Last week, one of my co-workers introduced us to a Financial planning adviser. The two of them represented a financial company that offers various investment products tailor-made to the client's needs.
The financial adviser gave a simple presentation which focused on personal finance and financial planning. He discussed the different financial products, as well as the investment habits of the typical Filipino (according to age group).
But one thing that got stuck to my mind was his reference to Albert Einstein's Rule of 72. The rule is to divide 72 by the interest rate you are receiving for a financial product. The number you get is the number of years it will take for investment to double. For example, investing 25,000 pesos with a 10% interest rate will take 7.2 years (72/10) for the money to become 50,000 pesos. This is the magic of compounded interest.
This shows that if you allocate more time you to an investment with a high interest rate, your money would grow faster. Simple as it might sound, there are other factors involved, such as inflation, taxes, and the type of investment you place your money.
Happy Father's Day
It seems rather strange to celebrate the day without the kids or Jen. No, we didn't have a fight or anything like that. We are still yaya-less and still looking.
Jen wanted to take a break. Her parents offered to have the four of us stay at their house for the weekend. My mother-in-law managed to hire one of those part-time house helps -- the ones that stay out and charge P150 to 200 pesos a day. It was nice to have another person look after the kids for a while. Unfortunately, the house-help did not come back the following day (like she promised).
I spent most of the Saturday and Sunday morning at her folk's apartment. A couple of neighbors told us that they knew someone who wanted to apply as yayas. So we spent Saturday and Sunday hoping that they'd show up with the house help.
Well, it's now Monday and we are still waiting.
Anyway, I spent Father's day with my parents and Jen's family. I treated my dad to a breakfast meal at Little Store. Both of us ordered some sticky rice, crab meat, and black chicken misua. I returned to my in-law's apartment and spent most of the afternoon there.
Jen was still hoping that the yaya would arrive. I decided to go home first and prepare the house for their arrival. Hours passed and still no news. By seven thirty, we all grew tried of waiting. I called up Jen and we both decided that they stay another night at her parents' apartment.
So I spent the rest of the night alone, cleaning the house (as well as the Lego and Duplo pieces we bought from the garage sale).
Jen wanted to take a break. Her parents offered to have the four of us stay at their house for the weekend. My mother-in-law managed to hire one of those part-time house helps -- the ones that stay out and charge P150 to 200 pesos a day. It was nice to have another person look after the kids for a while. Unfortunately, the house-help did not come back the following day (like she promised).
I spent most of the Saturday and Sunday morning at her folk's apartment. A couple of neighbors told us that they knew someone who wanted to apply as yayas. So we spent Saturday and Sunday hoping that they'd show up with the house help.
Well, it's now Monday and we are still waiting.
Anyway, I spent Father's day with my parents and Jen's family. I treated my dad to a breakfast meal at Little Store. Both of us ordered some sticky rice, crab meat, and black chicken misua. I returned to my in-law's apartment and spent most of the afternoon there.
Jen was still hoping that the yaya would arrive. I decided to go home first and prepare the house for their arrival. Hours passed and still no news. By seven thirty, we all grew tried of waiting. I called up Jen and we both decided that they stay another night at her parents' apartment.
So I spent the rest of the night alone, cleaning the house (as well as the Lego and Duplo pieces we bought from the garage sale).
Countdown to Zero
By tomorrow morning, we will be yaya-less again. The current substitute yaya is leaving for the province and the original yaya has not yet arrived.
We never had any issues with house-helpers before we had children. Jen and I would do the laundry and the cleaning by ourselves. But now that we have two kids in the house, we've become dependent on other people to do basic household chores.
The original yaya left us two weeks ago when she got word that her father passed away. She promised to return after two weeks, saying that the family needed the time to grieve. (Is this a Filipino tradition?) She got her pay and asked if we could loan her one thousand pesos to help pay for her trip back to the province. I gave her an additional five hundred pesos for the funeral.
She texted us a couple of days ago, asking if we could lend her one month worth of her pay. She explained that the funeral expense was costly and they ran out of money. I thought about it and decided to help her out. She is hardworking and probably deserves some break. Jen replied saying that we'll give her the money when she comes back.
The yaya answered back, saying that she doesn't have money to pay for the trip to Manila. She told us to send over her one month pay plus an additional eight hundred pesos for transportation. No one in the province was willing to lend her money anymore (she maxed out her credit).
That was when we decided to draw the line. We were willing to help her out, but she kept asking for more money. She's even planning to borrow another month's worth of salary on July for help pay for her daughter's wedding. Jen told her that we won't be spending her money but that we'll give her the money when she comes back.
She gave a ultimatum -- either send us the money or she won't return. Even though she is a hardworker, I realized that she does have a tendency to over-borrow money. And when she doesn't get what she wants, she threatens to leave us.
Jen and I decided to leave it at that. If she returns, then we'll continue hiring her. If she does not return, we'll continue looking for a new house-help.
We never had any issues with house-helpers before we had children. Jen and I would do the laundry and the cleaning by ourselves. But now that we have two kids in the house, we've become dependent on other people to do basic household chores.
