(Photo from Agence France-Presse)

No self-flagellation here in MoneySmarts this Holy Week break! Let’s list down all our favorite painless ways to increase savings. I’ll go first:

1. Take advantage of SM Advantage (and other store cards). They hardly cost any money and carrying them in your wallet won’t give you even a slight kink in your shoulder. The other week, I bought several grocery items and replacement parts for toilet flush and paid for them with my SM Advantage card. Not bad at all.
2. Don’t forget your rebates and freebies. I learned this the hard way. I forgot all about my expiring Mabuhay Miles and found out I was eligible for a free trip to a Visayas destination only when it was too late. Be careful, though. Rebates, rewards and freebies need to be managed carefully. For example, if Casa Armas is giving you 20% discount on a meal, don’t go just for the discount but go because you would have eaten out anyway. If you went out because “hey, we have a discount, cool!” you wouldn’t have enjoyed 20%, you would have spent 80% of the cost of the meal. [Read the rest of this entry »]

My 2-year old son was hospitalized again last week and it got me thinking about whether it makes good sense to get a health card.

When my husband and I decided to enroll the entire family into his company’s health program, we did it mostly for our peace of mind and not based on some proof from an Excel worksheet that it will eventually pay off. Unless you know how often your children are going to get sick, I don’t see any way of finding out exactly if the P1,500 per month expense for all our health cards will be worth it.

Based on simple computations for 2007, it appears that getting a health card worked for us – at least for last year. Consider the figures:

[Read the rest of this entry »]

It’s not easy to buy insurance. In fact, it can be so confusing that people tend to just go with the flow and trust everything to their agent.

That would be okay if your agent is always on the lookout for your interests. But sad to say not all agents were created equal. Some just want to meet their quota. Even those who are in the insurance business will not deny that.

Having said that, I have met many insurance agents who are truly concerned with their clients and sell them what they need, not the products that they need to sell. Most of them have training in overall financial planning.
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Check out my article on the Philippine results of an 11-country Citibank survey on financial intelligence. The results were very revealing, and quantified in figures what we all suspected.

Here’s the link: 8 out of 10 Filipinos worry about bleak retirement–survey

And here’s an excerpt:

MANILA, Philippines – Eight out of ten working, middle class Filipinos believe they face a bleak retirement and more than half expect to be supported by their children in their old age, results of a Citibank survey showed.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Filipinos are still on a home-buying spree, even as the US housing sector still reels from the effects of the subprime mortgage mess. Thanks to money flowing in from Filipinos working overseas, the real estate sector in the Philippines seems to be set for another big year in 2008.

It’s good money flowing in for good reasons. At least, Filipinos are putting their money in something that will last and even appreciate in value, as opposed to appliances, cars and latest mobile phone models. Hello iPod? (Read this article on what families of OFWs do with money wired to them regularly.)

But although buying a home can be pretty straightforward (ok a bit challenging too), buying home insurance can feel like going through a maze. This article from our personal finance section says there are three MUST-ASK questions when buying home insurance (excerpt below):

[Read the rest of this entry »]

What are the chances you would be a victim of a bomb blast? I’m pretty sure the 89 persons wounded by the blast or the families of the eight who died had that farthest from their minds as they spent the afternoon going about their ways.

Always be prepared because anything can happen. Protection comes first before investing.

I can’t help but thank God I didn’t have a meeting in that area today, nor opted to buy my tickets from Philippine Airlines whose new sales office is now near the area. It’s unfortunate and very shocking to see so many people wounded and hurt.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Insurance for children are cheap, sure but in this case, “cheap” doesn’t equate to “good buy.”

The reason is simple. Children don’t need insurance. Our personal finance feature for today says:

Children do not need life insurance. You are not dependent on your child for your income. If your child passes away, you can still continue to work and earn, and life will still go on for you.

Read the entire article here.

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From MoneySense magazine:

Buy term, invest the difference?

Buy when you’re young
Jerry Miraflor, Cocolife first vice president, gives this warning about this strategy: “I’d say, ‘be very careful’. There are a lot of very big ‘ifs’ for that statement to work. You must be young enough and healthy enough to qualify for term insurance.” Once you hit middle age, premiums for term insurance can be expensive.

Have the discipline
Saying “invest the difference” is easy; actually doing it regularly is another matter altogether.

Invest smartly
Jerry says, “You’ve got [to have] the expertise and the time to manage and generally oversee your investments. I’d venture to say that 90% of the general public does not have that expertise.” Of course, you can invest in mutual funds and trust funds that are managed by professional investment managers. You can even automate the process of setting aside money to invest. Nevertheless, you still shouldn’t neglect insurance, adds Jerry.

Read the rest of the article here.

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There’s insurance for credit card debt, personal loans, mortgage loans and other kinds of loans usually offered through direct mailers and sometimes by telemarketers. It’s a complex product with a simple goal: to protect the borrower and the lender from loan default in case something happens to him while paying the loan.

But here’s a voice of reason from a bank that offers this product. “Not everyone needs it.”

Is it worth it to get credit card-related insurance? This is a question only the borrower will be in the best position to answer. Ask yourself: Is it worth it to get someone to help me pay off my credit card dues in the future when I can’t? Those who charge only a little amount on their credit card monthly, or regularly pay off the total credit card balance at month’s end don’t need it. (Read the rest of the article here.)

Protection for rainy days. Do you really need it? Photo from AFP. 

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A reader wrote:

Just wanna ask if Pryce Plans is still existing. My sister was paying last week and the bank teller said: “The account number no longer exists”. I have been paying for more than five years now…Gosh, I need your advice guys…Thank you!

Pryce Plans declared funding problems in 2005 and has not been allowed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell new products. The company still exists but only to service claims. After I read Beth’s question, I called up the company and the person at the other end of the line candidly admitted that because of the company’s funding problems, some releases are delayed, but claimed that these would be serviced.

[Read the rest of this entry »]