Community – Page 32 – Rock To Riches

I Am an OFW and I Bought My Life Insurance Online

OFWs on vacation have only enough time to do the things they need to do —meet their loved ones, eat out in their favorite restaurants, go shopping, go to some local vacation spot they’ve never been to, or throw parties for friends and relatives.

On top of that, OFWs will have to squeeze in time to go to POEA or OWWA to get their OECs or overseas employment certificates, as a requirement for leaving the Philippines again and be officially recognized as the nation’s new heroes.

But many OFWs forget to add in their ‘to-do’ list some of the most important things they should do during their vacations — managing their finances. Many neglect to open a savings account or an investment account.There are also those who forget to file and pay for their contributions to SSS, Philhealth, or Pag-ibig Fund.

But one of the tasks they should not forget during their vacation is to get insurance coverage for themselves or their families. Since OFWs are naturally hardworking and focus on their ability to provide for their loved ones right now, they rarely entertain the idea of passing away suddenly.

Taking Care of the Needs of Loved Ones

Many OFWs look at providing for the immediate needs of their family members back home, hence they send gifts and “pasalubong” on a regular basis. They don’t see the reality that one day they will pass away (and hopefully not too soon) and may leave their children and loved ones with nothing on hand.

While it takes a long time to build wealth through hardwork, business, and investing, getting a life insurance policy is an easier alternative for an OFW.

This ensures that the OFW can immediately protect the financial future of his or her loved ones should he or she meet an untoward incident.

I Am an OFW and I Bought Life Insurance Online

I first got my life insurance policy back in 2008 when I was still working in the Philippines as an auditor.

I was newly-married back then but I already knew that my spouse would need financial support in case I pass away. Getting a life insurance was one of the preparations I made should that sad thing happen.

Now that I am an OFW, and with a 5-year old daughter, I realize that my current insurance policy will not be sufficient any longer. That’s why during our last vacation in the Philippines, I immediately purchased another life insurance policy.

With a very busy schedule during our vacation, I only had time to log in to the internet to do my transactions. That was when I stumbled upon the new AXA iON online insurance store.

What I did was visit http://www.axaion.com.ph/ and browsed through its online store featuring four different insurance products.

They have Savings eXentials which is an alternative savings plan, Academic eXentials which is an automatic save-up program for children’s education, the Health eXentials for medical emergencies, and the Life eXentials which I purchased as life insurance for me and my wife.

The process is very easy. No paper, no more printing. I only filled out the online application form, answered a few questions, then paid my first premium with my credit card.

It’s easy as that!

So if you are an OFW, buying any of these AXA iON insurance products to meet your financial goals will be very convenient for you.

You can use your Visa or Master Card credit card to pay for your monthly premiums via the secure PesoPay payment system. Your succeeding monthly premiums will automatically be charged to your credit card, too.

Do you want to know more about AXA iON? Visit http://www.axaion.com.ph/ or watch this video from AXA Philippines:

You’re The Finance Manager!

If I tell you that you’re a manager, would you believe me or give me the standard reply of bewilderment that’s all to common these days: “Weh?”

If tell you even more specifically that you’re a finance manager, will I drive you further away from believing me? Chances are, yes.

But the truth is, you are a manager. By default, you are the general manager of your personal affairs. No one can brush your teeth for you, keep your body healthy for you and take care of your grooming for you but yourself.

In the same manner, no one else can take care of your money and financial needs but you. You’re your own finance manager!

Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about personal finance. One is that you can entrust your financial fate to the stars (heavenly, not earthly ones) or to masters that teach you to secure your financial future by simply rearranging all your furniture, windows and doors to a certain side of your house.

Another one is that God will provide for all your needs even if you just sleep all day, which is taking the biblical verse out of its immediate and overall biblical context. But generally speaking, the biggest fallacy about personal finances that have the most potential to harm people is the belief that only a handful of genetically or educationally pre-determined people can really manage money well.

My e-book aims to disprove that and convince the ordinary, average folk who doesn’t have any background on finance that he or she isn’t just a finance manager whether they like it or not but to also empower them to be a very good one. It’s a great springboard for reading and learning more advanced materials on personal finance because it explains the key basic principles for managing personal finances well.

As such, this book may not be a good read for those who are already familiar or well-versed with personal finance principles.

You are the finance manager and you have the potential to be a very good one too! Grab your copy at the Amazon Kindle Store!

by Seph Romana

—-

Joseph Gerard “Seph” Romana worked as a Bank Examiner at the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). He is a former Market and Liquidity Risk Officer with Metrobank, former treasury trader at United Coconut Planters Bank, and former stockbroker at All Asia Securities and Apex Philippines Equities Corporation. Seph is also a resource speaker for his church’s Biblical Personal Finance seminars. On his artistic side, Seph also used to sing for the band Army of One. He advocates financial literacy among artists and young professionals. He is one of the proponents of Angat Pilipinas Coalition for Financial Literacy.

Learn more about personal finance by subscribing to Rock To Riches for FREE.

Join the OFW UsapangPiso Facebook Group to learn how to plan your finances the right way and how to grow your money in various financial instruments and investment vehicles such as stocks, mutual funds, UITF’s, index funds, bonds, money market, real estate, and others.

Rock your way to abundance!

