the planet. Considering the entrepreneurial trend, it's no surprise that

today's billionaires are also increasingly self-made. In fact, the majority —

57% — are now self-made, an increase of 7% from 2014. This is in contrast

to the number of billionaires with inherited wealth, which has fallen by 29%

since 2014. (Elkins, 2016)

The sad truth about money is that most of us are driven by it. Our

society has created this culture that is run by the people with money. (Bell,

2016) This study was conducted because of how effective money can be for

students. Students are vulnerable to temptations and money is a powerful

one. Several stories of Billionaires’ stories are seen as a source of inspiration

or desperation by teenagers these days. One story can make a student

think of its life and start creating a life similar to that of the Billionaires. In

connection, this would somehow have an impact on the student’s mindset

and lifestyle especially while the student is in the midst of planning for his

future or college. There are several factors that influence decision making.

These factors, including past experience (Juliusson, Karlsson,Gӓrling, 2005),

cognitive biases (Stanovich and West, 2008), age and individual differences

(Bruin, Parker, Fischoff, 2007), belief in personal relevance (Acevedo, and

Krueger, 2004), and the acquired commitment in having wealth in materials

(Dietrich, 2010), influence choices ordinary people make.

This research aims to know how stories of billionaires can affect a

student’s mentality and lifestyle as well as its perspective towards business.

Conceptual Framework:

Student

Mentality and Perspective

Lifestyle towards Business
Significance of the Study:

This study focuses on the importance of how certain backstories of

billionaires affect the lifestyle and mentality of a student in the midst of his

planning for future.

It would be most beneficial to those students who are eyeing on the

business track courses and their perspective about business and

entrepreneurship or those students who are still uncertain for their wanted

tracks but has a background of such billionaires. Also, this could also help

people who are in the business track but are also not confident on being in

it. Parents are also part of the beneficiaries because they play a big role in

nurturing their children’s mentality to such things most importantly those

families who have businesses and want their children to inherit those.

This study would also help schools to understand a part of a student’s

psychology and render a certain program that would enable students to go

to business track if they wanted to. This would also help literary works such

as biographies or autobiographies to be widely known by many students at a

young age.

The study can make people understand how teenagers, more

importantly students, behave and make decisions based on what they know

and what do they do on what they know and the factors affecting it.
Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the effects of knowing a billionaire’s

story to PCS Grade 9 students’ and Grade 11 ABM students’ mentality and

lifestyle and their perspective towards business. It also seeks to answer the

following questions:

 How can knowing a Billionaire affect a student’s life?

1. How can the students benefit in the stories of entrepreneur-

billionaires?

1.1 A “rags to riches” story?

1.1.1 An “unexpected wealth” story?

1.1.2 A “self-made billionaire” story?

1.2 A “rich-born” story?

2. How can the Billionaire’s Effect affect the students’ perspective about

business?

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

This study aims to determine what in the Billionaires’ stories affect the

students’ mentality and lifestyle. The students, specifically three (3)

selected students from each of the sections in the Grade 9 and Grade 11

ABM students of Paco Catholic in the Academic Year 2016 – 2017, were

interviewed by the researchers because they are the ones who are mostly

affected by this and are in the midst of making their decisions for college.

For the data gathered, the researchers selected and interviewed three

(3) students from each of the sections in the Grade 9 and Grade 11 ABM

students because this is the most efficient way of getting reliable data and

they are the ones who are in the crisis of decision making. The research

study was conducted in a span of a week for the interviews to be efficiently

done. The respondents were given a survey sheet first to know whose story

of the billionaires they wanted to know about.

Afterwards, the researcher interviewed them about their recently

known billionaire and the possible factors that the story may affect their

mentality and lifestyle. This study does not focus on other factors that

affect a student’s decision making rather it only focuses and exploits on

money, behavior, influence found on the backstory of the entrepreneur-

billionaires only and the perspective of each to business and

entrepreneurship after knowing the stories.

