2016 Week 13 Recap: Holy Week Break

March 21-27, 2016 

I hope you all had a meaningful Holy Week. 

Work 

I had two days of work last week since I took the day off on March 23. We are struggling with debugging some reports because we have restricted access to the vendor’s server and we are highly dependent on our US counterpart. I feel helpless and frustrated until now especially every time I receive replies to my emails saying that they can’t quite get what I mean by so and so. Hay. But work is work and so we have to continue finding a way to work best even with a lot of restrictions. 

Birthday

I had a great birthday and I am thankful for another year. I was able to accomplish all that I’ve planned for that day. More details here. 

Holy Week Break

After a birthday dinner on Wednesday, I went home to my brother’s place because it was more accessible and safer especially at night. I also spent most of Thursday at my brother’s place. My sister-in-law’s cousin was generous enough and let us to use their car so my brother and his family accompanied me home. Thankful for that because it was easier to run errands (aka buy paint and groceries) and we were able to avoid the downtown traffic hehe. Thanks, kuya. Plus, my nephew had the chance to light candles for his lolo and lola. 

On Good Friday, my younger brother and I worked on the gates and railing. We painted it with primer just to control the rust. Just a temporary solution in the meantime that I’m still undecided what color use for the exterior of the house, plus of course the budget is still elusive hehehe.

As there was still daylight, I gathered the weeds that I removed from the backyard last December in one place. I'll wait for these to decompose and use it for my flower pots.

On Saturday, my tita, tito, brother + kid, cousin +kid visited three sick relatives, two of which are my mother’s brothers and the other one is my mother’s first cousin (our tita) whom she was close to when she was still alive. Two out of three were thinking maybe it was already their time to go hehehe. I suspected that of my uncle, since he’s now the same age when my mom died and he’s next to my mom by birth order. Hay gusto kong batukan mga matatanda. No, they should not be thinking of those things even if they go there eventually. Kanya-kanyang timeline naman yan. Besides, I am not yet ready to face another death in the family. Our tita looks older now as compared to the last time I saw her but still talkative. She said she’ll wait for my wedding and volunteered to walk me down the aisle since she’s not that optimistic anymore to do that for her own daughter because it looks like my cousin does not have the plans of tying the knot soon. Nakaka-pressure naman. Wala pa nga yun sa radar namin (or baka ako lang pala hehehe). Anyway, we’ll see. Pwede bang magfocus na lang po kayo sa pagpapagaling muna? 

After the visits, my tita, tito and I attended the Easter vigil mass. 

On Sunday, I requested the family to go on a picnic at Burnham. I invited my tita’s family and my cousins’ kids, whoever would like to come. I just want the kids to bond and play and just be kids. It is important for me that they grow up knowing each other so that when they grow old, I hope that they will also be each other’s support system. It’s also my birthday treat to them. Nothing fancy. Rice was cooked at home, and we just bought 2 viands from Good Taste (one of the famous and more affordable restaurants in Baguio), and ice cream. Panulak? Tubig lang hahaha. Tipid mode eh :p. 

It was bye Baguio in the evening and back in your arms, Manila at around 2 AM of March 28. 

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead.

It's my birthday, it's my birthday 😀🎤🎼🎸

Strawberry shortcake!

Happy birthday to me!!! 37 years! Thank Lord for the gift of life. I am amazed by your unconditional love, outpouring blessings and project management style. The best! There is nothing more to say than thank you. I am forever grateful.

So I was allowed to take a leave so uwi na agad! Got here around 6:30 AM. Only 4 hours for the whole trip. Saya-saya. First order of the day was to buy return ticket on Easter Sunday. After that, went to Baguio Cathedral for mass. I am now having breakfast at Vizco's (yes, writing this here). Corned beef meal plus of course I bought myself a slice of strawberry shortcake hehe. Yum!

I'll drop by a tailoring shop for alterations of some pants and then drop by MOFAMCO (Mothers and Family Multi-Purpose Cooperative) to apply for membership. I hope that would be quick because sleep is knocking again hehe.

Will go home after that errand to catch some sleep and play with nephew. I'm hoping for dinner with the BF tonight to at least celebrate our birthdays together (his will be tomorrow) but let's see about that. Keeping it as low key as possible since it's the Holy Week.

Ok, time to dig in to the cake! 

Have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week, everyone.

Update: The last in my itinerary pushed through as well. Bitin pero salamat pa rin at natuloy! :) Happy birthay, indeed! Salamat sa Diyos.

