Tag: money talks

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How I Try to Live Below My Means

You’ve heard it before. Living within your means is good. But living below your means is better. I have been living within my means for as long as I can remember. And I found out it’s doable. But living below my means???

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Source: As indicated in the image.

When I started having solid “financial goals” this year, I thought about trying to live below what my income can afford. You see, the hubby and I keep our salaries to ourselves and we just share in our household expenses, mortgage payments, and other bills. (This setup is subject to change any time we I deem it necessary.) The exact percentages I cannot divulge here, but let’s just say he’s a real gentleman.

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3 Cash Dividend Payments in 1 Month

There are two ways to earn money in the stock market: capital appreciation and dividends. Last month, I was pleasantly surprised to receive three cash dividend payments. These were from the three companies in my stocks portfolio: Meralco (MER), Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and Banco de Oro (BDO).

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notice of cash dividend (MER)

As a newbie stock investor, this good news made me very happy. It was my first time to receive dividends, after all. The feeling was kind of surreal. Haha. They were just small amounts, but they were still passive income. I didn’t work for it; my money worked for it. And thinking about it now makes me more inspired to manage my finances better so I could continue making my money work for me (hello Mr. Robert Kiyosaki!).

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A Money Saving Failure

On the first week of January 2014, the hubby and I have decided to take on a money saving challenge. You may be familiar with it or may have been doing it also. It’s popularly known as the 52-Week Saving Challenge. I am sad to report that we FAILED the challenge.

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We only made it until the 18th week (April 30 to May 6, 2014). After that time, we gave up. We accepted our failure and just charged everything to experience. I can’t believe I’m blogging about this just now! I’ve gotten so busy in the past months, you know. (Naghanap pa talaga ako ng excuse!) Haha.

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Do You Have a Budget for Dining Out?

One random day, I bumped into an old friend at the mall and we got to chat for a few minutes. She mentioned how she gets updated on my married life thru Facebook. She also made a remark on how the hubby and I get to dine out twice, and sometimes even thrice a week. It sounded like she was amazed with our love for food, and at the same time, how easy we get to finance those food trips. I replied to her with a smile, “Paminsan minsan lang yun, pag may extra money.” That conversation made me think about our budget for dining out. Do I even have a separate budget for that purpose in the first place?

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Image Source: http://money.cnn.com

To be honest, we love to try out new restaurants but we don’t set aside money for it. A dining out fund? No, nada, zilch. The money we spend for eating out comes from our weekly budget. (The hubby and I both receive our salary on a weekly basis so a weekly budget is a must for us.) It covers our daily needs: food, toiletries and other miscellaneous expenses. So if sometimes, we don’t have extra bath soap or toothpaste in our Bacoor home or we’re eating canned goods on a weekend, that’s because we’ve already spent our money on a nice dinner at some inexpensive restaurant. Funny, but true. Haha.

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Road to Financial Freedom: A Constant Practice in Patience

When I’m committed to doing something, I can get very impatient. In my quest for financial freedom, for instance, I can’t wait to achieve my financial goals. I think I’ve had an overdose of personal finance articles and blogs online because I suddenly had this urge to open new investment accounts right away. But of course, it’s impossible for me to do so due to insufficient funds at present.

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I’ve never been good at this! (Image Source: http://avidinvestorgroup.com)

Talking to self: Slow down, Edel! Breathe. Inhale, exhale. You can’t do everything at the same time. You have to wait for your money to arrive, unless you can make money appear by magic. Remember, patience is key here. And a lot of thinking and re-thinking. You don’t just invest your money in one instrument just because you learned from somebody it’s a good investment. You have to do your own research, decide based on your needs and future plans, prepare your money and invest at the right time.

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My First Selling Transaction in the Stock Market

While some investors wait for a gain of as high as 15% to 30% before selling a stock, I thought I’d settle for a lower percentage in my first selling transaction in the stock market. (It was my first, kaya medyo kinikilig at kinakabahan ako habang pinoprocess ko yan, hehe!) I believe that as long as it’s higher than the inflation rate in the country which is at around 4% to 5% annually, it’s a wise move. Okay, maybe next time, I’ll go for 10% or higher. Haha.

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proof of my trade as sent to me by COL Financial via email

On August 27th (just the other day!), I sold my 40 shares of First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) at P81. I kept them for a total of 36 days before selling. I bought them at an average price of P73.89 per share. I’m using “average price” here because I bought the shares in staggered amount at different prices. For this transaction, my net gain/profit was P222.47 or 7.47% as indicated in the stock computation tool I downloaded from SmartPinoyInvestor.com. A small amount, yes, but it was certainly very meaningful to me. And hindi ko rin naman basta mapupulot ang halagang ‘yan, diba?
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