Category: Pop Culture

My Frugal Valentine Date: A Throwback

I met a very beautiful girl back in early 2003 when I was still a very young, skinny, and hungry, small-earning audit professional in the Philippines.

It’s not that I’m complaining but it was really hard dating a model-looking, gorgeous, young lady who stands 5’8″ and looks like Jodi Sta. Maria (a tad even better). I always had to guard her from potential stealers and colegiala-snatchers like our neighbor John Lloyd Cruz.

But inspite of her alluring aesthetics and captivating charm, I was lucky to have dated her, albeit, on a cheapskate level. Continue reading My Frugal Valentine Date: A Throwback

The Entrepreneur and Hero: Tado

“Madaming musikero at artista ang nagugutom dahil walang pang-kain.” Ito ang isang nakakapuwing at nakakawindang na reply ni Tado sa akin nung minsang naka-chat ko sya tungkol sa financial literacy ng mga musikero at creative artists.

He was supposed to be part of our second session of Personal Finance Management for Artists and Musicians in partnership with Skarlet Brown’s Heart of Music (HOM) Foundation slated in the next couple of months. He would have joined and gave a pep talk about starting a business based on core gifts and God-given talents had the January schedule pushed through. But my family and I all got sick because of the abrupt weather shifts last month and I had to cancel all my scheduled activities and meetings.

Arvin “Tado” Jimenez and I are both part of Rock Ed Philippines, a volunteer group working to provide venues and events for alternative education. It is this organization that actually inspired me to start a financial literacy movement for the youth, the OFW’s, artists, and musicians called Angat Pilipinas Coalition for Financial Literacy. Continue reading The Entrepreneur and Hero: Tado

The Senior Citizen’s Discounts: Infographic

Spending our vacation with our parents is one of the most delightful moments we had last Christmas season. We were able to eat together in some fancy restaurants (which we don’t normally do), enjoyed some frolicking in a hot spring resort, move around the best spots in the Metro, and even scoured some of the best fastfood chains in the country. All in about 40 days.

For OFW’s with aging parents and in-laws, one of the more important things to consider during their vacations is being able to save some money while spending for various things (needs and wants) for the whole family. Disciplined splurging for one month after 11 months of saving and investing for it can be good, in my opinion.

Our mother’s senior citizen’s card has proved to be a great help during our vacation as we were able to save around P3,000 all from the discounts she availed. It may not be a big amount for some but P3,000 is still big money for most people (like us).

But did you know that senior citizens need not present a senior citizen ID card in order to avail discounts and special privileges? This and other facts that we don’t know exists can be found in the infographic below provided by ABS-CBN News. Continue reading The Senior Citizen’s Discounts: Infographic