On Paypal, Internet Scams and Phishing

September 27 12:09 am ,
Illumination

Illumination

I almost fell off my seat when I read Paypal’s letter to me.

“Issa, many different computers have logged into your account and that there were multiple password failures before the login and thus, we have limited your account.  Please download the form attached to this email, open it in a web browser and it will provide you with steps so you can restore your account access.”  It ended with a plea for my understanding because they only desire the safety of my account.

My heart started pounding – huh, wah, how….? My Paypal account has been compromised!

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Posted in: Consumer Protection , Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Do You Sabotage Your Life?

September 24 12:59 am ,
The Darkness That Lurks Within

The Darkness That Lurks Within

We are masters of our fates.  But sometimes, we forget.  We only see the choices that were made for us by others – usually by our families – choices that led us to experience physical and emotional scarcity and destitution, that continue to lead us to a lifetime of want.

Yes, unbeknownst to us, our outcomes are forever colored by those memories and those experiences.  Most do not want to cross over to the other side, most tenaciously embrace their past.  It is the familiar, it is what they know, it is what they learned to live with.

So they sabotage their lives, sometimes in small thrusts of the blade, and sometimes in the grandest of manners.

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Posted in: Life Stories , Tagged: , , , , ,

iPhone: Guilty Pleasure

September 22 12:29 am ,
Man and the Machine

Man and the Machine: To Have Come So Far

I will confess to one guilty pleasure.

But first, the background.

I have been using a Treo 650 cellphone for as long as I can remember – okay, I used it for 4 long years.  Our story started when I saw it in the hands of my brother and fell in love with it.  I just knew we would click.  So I begged him for it (I am shameless, sometimes).  One year after, he gave it to me for free (I have very generous brothers – maybe that’s why they have credit card debts?).

We shared a blissful 4 years.

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Posted in: Consumer Protection, Life Stories , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Having Children, More Children

September 17 9:19 pm ,

 

Pitter Patter of Little Feet

Pitter Patter of Little Feet

First comes love, then comes marriage…

You know what comes after.  Children, lots of children.

Like some of my peers, I opted for one.

The One Child sat me up and told me in the most serious tone that she could muster, “I want a sister.”  I sat there, uncomprehending.  She tried again. “Or a brother…”  I thought I detected a note of desperation on that one.

Why?  My voice was incredulous.

“So I have someone to play with.”  Now, that one’s easy. I told her she has her friends, her classmates.  She said, “No, at night, when you are not yet here.  Yoyow bites (she’s our Maltese) and Yaya always has to finish something…”

What do I say to that except that as an only child, she did not want for anything.  We went on fancy vacations, she had shoes when she needed shoes, she went to the best school, did not have to go mano y mano for a toy, or food, or her parents’ affections.

She does not know what she is asking for.

And it also does not help that BabyCenter.com calculator estimated that raising a child would cost some USD$266,698. (to check how much your child would cost you, click here)

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Posted in: Children's Stories , Tagged: , , , , , ,

Increasing Your Financial Intelligence Series: Ways the Prices of Security Are Being Manipulated

September 15 10:56 pm ,

Five years ago, I would not have given it any thought.

In fact, if I come across finance terms, I would hardly give it a glance.  Worse, it would not even penetrate my consciousness.  I would not even see it, period.  But it is true what they say.  What you do not understand or know at first, if you keep at it, it would have no choice but take on meaning.

With a little help from Investopedia and the Securities and Regulations Code (SRC), let me share with you the ways by which the prices of securities (stocks, for our purpose) can be manipulated.

Do not be fooled.  The business of stocks or securities is serious business.  The big boys make the stock market their playground, their very own money mill, if you please.  If you are not careful and fall prey to their schemes, well, you can kiss your hard-earned money goodbye.

But the point of education is to make you more aware of the pitfalls.  Half of winning is knowing.

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Posted in: Stock Market, The Basics of Finance , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

On Showing Up and Not Letting Life Pass You By

September 13 1:36 am ,

Under the Gaze of the Burning Sun

Under the Gaze of the Burning Sun

I did not want to go to the gym today, or to the seminar, or market a product, or visit someone in that faraway place.  I just did not want to.  It seemed to be much too much.

There was light rain.  My bed had spanking new, clean, crisp white sheets.   I was in the middle, curled up, roused by the idea of just staying there, and not moving.  In my mind, it had the makings of a perfect day.

It was a Monday.

A doubt clouded my brow, I know that lethargy will come, and that if I do not get off that bed, I would miss seeing the day reflected in the eyes of the people who I would meet, new friends and old friends, miss what they have to say, miss what I would have learned from what they had to say, miss an idea or doing a good deed, putting in an investment, a day laid in waste when I could have flexed that muscle and got a few calories off, miss writing about what I have learned and expanding a thought that would form words that would form ideas that would form a story that I could live in – again – for a moment.

I rouse myself, get out of bed and go out.  Out. The idea of missing life terrifies me.

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Posted in: Life Stories, Wealth Attraction , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Travel, Budget Airlines and the Lilt of a Foreign Tongue

September 10 1:26 am ,
Reaching Up, Out

Reaching Up, Out

I like vacations.  Whenever I can take mini ones – I take lots (can I smile greedily here?).

It started when I was 21.  I just won the top cash prize at the office raffle and what better way than to squander it all at a grand Hongkong vacation.

Okay, it was not grand.  We stayed at a three star hotel and had breakfast everyday at the McDonald’s but I was with my bestfriend and we went around Hongkong and had so much fun – going to the parks, seeing the day life and the night life, tasted all the local delicacies, shopped for satin underwear, luggage and Giordano shirts, haggled (oh boy can I haggle) – that I wanted to do it again (and again and again).

And again.

From then on, I promised myself that I will take at least one vacation at an international destination every year.  Hey, I was single, I was employed, I had no financial conscience (it was fun while it lasted).

This year, I am taking 5 mini-vacations (to my financial planners – uhm, ehrm, sorry?).

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Posted in: Travel , Tagged: , , , , ,

Do Not Grow Old

September 7 7:51 pm ,
The Unmasking of the Future

The Unmasking of the Future

The twilight of the years – everyone is heading there. Thanks to medicine, people now have a lifespan of 80 years. Whether that is good news or not, the fact remains – we have to prepare for a long life. But how grand or how miserable your exit will be is up to you.

Yes, in fact, the world is graying. The United Nations projected that by the year 2050, the population of 60 plus would have doubled and that this would place enormous social and financial strain on private pension and government social security systems.

In third world countries, the strain is not only on the economy but also on family relationships.

If you are old and feel the weight of your years, you know what I mean.

If are taking care of an old relative, or have, you know of what I speak of.

I have, too.  If only for a moment.

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