Monthly Archives: January 2011

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A 90-Day Credit Card Moratorium

January 29 8:24 pm ,

Illumination

At our post-Christmas party, my partners at MoneyDoctors started talking about a credit card moratorium for their families – this meant they will not use their credit cards for 90 days.

With the Christmas indulgence, I also engaged in some wanton (haha!) and indiscriminate spending and have not been able to pay my credit cards in full.  I still do pay way above the minimum but at the rate I am going, and with my steady monthly purchases (not to mention the interest payments, grrrr!), I do not know when I will be free (or if I will be free).

I knew then had to do something that drastic too – and fast!

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Posted in: Financial Education, The Basics of Finance , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Working Woman’s Guide To Riches

January 26 1:08 am ,

Believe

Sometimes, a woman needs a guidepost, a road map to where she wants to be.  Most of the time, her goals involve wealth, or ways to wealth.  Here are some methods that are tried and tested.

1.  Make a financial assessment.

A woman should know how much she has before she can decide what to do with how much she has.  For many, this starts a series of wake-up calls, not to mention panic attacks.  But wake up calls are good, and panic attacks are good because they set off something in the brain that makes it go to preservation mode.

Here is where the expensive coffee and clothes and bags and eating out and traveling have to go.  Or at least cut by as much as seventy five percent.

Because to be wealthy is to carve out and use that seventy five percent for something that can bring in more income (read: investment).

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Posted in: Financial Education , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Looking Back (and Giving Back)

January 16 1:03 am ,
Service

Service

I met my godchild, by phone, for the first time.  She is the daughter of my nanny.  She is now 20 years old.

And she wanted money from me.

She told me in not very many words.  Ninang pautang.  Godmother, can I borrow money? It was masked as a loan, although the message, I think, is clear.

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Posted in: Financial Education, Life Stories , Tagged: , , ,

Why You Should Not Play Plants vs. Zombies

January 9 1:01 am ,
Play

Play

You look at the clock.  It screamed 3 a.m. at you.  You screamed a silent scream – one of realization.  Also of disgust.  And elation.  The kind that you get when you are not being you, and it is liberating.

You have become a Plants vs. Zombies addict.

And you have a headache.

You do not know when or how it happened.  You just looked at your iPhone one day and tinkered with the downloading function and bought Plants vs. Zombies for $2.99 along with other games and applications.  You are not a game person yourself.  You use your time wisely.  You know that these kind of games will not do anything for you – will not add a skill, will not improve any of your relationships, will not make you rich.

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Posted in: Financial Education, Life Stories , Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Abundance for the New Year

January 2 10:50 pm ,

The Green Book: On Saving

I found this lone piggybank in a toy store and embraced it right away, looking suspiciously to my left and to my right to check if someone will get it from me.

No other takers.  I breathed a sigh of relief.

Kidding.

But to tell you the truth, when I got it, I initially thought of giving it as a gift to one of my nephews or nieces but then as the countdown to Christmas lost digit after digit, I started wanting it for myself (it would be perfect too for my daughter…).

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Posted in: Financial Education, Financial Planning , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Abundance and a Happy New 2011 For All

January 1 11:20 pm ,

Posted in: Wealth Attraction , Tagged: