by rossanahead | Oct 25, 2011 | woman
By Romelda C. Ascutia
One of my most hair-raising experiences in recent years is when I made a significant financial investment. I had a little savings in the bank that was not being maximized, and I feared it would be frittered away with unnecessary withdrawals here and there. So I decided to put it in something that would have a bigger ROI in the long term.
I am not a newbie in the real estate investment scene. I bought a piece of residential land in Cavite back in the ’80s. A 276-square-meter corner lot in Bacoor, it was supposed to be the site of an apartment building when I had saved enough capital. Alas, with the high cost of construction, the land remains idle, a place my family visits and marvels at for 10 minutes during our annual pilgrimage to the municipality to pay the real estate tax.
In the ’90s, I made a second investment, a two-storey townhouse unit in Caloocan City where my family presently resides. The contract prices of both the land and the house are exceedingly cheap actually, though back then, it didn’t seem that way. With today’s inflation and the high cost of housing, I realize with hindsight that they are wise investments indeed.
Since I was making a real estate investment every decade, I decided in 2009 to invest in property once more—a condominium unit in Mandaluyong City. Unlike my earlier purchases, however, the contract price of the unit was very steep. I withdrew my savings and plunked the down payment. Because I signed on during the open house, I learned that I was entitled to a discount of more than a hundred grand. Elated, I recklessly told the agent to throw in a parking slot as well. What was a couple of hundred grand more anyway? Uh-oh.
Fast-forward to the present: A condo unit is a bleeding wound from a hemophiliac. You pay a monthly amortization that is probably equal to the salary of a couple of junior employees, plus monthly dues that are already the amortization of my present home. And don’t forget the penalty. This year I forgot to pay my huge annual equity and for that, I was dealt a double whammy, forced to pay penalties to both the developer and the bank that ran to several thousand pesos.
So as soon as the unit was turned over to me early this year, I immediately set out to find a tenant. I thought it was going to be easy, but it took several months before it was occupied, even with four brokers working for me. There is, I found out, a glut of condo investors competing to rent out their units, too.
Now the bleeding has been staunched to a trickle. This is because condo rental fees are based on prevailing market rates, and I still need to fork out part of the payment.
But it’s still the most exciting experience I’ve had lately. That rainy night a couple of months ago when the rental papers were being signed by the tenant, I felt like a balloon, floating above the scene from sheer relief.
My challenges as a condo owner are just starting, I know. But I’m beginning to enjoy it. Real estate to me is a good investment, if you have the financial staying power and you choose your location well (avoid flood-prone and earthquake fault line areas, for one). And when my wallet is screaming in pain, I comfort it with this mantra I repeat over and over again: Just six more years to go, just six more years to go, just six more years to go ….
by rossanahead | Oct 18, 2011 | home, Ruth M. Floresca, woman
By Ruth Manimtim-Floresca
For the past several years, I have researched on, interviewed a lot of financial experts for, and written many articles on various finance-related topics. Somewhere in between, I came to know more about how it is to really take a good look at my family’s finances and what I could do to better secure our financial future. I acknowledge that I still have a lot to learn but I have improved on what I knew and have also taken several first steps this past year.
An article I read recently mentioned that most people’s idea of financial maturity means either getting the first paying job or making the all-important decision to get married. These life events, however, will not, and do not, affect financial stability unless you have already acquired the mindset with regards to making, keeping, and spending money. As I told my 17-year-old son a few weeks ago, I wish his dad and I could have learned many of the things we’re teaching him now about personal finance management when we were still in our 20’s. If we did, perhaps a lot of things would be different today.
But, it’s never too late to learn and to keep on learning. Here are six things I discovered that could help us become the totally finance-savvy individuals we aspire to be one day.
- Work hard and make your own money. For college students and new graduates, avoid becoming too dependent on your parents. They are not ATM machines. For family members of an OFW, don’t just wait for remittances to keep you alive. Make use of your time, be productive, and help augment your family’s income instead so your loved one would not have to stay abroad far longer than necessary. Don’t take shortcuts to getting rich (e.g. pyramid schemes, gambling, et cetera) because a large percentage of people who have done that end up with a lot less money than when they started.