2016 Week 12 Recap: Eating Galore

Work

So, while we were busy closing all the issues on a major project so that we can move on to the next stage, a teammate accidentally discovered that our system is running out of employee numbers in the 6 series. End result if we don't fix this? Some will not be paid. While there is always the option to go manual, it's complicated and will have more room for human errors when you're in a BPO where operations is 24 hours. Given this, we need to implement the fix in one month or less...or else....hahaha. Kaya 'to. Join forces lang at kulit kulit lang sa mga testers para bilisan nila.

On another note, the March birthday celebrants and those newly hired (for their first blood) treated the team to buffet dinner at Don Day. Busog lusog for everyone hehehe.

Living Quarters

Unfortunately, the pechay I planted did not survive sniff sniff sniff :(. Maybe it's the weather and my limited location. My aunt said it would have been better if they get the morning sunshine. Mine gets the afternoon sunshine eh. The soil may be another factor. Not too fertile. I'll make some compost first this summer so that it gets fertilized. I'll try to plant again during the rainy season when the heat is more forgiving.

Weekend

We were supposed to visit Pinto Museum but had to postpone for some other time. My friend is going through a rough time and does not feel like going out. So, instead, I just treated her to a buffet dinner at Seven Corners at Crown Plaza Manila Galleria. Lamon pa more hehehe. Plus, there's a 50% off on your birth month if you pay using your BDO credit card. But I think that's just if there are 2 of you eating. It's a different discount (I think) if there's 3 or more. The information is in BDO's site.

It's Palm Sunday today, the official start of the Holy Week. Just attended the mass this morning. 

Dropped by SM Megamall for some errands. Also checked out the National Food Fair at the Mega Trade Hall. All regions in the entire country are represented. Most stalls have free taste hehehe. It's always good to see entrepreneurs showcase their products. I'm amazed at their entrepreneurial skills for them to be able to come up with a unique product that can be showcased in events such as this. I always wonder where my entrepreneurial sense is every time I see events such as this hehe. Hopefully, the DTI do these types of things more frequently. Or maybe they do, I'm just not updated. 

I also wanted to buy some of the products but I had to control myself because I'll be out most days of next week so I'll be turning off my ref.

That's it pansit! I'm excited to go home this Holy Week. Time to bond again with the nieces. No outing. Maybe just a picnic at Burnham on Easter Sunday but we'll see. I'll just stay home for the rest of the break.

Got to go for now. I'm watching he PiliPinas Debates 2016 via live streaming. It's entertaining but I also cringe sometimes at some of the answers. 

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead.

Dear Daddy #2

Source

Happy birthday in heaven, Daddy! If you were still here, it would have been your 78th. Parang ang weird din na binabati pa rin kita ng happy birthday, no? Hehe. Pero weird or not, babatihin pa rin kita. Ikinain na rin kita ng Japanese cheesecake kanina. At kagabi rin, kumain din kami ni Glo para i-celebrate ang birthdays natin. Since wala ka na, ako na lang kakain para sa 'yo hahaha! Lamon pa more. 

If you are still here, party party sana sa bahay, malamang sa Easter Sunday no? Pero pwede rin namang kami-kami lang hehe. Kayo kasi eh, nang-iwan agad. Pero malaman pa hehe.

Happy birthday uli! I miss you and Mama. Hi na lang sa kanya. Ibagam ah ta baka umapos manen hehe.

Personal Finance: Financial Seminar by BDO

I've shared about BDO's seminar previously. Lucky that a friend and I got seats so off we went last Saturday to attend. 

The speaker was Sir Efren Ll. Cruz, a registered financial planner, personal finance coach, and a bestselling author. I have read his book entitled "Pwede Na! The Complete Pinoy Guide to Personal Finance". I loved his book because it was very easy to read and understand so somehow, his name was kept somewhere in my memory. I have also heard of him from a colleague when she shared that she and her husband availed of his service as a financial planner. My friend's friend and his husband also got him as their financial planner. 

The seminar's title was "How to Break The Rules of Thumb in Personal Finance". Here are some of the things I was able to take note of.

1. 100 minus age Rule
According to this rule, the difference when you subtract your age from 100 should be the percentage of your portfolio that is invested in the stock market. However, it is still case to case. For people who just started saving for their retirement few years before they retire, they should be more aggressive in their investments.


2. Diversification Rule
As a rule of thumb, we must diversify but we also need to ensure that we don't over-diversify because in doing so, we may lose our chances of higher gains. According to Sir Efren, stock performance is 92% based on the market performance, 5% by the fund manager, 2% timing and 1% sheer luck.


3. Buy Low, Sell High
This is a little bit tricky because we only know when it is the lowest price or the highest price after the fact. The brain needs something to compare it to before it can conclude that it's the lowest or the highest.

