Back to Basics

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

PERA

What is PERA and why you need one right now

Pin2Share71TweetShare73 SharesPersonally, I don’t want to grow old poor. I’m sure you don’t want to be poor when you grow old either. And I bet that nobody in the world ever wants to be old and poor. So in order to help Pinoys prepare to be not poor when they’re old, I will discuss PERA in-depth, and why you need one right now. Retirement planning is a crucial yet regretfully neglected part of financial planning in the Philippines. People usually put off saving for retirement in the last 5 to 10 years of their working lives. Unfortunately, the money they

January 11, 2019 80 Comments

Products Services and Reviews

Pacific Cross Travel Insurance Review

Pin8Share11TweetShare19 SharesIn my previous post, I explained why we should buy travel insurance and the criteria to keep in mind when buying one. I mentioned the many ways that a perfect vacation can suddenly turn into disaster due to medical emergency and the accompanying costs. So after doing hours upon hours of research reading about offering and trying to contact insurance providers and banks, I finally settled on one. Here is my Pacific Cross travel insurance review, where I lay out why chose this product and how easy it is to buy from them. DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a sponsored

October 15, 2018 1 Comment

Products Services and Reviews

How to Choose the Best Travel Insurance for Filipinos

Pin2ShareTweetShare2 SharesOne of the things we often neglect when we go on trips abroad is buying travel insurance. We’re justifiably obsessed with getting the best deals on plane tickets and hotels, arranging itineraries, and researching “must have” experiences we shouldn’t miss. But when it comes to protecting ourselves from possible expenses such as accidents, missed flights, and other things that might negatively impact our travel, we turn a blind eye. We don’t want to “jinx” the trip by being “too negative”. [bctt tweet=”By the time we realize that we should’ve purchased travel insurance, we’re already in the middle of a

September 3, 2018 No Comments

Investing

The Ultimate Guide to Philippine Index Funds

Pin22Share2.5KTweetShare2.6K SharesUpdated on 03 September 2019 Many of us are already aware of the advantages of investing in index funds but are having a hard time choosing which fund to invest in. We are enticed by a dizzying array of index fund options, ranging from mutual funds, UITFs, and even an ETF, with their respective pros and cons. Although there are a lot of information available online, it is hard to sift through the hype. So I decided to conduct my own extensive and thorough research (I hope) and create the ultimate guide to Philippine index funds that is easily accessible

July 31, 2018 89 Comments

Savings

Savings Tips That Will Change Your Life Part 1

Pin2ShareTweetShare2 SharesIn terms of looking for ways to save money, we’ve seen it all. Almost everyone has their go-to way to save, ranging from the mundane (clip and use coupons!) to petty criminality (take home toilet paper from work). In this post, I will share some savings tips that can potentially change your life. Potentially because it’s still up to you if you’ll apply them in your life. All of these have and continues to work for me. I hope you can incorporate some of these ideas in your journey to a better financial future. Saving money can

July 24, 2018 8 Comments

Psychology of Money

How to Calculate Your Real Hourly Wage and Why You Should Do It

Pin10Share27TweetShare37 SharesHere’s a very neat method I learned from the classic personal finance book, Your Money or Your Life: how to calculate my real hourly wage and why I should do it. The concept is this: [bctt tweet=”we only have a limited time on Earth and we exchange a portion of that time to go to work and earn money. That means we are literally giving up our life for money. ” username=”MeKatieScarlett”] Which raises the question: are the things we’re spending money on worth the life we’re giving up to buy them? How to Calculate Your

July 22, 2018 No Comments

OFW

6 Ways to Maximize Government Benefits as a Pinoy Expat

Pin10Share46TweetShare56 SharesMany Pinoy expats, including myself, often fail to maximize government benefits when we start working abroad. We often discount programs in the Philippines thinking that: Since we’re no longer in the Philippines, the benefits will not help us in our new country The benefits are too small compared to our new increased income The benefits are not worth the bother Nothing can be further from the truth. [bctt tweet=”The way I see it, many Philippine government benefits designed for OFWs, when taken all together and with proper planning, can help us achieve our financial goals faster. ” username=”MeKatieScarlett”] Yes, not

July 15, 2018 5 Comments

Back to Basics

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