Femme Power

Archive for the ‘Money Talks’ Category

Five days to go and it’s Valentine’s Day.  Have you thought of anything special to surprise your partner?  Flowers are among the the best sellers during this time of the year, as most women love to receive flowers.  If you have loved ones here in the Philippines and you wanna send flowers to them or a cute teddy bear or anything else special, there’s a website that can help you with that.

Send Gifts to the Philippines through Island Rose, the company that pioneered the cut flower industry in the Philippines back in 1983.   Their flowers are of great quality, they’re always fresh no matter where they are delivered in the Philippines.   And anybody will be awed by the impressive presentation of their flowers and other products — at amazingly affordable prices.   Plus, you can take advantage of a 10% discount by using this valentine code: VDAY022010 valid until February 20.

Flower Delivery to the Philippines has never been this cost-effective and hassle-free.   Check out Island Rose’s website on the links provided so you’ll know why I’m impressed.   You could find gift items for as low as P250 and up.  The website is very easy to navigate, with elaborate details of their various gift packages.

So if you wanna send Flowers to the Philippines, let Island Rose do the walking for you.

The new year has just started but some people are already cringing on a very tight budget. Sad but not everyone managed to start the year financially sound, specially those who used up their savings during the holidays.

Interesting but sometimes the scarcity of money draws back long-lost friends.  One of my friends, whom I’ve lost contact with for almost a year now, started texting me again for the last two weeks to confide with me her financial ordeal.   Much as I wanted to help her, I didn’t have that huge a disposable amount so I helped her look for a lending institution instead.  She didn’t want to approach a bank due to the number of requirements being asked.  When we need an urgent financial rescue, it’s normal that we wish for a speedy process.  We only have to make sure that the interest won’t kill us.   Normally here in our place, interest rates go as high as 10-20%, depending on who’s lending (not the banks).

If it’s any consolation, there are bad credit loans available in some areas so those who have a not-so-good credit history won’t be discriminated against.

Best to scrutinize the terms and conditions very well if they suit you before jumping into an agreement.   Yes, it sucks to start the year with an empty wallet but it will suck some more if we half-bury ourselves with those high interest rates, don’t you think?

It’s Christmas time but instead of Yuletide cheers, my childhood friend is grieving over the loss of his four-year old son. The poor child died from dengue, a potentially lethal complication transmitted by an Aedes mosquito. It’s very common in tropical countries like ours here in the Philippines.

If only the child was brought to the hospital much earlier, he could have had a better chance to survive.  However, rushing to the doctor means money and if you don’t have emergency savings, chances are that hospitals will deny you of immediate medication.  Sad but true.  It’s appalling but it’s happening here in the country. You can’t afford to get sick here if you don’t have savings accounts or a piggy bank to break open in times of emergency.  I cannot, in my wildest imagination, think of such a horrible thing to happen to my family - getting sick and having nothing to spend for proper medication.

Keeping a sound savings account for emergency expenses is sure to give a family peace of mind.   In our case, I most often prefer to put money in the bank rather than spend on things that are not very necessary (in fact, would only add up to the piles of clutters) at home.  I’d rather not have lots of home accessories if they’d only cost me a fortune.   I’d rather not have a wide flatscreen TV as long as we have emergency savings.   I don’t mind keeping my old Nokia cellphone either.  I’m happy having our basic necessities provided like decent food, comfortable dwelling, clothes, education, and some recreation.

I just realized, savings can save lives.   Nobody knows when you’re gonna need it.

Photo courtesy of Nicodemus Valderrama

Many of us in the neighborhood lost a fortune during the Typhoon Ondoy disaster last September 26. Many of my neighbors lost their businesses, all of us were left with damaged home furnishings, and some had to reconstruct their homes.  Those whose cars were damaged thought they could rely on their comprehensive auto insurance policy…but not all of them were right.   Many of them were appalled to learn too late that their car insurance didn’t cover “acts of God” or “acts of nature” and so they couldn’t claim anything from their insurance company.

Sadly, even those car owners who were knowledgeable about the “acts of God” clause didn’t choose to pay extra for their insurance thinking that a horrible catastrophe like Ondoy (international code name Ketsana) could never happen in their lifetime. Who would have thought that a natural disaster of this biblical proportion would actually happen to them (or in my case, to us!)?

For a car to be covered by the “acts of God” policy, one has to shell out an average of about 0.7 percent of the vehicle’s insured value per year.   “For a P1-million car, this would translate to an additional P7,000 in insurance costs, on top of the P28,000 comprehensive annual premium for brand new units.” - Philippine Daily Inquirer, article written by Daxim Lucas.  For an ordinary individual, it doesn’t come cheap.

So if you are yet to get your car insured, would you choose to get an additional policy that would cover damages from floods, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunami, falling trees, landslides, etc? It would be wise to compare car insurance first before shelling out your hard-earned money.

Rare as it may seem but when natural disasters strike, will your insurance policy insulate you from further financial damage?  Or would you have to shoulder everything on your own?