This study’s weakness was time consumption because the interviews

that were done by the researchers to the selected students were one to one

and had to take time in order to get a reliable and accurate data.
 Chapter II: Review of Related Literature

Philippine Literature

a) Rags to Riches Story

The Henry Sy Story: His is the story of how one sari-sari store vendor

became the “shopping mall king” of Asia.

Life was hard and with nowhere to sleep, the young Sy had to

sleep inside the store clearing up the counters to do so.

WWII, however, destroyed that store to the sorrow of his father.

Instead of giving up, Henry Sy pushed through earning income via buying

and selling shoes from enterprising American G.I.s. The little success of his

shoe-selling business inspired him to open up a small shoe store in

Quiapo, Manila in 1958. He named it Shoe Mart.

By 1972, Henry Sy had transformed his small shoe store into his first

standalone department store. Today, Mr. Sy is the richest business magnate

in the Philippines, worth over $11.9 billion (2014) with a handful of his

malls gracing the Top 25 biggest malls of the world.

 b.) Unexpected wealth story

The Mariano Que Story

Mariano Que worked for a drugstore before WWII erupted in the

Philippines. Seeing the demand for sulfa drugs after the war and using his

little pharmaceutical knowledge Que bought sulfathiazole tablets worth a

100 pesos and made profit by peddling them as single doses to poverty-

stricken sectors. He worked smart, though. Eventually he was able to build a

wooden pushcart allowing him to peddle more drugs.

Que kept at it making sure the drugs he sold were of quality and

unexpired. By 1945, he had enough money to put up his first drugstore.

He named it Mercury Drug with the messenger to the Roman Gods as his

business symbol. Today, Mercury Drug is one of the biggest chain of

drugstores in the country and Mariano Que is rich many times over having

42.98 billion in revenue.

c.) Rich – born Story

The Jon Ramon-Aboitiz Story:

How did the respected, multibillionaire Aboitiz clan of Cebu

maintain harmonious family unity and business success across more than

four generations, unlike many other top business families with fewer

heirs but with so many bitter and ugly feuds?

 The Aboitiz family is a prominent Filipino business family in Cebu City

who runs Aboitiz Equity Ventures owned by the entire family. Jon Ramon

Aboitiz served as the president of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and Aboitiz & Co. of

the Aboitiz Shipping Corporation. The Aboitiz family’s origin is from

Basque in Spain and is famously known as a large power producer through its

flagship Bukidnon Hydropower Corporation and Aboitiz Equity Ventures.

Jon Ramon Aboitiz serves as the President of Aboitiz Foundation. He

began with the Aboitiz Group as a manager in 1970 after graduating with

Bachelors of Science in Commerce major in Management from the University

of Santa Clara, California. Aboitiz Equity Ventures aims at dealing with

business development in power and banking. Aboitiz & Co. went public in

1994 while under Jon Ramon’s leadership. It has over the years expanded to

power distribution and generation, freight forwarding, food-related business,

industrial and commercial real estate development.

Jon Ramon Aboitiz is also the Chairman and the CEO of Davao Light &

Power Co., the chairman of Veco and Aboitiz Jebsen Bulk Transport Corp. He

is also the Director of Bukidnon Hydropower Corp., Hapag-Lloyd Phils., and

Cotabato Ice Plant. As a result of such large involvement in so many areas of

the economy, the Aboitiz family is blessed with great wealth. The family now

has a net worth of $3Billion as of July 2013 and ranks no. 7 on Forbes Lists

of the Philippines 50 richest.

Foreign Literature

a.) Rags to riches story

The John Paul DeJoria story:

John Paul DeJoria has arguably achieved every entrepreneur's dream,

parlaying a $700 startup, Paul Mitchell Systems, into a $900 million-a-

year hair care heavyweight. The 65-year-old recently made Forbes

magazine's list of global billionaires, thanks in no small part to the

explosive sales of Patrón tequila, a brand he co-founded 20 years ago

with little idea that it would define a new, "ultra-premium" market for

what was once seen as a bottom-shelf spirit.