His recommendation is to set a target and look for stocks that can return your target then sell when your target is met. Looking for stocks entails a lot of studying and analysis, he says.


4. 20:20 Retirement Rule
The rule states that if you will retire for 20 years, you should start preparing for your retirement 20 years prior your target retirement age.

On the contrary, we should start planning for our retirement as early as we can so that we can take advantage of time and also the years that we don't have much responsibilities and bills to pay yet. At 20 years prior target retirement age, you may already have started a family so there are more expenses to pay and saving for retirement may become the least priority. So it's better to start as early as you can.


5. Buy Your Own Home Instead of Renting
While there are more affordable properties in the market now, you should really assess first if you are ready to transition to home ownership. You should consider all additional costs that it entails. If you think you are ready, then go ahead. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with renting while you are saving up for the budget needed for home ownership.

After presenting the above rules, his next question was, "Are you all S.E.T?" where SET was used as an acronym for:

• S - size of fund
• E - expertise in investing
• T - time available in investing

For us to be successful direct investors, we need to have a sizable fund, we need to be experts in investing and to be an experts, it is a full time job, and we should have the time to learn the ropes, do a lot of research, and come up with our own investing strategies.

However, most of us are not really S.E.T. So his recommendation was to hire professionals to do the investing for us. In doing so, we take advantage of the skills of the fund managers for a minimal fee. If we go this route, we can choose from Mutual Funds (MFs, offered by Mutual Fund companies), Unit Investment Trust Funds (UITFs, offered by the Trust arm of banks), or VULs (offered by insurance companies). I won't elaborate on each of the options as there are a lot of resources available online for the differences of the 3 and which companies offer what.

His parting lines were:

• Focus on the life events you want to achieve, not the money. 
• Strongest currency is FAITH.

A speaker from BDO was next and he presented the available UITF options that their bank offers.

Personal note:

Others may or may not agree and that's fine. After all, personal finance is still really just that...PERSONAL. As for me, I am thankful for opportunities such as this. Nothing beats learning for free. With J.Co donuts and coffee for snacks pa. San ka pa. Thanks, BDO! :)

2016 Week 11 Recap: Hectic But All Good

March 7-13, 2016

Work

It was a bit stressful last week but we got by so still good in general. Some of my timelines were affected though so need to strategize on those this week.

Living Quarters

I was expecting Sky Cable last Saturday to disconnect my line and get the digibox. I waited until 6 PM but no one came. Need to follow up again. Kaloka sila. 

Weekend

One word-hectic. Hehe. But all good.

We attended the Financial Wellness seminar last Saturday sponsored by BDO. I learned new things, and some of my personal thoughts were validated. More on this in another post. 

We also watched Les Miserables on Saturday night. Those actors and actresses must be so talented, skilled and focused to be able to memorize everything, act, sing and set up their props real time. While I have watched the movie in the past, seeing the play on stage was a totally different experience worth spending time and money for. It was a night to remember. 

On Sunday, we were supposed to visit the National Museum. Oh wait, we were already there at around 2 PM. However, the line was a little bit long and slow moving and the sun was so unforgiving emitting so much heat. We just aborted the plan and decided to visit another time but ensuring that we go there early the next time around.

From National Museum, we went to Rustan's to avail of Wacoal's promo and a little window shopping for luggage. 

Went home earlier than usual as I still had to attend the mass at 6PM and should be home before 8PM for my massage. 

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead.

Personal Finance: BDO's Financial Wellness Seminar

BDO is offering a financial wellness seminar for free this Saturday! Since it's free, and a friend and I are suckers for free seminars, we registered the other night. We haven't received the confirmation email yet, but still crossing our fingers. 

You may check this page for more details and to register if you're interested.

Update (03.11.2016): My friend and I received an email confirmation from BDO yesterday. We're in. Yay!

Personal Finance: Insurance Updates

*Image from here*

I've shared previously about my first insurance policy being potentially fully paid up last January. So, yes the agent confirmed that. I already made up my mind about making it fully paid up and divert my budget to another investment vehicle but I became hesitant when I was doing the paper works with the agent's secretary. I told her then that I have some more clarifications that I need to ask my agent. Those clarifications were just answered when I called her last week (yes, I procrastinate a lot and I'm not proud of it). Anyway, end result was for us to meet yesterday to discuss in person.

My agent's recommendation was to make it fully paid up because according to her, dividends are not that big now, as compared to 10 years ago so I am not maximizing my money's worth should I opt to continue just so I have more dividends in the future. And so, I gave her the go signal to make it fully paid up and proceeded to the paper works for my mutual fund account. I will also be receiving part of my dividends but that will go directly to my MF account. 