The original yaya left us two weeks ago when she got word that her father passed away. She promised to return after two weeks, saying that the family needed the time to grieve. (Is this a Filipino tradition?) She got her pay and asked if we could loan her one thousand pesos to help pay for her trip back to the province. I gave her an additional five hundred pesos for the funeral.
She texted us a couple of days ago, asking if we could lend her one month worth of her pay. She explained that the funeral expense was costly and they ran out of money. I thought about it and decided to help her out. She is hardworking and probably deserves some break. Jen replied saying that we'll give her the money when she comes back.
The yaya answered back, saying that she doesn't have money to pay for the trip to Manila. She told us to send over her one month pay plus an additional eight hundred pesos for transportation. No one in the province was willing to lend her money anymore (she maxed out her credit).
That was when we decided to draw the line. We were willing to help her out, but she kept asking for more money. She's even planning to borrow another month's worth of salary on July for help pay for her daughter's wedding. Jen told her that we won't be spending her money but that we'll give her the money when she comes back.
She gave a ultimatum -- either send us the money or she won't return. Even though she is a hardworker, I realized that she does have a tendency to over-borrow money. And when she doesn't get what she wants, she threatens to leave us.
Jen and I decided to leave it at that. If she returns, then we'll continue hiring her. If she does not return, we'll continue looking for a new house-help.
Neighborhood Garage Sale
This was the first garage sale in our block, so we decided to pay the neighbor a visit. I immediately got an idea of our neighbors' personal preferences, judging from the things that they were selling.
There were lots of wooden figurines, fancy silverware, candle holders, a couple of polished metal chests, and antique furniture. Two tables filled with books stacked one on top of the other -- from hardbound art books, romance and horror novels, business and investment manuals.
Jen and I quickly surveyed the other items for sale. There was a carpet full of used (branded) shoes, several boxes of toys, a cabinet filled with classical CDs, and a basket of dolls/stuffed animals.
We spent most of our visit sorting through the toys, looking for possible items that the children can play with. Jen and I are not that particular if the toy is new or used, since the kids will probably dismantle the thing in a day or two.
After twenty minutes of sorting through the boxes, we got the following items for our two babies:
1. A deck of cards containing art/craft ideas for kids
2. A small Barney figurine
3. A stamp/paper cutter
4. A shopping bag filled with old Lego and Duplo bricks
All of these for the price of fifty pesos.
There were lots of wooden figurines, fancy silverware, candle holders, a couple of polished metal chests, and antique furniture. Two tables filled with books stacked one on top of the other -- from hardbound art books, romance and horror novels, business and investment manuals.
Jen and I quickly surveyed the other items for sale. There was a carpet full of used (branded) shoes, several boxes of toys, a cabinet filled with classical CDs, and a basket of dolls/stuffed animals.
We spent most of our visit sorting through the toys, looking for possible items that the children can play with. Jen and I are not that particular if the toy is new or used, since the kids will probably dismantle the thing in a day or two.
After twenty minutes of sorting through the boxes, we got the following items for our two babies:
1. A deck of cards containing art/craft ideas for kids
2. A small Barney figurine
3. A stamp/paper cutter
4. A shopping bag filled with old Lego and Duplo bricks
All of these for the price of fifty pesos.
Clutter in the House
My parents are both pack-rats. They hold on to things -- like broken glass figurines and ceramic wedding souvenirs, old clothes that won't fit or shoes that went out of style decades ago, clunky betamax tapes and a VHS player that doesn't even work anymore.
We have two large rooms that work as their closet/time-capsule. It contains everything they own since the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It would take hours just to sort through the layers of stuff, piled on top of one another.
I don't blame my parents for their attitude towards things. Both of them grew up poor and learned not to be wasteful. This sort of thinking led them to keep things, even things they don't need, just in case they might need them in the future.
Unfortunately, they never realized that the things they own would be the things that tie them down (much like what Tyler Durden said in Fight Club). They take up a lot of space in the house. And you have to devote time and effort to clean/organize them.
It's a good thing that Jen and I are not like my parents. We strive to keep our things to a bare minimum. This minimizes cleaning and simplifies everything in our small house.
I have been convincing my parents to give away some of their stuff. But they refuse to let go of things. Despite their attitude, I count myself lucky to have this awareness of "clutter". I see how they surround themselves with useless trinkets and realize that I don't want to live like that.
We have two large rooms that work as their closet/time-capsule. It contains everything they own since the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It would take hours just to sort through the layers of stuff, piled on top of one another.
I don't blame my parents for their attitude towards things. Both of them grew up poor and learned not to be wasteful. This sort of thinking led them to keep things, even things they don't need, just in case they might need them in the future.
Unfortunately, they never realized that the things they own would be the things that tie them down (much like what Tyler Durden said in Fight Club). They take up a lot of space in the house. And you have to devote time and effort to clean/organize them.
It's a good thing that Jen and I are not like my parents. We strive to keep our things to a bare minimum. This minimizes cleaning and simplifies everything in our small house.
I have been convincing my parents to give away some of their stuff. But they refuse to let go of things. Despite their attitude, I count myself lucky to have this awareness of "clutter". I see how they surround themselves with useless trinkets and realize that I don't want to live like that.
World Economic Collapse Explained in Three Minutes
I like it when he said, "sell everything immediately... quickly..."
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