ROUNDUP: Can’t stop talking about the crisis

Sometimes, I wonder when the global financial crunch will no longer be in the headlines…or when a day will pass when we won’t talk about it…or when it won’t be a constant worry anymore.

Just yesterday, I heard that Accenture met with its employees and told 1,000 of them they don’t have to come to work anymore. Just like that. At least two people I personally know were also laid off last week by their company.

You know this would be happening this year. But it doesn’t get more real than when the ax falls on people you know. Heaven forbid one of you gets laid off.
During these times, I can’t overemphasize the need for an emergency fund at least three to six months of monthly expenses. That’s the buffer fund you only touch when your source of income has dried up. Ideally, you should have a separate way of paying for health emergencies, whether a medical insurance or health card from an HMO. While you keep pouring your juice into an emergency fund regularly, you hope that you would never need to use it!

Here’s a roundup of our personal finance offerings this week:

Investment guide for 2009 lays down guideposts that experts say no one can afford to ignore this year.

If you’re tired figuring out the difference between VULS, UITFs and mutual funds, check out this article.

Yes, there’s good debt and bad debt and it’s important that you know the difference.

From around the web:

Frugal Pinoy started this year with a soul searching on her biggest money mistakes. That’s a good exercise for all of us—so we don’t repeat bloopers!

I just discovered Condo Ko’s blog, and his article “Saving for dummies written by stupid” rings true for me. It is SO easy to buy a house you can’t afford because buying that parcel of land or a condominium is mostly an emotional exercise.

Economy:

So far, there’s good news and bad news about the economy coming out every week. One of the best good news is that at least as of October, expat Filipinos’ remittances continued to grow 10.5%. This is one of the things that will truly determine whether the Philippines can remain strong when all around it, economies are already wobbly. Hold on to your seats.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto expects the economy to grow 4.7% this year, not as good as 2006, but that figure indicates g-r-o-w-t-h nonetheless.

I found it interesting that a government survey showed that one in 10 Filipinos work in the informal sector. These are your multi-level marketers and other forms of “raketers” with income that slip through the cracks of number crunchers in the government. If this is true, and everybody knows it is, then economic growth reported as gross domestic product is really understated, isn’t it?

Money supply is also still up 14.6% in November. That means there is no credit crunch in the Philippines. That’s supported by the reported growth in bank lending, at 21.3 percent to P1.93 trillion in November from P1.6 trillion a year earlier.

No less than Standard & Poors, one of the world’s top credit rating agencies, says the Philippine is in good shape to weather the crisis.

Oh and watch this closely: Finance Secretary Gary Teves wants an increase in sin taxes, which he thinks will bring in at least P30 billion. That’s an area only the brave dare to go. You know which tycoon you’ll be up against when you try raising taxes on products such as cigarettes and liqour. I have always believed Gary is made of strong stuff. In this issue, he will really prove his mettle.

But all is not well.

Farm growth slowed to 3.9% in 08, and as all of you know, the farming sector still employs majority of the Philippine’s labor force. Based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas figures, funds pulled out $1.4B in 2008. Those who were in the market last year all felt that jar their bones deeply.

The World Bank has barred seven firms from bidding for its projects and three are Philippine firms. No surprise there, really, but just a major embarrassment lang naman.

Investing:

One news item is particularly disturbing fo those who follow personal finance topics: Pre-need firms turn to SEC for help. They are saying the global financial crisis is causing many pre-need companies to lose their footing. For the sake of planholders, I hope they don’t.

I hate ending on a sour note, but there you go, friends. Happy weekend.

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