Category: Pop Culture

Balik-Manggagawa, OEC, Travel Tax, and more….

After almost two years since I last went home for a Christmas vacation, I was anticipating to go through another tedious, hellish, and time-consuming government requirements and procedures for OFW’s.

For those who are not aware, OFW’s have to undergo a process called “Balik-Manggagawa” at the POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Agency). A document called Overseas Employment Certificate or OEC has to be secured as an exit clearance to be presented to the Immigration counter at the airport prior to departure from the Philippines. Continue reading Balik-Manggagawa, OEC, Travel Tax, and more….

What Will Make You Poor This Year

We just said goodbye to just one of the most emotional, heartbreaking, yet hopeful year of the century. Resilience was the overused and over-abused but truthful word last year that came out from the mouths of foreign media men, politicians, and Hollywood celebrities alike.

In my opinion, being resilient is good but not enough. If we never learn from previous mistakes in making financial decisions, calamities or no calamities, we will still remain poor.

These and the following bad financial decisions will bury you further in brokenness and anxiety. Although they may not always be applicable to you but I’m pretty sure you definitely know someone who will, in one way or another, become a (willing) victim of these circumstances. Continue reading What Will Make You Poor This Year

Are You Really Ready For Christmas?

First morning back in the Philippines after about 400 days of being away on a mission for my family and fellowmen. It felt so good having to pray, reflect, and attend a solemn Christmas worship service/Mass at the Greenbelt Chapel before working on a project related to my financial literacy advocacy.

Many of us have taken the first steps to achieving financial freedom in the past year. Some have improved their financial conditions after realizing the importance of frugality. Others have finally harvested the fruits of their labor through their investments.

When new investors and interested individuals ask, “Are we ready to invest?”, financial planners and advisors would always mention about proper spending habits, debt elimination, insuring one’s self, building emergency funds, among others. Continue reading Are You Really Ready For Christmas?