Photo from Agence-France Presse

(I have not been able to access this blog for the last four days, so I’m posting my entry for last Friday.)

It’s such a pain to withdraw money from ATM machines these days. The lines are always so long! Since I am such an OC and would only transact with my bank’s ATM, finding one always feels like Amazing Race, the Trinoma leg.

A very good friend tried to convince me it was a goofy idea to spend so many calories hunting for the right ATM machine to save up on bank fees. I’ve got all those flabs to think about, after all. I wouldn’t want them to lack nutrients nyahaha.

Seriously, I do get overboard sometimes when it comes to “financial” stuff. I mean, there I was waiting 20 minutes for my turn at the ATM machine when I charge so much more than P11 for 20 minutes of my time! Wasn’t that crazy?

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If you want a discount of P1 per liter on your gasoline and a 50-centavo discount on diesel and kerosene, go bring your four-wheeled or two-wheeled babies now to Shell, Caltex and Eastern Petroleum stations.

Playing David to the big three Goliaths, Eastern Petroleum initiated the holiday price cut at 2 pm yesterday (Wednesday), prompting Shell and Petron to follow suit. Problem is, the price cut is only being offered in “selected competitive trading areas” and I have no idea where these are. Errr…just try near your place, will ya? You have only until Monday to get the discount!

Click on this link to read the breaking news article from INQUIRER.net.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Morelos.

I never really believed in Santa Claus. But I know all about him, his reindeers and his sleigh. In financial markets, especially in stocks, investors have, year after year, observed a thing called Santa Claus rally.

That’s when stocks jump higher in between Christmas and New Year’s Day. No matter how tough the year is, there’s a lift in stock prices whether small or big. Nice gift from Santa, don’t you think?

Perhaps it doesn’t really matter why stocks go up during the Christmas season. What matters more is what to do with that rally? Do you grab the chance to sell? If you follow the age-old adage to “buy low and sell high”, it would be best then to avoid at all cost any situation where you have to unload stocks during the Christmas season. Expect this to drag on to January because of what is called “the January effect” when stocks climb even higher in anticipation of more investments from the public. In the next few days in fact, market players expect the PSEi to go higher after Wall Street’s rise last Friday.

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After cooking more than seven batches of leche flan, rushing around the malls making last minute gift purchases and with still a few more odds and ends to buy, preparing for Christmas parties and goodies for kids, I’m pooped. I’m giddy with the Holiday whirl and I can imagine that many of you are, too! And traffic shows it, grrr.

So, I thought we could all do with some holiday reminders. It’s too easy to be afflicted with temporary moneysmart amnesia when you’re busy untangling Christmas lights and party decors.

Double-check your check payments
There must be more bounced checks in December than at any time of the year. If you are used to paying with post-dated checks, check now to make sure your December and January checks are funded with cash. Bank charges on insufficient funds are pretty nasty at P2,000 or higher. It may be Christmas season, but I don’t think that’s the kind of gift you want to give to your banker. Oh and here’s the time when having a good speaking relationship with the branch manager in your bank of account can be to your advantage. If you are considered a good enough client, he will call you to warn of an impending bounced check!

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Avoiding gift-giving gaffes is tricky. Is it proper to give your boss a Christmas gift or will others interpret that as trying to curry favors with the man or woman on top? If you decide that spreading Christmas cheer with a gift is just right during the holidays, what is the right budget for bosses, colleagues and subordinates?

This article from our personal finance section says you should remember that what works for one company might not work for another. If you have just moved into a new job, be sure to ask around first.

Here are the seven other tips from that article:

1. Make a gift list and set a budget. I always go overboard on gifts and not just on Christmas Day. I just love wrapping presents so much! A gift is not a gift to me without a beautiful ribbon . There’s something about choosing, buying or making and wrapping and presenting the gift that lifts my spirit up.

2. Foodstuffs are always welcome gifts. Easier to give to both ladies and male friends and colleagues too! The most popular ones this Christmas are chocolates, so far as I can tell.

3. Go for gifts recipients can use. Personally, I like giving gifts that people will never buy for themselves but this is a good tip too for the practical side of money-smart peeps.

4. Partner with others for group gifts. Makes sense especially for bosses.

5. Homemade gifts. Definitely not for children. More for the sentimental and mature persons in the universe. Can I now claim that I go for homemade gifts? Heehee.

6. Look for the right size. Since I do a lot of walking around Makati area, I find myself declining Christmas baskets that are very heavy and difficult to lug around.

7. Cash gifts are, again, very tricky. These days, everyone gives little envelopes – from the postman to the utility boy to the messenger who goes to your house only once a year. So what’s the proper amount to put in the envelope?

