Category: Saving

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?

Will I Lose My UITF Investment When The Bank Closes Down?

From a blog inquirer: “Interesado po ako na mag-invest sa sinasabi ninyo na UITF sa bangko. Pero madami na po akong nabalitaan na mga bangko na nagsarado. Hindi po ba ako mahirapan na kunin ang pera ko kung sakaling magsarado ang bangko na pagkukuhanan ko ng UITF?”

One of our favorite investment vehicles in the Philippines are the UITF’s or unit investment trust funds. This type of bank product that allows the bank’s clients and other investors to avail of affordable pooled funds that are invested in various financial instruments. However, these are not insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation or PDIC.

So if and when a bank goes bankrupt and its owners decides to close it down, your investment in their UITF product will also become part of the history, right? Continue reading Will I Lose My UITF Investment When The Bank Closes Down?