Money matters « a matter of teys.t

Posts Tagged ‘Money matters’

Money at your fingertips

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Literally true! Advertising and media will never be the same because of the internet. The internet has opened up financial opportunities to anyone who has access to it and who is willing to invest a few hours in it. All you need is a computer and the internet and it becomes anybody’s ballgame. You do not even have to own a computer to get into the game. A few hours hitting that keyboard in an internet cafe could become money right at your fingertips.

There are many opportunities to earn online and one of them is through paid blogging. Some have taken to it like fish to water and jumped right into it, filling their blogs with ads. Some are actually tasteful, some scream like a marketplace. There are also others who are skeptical and choose to be purists preferring not to “pollute” their blogs with sponsored posts. I believe that there is a middle ground to all this where you still have the freedom to express your thoughts and still receive compensation for your opinion without sacrificing your integrity.

I recently joined Pay Per Post and I am going to give it a try. I’ve been hearing about it from online friends who have been doing it for quite a while now but it was only recently that I decided to take the Paid Post Plunge. I’ll soon find out whether it’s going to work out for me or not. Good business sense tells us to take advantage of open doors and opportunities. A good moral compass, however, will guide us in choosing which door to go through and which opportunity to take.

Happy blogging!

Tags: internet, Money matters, PERSONAL
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Money talk Monday – Insurance

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Let’s talk life insurance. I used to work before for the AIG/Philam insurance/pre-need group in their accounting department. Prior to that I had no idea that there was more than one type of insurance. All I knew then was that I instinctively hid from anybody who approached me with this little black portfolio/folder and tried to hard sell a policy to me trying to convince me with their acquired actuarial acumen and the benefits my loved ones would get when I die. I never bought one even if I was already working with Philam. I was single then and the need just didn’t click with me at that time. I did get one later on thru the only insurance agent I ever liked and trusted… my best friend. So if you haven’t got either one, here’s a little bit of info (in layman lingo) to help you decide where to invest your extra money.

Simply said, an insurance policy is a contract between you (the insured) and the insurance company (the insurer) wherein you pay a small amount regularly (premiums) to make sure that your loved ones or anyone you like (beneficiary/ies) will receive a specific benefit (money, proceeds, cash value) for specific future events (coverage) in case something happens to you (sickness, accidents, disability, death etc.).

Basically there are two kinds of life insurance policies:

term life insurance – temporary protection based on the coverage period; you are protected or “covered” for a specified time frame only (eg. one year, ten years etc.); has no cumulative benefits once expired; purely risk protection, meaning you are financially protected “in case of…” ; less expensive than permanent life insurance

permanent life insurance – permanent protection guaranteed to last the life of the insured; cumulative benefits accrue and do not expire as long as policy is current or updated; more expensive than term life insurance

Of course there are sub-classes to the two kinds mentioned above with different kinds of benefits, add-ons and possibly freebies depending on the insurance agent handling your account and the insurance company you go for. You could always ask for either term life insurance quotes or permanent life insurance quotes and study them before you make your decision.

Finally, it does help a lot if you find an insurance agent you can trust to guide you through the process. HTH!

Tags: Money matters, PERSONAL
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Paypal Philippines for dummies…

Monday, March 10th, 2008

… like me. I’ve been scarce online because I’ve been trying to get my documents in order like renewing my passport, id’s, clearances and stuff in aid of, (not legislation, which is the buzzword in politics right now) opening up a paypal account and boy, it’s been such an ordeal. It’s a bit frustrating how much bureaucratic red tape I have to wade through just to open a simple account. Well, anyway I’m posting this for anyone who might find the info useful for whatever reason. I’m not an expert on this, I’ll just share from what I experienced and what I have done in the simplest way I understand it so you may find it useful or not.

Since this post is about paypal and opening up a verified Paypal account in the Philippines, the objective is not just to sign up at Paypal but to have a verified paypal account. I’ve been signed up for years but haven’t done anything with it because of many restrictions for Philippine-based users. Now Paypal has become more Pinoy-friendly and allows us not only to pay(send) money for online purchases/transactions but also to receive(withdraw) money as well. It still has a long way to go but I’m just glad that this option is made available to us Pinoys already.

(Note: Generally a paypal account becomes verified only when you have added a credit/debit card to your profile and completed the expanded use process. Read more about the benefits of being verified here.)
Here are some tips on what to do or not do based on my experience.

