It was not an easy exercise. There is that little notebook that you need to haul with you everywhere. And you have to be on your guard everytime – I know I still have a dollar here, where did it go? And there’s the hubby that you have to nag to please write every little expense when you know he will not because he does not want to.
He still does not want to.
To Travel the World
I like them so much – and traveling! – that we bought our own timeshare. But like I said in my MoneySmarts guest post:
It gives birth to other expenses – yearly maintenance fees (which went up from P2,500 to P4,000 in the blink of an eye), RCI fees (S$150 annually –in Singapore dollars, but with the current exchange rate, it might as well be in US dollars), booking fees that could range from P2,500 (Asia) to almost P10,000 (outside of Asia). It does not include airfare, or the cost of food. The RCI hotels, although three or four stars, are almost always in the outskirts of the city – that means it is 30 minutes away from where the action is. With the cab fares we are paying, we could have had a decent room at a city hotel with dancing lights, Prada and great food at our doorstep.
But it is not all bad, as we have found out in our two years of owning one.
Loving Mother Nature
Circa 1980’s.
We would wait patiently by the side of the road in front of our house for a faint cry: Dyaryoooo! Boteeee! (newspaaaaaaper, booooottles) And when we hear it, we would rush to our house, get all the old newspapers, put them in a stack, get our hands on old glass and plastic bottles – of fish sauce, vinegar, shampoo, softdrinks – and wait for a vision of an old scruffy man pushing a kariton (pushcart). He would waive to us and soon as he is “parked”, we would help him haul the newspapers to his weighing scale. He would then count the bottles, do some math in his head, give us some money (a few cents, some paper) and he would go his merry way. We would waive to mom (asking her for permission but vaguely so she could not say no) and go our merry way too – to the store where we would buy candies and ice-cold soda with the bounty. Such was the life.
Going the Extra Mile
It could be an exam that you waited for 4 years, 5, 10, 20 years, to take – the bar exam, accountancy, architecture, nursing, engineering, med, teacher’s licensure exam… It could be a job interview to where you want to work for a hundred years… It could be the olympics or a boxing bout or a title that you want to take away from someone, like maybe a beauty contest, or a book that you have always wanted to write… It could be a recital or a marriage proposal…
The single defining moment of your life.
You could be mediocre. You could be winner.
I first heard the word “mediocre” from my teacher in Broadcasting 101. She made it sound like it is something we should not desire. That “just getting by” is the loser’s mantra and that we are not that.
Christmas in the Air
It is majestic, tall, towering. The green leaves are lost in the reds and golds and in the crystals and the globes and red-golden ribbons and a hundreds, maybe thousands, of twinkling lights. I could almost feel Christmas-y at the sight of this tree, my ears peaking at the sound of the soft strains of – aaahh, Christmas music. At the crown are a thousand shimmering cascades of red stars beckoning all to come and see.
A seemingly farcical treat to this Christmas that promises to be different from all the rest.
A different Christmas.
Embracing Life
So I did. And I remembered.
My husband saved my life.
I am not speaking metaphorically (but I think I could very well be).
Outside Looking In
On Stocks
I remember two things that my financial planner made me do so I will not be overwhelmed by stocks (well) and so that I can understand it:
1. He asked me to look at the business page of the newspaper everyday, the Stock Exchange page to be specific, and to choose at least 10 stocks that I will track and follow day after day after day.
He was right. This gave me more than what I thought it will give me. At the beginning, yes, there was confusion, and then after some time (six months… and going), illumination. I had a “feel” of the market, and somehow, my “gut” was developed. I would know if stocks are on the rise, or if it is on freefall, which is the time to buy. The green and the red arrows in the newspaper actually meant something, but only as supplements to the general, wonderful, engaging world of numbers. And when I recently had a report on my stockholdings and saw a 5% growth rate per month, I knew why a lot of other people play this game, and why they become greedy.
Burning the Midnight Oil
I have to breathe and close my eyes, take my time before this means something to me. I have always been made to believe, I have always thought, that education is very, very important.
As a matter of fact, a lot of poor parents put this on top of their agenda. They can be overheard telling their children: “Your education is the only inheritance that we can give to you.” The unspoken plea: please graduate and take us out of this pitiable, desolate, godforsaken place. So they sell their only cow, the grains, their time, sometimes their souls, just so their children can go to school.
But there is Bill Gates.