Patrón is No. 1 in the top-shelf-tequila segment it created, and it's

outsold only by Jose Cuervo's array of less expensive tequilas. It's been

name-checked in rap songs, and it's distributed in Canada with the help

of a Blues Brother, Dan Aykroyd. The company is branching out,

recently purchasing Polish vodka brand Ultimat. Patrón, meanwhile,

actually showed a gain in revenue in the first quarter of 2009. (Proof

that when the economy sinks, people drink.) DeJoria, estimated to own

about 70 percent of the endeavor, hasn't ruled out going public. As it is,

Forbes states his net worth is $2.5 billion, placing him just outside the

100 richest people in the United States.

 b.) The Unexpected Wealth story

The Peladi Brothers’ Story

Zsolt and Geza Peladi have no fixed address and eke out an

existence by selling junk they find in the street.

But their scavenging days are about to be over. The brothers have

been informed they are entitled to their long-lost grandmother’s fortune,

along with a sister who lives in America. Charity workers in Hungary

broke the news to them after being contacted by lawyers handling the

estate of their maternal grandmother who died recently in Baden-

Wurttemberg, Germany.

Now the brothers are enjoying the unexpected fortune of 4 billion

euros at hand.

“We knew our mother came from a wealthy family but she was a difficult

person and severed ties with them, and then later abandoned us and we lost

touch with her and our father until she eventually died,” Geza Peladi,

43, told ATV television. Under German law, direct descendants are

automatically entitled to a share of any estate. As the grandmother’s

daughter is dead the money goes to her grandchildren.

 c.) Rich-born story

The Liliane Bettencourt Story

Liliane Bettencourt, born Liliane Henriette Charlotte Schuller, is the

heiress to the founder of L’Oreal. She is also a successful socialite,

businesswoman and a philanthropist. She has been ranked as the 39th

Most Powerful Woman in the world by the Forbes.

According to the reports from 2012, Bettencourt has 30.5 precent

shares of L'Oreal. The remaining shares are owned by Nestle, Public and

some are held as treasury stock. According to the reports of 2012, she owns

29.78% shares of Nestle. In 1987, Bettencourt Schueller Foundation was

established by Bettencourt and her husband. The foundation has assets of

almost 150 Euros. This foundation focuses on scientific education, devoting

approximately 55% of its share for the purpose. Similarly, 33% of the

annual budget goes for humanitarian and social projects while 12% goes for

culture and arts.

Bettencourt was diagnosed with dementia and now is under the

guardianship of her daughter and grandsons. She ranks at number 11

among the world's billionaires, no 1 among French billionaires and

third among women billionaires in the world.

Despite of a high-profile job and constant media scrutiny, Bettencourt

has managed to lead a private, disciplined life and make it to the top.
Aristotle’s Political Theory

Aristotle argues that the middle class is best suited to ruling and

being ruled in turn. Those who enjoy, “an excess of good fortune (strength,

wealth, friends, and other things of the sort)” love to rule and dislike being

ruled.

Both of these attitudes are harmful to the city, yet they naturally arise

among the wealthy. From an early age, the wealthy are instilled with a “love

of ruling and desire to rule, both of which are harmful to cities”, and,

“because of the luxury they live in, being ruled is not something they get

used to, even at school”. By contrast, poverty breeds vice, servility, and

small-mindedness. Thus the poor are easy to push around, and if they do

gain power they are incapable of exercising it virtuously.

 Chapter III: Methodology

Population and Sample

This study aims to determine what in the Billionaires’ stories affect

the student’s personally, mentally and academically. The students,

specifically three (3) selected students from each of the sections in the

Grade 9 and Grade 11 ABM students of Paco Catholic School in the

Academic Year 2016-2017, were interviewed by the researchers because

they are the ones who are mostly affected by this and are in the midst of

making their decisions for college.