- Save, save, and save. Study the power of compound interest. Whether you have decided to set aside P100, P500, or P1,000 a month in a financial institution, as long as you religiously stick to this every 30 days and do not touch your savings, no matter what, that small amount of money you allowed to grow will provide you with rewards in the future. Open a new bank account where you can transfer a fixed amount of money once a month. If you are enrolled in an online banking facility, this can be made easier via automatic transfers from your regular savings account. If you are more adventurous, study how you can earn more from investing in vehicles like time deposits, the stock market, mutual funds, and unit investment trust funds (UITFs).
- Be your own financial planner. It is not bad to take advice from others but, ultimately, it will be you who will decide where to invest and how to handle your money. Don’t just take someone else’s word and leave it to him/her to manage your money for you. Be hands on! Do your own research before making any decisions. It took several years before my husband and I finally decided to get life insurance policies after an unfortunate experience with an educational insurance company.
- Avoid getting into debt without a valid reason. Don’t borrow money unless the loan proceeds will be used for something that would help you earn money. When our PC started malfunctioning last year more often than we could use it, I bought a laptop and asked my sister to charge it to her credit card. I paid her back monthly for six months. Meanwhile, I used the laptop to churn articles and find online activities that would provide me with more income.
- Don’t become discouraged from pressing on. My husband and I have made some bad investments in the early years of our marriage. However, those made us realize that though we may make wrong decisions about money, the important thing is to make efforts to correct and avoid repeating the same blunders again. We’ve also learned that all financial decisions will not come without risks but it is not right to avoid making them for fear of committing another mistake. What matters is keeping watch over what happens after making a decision and learning from them. I am of the opinion that financial maturity can be achieved if we are determined to bounce back after experiencing setbacks.
- Live a simple life. Choose to spend money on basic needs and on a few luxuries to reward yourself every now and then. In our home, a mobile phone usually gets replaced only when the old one conks out. My kids don’t have the latest game consoles. What they have are hand-me-downs from their more affluent cousins. If they badly want a new gadget, they have to patiently plan for it and buy the thingamajig with their own savings.
I wholeheartedly believe that material things can rarely give true happiness. Family and friends, however, could. Thus, my husband and I prefer to spend more on special outings where all six of us could bond and enjoy each other’s company away from home once in a while. We treasure these simple joys with a prayer that, when they are all grown up, our kids would remember those happy times with their parents and siblings more instead of memories of being showered with stuff that had only given them fleeting pleasure.
by rossanahead | Oct 9, 2011 | Ruth M. Floresca, woman
By Ruth Manimtim-Floresca
I watched “Love, Loss, and What I Wore”, an off-Broadway show, when it was staged a couple of months
ago here in Manila. It’s about the stories of different women and how they lived their lives. Many ladies
in the audience identified with almost all the topics but one, in particular, made me laugh out loud
because it totally applies to me.
The segment was about bags and how they seem to become dark, terrible, gnawing holes you have to
put your hand deep inside of just to find what you are looking for. I am one of those women who prefer
using big bags because we seem to “need” a lot of things to bring with us whenever we’re on the go.
And so, for such a long time, I keep finding myself digging (and wasting a lot of time) inside my big bags
looking for a ringing cell phone, my folding umbrella when it suddenly rains, or my coin purse when I
have to pay jeepney fare. I tried switching to smaller bags for a while but it was frustrating to leave stuff
behind and realize later that I should have brought them along in the first place. So I went back to using
big bags … and digging for stuff.
For weeks, I’ve passed by a bag organizer store in the mall where I frequently shop for groceries. I
avoided browsing the displays because I was doubtful if I really, really need one. Besides, I was watching
my budget and was mindful of my “needs” and “wants” lists.
But last weekend, I finally gave in. I saw a design that caught my eye so I went closer to the shelves
and looked. The bag organizer I liked has a wide bottom, numerous pockets of different sizes stitched
all around both inside and outside the bag, and a sturdy handle which would make it easy to transfer
everything to another bag.