Read. Read as much as you can on the topic. There are a lot of helpful discussions online at the pinoymoneytalk forum or read Chikai’s blogsilog for more details to help you. Don’t forget to read all the way through so you don’t miss out on the steps. I didn’t so unfortunately I wasted time and transpo money going back and forth to complete requirements I forgot.
Write. You need to write down or print out the information you gathered. It’s not a cool thing to be waiting in line for hours or traveling 20 kilometers to your destination only to find out you forgot your cedula number or your barangay clearance or so and so’s contact number etc. Major bummer!
Gather all the required documents and place them in one container or folder and keep them there for the whole duration of the process until the task is completely done. Imagine how frustrating it would be to be finally in front of the person you are submitting your documents to only to find out that your documents are in the folder you left at home because you switched bags today.
Plan your itinerary and try to locate the addresses of the offices or agencies you need to go to. Most of these offices have websites already so just click on their contact us tab to get their office address or phone numbers. Call them up and inquire before you go. Verify if what you have gathered is what they require because sometimes the requirements listed online are not what is followed in practice. Try to do all you can in the location you are in. I live far from these offices so I made sure that I didn’t have to go back there once I left.
Submit and Smile. You’ve finally accomplished #1 to #4 and it’s almost your turn to be attended to by the not so amiable clerk in front of you. Try to be as polite and as cool tempered as possible so that your papers don’t end up at the bottom of the pile even if you feel like screaming at the poor service you are getting (unless you intend to never ever go back to that establishment or you wait till that person gets promoted or fired).
Wait. Your papers are finally in and all you can really do is wait so just wait…. and wait… hmmm wait…. still waiting….
Follow-up. So you’ve done the waiting game and it’s been weeks since you’ve submitted your papers just pick up the phone and call them because the likelihood of them calling you is zilch. Don’t forget, be nice. You don’t want to keep waiting for another six weeks.
Tip#8 is not done yet because I haven’t gone past #7 but most probably what I’ll be doing is Celebrate and blog like crazy.

I am going via the Unionbank EON Cyber account route although you could also enroll your own regular credit card and now your local bank account code to get verified. Here are some useful links to help you get started on the requirements:

If you don’t like to sift through all that government stuff, you can also get it simplified right here.

Tags: Money matters, PERSONAL, Pinoy paypal
Posted in BLOG THEMES, TIPS AND TRICKS, FINANCE, PASSPORT RENEWAL | No Comments »

Money that matters

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Having worked as an accountant for a number of years has its up sides and down sides. The attention to detail, the deadlines to meet, the scheduled taxes and government remittances that need to be fulfilled have rubbed off some of the creative edge in me. There were many occasions that I have had a sense of what type of business would work and not work in certain environments and true enough, a few months or years later, somebody else just went up and did it.

A few years ago, I presented my idea of opening a Starbucks coffee shop in Tagaytay long before there was anything on the ridge except abandoned vacation houses to some friends. I thought it was a feasible idea because of the planned development around the area but a friend of ours was pessimistic about it and said that it wouldn’t work. Well right now, I think it’s doing very well on the ridge. So much for my friend’s opinion. Of course, I knew we couldn’t do that even if I wanted to because for one, to the best of my knowledge, Starbucks is not open for franchising. It is solely operated by the Rustan’s group of companies. So that gives me the perfect excuse not to get into it even though in truth, I only have a few pesos just enough to buy me not the franchise but the frappuccino…make mine mocha, please.

Another business venture that I thought of years ago was related to something I liked to indulge on –> chocolate covered caramel apples. Mmmm, I absolutely love these! I even tried to make some myself but I couldn’t get the technique right because the caramel would slide off the apples. It just didn’t come out the same as the ones I would buy in Arizona. And since I’m kinda OC or a bit of a perfectionist, I couldn’t get myself to put out a product I wasn’t going to be proud of or happy about. I asked some friends about that venture as well and that same friend who didn’t agree with that Starbucks idea didn’t think I had the market to sustain it. Oh well, guess what, somebody is actually selling them right now in Glorietta? in Makati! Not really the same as those I’ve tasted but hey, it’s the idea that counts.

Of course, I’ve had some ventures that didn’t last long because those involved evolved. Priorities and vision are basic values that need to be synchronized when you get into business and if those values are no longer shared, it’s time to move on.I do have some dreams and other projects cooking up and incubating in my brain. Hopefully, when everything falls into place and I have enough resources to pull it all together, I will turn a deaf ear to pessimism around me and muster up the guts to take that plunge and put my money into investments that really matter to me.