Here’s a little confession. Everybody keeps saying they can’t feel Christmassy anymore. It’s like the warm, fuzzy feeling of Christmas dies when people turn 12.

Maybe, it was the Christmas caroling in Binangonan, Rizal that I joined the previous weekend that changed me. Nothing like serenading houses on the side of the road to make your heart soar! You can’t give the gift of cheer without sprinkling some on yourself – so go spend a little and give a little especially of your time and yes, always do these with a smile.

Merry Christmas!

I find it remarkable that quite a number of INQUIRER.net readers are raring to invest in local stocks considering that those in more advanced markets are still stumped by subprime worries. From the kind of emails and queries I receive, the gung-ho attitude is not borne of ignorance but of a desire to be part of the action in the capital markets and a hope that owning stocks will make retirement so much better. From what you tell me, I can sense that the “prestige” of playing with stocks is a big part of the equation too.

Perhaps some of you are thinking of investing your Christmas windfalls instead of spending them. Or for OFWs, investing will hasten the days for your final homecoming. Investing in equities is a personal choice, and one that might work for some and not for others. To begin, the first thing that you have to do is get a broker. The Philippine Stock Exchange requires investors to be represented by a broker before they can own or sell stocks.

For many who are not in the country physically, setting up an account and making phone calls made to brokers can be quite expensive. Online brokerage accounts have become convenient ways of investing in the stock market because communications via email lessen the cost. Secure websites that display personal accounts add to the attractiveness of this option.

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Early this year, I ached for a big, flat-screen LCD television set. Yeah, I eventually bought one but a much smaller and more practical unit. Now, I’m aching for something more expensive and a potentially cascading expense: a new home that I can call my very own.

For a long time, I believed financial planning experts who say renting a home is not such a bad thing. You are not tempted to make expensive home improvements, don’t pay real estate tax, are not tied down to a particular place, etcetera etcetera.

This year, however, my eyes have been straying towards those fancy real estate brochures. Must be my age hehe. I am feeling the urge to have my roots firmly planted somewhere. I’ve visited many different sites as I went house hunting. I’m already dizzy with all the different financing packages and payment schemes. No decision yet, until now.

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(Below is a guest post by Malaya Laraya of Campos, Lanuza & Co. and a Registered Financial Planner. Aside from being an RFP, Aya is also a Certified Securities Representative, a Certified Investment Company Representative and a realtor.  He has written for Business Mirror, MoneySense, Inquirer.net and for Sense and Style.  He also conducts financial education seminars for schools (like DLSU, ADMU, St. Scho, PLM and PWU) and professional organizations (like the Pasay-Makati Realtors Board, Bobson Jeans and PAREB). )

For all of those considering investing in the local stock market, here are a couple of companies that have signified their intention of listing in 2008.
 
1.  Viva Entertainment Group. Viva is the next media company that is planning to enter the stock market, after GMA7. Slated for listing sometime in the first quarter of 2008, Viva has the advantage of being a well-known name and will surely generate quite a bit of interest for both novice and veteran investors.  Ostensibly, the firm is listing to fund several big movie projects as well as to further branch out into the recording and TV business.  There is actually an off chance they might get listed in January so even at this early stage, there is already talk in the market about this IPO.
 
2. Cebu Pacific.  Local budget airline Cebu Pacific has also announced its plans to list in the bourse next year. Proceeds from the listing are meant to upgrade and expand their current fleet of planes. This is another issue that is quite well known by the general public so it is to be expected that there will be quite a demand for this issue as well.

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From the looks of it, Gnoysa is likely to win the forex trading game with a P41.56 forecast for end of December!

The peso on Wednesday breached the P41 level, hitting P41.99 before closing at P42.03 against the dollar. When the forex market opened this morning, the peso was at P41.90 again and the weighted average as of 10.44 a.m. today was P41.887 to the dollar.

Both inflows from overseas Filipino workers sending money home for the holidays and investors taking positions in the stock market lifted the peso further. And because we all expect the money to continue to come in, this only means you gotta get ready to see the peso rising even more in the next weeks.

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We got a very interesting question from a reader and Noet Ravalo has answered it in his column today.

I am now 69 years old and still working. But my saving is only P100,000. Will the government continue to impose tax on my saving in the bank? Where is the logic here? — Rose

Most people have mixed feelings about taxes. From an intellectual standpoint, we all know that if the government stops collecting taxes tomorrow, for example, life as we know it will drastically change. But on a personal level, who wants to pay more taxes?

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