For the samples, again, this study selected three students from each

of the 11 sections of the Grade 9 level, 2 undecided students and 1 decided

student, and also three students from each of the 2 sections of the Grade

11 ABM students, 2 who will take up business track and 1 who will take up

the accountancy track. This meant that the decision of the students on

what to take up in college created the stratification where almost 60% of

the Grade 9 students are still undecided and only almost 40% are decided.

All in all, there were 33 samples from the Grade 9 level and 6 samples from

the Grade 11 ABM students.

Data Gathering Procedure Tools

The researchers, first, gave out a simple questionnaire to the

respondents regarding their distinction, undecided and decided for Senior

High School for Grade 9 and Accountancy / Banking Track or Business

Track for Grade 11 then decided to use the Non-Probability Sampling

Procedure for the interview thereafter so that only a selected and specified

few could represent the whole population. For the sampling procedure, the

researchers used the Quota Non-Probability Sampling Procedure because

within the two populations (the Grade 9 and Grade 11 ABM students) they

created subgroups with equal proportion (3 selected students from each

stratum). And also the additional of Purposive Non-Probability Sampling

Procedure for the Grade 11 students because the researchers selected a

specific or certain type of respondent, the two who are currently eyeing the

Business track and one who eyes on being in line with Accountancy. The

interviews were Unstructured type because the respondents were free to

answer based on what they personally think about the question and there

were no suggested answers.

Chapter IV: Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of the Data

Presentation of Data

Conceptual Framework:
Analysis of Data

The researchers came up with the codes and categories to summarize

the data gathered into a framework. This framework features the

billionaires’ story, self-made or rich-born, affecting the students’ mentality

and lifestyle and their perspective towards business. The codes and

categories are formulated from the responses of the respondents on the

given questions that are inclined to the objectives of this study. This states

that through a certain billionaires’ stories, a student can have a wide

perspective towards business that maybe included in the four given

categories: Business as a key to success, business as a complicated job,

business as a part of life and business as an option to consider in the

future. On the other side is the effect of the billionaires’ stories to the

students’ mentality and lifestyle that can be categorized into four: Affecting

the students’ decision making, the students’ source of inspiration and hope,

the students’ capability of opportunity seeking and the students’

determination and will to succeed.

Interpretation of Data

“The report¹ by Dr Nima Sanandaji found personality is one of the

most important attributes to becoming a successful SuperEntrepeneuer.

These include creativity, work ethic, ambition, optimism, self-confidence,

leadership qualities, adaptiveness, drive to achieve, tolerance of ambiguity,

resilience, tolerance of stress, decisiveness, ability to deal with failure, a

high energy level and good social skills.” (Chorley, 2014) This implies that

billionaires have to have these traits and when people like adolescents look

up to them, they might find inspiration from them by being optimistic,

adaptive etc. Just like how can the students benefit from the billionaires’

stories in the data presented.

“A 2004 study proved that money alters how you value your time and

effort. Researchers James Heyman and Dan Ariely created an experiment

by which they could measure how motivated a person was to complete a

task based upon money. Subjects were asked to drag circles across a

computer screen. One group was asked to do this as a “favor.” Another

group was asked to do it for $0.50, and the last group was offered $5.

After timing the subjects, it was actually the group asked to perform the

task as a favor that did it the fastest. Next was the $5 group, and last was

the $0.50 group.” (Ariely & Heyman, 2004) This study is inclined to the

students’ determination and will to succeed. With money, figuratively in the

billionaires’ stories, students are able to perform quicker and more

efficiently and is always determined to succeed because of the fact that

there is a reward of money.

