Psychology of Money

But First, You Need a Financial Blueprint

Pin8Share7TweetShare15 SharesEver since I began plotting my way out of poverty and learning about personal finance – which started more than decade before I even conceived of writing this blog – I regularly came across people with the same goals as I do but were just proceeding without any specific direction. Like me, they wanted to be financially free in a number of years. But unlike me who had a financial blueprint that I implemented, they were “winging it”. It was crazy to me because for something as important as financial freedom, you’d think that people will exert effort to

February 27, 2021 2 Comments

credit history reporting in the Philippines

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Credit History Reports – What We Know So Far

Pin4Share35TweetShare39 SharesOne of the most aggravating things a person can experience is when their credit card or loan application gets declined. Especially in the Philippines where transparency is not the norm and we don’t have a systematic credit history reporting, many people are left guessing in the cold, wondering why the bank doesn’t want their business. Did the bank think you can’t pay their dues? Why, you have a high income and can comfortably pay off your balance each month. Maybe the bank uncovered your unpaid credit card bills? But that was from years and years ago when

July 23, 2020 2 Comments

How Much Should Your Investments Grow to Beat Inflation

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How much should your investments grow annually to beat inflation?

PinShare8TweetShare8 SharesHow much should our investments grow each year? Most of us would answer that our investments should, at the very least, beat inflation. Despite the simplicity of this guideline, many investors do not really understand what it means. Or if we understand what it means, we do not know how to apply it to our investment strategy. For many of us, as long as our investments have positive returns, we’re good. Never mind if the said returns are barely able to cover inflation. In this post, I will reinforce why we should target to beat inflation AND figure out

January 20, 2020 2 Comments

prepare to invest with these 8 money moves

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Prepare to Invest and Win at Life with these 8 Money Moves

PinShare31TweetShare31 SharesA lot of people are so excited to grow their money that they just jump into the game without proper planning and without laying a strong financial foundation that will ensure investing success. I know a lot of people (not excluding myself) who will immediately find a way to “invest” as soon as they have some spare money, without proper planning and due diligence because they want to grow their money right away. This is usually how people become victims of investment scams, become cash cows for the fat commissions paid to unscrupulous financial agents who take advantage of

April 9, 2019 11 Comments

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Make your money work harder by getting free insurance with BPI Save Up

PinShare4TweetShare4 SharesI’m always looking for ways to make my money work harder. When I first learned about BPI Save Up more or less 10 years ago while I was still working at a BPO, I immediately opened one. I got to have automatic savings and free insurance? What’s not to like? Why not let my money do two things, instead of doing only one thing? Unfortunately, when I changed jobs my payroll bank account also changed. I didn’t bother keeping the BPI Save Up account active. After years of dormancy it became a regular savings account. I recently decided to

February 8, 2019 13 Comments

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How to Achieve a Total Money Makeover in the Philippines

Pin28Share26TweetShare54 SharesI’ve been trying to follow the financial advice of so-called experts to try to achieve a total money makeover in the Philippines but nothing seemed to stick. Most of the advice I found were either the feel-good touchy-feely type (you have to think positive thoughts to attract wealth), too unrealistic and out of touch with how human beings work (don’t spend on ANY luxury and eat beans and legumes for an entire year), too chaotic and/or unstructured (set aside 20 percent on savings and don’t stress about the rest), or can land you in small claims court (pay yourself

July 14, 2018 7 Comments