I was flipping over the pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer today and this business headline caught my attention - “RP kids’ spending power now at P47B.”   Wow.  We hardly realize it but the kids are becoming a strong force in driving the local economy.   Not only are they influential in the family’s purchasing decisions but they also have spending powers themselves out of their pocket money and gift money.

According to the article written by Daxim Lucas, Filipino children from age seven to 14 have increased their economic power over the last two years, from P37 billion in 2007 to P42 billion in 2008 and 2009.   The figures, taken from a Cartoon Network survey results, revealed that “3.7 million kids in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao - the country’s three largest and most economically powerful cities - will hold a combined stash of pocket amounting to P34.7 billion for the entire year.”  The report further says that Filipino children “hold an estimated P47 billion in spending power.”

With all this money, what do these kids spend on?

My 8-year-old daughter, just like any other kids, receives cash gifts too as well as pocket money to school but we closely monitor her expenses.  As much as possible, we don’t let her touch her savings unless necessary. She keeps a Savings Account in Banco de Oro (BDO) and a few days ago, she was happy (but I was happier) that she received a BDO Rewards Card. *BDO individual clients with a Savings or Checking Account with a required minimum month-to-date average daily balance of P50,000 are automatically enrolled in the BDO Rewards Program.  With this, we can earn points on our purchases and online transactions, even when paying bills using Bianca’s BDO cards.  How’s that for both convenience and perks?

How do you teach your kids to save and spend wisely?

This is my Fun Friday post for our Blogging For Fun group.   Today’s theme is centered on the letter G.  I chose the word “GIVING” to represent this letter and here’s why:

I’ve written a few posts about the devastation of Marikina due to Typhoon Ondoy but I haven’t given a worthy blogspace for the generosity of those who sent help to our community.  Friends and strangers alike from local and international communities poured in relief goods and other services to the typhoon victims.

The United States has reportedly donated $100,000 to the Philippines, plus they deployed a military helicopter and five rubber boats manned by about 20 American soldiers who were pulled out from their troops in Mindanao where they have been providing counter-terrorism training.   They also had soldier-doctors who gave immediate medical assistance to the typhoon victims during their rescue operations.  I chanced upon this US Marine who had fun playing with our neighbors’ kids after surveying the area.

The United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Food Program have also donated food and other aid, according to media reports.  Local organizations and individuals also poured in help like canned goods, rice, bread, bottled water, and used clothing.  Among those who gave donations were Knights of Columbus, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (to which I belong), and GMA Kapuso Foundation.

I wish I was able to identify the organization behind the relief goods distribution in the photos I’ve taken right within our neighborhood.   They deserve some humble credit for their good hearts.

Bianca (holding a pink bag) and her classmate, Princess.

Since the typhoon brought a month’s amount of rain in only 12 hours, it caused tremendous flooding and a lot of my daughter’s classmates failed to save their schoolbags, shoes and uniforms.   I specially took pity on Princess whose shoes drifted to nowhere during the flood, hence for many days she was only wearing slippers to school.  So I bought her a new pair of shoes and she’s wearing them since.

Weird but whenever I give, I get to receive something back too (material or not).   See, my father-in-law survived a crucial brain operation just recently.  Plus, this Nov. 21 my daughter will be one of the recipients of a gift bag package from a Canadian charity institution called Sleeping Child Around The World (SCAW) Foundation. That’s more than enough good karma, don’t you think?

Giving does not necessarily involve material things.   Emotional and spiritual support sometimes weigh more than any material thing on earth.  Even just your physical presence lightens a loved one’s emotional burden.  You give quality time to your family and you make them happy.  Give love to a street kid and he’s happy.   Give honor to your parents and they’re happy.  Give respect to your workmates, laughter to your friends, moral support to your partner and they’re happy.   When my family and friends in the province as well as my Blogging For Fun friends and other friendly visitors of this blog gave their thoughts and prayers during and after the flood, my heart was filled with glee.  When my friend, Carol, gave us temporary shelter, we were more than thankful.

Giving is indeed one big source of happiness.  It rewards not only the recipients but also (and I think more intensely) the giver.   He who gives is rewarded with a joyful heart, a peaceful mind, good karma, and lots of good friends.   May we all have the heart to give.

Three weeks after the devastation of Ondoy, the people of Marikina are still trying to get up. Basic services like water and power supplies are slowly going back to normal although there are still areas without electricity until now. Businesses are gradually coming around again after what seemed like a bad dream.

The clean-up drive done by the MMDA with the help of the flooded residents ourselves, helped a lot in ridding the city of the piles of garbage. Cleaning our respective homes, meanwhile, was a challenge because it was only last week that we had clean water supply again. With the mess that Typhoon Ondoy left in our humble abode, I had to buy new cleaning materials like pails, rags and rugs, disinfectants, brushes, and a highly efficient mop, among others. We also needed to buy other items like bedsheets and pillows, and some hardware stuff to repair our cabinets and chairs. Yes, it’s that costly when you’ve been flooded. If I only have discount coupons for all these, it would be a lot of help to ease the budget. One of the stores that people went to after the flood was ACE Hardware in SM Marikina. I noticed that most people flocked there to buy airbeds, mops, flashlights and emergency lights. And I was one of them.