#moneyliferocknroll

P.S. 1. Are you an OFW who’s been looking for a investment placement where your money could grow higher than your time deposit accounts? Are you outside of Metro Manila and would like to start investing in mutual funds but have no personal advisors to help you out? Click here so I can help you open a mutual fund account NOW! .

P.S. 2. Bro. Bo Sanchez has appointed me as a coach for our young and new investors at the TrulyRichClub social site. It’s a fun, learning family with the purpose of “helping good people become rich”. I’m inviting you to join the TrulyRichClub too and email me at burngutierrezblog@gmail.com if you have any questions. Click here to join!

P.S. 3. My co-author/illustrator Des Feliciano and I have just launched our “The Adventures of Pepot Kuripot and Dora Gastadora” comic book! It’s arguably the first and only personal finance-influenced comic book in the Philippines. Order your copy now from our website http://pepotanddora.com and have it delivered right at your doorstep. Or you can grab your copy yourself at The Pantry at 07 in Makati City and ilovemilktea in Las Pinas City. Now available also in Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the USA! Email des_feliciano@yahoo.com for more details.

P.S. 4. If you are based abroad or just outside of Metro Manila and has been itching to learn more on how to jumpstart your business dreams, join me and my friend, serial entrepreneur Ginger Arboleda, as we take you through a series 2-hour webinars (for 11 Saturdays) that will help you focus on the technical skills and specific things that you have always wanted to know about in order to grow your business. We have come up with 10 sessions with 11 expert lecturers (with 1 FREE session if you enroll in the full program) that will make you a stronger and better entrepreneur. Register here to join the Enter Entrepreneurship Webinar Program now!

P.S. 5. Learn How To Make Money From Foreclosed Properties! We are on our 3rd run of the Usapang Foreclosed Property Investing with Jay Castillo of ForeclosurePhilippines.com! Happening on September 26, 2015 at the SMX Aura, Bonifacio Global City. Click here to register and avail the early bird promo!

(Press Release) BPI Dares Customers Out of their Payment Comfort Zones

PRESS RELEASE
BPI DEBIT CARDS: DARE TO SKIP
08 July 2015

Paying with cash is a way of life. Whether it’s for monthly groceries, that daily cup of coffee or the occasional pair of shoes or clothes, cash has been the most popular mode of payment. Let’s face it, cash has been the most accepted form of payment for thousands of years across the whole world. Everyone knows how to use cash and because it can be used and accepted by just about anyone and any institution, it’s the ideal payment method for everyday spend. It wouldn’t come to any surprise if someone said that 95% of all payments are still done via cash. Cash is still king; and it’s specifically because cash is so prevalent that the flip side of using cash is often overlooked: cash is actually a big hassle.

When the shopping experience of a cash shopper is broken down, its inconvenience becomes more apparent. First, shopping with cash requires cash. And to be able to get cash, a shopper needs to look for an ATM to withdraw from his account. At times, the nearest ATM can be quite a distance away, and that’s assuming its location is already known to a customer beforehand. Searching for and reaching that nearest ATM takes a good amount of time and can be a very inconvenient experience the shopper. The lengthy line for withdrawals at these ATMs does not help a shopper’s tight schedule either. Once cash is finally in the hands of the shopper, he would now have to deal with the safety of carrying a large amount of cash. When paying, the shopper now needs to contend with counting both his payment and his change. Aside from being time-consuming, this process is also very prone to error; and sometimes, these errors – those few missing pesos and cents – are often overlooked. Paying with a debit card allows customers to skip all these extra unwanted steps and get on with shopping for their wants and needs.

“Most of the time we forget and become oblivious to the hassles that cash give us. Sometimes it’s because we don’t know of a better alternative, and at other times it’s simply because these alternatives give an impression of being difficult to use or hard to acquire. We’re too comfortable with cash and getting out of that comfort zone can be a challenging task. This is what we at BPI are trying to change.” says Jake Alejo, BPI Debit Payments Product Manager, “We want to dare our customers to get out of their payment comfort zones. We are daring them to skip the cash and pay directly with their debit cards.”

“With the use of BPI Express Teller Debit Cards, customers can skip the hassles of cash altogether by paying through the Express Payment System (E.P.S). It’s just a matter of getting over that imaginary barrier to the first transaction. After experiencing that first transaction, customers realize how much more convenient it is to pay through E.P.S. rather than through cash and become converts to going cashless.” Mr. Alejo adds.

With the use of BPI Debit Cards, customers can pay directly from their BPI deposit accounts. This allows customers to skip the different hassles of cash and go straight to the cashier when paying for their goods and services. Customers simply shop, swipe their debit card at the POS terminal, and input their PIN to complete their transactions, making for a simpler, safer, faster, and more convenient shopping experience.

Currently BPI has over 7 million customers of which around 30% of debit cardholders use their cards for payments at POS. It is accepted in over 45,000 merchants nationwide and can be transacted through any BancNet accepting POS terminal.

– END –

*This Press Release from BPI is in cooperation with BrandSpeakAsia. You may get in touch with BrandSpeakAsia by visiting their office at the 6/F Unit 610 VGP Center, Ayala Avenue, Legaspi Village, 1229 Makati City, Philippines with Telephone +632 501 5090, Telefax + 632 750 6510 or email inquire@brandspeakasia.com.