Travel

The Ultimate Guide to Gyeongju, South Korea

RedditPinShare6TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail6 SharesWhen you ask Koreans which place you should visit if you’re interested in their country’s history, they would unanimously tell you to go to Gyeongju, located in North Gyeongsang Province. Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla Dynasty which ruled the Korean Peninsula more than 2,000 years ago. Then called Seorabeol, it was the center of political and cultural life in the peninsula and home of beautiful Korean Buddhist art originating from Korea’s earliest history. Because of this, the ancient history, art, and artifacts of Gyeongju are distinct from the Joseon heritage that we usually see and experience

February 8, 2020 2 Comments

Personal Finance

Best Financial Blogs in the Philippines

RedditPin2Share210TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail212 SharesI enjoy reading financial blogs and learning from the experiences and opinions of people who have the same interests as I do. Because I had nobody to teach me how to achieve my financial and investing goals in real-life, I feel a certain connection with people who share their journey to financial independence with the public (and me) through their blogs. I’ve been reading blogs for years and I’ve seen financial blogs come and go. Some showed great promise in the beginning then fizzled out. Some became so popular that their writers moved on to greater and better things

February 3, 2020 13 Comments

PERA

3 Ways to Top Up Your BPI PERA Account

RedditPinShare23TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail23 SharesAfter opening a Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA), our next step is to make sure that we top up our account every year. In this post, I will share three ways to top up your BPI PERA account. Yes, there are only three ways to do it. But before we proceed, in case you’re not familiar with PERA yet, you can read these related posts: What is PERA and Why You Need One Right Now? Ultimate Guide to PERA Investment Instruments 1. Personally visit BPI Buendia Center in Makati If you’re in Metro Manila, the easiest and most

January 27, 2020 2 Comments

How Much Should Your Investments Grow to Beat Inflation

Back to Basics

How much should your investments grow annually to beat inflation?

RedditPinShare8TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail8 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

Psychology of Money

A Decade in Review

RedditPinShare16TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail16 SharesSince it’s the start of a new decade, I can’t help but reminisce and look back to the last 10 years, both to see how far I’ve come and to remind myself of how far I need to go. I’ve always been open about sharing with you guys how I grew up in poverty and the reasons why want to achieve financial independence. If you haven’t read that post yet and you’re curious, go to Why I Want to FIRE – A Personal Tale of Early Woes and Awesome Wins. Despite my disadvantaged background, I worked hard to get out

January 11, 2020 22 Comments

Education

Government Scholarships for College Students in the Philippines

RedditPinShare15TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail15 SharesThis post is the continuation of my series on the available scholarships for Filipino students. For additional ideas, read the following post: Corporate Scholarships for College Students in the Philippines How to Find Scholarship Programs in the Philippines I will keep these posts evergreen. Meaning I will constantly update it with new information. I also welcome contributions from readers so if you want to share your experiences about applications and whatnot, please feel free to write a comment or send me a message. Be sure to check out the miscellaneous information section of each

December 6, 2019 3 Comments

WTTK

WTTK #1: Should I Transfer Property to a Relative?

RedditPinShare6TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail6 Shares What’s the Tea, Katie? or WTTK, is where I answer financial and investment questions from the readers of the Katie Scarlett Needs Money blog. Although I try my best to answer the questions based on the information provided, I want to reiterate that I am not a not a licensed professional. These are my opinions and suggestions based on what I think are the best information available. On the other hand, I am not selling you any investment advice and/or products, so you can be assured that I’m not being biased since I have no hidden agenda. 😀

November 29, 2019 No Comments

Education

How to Invest for College – A Simple Method

RedditPinShare22TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail22 SharesIf you’re a parent like me, one of your most important financial goals is to save and invest enough for your child’s college education. Even though there is an emerging trend in western and developed countries of people opting out of college, we in developing countries do not have the same luxury. If we ever want to ensure that our children stay out of poverty, have high paying jobs (if they choose to), and receive a modicum of respect from society, they need to attend and finish college. Periodt. Not saving enough money for your child’s college education is

November 22, 2019 4 Comments

Products Services and Reviews

Gift Ideas for the Financially Savvy Person in Your Life

RedditPin1Share16TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail17 SharesMost of us find it hard to find gifts to celebrate special times. So I compiled a list of gift ideas for the financially savvy person in your life to help you plan for the holidays. Of course, you can also just give people gifts as a way to make them feel special, even when there’s no occasion. YOUNG CHILDREN The best time to start a person’s financial education is when they’re still young. For young children, it’s best to keep it simple. Start by teaching them the value of saving their money. For this, you basically have two

November 15, 2019 No Comments

Cross Border Investment

I Opened a TD Ameritrade Account – Now What?

RedditPinShare1TweetShareClipVibeWhatsAppTelegramPrintEmail1 SharesAfter the initial excitement of having a US-based online brokerage account, readers messaged me asking what else they need to do to actually start investing through TD Ameritrade. They needed additional information and guidance on how to proceed. This post is to bridge that knowledge gap from account activation to buying the stock or mutual fund of your choice. I wrote this post because I thought that if there are people who took the time to write me and ask these questions, there must be others who have the same questions but didn’t bother to write. If you’re one of

November 8, 2019 47 Comments