I know this lady who almost received a new La Germania gas range oven that cost around P20,000 last weekend, but opted for a P400-bunch of yellow calla lilies, homemade paper cards and lots of hugs and kisses. The P20,000 went into the family savings.

Do you think she’s…

a) nuts
b) a miser
c) sensible
d) smart

With gas already at P50-something per liter, rice prices higher by more than P10 since the crisis began and everything else going north, I would be surprised if inflation hasn’t curbed spending for Mother’s Day. In fact, mothers were most likely the ones who discouraged lavish celebrations!
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How do you prepare yourself for a loved one’s death?

Not exactly a peachy thought on a MoneySmart Monday, I know. But as they say, there’s no going around death and taxes. And while it may be easy to prepare for the loss of a loved one financially, the emotional part is something else again. Can you attache a peso sign to that?

This story from MoneySense about a widow’s journey from tragedy to triumph is worth the few minutes it will take to go through it from start to finish.
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(Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall leaves a blessing at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after her civil wedding Prince Charles 09 April 2005. It’s easy to overspend on weddings, especially on rings when couples don’t know what to buy. Photo from AFP.)

Raising your eyebrows? You’re saying there are only four Cs?

Cut, color, clarity, carat.

Let me add one more.

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Here are my estimates rounded off to the nearest thousands for the costs of having my youngest child:

1. It starts with pre-natal expenses, ultrasound and other laboratory costs and vitamins (P15,000)
2. Maternal wear for a working mommy, already with Divisoria shopping (P10,000)
3. Normal delivery (P70,000)
4. Baby furniture - foldable playpen-crib, stroller and car seat, high chair (P20,000)
5. Baby clothes, excluding gifts from titos and titas *thank you po!* (P8,000)
6. Avent bottles, pacifiers, breastpump, baby bags, etc. (P25,000)

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I know you working girls and boys will laugh at me, but whenever I have the time and the energy, I *relish* my market days. Here’s proof: there’s one that’s around 10 minutes’ drive from my place and there’s another one that’s just walking distance. But it’s very small and I don’t get my usual fix of shouting tinderas so I go to the other one

This morning was particularly interesting. The first fruit stall at the Muñoz market was selling nice, shiny tomatoes at P60 per kilo. Then a guy at the next stall started shouting.

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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.

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(This post was written by Bianca, a MoneySmarts reader who was chosen among a long list of candidates to be part of our Money Makeover. In Money Makeover, we match financial planners with reader-volunteers and chronicle their one-year journey to their financial goals. Generali Pilipinas’ senior executive vice-president Augustus J.V. Ferreria has agreed to coach couple Bianca and Diego for 12 months pro-bono. In Money Makeover, we aim to show readers that finding financial freedom is really possible. Read previous Money Makeover articles here.)

I do not do math.

Addition

It started simple enough.  Joe wanted us to list all of our expenses every day forever.  He did not warn us that our hearts could suffer anxiety attacks because, for one, we were confronted by the fact that our expenses overshot our income by some P30,000 every month.  He also provided no explanation as to how we could have survived all this time – but our zero-balance savings, credit card debts, frequent lifeline calls to mom and dad could possibly provide a clue. It is a stressful exercise trying to figure out where our money went every day because with it comes the understanding that it went to excesses of the flesh and vanities. Want and need are becoming very delineated concepts at this time (but concepts all the same).

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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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More tips from the Live Green Movement.

Keep your car tuned up.
Keeping your air filter clean saves 800 pounds of carbon dioxide, and P1,500 a year. Make sure your tires are adequately inflated, and save 250 pounds of carbon dioxide, and up to P40,000 in fuel costs each year.

Avoid idling: turn off your car engine in heavy traffic.
If your car will idle for more than 45 seconds, it’s more fuel-efficient to turn off the engine and restart the car when you’re ready to go.

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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?

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