To everyone who wants to join the MoneySmarts tour of the Philippine Stock Exchange trading gallery and learn the basics of stock investing, mark the date.
November 28, 2007. Wednesday. Exactly 9 am to 10.30 am at the Tektite Tower in Ortigas.
Please email me one more time if you are planning on going [lightdream (at) gmail (dot) com], so I can have an official headcount. See you there!
I only have admiration for people who try to educate themselves on financial planning or how to manage their money. When I wrote about Mariannet early this week, I was amazed at those who responded – many of you have come from similar (or even worse) but have managed to lift yourselves by your bootstraps and are, in fact, doing well!
One of you who commented on that post was right: you are a testament that poverty does not have to be a widespread problem. The answer lies within each of us.
In fact, Dr. Noet Ravalo’s column yesterday talked of real-life stories of two drivers who were from the similar backgrounds, but have very different strategies on saving money.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s top story in the business section today says “BOP surplus seen topping $7-B mark”.
Balance of payments (always with an S) is an economic jargon that simply refers to a record of all international transactions between one economy and the rest of the world in a particular period.
Doris Dumlao, in her article, further explains:
Any transaction which gives rise to a payment by a Philippine resident like importation or debt servicing is a deficit item in the BOP while any which gives rise to a receipt like borrowing, exporting or overseas Filipino worker remittance is a surplus item.
While looking at Moolanomy’s blog the other day, I stumbled on an intriguing post that illustrates why it’s hard to break that P1-million net worth mark.
It’s not just the persistence and focus needed to make your first million. Moolanomy correctly points out that it’s also mathematically challenging.
“If a person invests $15,000 per year starting at age 25 and the investment gains on average 10% a year, he can get to $1 million mark by 45. The first million took 20 years! But if you keep going down the table, it only takes…
6 more years to get to $2 million at 51
4 more years to get to $3 million at 55
3 more years to get to $4 million at 58
2 more years to get to $5 million at 60
2 more years to get to $6 million at 62
2 more years to get to $7 million at 64
1 more years to get to $8 million at 65
I love to browse bookstores, even when I have already busted my book budget. The other day, I saw this Suze Orman’s The Road to Wealth at Fully Booked near my place. It cost more than 2,000 pesos, if I remember correctly.
I left the bookstore with a smug look on my face. A few years ago, I bought that book for a steal at 359 pesos in one of the best-kept secrets of book addicts in Metro Manila: National Bookstore main branch in Cubao, Quezon City. It’s the top floor that hides the biggest bargains!
I met Madam Auring today.
I could not believe it was her beyond the gossamer curtains. What is this famous (or dare I say infamous) madame doing, encamped, in the crowded walkway of Ever Gotesco Commonwealth? Behind her was a stall selling shirt for kids – 3 for 100 (your name in textile glue – for free). And what am I doing here? Should I entrust my future to a P250 session – unlimited questions – with a madame known more for her beauty enhancement procedures and penchant for younger men than her magical prowess?
Joe said we should, so I did. I held out my hand and then came a barrage of hula.
I woke up to an ache in my chest as I read the morning paper.
Mariannet, the 12-year old child who hanged herself last Nov. 2, was my daughter’s age. She is one of 11 million Filipinos who share a strange kinship with one billion more across the globe who live on less than a dollar a day. Her diary says she killed herself because she lost hope her family will ever get out poverty. Her wish list found in her diary was short: a bicycle, a school bag and jobs for her parents.
“Gusto ko po sana magkaroon ng bagong sapatos at bag at hanapbuhay para sa nanay at tatay ko. Wala kasing hanapbuhay ang tatay at nagpa-extra extra lamang ang aking nanay sa paglalaba,” she said in her “Wish Ko Lang” letter. [I wish for new shoes, a bag and jobs for my mother and father. My dad does not have a job and my mom just gets laundry jobs.]
(Source: PDEx brochure)
Last month, reader Ricardo Pitogo asked this question in MoneySmarts, in reaction to my first post on the OFW bonds:
I read your article on the planned OFW bonds. But I am more interested in learning to trade bonds. I read the article of Dr. Noet Ravalo in the PDI on bonds. May I know if the Bond Trading Platform has already been put up by the Bankers Association of the Philippines? If so, how can I contact it? Lastly, do you happen to know if the Treasury Department of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas can be a venue to buy and sell bonds? Thank you very much for your kind attention. – Ricardo M. Pitogo
Dr. Noet Ravalo answered him in his article today. Here’s an excerpt:
The trading platform that is currently operational is the one used by dealers to transact government securities in the “spot market”. For now, the participants are the larger institutions and the object of trade are Philippine treasuries. The PDS infrastructure follows the international best practice of Delivery-versus-Payment (DVP), which literally means that adequate balances of securities (for the seller) and cash (for the buyer) must be both available before the transaction goes through. While this may seem to be an obvious requirement for a “spot securities market”, it may interest you that in the old design, the seller would only know at the end of the trading day if the buyer had sufficient cash to pay for the securities.
Oh you better watch out, you better not swipe, you better not flaunt your shiny new card. Christmas spending is coming to town.
Ok, ok, so I’m not the best songwriter in town. :p But the fact is, most of us do have hangovers come January – the kind that make it so hard to go to the bank to pay our credit card bills when Jingle bells no longer chime.
The spendmaster in me talks like a well-meaning conscience: Oh come on, it’s Christmas! What else do you work hard for? The children need the memories, the magic, the gifts, and the ambiance! You can always pay for all the expenses next year. (Voice becoming shrill and high-pitched towards the end of the argument.)
(Photo credit: AFP)
Warning: the first few paragraphs of MoneySense’s personal finance feature today may read like the diary of a rich, spoiled brat:
When Mardie and I married in 1999, we were better off financially than other newly-weds. We already had a townhouse (my parents helped with the down payment), acquired through a loan from the Government Service Insurance System. I was working then as a lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission; Mardie just finished a contract with a foreign firm and started a consultancy business.
We weren’t concerned about other things as I was pretty much relying on my parents for support. Being the youngest and only girl in a brood of six, I had lived a stress-free life especially about money. My dad was and still is a great provider. Growing up, there were plenty of extras and luxuries (I had a credit card when I was a teenager in the 80s), so at a young age, I was used to buying stuff without thinking of how to pay for them. I actually did not give up my dad’s credit card until a few years after I got married. I knew I could always count on my parents to foot some of the bills and pitch in whenever we had money emergencies. Deep down, I felt that my husband was uncomfortable with this set-up, but he seemed to accept it, and was never resentful.