After some hesitation, I bought it. When my husband saw me unwrapping it later, I heard the usual,
exasperated question, “What’s that this time?” I explained how the bag works and proceeded to
transfer all the contents of my big bag into the organizer’s large and small compartments.
When I finished, even I was amazed how neat everything looked inside my big bag. Now, a few days
since I started using the organizer, I found that I don’t spend a lot of time anymore looking for objects
inside my bag because I could clearly where each item is and immediately zero in on the one I want to
get.
I commend whoever thought of making this useful bag inside a bag. I’d readily bet it’s a lady. After all,
only a woman would understand what other women go through and the organizer bag is definitely
something a lot of other ladies I know need. Necessity is truly the mother of invention!
by rossanahead | Oct 4, 2011 | parenting, woman
By Julie Javellana-Santos
Without my daughter, the 40-minute commute to work seemed longer than usual this morning. I felt lonely and deserted traversing the kilometers between my home and the school where I work and she studies. Up until last June, however, I had been going to work alone. It was only when she began going to the college where I worked that we “bonded” while commuting.
The long (not that long) train ride was most conducive to chatting about inconsequential and mundane things. Things like the state of her wardrobe, how her blockmates annoyed her, the books she wanted to buy and the fast food she wanted to sample on a daily basis.
Our conversations inevitably turned to more serious matters — how she was getting low scores in Math but which she vowed to make up for with higher scores in English and Literature and how she was enjoying college.
It was during those times that we talked about my health too, and how I felt about my job.
There were also times when nary a word was spoken by either of us. The only sound she made would be the rustling of the innumerable papers she had to read for class.
Midway through the train ride, she would always lean her head on my shoulder to take a short nap and catch up on her sleep. By virtue of her larger size, this sometimes made my back ache, but what the heck, anything for my “baby.”
My “baby” is now living temporarily with my sister, whose house is closer to her college. As school is not far away, she hopefully will have more time to study. And I, I will just have to learn to live with commuting alone, having these conversations in my mind.
Time has flown so fast from when she was a babe in my arms to one stumbling through her first steps. I realize that soon enough I will have to say goodbye on a more permanent basis so this temporary separation is a “dry run.”
Yesterday she dropped by my office because she had forgotten her vitamins at home and it was all I could do to keep myself from hugging her. I now understand why my mother visited me often at my own flat.
My feelings are also silly because she will only be away to study for her final exams next week.
The week after, she will be back home for her semestral vacation. And then the new semester will start, and we will be commuting together again, taking those long train rides together again and chatting about inconsequential things again.
by rossanahead | Oct 1, 2011 | environment, Karen Galarpe, woman
By Karen Galarpe
I overheard someone say our weather these days is bipolar. It can be very very hot in the morning until early afternoon, then rainy from late afternoon to early evening. Four days ago, it was stormy; yesterday was a sunny day, and today promises rain and flood as typhoon Quiel is here.
On social networking sites, particularly Twitter, I read many comments from people all over the world. “Crazy weather,” said one. “The weather needs to be better informed about our needs. I say we write a petition. No, protest. With signs,” tweeted Vaguery. “Weather today is so confusing. One minute the suns out, next minute a monsoon mixed with tornado-like winds coming down the street. Umph,” posted benthal.
I find it ironic that here we are complaining about the weather when, just a few weeks ago, survivors of 9/11 were recounting their stories on History Channel, Discovery Channel, and CNN. It has been 10 years since September 11, 2001, yet these survivors still choke up when recounting their experiences finding their way out of the North Tower before it collapsed, and running away from the humongous debris cloud when the twin towers collapsed.
I think these survivors wake up each day thanking God just for being alive. Shouldn’t we do the same instead of complaining about the “crazy” weather?
The next time you feel the urge to complain (it’s in our nature, don’t fret), think of something you can be thankful for. It can be the nice orchid blooming in your garden, the bird you hear chirping away outside your window, even the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafting in from the kitchen. It can be the smile on your child’s face in the morning, instead of a grumpy one. Thank God for time to have breakfast, a safe ride to school or work, and the privilege to earn a decent living. It’s a new day after all.