She also showed me a computation of how much retirement fund I should have, based on the estimated expenses I will have when I retire. I also asked her if she has a sample computation for a child's education and lucky for me she has. We tried punching in estimates based on Manila rates. Would you believe that 7 years from now, you would need almost Php 2M to pay for your child's tuition for elementary (6 years, does not include Nursery or Pre-school or Kinder)? Naloka ako hehe. Baseline for that is Php 95k yearly tuition, with 10% yearly increase in tuition and 4% inflation rate.

In all honesty, the figures are daunting hehehe. And while I do believe and trust in God's divine providence, I also think that it is our responsibility to take care of God's blessings. In short, we also have to do our part in making our lives better and one way is to be responsible with our finances. Sabi nga nila, nasa Dyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa. Walang mangyayari kung wala kang ginagawa talaga. Also, while money is not everything, money is the tool to allow you to pursue your other goals (like full time volunteer work, just because you know you are covered from your sources of income).

Kaya ito, push lang ng push. And I should always go back to my roots where my parents tried their bestest to provide for us with the meager income they made. Yes, meager because they were tax exempt, hence yearly income was less than Php 72k. Until now, I wonder how they managed with the budget and all hehe.

Praying for financial abundance for everyone.

2016 Week 10 Recap: Patience is a Virtue

February 29 - March 6, 2016

Work

I had challenges working with a new colleague that. It was a real test of my patience but I still tried to be patient given the circumstances. Lesson have been learned and I can pat my back for surpassing the test on patience. It was a test because I am not the most patient person there is hehehe. I am thankful for her presence because she's really teaching me to be patient and we are still moving forward with tasks anyway so no sweat.

I got so drained last Wednesday that I requested for work from home. I just honestly told my boss that I need some peace and quiet after the crazy Wednesday. I am again thankful that she granted my request.

We completed our second session on strategic planning and the team has a good and doable plan. I'm excited to introduce change in one of our documentations. That should speed up our work while ensuring that it is still understandable to both our clients and our developers. I'll pilot test it in my current project. Hopefully, the other boss wouldn't be too surprised of the new format hehehe. I'll convince him that change is good. Haha!

Living Quarters

Finally got a confirmation from SkyCable that my request for deactivation was filed. More details of how it finally happened here. Earliest disconnection will be March 12. I'm patiently waiting. I just want to say bye bye to one bill, regardless of the small amount hehehe.

I also got my dormant Metrobank account reactivated. I just need to request for reactiviation of my online account though. I'll do that next week. 

And finally, I was able to get my niece's first Confirmation of Participation for her BDO EIP. More details here. So happy and excited for her and hope she stays focused on her savings. 

Weekend

I planned on staying at home to do the laundry and update my blog's layout. So that's what I did. I spent the whole Saturday afternoon onwards searching for templates with minimalist theme. Unfortunately, I was not successful. I've downloaded everything that I liked and tried it all but not even one perfectly suited my current layout without me having to tweak it. So, I just resorted to what's available in Blogger for now. I'll try again some other time. Anyone who knows where I can get free templates other than what's on Blogger?

On Sunday, first on the agenda was to attend mass. Hay. Another test of faith and of being good while inside the church. I got annoyed because someone had the guts to take a selfie while the mass was ONGOING. While all of us already stood up, she was still sitting there for her selfie. It was so annoying but I just tried to focus on the mass itself (which was hard by the way, because she was in front of me hehe). And ironically, the gospel was the Prodigal Son, so that's about forgiveness and all. But anyway, moving on...

I went to Shang for some peaceful mall and lunch time before going to Megamall for my weekly grocery. Went home right after and cooked my weekly lunch. I work mid shift so to save money, I must ensure that I eat lunch at home so that I'll only spend for one meal outside.

Just finished watching The Intern. Good movie on girl power. I liked the ending. 

That's about it. Getting excited for the coming weekends because I have some things planned. And it's my and the BF's birthday month. I still can't believe that we share the same month and his comes a day after mine. Ha!

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead. Goodnight for now. Trying to sleep early so that I can start training myself to become an early riser.

*Image from here*

Personal Finance: My Niece's First BDO COP

I was able to get my OFW niece's confirmation of participation from BDO last Thursday. I've shared in one of my posts before that I encouraged her to set up an investment account before leaving for her place of employment, so that she has a facility to put in her savings. 

I'm glad that she listened to my advice and realized the importance of starting early. I am happy that she is still committed to her savings plan for her daughter's college fund. I'm thankful with the technology because she is just a PM away when I want to randomly check on her savings goals. I pray that she will be blessed with a steady source of income so that she can achieve her goals for her family.

