Category Archives: Life Stories

Get Rich, Then Worry

To what end... labor?

Everytime I see that little squirrel in Ice Age chasing his chestnut and then doing everything to protect it, including shunning love and running after it across the ages, I am reminded about how we are as human beings.

Some of us make it our life’s mission to get something, the more obvious of it are material things – money, jewelry, real estate, a way of life.

And then we make a showcase of what we have. We parade that we have so much – like the jewelry and Louis Vuittons in the arms of women, parties in our lavish homes or summer houses, feeding ourselves in expensive restaurants, shopping.

Then the story turns something short of horrible.

Posted in: Financial Education, Life Stories , Tagged: Ice Age, Louis Vuitton, Politicians, Private Armies

Elections, Philippine Style

May 10 7:28 pm , Issa

Dawning of a New Day

Last night, I did not know what to expect.

My mind was filled with doomsday scenarios. After all, it is election time in present day Philippines. It is the first automated voting in the country, which was precipitated by calls for manual counting – the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines from Smartmatic were conking out, the mock elections (the rehearsals) did not go as expected, the practice votes were not counted accurately – and then there was the usual election fare – mud slinging, vote buying, violence.

The election bug bit long and it bit hard, raising the temperature of the country to fever pitch.

Posted in: Life Stories, The Philippines , Tagged: Disenfranchisement, Elections, Lanao del Sur, PCOS Machines, Philippine Elections, Precincts, Smartmatic, Vigilance

Hoarding Emails (and Letting Go)

April 22 9:04 am , Issa

Simplify

I was getting tired of seeing 5,600+ unread mail in my mailbox. What’s funny is I am also being bombarded with emails that say I should simplify my life.

So I did.

But it is harder than I thought.

As of press time, I still have 3,089 unread emails. And it is growing by 50 a day.

I am confounded as to why my unread emails became that much. I am usually overly zealous at reading what’s up in my world and everyone else’s. Looking at my 2008 emails (Gmail has allowed me to keep them), I saw that I had read each and every one. I do not know what happened between then and now.

Maybe it’s just that I am a sucker for enlisting for products and services. In early 2009, I was so big on personal finance and internet marketing that I had signed up for those websites and people my mentors recommended – Schefren, Daily Wealth, Daily Crux, Morningstar, Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, League of Extraordinary Minds, Carl Ocab and many more other websites. I seriously think this is the time when my emails ballooned to unimaginable and my life went from simple to crazy-exciting.

Posted in: Life Stories , Tagged: Bo Sanchez, Bob Proctor, Carl Ocab, Copyblogger, Daily Crux, Daily Wealth, Facebook, Friendster, Gmail, Internet Marketing, League of Extraordinary Minds, Money Tips Network, Morningstar, Napoleon Hill, Problogger, Schefren, Yugatech, Zen Habits

(Not) Growing Up Hungry

April 14 5:09 pm , Issa

St(r)oking the Dragon

I could not believe it.

We were at a store. I knew she needed shoes. I knew she has been needing them every now and then because her feet are getting big at least every two days. I led her to a store, with prices ranging from $30 to $40. I told her, “Choose whatever you want, hon.” She looked around, tried some on, looked at the prices and then sat down by me. “I don’t want to, mom. They’re too expensive.” I looked at her aghast and wondered what I would have said if my own mother offered me a buffet of shoes. I would probably have 5 in hand in 5 minutes. It’s just that it never happened. And now I have here my own daughter who can have every shoes she wanted, at any price, and then she tells me no.

Posted in: Children's Stories, Financial Education, Life Stories , Tagged: Children, Memories, Shoes

Waiting for the Apple to Fall

April 8 1:42 pm , Issa

Life in All Its Colors

If you want to make a ripple, touch the water.

Some people are impatient. They do not wait for things to happen to them – they make things happen. They take chances. They conquer their inner demons, prepare, not leave things to chance, leap. They cannot be accused of being a victim (or a beneficiary) of circumstance.

Posted in: Financial Education, Life Stories , Tagged: Defying Gravity, Defying Gravity Lyrics, Glee, JD Salinger, MavenSecrets, Ready Fire Aim, Wicked

Have We Lost the Art of Stopping?

March 25 6:55 pm , Issa

In Constant Motion

I laugh at myself.

I have a half-open book on my left, my cellphone removed from its case at my right, my computer open and my internet divided into 6 windows – my gmail, my blog, my bank, the latest topic I am researching, paypal and a website that I liked. Another open window is the company Lotus Notes, alerting me through a tiny beep from time to time that I have new mail and that I must open it asap.

My surrounding gives me the appearance of being busy, or always being in constant motion. Productivity. When I stopped just now, I find that my brain is betraying me because it is still thinking of other things to do. It is still “doing” (or wants to).

Have we lost the art of not doing anything (in the literal sense of the word)?… Wait, does it even exist?

Because even if we are at rest, we are not.

Posted in: Life Stories , Tagged: Art of Stopping, I want to get off!, Productivity, Stop, Stopping

How to be Good in Sales

March 19 1:28 pm , Issa

Once Upon A Time

I’m easy.

I mean if you tell me you will not buy from me, I’m cool with it. I will not pester you or badger you. You will hear the end of it right there and then. Promise.

But (sigh), these are not the traits of a master sales (wo)man, traits that, Robert Kiyosaki assures me, will make me very rich.

Posted in: Children's Stories, Financial Education, Life Stories, The Basics of Finance , Tagged: Bangkok, Dan Kennedy, daughter, How to be Good in Sales, Robert Kiyosaki, Sales

To Foreclose or Not to Foreclose (Part 1)

March 16 4:19 pm , Issa

Another Day

Having a house is the ultimate dream. I have dreamed about it but never thought I would have it so soon, thanks to parents who have generously thought of providing for their children while they and the children are still young and the parents can see and feel the gratitude of the children for that wonderful (and needed) gesture (okay, dole-out).

Indeed why wait for death, or why imagine that your children are waiting for your death, before giving your children what you are thinking of giving them anyway? But this is for another story and for another time.

In the year 2009, the world was rocked by stories of foreclosures, foreclosures which have been instrumental in bringing down the single most powerful economy in the world – that of the United States.

Posted in: Financial Education, Financial Planning, Life Stories, The Basics of Finance , Tagged: Consequences of Foreclosure, Credit Problems, Foreclose, Foreclosure, House, United States

« Previous 1 … 5 6 7 8 9 … 11 Next »