“In all of these experiments, it didn't matter whether the participants

were actually rich, poor, or in between. Their true socio-economic status

had no effect on their behavior. This suggests that money, as an idea, can

motivate people in all walks of life. Furthermore, it implies that if you're

constantly reminded of money—by working in a bank, for example—your

behavior may be affected even if you don't have a lot of money yourself.”

(Hirshon, 2006) This explains why people are really quick on giving

attention when asked about money just like how the data presented

explains the effect of the billionaires’ stories to the students’ mentality and

lifestyle – it actually boosts the attention and will of the person to do good

and improve their behavior.

Commenting on the effects money has on individuals' motivations

and behavior, Prof. Vohs stated: "The mere presence of money changes

people. The effect can be negative, it can be positive. Exposure to money,

or the concept of money, elevates a sense of self-sufficiency" and causes

people to do their best to earn more money, but at the same time, money

makes people less inclined to indulge in social relationships. Mead added:

"Money changes people's motivations. They want to work really hard to

achieve their goals. Consequently, they are less focused on other people.

In this sense, money can be a barrier to social intimacy." (Vohs, 2006) This

also supports the idea that a certain billionaire’s story can affect a student’s

behavior, mentality and lifestyle because of the presence of money in it.

“Basic data on education, employment, and reproductive health

among adolescents shows that they are not receiving the adequate

schooling and capability building to equip them for the future. It also

follows from the Mensch et al. characterization of adolescence that the

period of transition to adulthood must equip young people with the

education, skills, decision-making power, and information to function as

responsible adults in society.” (Qidwai, Ishaque, Shah, Rahim, 2010) This

certainly pertains that the students who were interviewed, who are

adolescents, are at a stage where a certain contact or inclusion to

something that would determine their future plans or practice decision

making is a must. Therefore, this research can really help adolescents

practice being responsible adults in the society.

 Chapter V: Conclusion

The Billionaires’ Stories really did affect the students’ mentality and

lifestyle. After analyzing the gathered data, it showed that most of the

students get inspired by the stories in the billionaires and had an impact to

their mentality and lifestyle. The Billionaires’ Stories also helped the

students widen their perspective about the realities involved in doing

business, the hardships, the ups and downs as well as living as a rich man.

Even though the researchers presented different experiences of different

billionaires, they are successful in gathering the data needed to show that

the success stories of the entrepreneur-billionaires really can affect a

student’s mentality and lifestyle as much as his perspective towards

business.

Through the stories, the respondents were able to relate the

experiences of the given entrepreneur-billionaires, may it be a self-made

billionaire success story or the already rich-born billionaire story, to their

lives that paved a way to have a reflection within themselves and how

would they respond to different situations. The respondents are now

knowledgeable, whether they may go the business track or not, on how

business works and how can business affect a determined person’s life.

Also through the stories, the respondents’ perspective about business

have widened in a way that they already know how a business is ran, how
challenging business is, how business can make you successful, how

business can be a part of life and how can business be something to be

considered to take up in Senior High or in College.

The researchers concluded that sharing a success story of an

entrepreneur-billionaire to a student can affect his mentality and lifestyle

and his perspective towards business.

References:

Dietrich, C. (2010). Decision making: Factors that influence decision

making,

heuristics used, and decision outcomes. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/180/decision-making-

factors-that-influence-decision-making-heuristics-used-and-decision-

outcomes

Bell, G. (2011, March). Money talks: The power and influence of money.

Retrieved January 24, 2017 from

http://www.debtroundup.com/money-talks-power-influence-of-

money/

Elkins, K. (2016 , August). 8 common traits of the world's 2,473

billionaires.

Retrieved January 24, 2017 from

http://www.topten.ph/2014/08/30/top-10-best-rags-riches-pinoy-

stories/

Martin, E. and Danner, C. (2015, June). The 25 richest self-made

billionaires. Retrieved January 24, 2017 from

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-25-richest-self-made-

billionaires-2015-6
The aboitiz family. Retrieved January 24, 2017 from

http://www.worldsrichpeople.com/aboitiz-family.html

Flores, W. (2008, August). Success secrets of the century-old aboitiz

conglomerate. Retrieved January 25, 2017 from

http://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/business-

life/2008/08/18/79830/success-secrets-century-old-aboitiz-

conglomerates

De Leon, D. (2015). Top 10 best rags to riches pinoy stories. Retrieved

January 24, 2017 from ://www.topten.ph/2014/08/30/top-10-

best-rags-riches-pinoy-stories/

Haden, A. (2014, April). What inspired 10 successful entrepreneurs to

become founders. Retrieved January 25, 2017 from

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/what-inspired-10-successful-

entrepreneurs-to-become-entrepreneurs.html

Charles, Z. (2016, March). Why inequality matters: Aristotle and the

middle class. Retrieved January 25, 2017 from

https://underground.net/aristotle-and-the-middle-class/

Qidwai, Ishaque, Shah, Rahim. (2010, September). Adolescent lifestyle

behaviour: A survey on developing countries. Retrieved March 5,

2017 from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?

id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0012914
Hirshon, B. (2006, December). Science Update. Money mentality. Retrieved

March 5, 2017 from http://sciencenetlinks.com/science-

news/science-updates/money-mentality/

Curtis, J. (2004). How money can change people and affect their behavior.

Retrieved March 5, 2017 from

http://www.moneycrashers.com/money-changes-people-affect-

behavior/

Vohs, K. (2006). The psychological consequences of money. Retrieved

March

4, 2017 from http://news.softpedia.com/news/Money-Changes-

Everything-Including-People-039-s-Behavior-and-Motivations-

40405.shtml

¹Chorley, M. (2014). Who wants to be a billionaire? New study reveals the

secrets of the 1,000 people who turned an idea into a fortune.

Retrieved March 4, 2017 from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614792/Who-wants-

billionaire-New-study-reveals-secrets-1-000-people-turned-idea-

fortune.html
APPENDICES

The data presented below shows the data with their corresponding

codes to determine their categorization of the responses of the respondents

coming from the Grade 9 and Grade 11 ABM students.

Students’ Mentality and Lifestyle

Categories Codes Respondents

Determination to Succeed Determined Q1- R1, R2, R3, R4,

Strive harder R5, R6, R8, R9, R10,

Persevere R13, R15, R16, R17,

Not give up R19, R20, R21, R25,

Bottom to top R27, R28, R31, R35,

small to big R37, R39

Continue to pursue Q2- R1, R5, R9, R10,

Progress R11, R13, R14, R27,

R32, R33, R39

Inspiration and Hope Inspire Q1- R9, R14, R16, R27

Motivate Q2- R3, R38

Hope

Ambition
Decision Making Decide Q1- R10, R13, R20,

Plan R22, R23, R24, R29,

Manage R30, R36, R38,

 Maintain Q2- R32, R34, R35

Settle Q4

Handle Q5
Opportunity Seeking Opportunity Q1- R5, R12, R26, R34,

Option Q2- R12, R31, R37,

Find job

Explore

Perspective about Business

Categories Codes Respondents

Key to Success Success Q3- R2, R3, R9, R13,

Bridge to success R32, R34, R38,

Way to success

Step to success

Staircase to dream
Option to consider Option Q3- R3, R4, R6, R29,

“Track I want to take” R31

Consider Q4- R2, R5, R6, R8,

Pursue R11, R15, R17, R21,

Interest R28,

Complicated Job Challenge Q3- R5, R7, R8, R9,

Difficult R10, R11, R12, R14,

Hard R15, R16, R17, R19,

Responsibility R21, R22, R23, R24,

 Taking risks R25, R26, R27, R31

Not easy

Planning
Part of Life Way of life Q3- R10, R12, R28,

Improve thinking R31, R33, R35, R36,

Family R37, R39

Teach

Reality

Personality

Sentimental

Tradition