On a different note, I have not seen Ms. Joan during my 2 previous visits at the bank. Ms. Joan was the one who helped us open an account for my niece last year. I wonder if she resigned. Good thing that the teller who attended to me last Thursday maybe still remembers me because when I requested for my niece's COP, she did not ask for my ID anymore and she knew which family name to look for. Thank you, Ms. Teller. Note to self - get the teller's name on my next visit.

How about you? Do you have family members abroad? Any tips for OFWs so that their hard earned money won't go to waste?

SkyCable: How to Deactivate Subscription

I'm not using my cable anymore since I bought the TV Plus from a colleague for 50% off the market price last December. Once I was able to set that up, I sent an email to SkyCable for my request...and the reason why I resorted to email was because no one was answering their hotline EVERY TIME I CALL THEM. Unfortunately, even my EMAILS did not get noticed. 

What worked? Twitter! I sent them a tweet yesterday (not thru DM) telling them that I want my subscription deactivated. Diretsahan na, wala nang paligoy-ligoy. Aba, reply agad and asked me to send them a DM. They requested for my account details, reason for deactivation and if there is no one  where I can transfer the service instead of disconnection. Sorry, none hehe. Just this morning, someone replied that my request has been facilitated and that the earliest schedule for pull out of the Digibox will be on March 12. Yehey! The digibox will also be deactivated prior pull out, and that the service fee is Php 356.00. Pfftt! Ok, fine!

I also inquired if they can prorate my bill since the latest covers up to March 16 but they did not address that. Anyway, fine, as long as they pull it out ASAP and stop charging me.

P.S. Nothing against SkyCable (well maybe, except for their customer service hehehe). I just seldom watch TV these days so I'm ok to let that go.

Metrobank: How to Reactivate a Dormant Account

I did not do any transactions with my Metrobank account for more than 2 years, so it became dormant. Let's just say that the account's purpose was de-prioritized, hence the lack of transactions. 

But this year, I'm using it again so I went to the bank last Thursday to deposit. Of course, the system did not accept my transaction and the teller advised me to go to the teller in charge of new accounts and have my account deactivated. Off I went, and she let me do the following:

1. Filled out a form for reactivation and signature cards
2. Requested for an ID. That time, I only brought my company ID. She was looking for a government ID but I told her I did not bring any. She checked with the manager if the company ID was ok. I'm glad they accepted it. 
3. Asked me if I still know my PIN. Of course I forgot hehe. So she gave me two options: a) change card with a charge of Php 150.00 but I can get the card on the same day or b) change PIN but wait for 3 days. I chose the later since I can wait and I don't want to pay for Php 150.00
4. Deposit any amount. This is required according to the teller.

Unfortunately, it looks like my online account was also deactivated. I already sent an email to their customer care but haven't received any replies yet. Will just check with my branch again once I claim my PIN.

Goals for March 2016

While I did not do well with my goals for the past 2 months, I'm still not giving up.

For March 2016:

1. 10,000 steps a day or a total of 310,000 steps for the month
2. Kick off C25K training
3. Cut-off cable subscription by making daily follow ups with Sky Cable
4. Complete The Project Management: The Basics for Success course at Coursera.org and pass the weekly exams
5. Change blog theme
6. Visit Pinto Art Museum
7. Finalize insurance update details
8. Fix UP AWOL status

Will update by end of the month.

Update: Goals for February 2016

Update on my goals for February 2016:

1. 10,000 steps a day or a total of 290,000 steps for the month - FAILED
2. Kick off C25K training - FAILED
3. Cut-off cable subscription. I seldom watch TV nowadays, plus I bought a TV Plus from a colleague last year and a DVD player, so that should be enough. - QUITE (Just because no one has replied yet to my email, and no one has been answering their hotline for ALL the times I contacted them. Today, I tried their Contact Us page in their website but it's returning an error that's not user friendly....hay naku! I also tweeted them. Hopefully, they will reply.)
4. Read one non-romance book - FAILED (I was into reading personal finance and Frugality blogs for the past months)
5. Complete The Project Management: The Basics for Success course at Coursera.org and pass the weekly exams - FAILED (and I suck.)
6. Meet with insurance agent to process update of insurance details - QUITE (Since I'm still not decided whether I will have it fully paid up or not...but I will meet with her next week and hopefully, I'll have a decision by then.)
7. Plant pechay - SUCCESS (with the planting...growing it is another story...)
8. Get back to the daily bible readings - QUITE (Started it but skipped some days. Doing better this month.)

I am not quite pleased with the results. Need to have a reality check with myself.