Having the Joyride on Two Wheels: A Reminder for Motorcycling Public.

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Have you ridden a motorcycle before? We know for a fact that riding a motorcycle is pleasurable and fun. It felt like having your wings and flying away. In my experience, it is the freedom that makes it thrilling for riders alike. It can maneuver on congested streets and heavy traffic. It can be used for sports and even travel / adventure or cruising on an out of town ride.

The motorcyclists are common sight in the urban or rural areas around the Philippines. Even in other Asian countries like India, Vietnam, China, Cambodia and Thailand were the number of motorcycles outnumbered cars and trucks. Motorcycles have become the mode of transport of the masses. This is second only to the passenger jeepney which is still the “King of the Philippine Road” here in our country. In terms of frugality, motorcycles are very economical with fuel prices skyrocketing weekly in which fuel expenses can be used for a week at most. Motorcycles Loans are available in the market through commercial and other financial institutions. Repairing and upgrading costs is lower compared to a car or an SUV.

Mortgage Retention Insurance: What you should know about this

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Have you wondered what does Mortgage Retention Insurance (MRI) is for when you are paying to your respective lending institutions like Home Mutual Development Fund (PAG-IBIG) or at commercial banks or private lending companies? Sometimes, the licensed real estate agent professionals might have missed out to discuss to you about these about this type of insurance included in your other charges or they might have discussed this to you but you have forgotten about it or still figuring out the charges on your computations.

Teaching them Young

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A month ago, the Department of Education and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas through their joint program, Guro ng Pag-Asa, awarded four public elementary-school teachers in the country in recognition of their effort at instilling the youth with the basics of personal finance and entrepreneurship under this program. It was also good to hear that they were given cash incentives for these effort, as well. 

Personal finance has come a long way in the past decade with information and ideas on investing and handling personal finance and money management. The recent development excites in that they are teaching the basics in public elementary schools around the country. But back in the days, there was not much information on personal finance and it was a concept I had a few years ago.

PSE EDGE Mobile Application now available!

A few months ago, The Philippine Stock Exchange launched their newest page the PSE EDGE (The Philippine Stock Exchange Electronic Disclosure Generation Technology). The PSE EDGE purpose is that all listed company disclosures and announcements will listed in this page and no longer be updated in the PSE Main website. 

Running and Financial Planning

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Running has become a popular sport among the young and old alike. This sport had seen tremendous interest for the the past few years, with droves of people participating in such number of running events in the country and other places worldwide. The running craze has hit the Philippine shores with many of our citizens had become aware with health benefits and consciousness of being healthy and the awareness of living better. Nowadays, running is trending with with almost every weekend that there are running events on Saturdays and Sundays, there are competitive also races from half marathon to triathlon events happening in Metro Manila or somewhere in the Philippines. Such events are organized by social groups to corporate entities looking on marketing their latest products and services for commercial purposes or to worthy causes that is socially and environmentally relevant and can create impact today. 

In any case how does running and financial planning have in common?

I like the analogy of running and personal finance it has simple rules to follow. Running is easy to do but going an extra mile would require a lot of trials along the way. A person intending to engage in this sport must be physically and mentally trained in this type of physical sport. Sharing my sentiments on this sport, I have been running for sometime now and participated in short distance running mostly 2.5 Kilometer to 5 kilometer runs in the past. We know for a fact they are both different in a sense but there are lot of lessons I learned from these two different disciplines.  

When Disasters Strikes (Earthquakes, Floods, Fire and others)

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It’s been a few months since we have seen and experience number of natural disasters, man-made catastrophes and armed conflict from the second half of 2013. From Typhoons like Santi, Labuyo, Maring, Zamboanga Rebellion, 7.2 magnitude earthquake of Bohol and Cebu Islands and lastly the Super typhoon of Yolanda (International Name: Haiyan). These incidents have made a great impact and consciousness in the minds of many to prepare for any disasters in the near future or unforeseen circumstances. In one statement of Dr. Marqueza Reyes of Earthquake and Mega-cities Initiative during an interview at ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) that the "Typhoon Yolanda will be benchmark for disaster preparedness in the years to come" if there will any more Category 5 storms coming in the archipelago. 

Understanding the Philippine Stock Market

Updated: February 13, 2014: 12:00 pm

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The second half of 2013 was a thrilling event for those who invested their money in stock market making tremendous profit with this type of direct investments. Many have gone up and seen the rise of the Philippine Stock Exchange  Index (PSEi) to 7,000 mark with people celebrating in sheer numbers to see their money grow.  However, stocks have seen downside when profit taking took place in end of December 2013 days before Christmas time but surely I am optimistic about this and looking forward on a better this year 2014.

Many people ask this question on how to invest in the stock market and why invest in the stock market? How much can a stock or equity profit?

PERSONAL FINANCE 102: WHERE TO PUT YOUR MONEY

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The economy is turning good and the Philippines is still on the investment radar of most international companies and venture capitalist. With this in place, local businesses and small investors are also joining up the bandwagon. Most folks are enjoying their profit in the recent Philippine Stock Exchange boom and it is hitting at 7000 mark last August of this year. 

Although, our government forecast has lowered it to 6.5 - 7% growth on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with previous forecast of 7.3% for the full year by National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) brought about by the recent natural disasters and uneventful situations. 

People are asking me a lot of questions on where to invest their hard earned money this year and beyond? How much to invest? How much can recover and get their return of income (ROI)?  For me it is an unending process of teaching and advising on where to invest. It depends on their objectives or personal goals in life, their risk appetite and portfolio of investments and financial instruments they intend to create with. 

As a registered financial planner, I give them these advices and what options or alternatives they could give them better decisions with a short period to a long term type of investments available and also give the pros and cons of these types of investments. In the end, these would be beneficial for both us client and financial planner with less compromise when building a client’s portfolio.