Do you blink or do you get stuck?

From one of my favorite business authors and speakers, Seth Godin:

When you are sitting right on the edge of something daring and scary and creative and powerful and perhaps wonderful… and you blink and take a step back. That’s the moment. The moment between you and remarkable. Most people blink. Most people get stuck. All the hard work and preparation and daring and luck is nothing compared with the ability to not blink.

This quote transfixed me. That moment can be when you’re faced with a tremendous investment opportunity, a chance to get into a business, an offer that’s wildly outrageous and yet resonates with all that you hold dearly. That moment can be about family and financial security. Do you blink or do you get stuck?

Another article kept bugging me last week and Hachiko again bugged me about it in this blog the other day, :-). Only in da Pilipins, most people say, and again we have proven as a society to be unique in another area.

The report, titled “Working Time Around the World,” showed that employed women were two to three times more likely than men to work exceptionally long hours of over 64 hours per week.

Working Filipino women worked 41.3 hours a week, slightly longer than the 40.4 hours a week put in by Filipino men, said the ILO, using 2002 figures.

I don’t think, however, that we are becoming a matriarchal society. In my personal observation, the power of the purse is still with the men even if women do bring in the money. Especially in the lower income brackets.

What makes this more interesting is that women in the Philippines still get paid lower salaries than men, so the fact that they work longer hours does not immediately translate to higher family incomes. Any thoughts?

Other things I’m reading today:

PLDT raises ’07 profit goal to P33B
Profit stories are important readings for stock and equity fund investors. Profit means total earnings less total expenses. Higher profit is the goal of every organization, especially in the long-term view. Good earnings that translate to good profits usually result in an increase in stock price. There may be profit sacrifices in the short-term, say when the company decides to invest some money in new brands or new equipment, but all of these should result in higher profit in the long-run.

Quiz: Do you have what it takes to get rich
I love this quiz from CNNMoney. Its interactive. Not just a quiz, but a teaching experience. I got perfect results, woohooo!

Jestskee tells her tragic experience with bank remittance in a very funny way. Some snippets below:

“This is what happened: I had a small writing racket for a company in HongKong, for which I was supposed to receive US$150. This was way back when the exchange rate was still just under P50=$1. I gave the company my bank account details so they can wire the money over. But then I get an email from them saying that transfer charges are too prohibitive - US$24! So they’ll just mail me the check.

I get the check - thanks to the country’s ever reliable snail mail system - more than three weeks later. So I deposit it in the bank, and I was told I would have to wait around a month for it to clear. Hmm. Fine.

A few days though, the bank told me that since it was a US$ check from HongKong, meaning it wasn’t in the native currency, they would have to send it back to HongKong for “collection” - and the entire process will cost me US$60!!!” Read the rest of her post.

Reyna Elena is worried about her credit card debt. She has turned to this strategy to pay it off:
Paying off credit card one post at a time. Bloggers, pay close attention!

Bankrate.com has a very interesting take in this article on Can you make money in the balance transfer game? Read it but remember the author is talking about the United States banking system. Still, some tips here are worth considering.

Here’s a good video on on financial literacy provided by Entrepinoy. Know more about saving and handling credit, and how emotion get in the way of financial security.

Finance Manila gives his opinion on where the PSEi is headed in this blog post.

Wilson Ng has similar views with Pinoy Investor on being smart on what is cheap and what is expensive in this post: Get the One with enough Horsepower. He says:

“Sometimes, trying to save on the wrong things may be a ‘penny wise and pound foolish ‘ decision. At most times, it is still appropriate to get ( whether it is a car , an appliance, or an employee) the resource that has enough horsepower to deliver what you want to accomplish with some oomph to spare.

Lastly, some comic relief. Giggling moms help fight baby allergies shows how we can all avoid allergies! And save money too! (only for mothers :-), though)

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