vetlongwalks home & pf

Just like a regular market, the stock market is open only at certain times of the day. In the Philippines, the market is open between 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Mondays to Fridays. It closes for an hour and half for lunch. Then it reopens at 1:30 p.m. and closes for the day at 3:30 p.m. Given these trading hours, it would seem that those who are at work or somewhere else during said hours won't have the chance to participate in the market. That is, they won't be able to buy or sell shares. Well, thanks to COL's online platform, those of us who are not available during said hours can still place our buy or sell orders. Simply use its O-H Order feature under the Trade tab. What's the O-H Order feature? As earlier said, with this feature you can buy or sell shares of stock even when the market is out. Generally, you can place your order anytime between 1 p.m. of the current trading day to 8:55 a.m. of the next trading day. As soon as the clock hits 9:01 a.m. on t...

One of the concerns of those wanting to open a stock market trading account is the instrument's liquidity . Are stocks liquid assets? To someone who's contemplating on getting into the stock market, the question that readily comes to mind is will they be able to get their money back should they need it? Can they easily withdraw their funds should they decide that the stock market is not the instrument they'd wish to use to grow their money? What are LIQUID ASSETS? Collins' dictionary defines LIQUID ASSETS as things that one owns which can be quickly turned into CASH if necessary . Given this definition, I'm quite certain that stocks are very liquid. That is, you can easily sell your shares and get the cash . Compared to owning real estate, or a rare book collection, the chance of you being able to find a buyer easily (ex. within the day) for your shares is higher compared to finding a buyer to purchase your house and lot or that rare book collection. In the sto...

I first entered the Philippine stock market when I opened an online stock trading account with COL Financial Inc. sometime May of 2011. My siblings opened theirs a year or two before me. My sister mentioned several times of the need to save. I didn't heed this immediately as I was convinced there was no need for it. Back then, I was consumed with the idea that I'm going to leave this Earth young, and so I wasn't compelled to prepare for my old age. Contrary to what many believe, entering the stock market doesn't require that much funding.

I bumped into a childhood friend yesterday at SM City. After a quick his and hellos, the talk veered towards COL Financial and stock market investing. I'm one with few delights in life, and knowing friends becoming interested in personal finance, specifically on wanting to dip their hands in the stock market is sure to bring happiness in me (much more delight if they express wanting to know Jesus of the Bible, hehe) . Anyway, I was just delighted to learn that some couple friends of hers are encouraging her and her husband to open a stock trading account with COL [Thank you very much her LG friends :)] . She and her husband, in fact, have submitted their application but are yet to successfully open a trading account pending submission of a missing requirement. Naturally, I found myself volunteering to help her should she have questions later on. Haha, even though I'm on my 6th year with COL , I still must confess not knowing much about the technical aspect of stock trading. I...

A few years ago, one of my former bosses introduced to a friend and I the idea of stock investing. For us Filipinos, stock investing isn't very common. But thanks to advancement in technology, aka the rise of the internet, stock investing is slowly gaining popularity in the country. At the time that my former boss introduced it to us, online platform for stock investing wasn't that available yet. Or at least, it was unheard of to me. Stock investing was reintroduced to me in 2011 through COL Financial.com . This online platform allows ordinary people with not much money to get into stock investing. With an initial amount of 5,000 pesos, any one can open an account with COL.

Credit card use is both a boon and a bane. With unguided use, this convenient financial tool can ruin your financial life. To make the most of your credit card, it's best that you pay the balance in full on or before the due date. Otherwise, you'll carry the burden that is finance charge (FC) and additional payment of late fee if you pay after your due date has lapsed. Even if you religiously pay on time and in full, there's another charge that holders incur just for maintaining credit cards---the Annual Fee . Some banks refer to this as "Membership Fee" as in the case of Citibank. Generally, this is one way banks earn money, from people for using credit cards issued by them. To keep track of my spending, I usually use plastic. Every time I use it, I logged it to an excel file I keep. While there are many apps you can download for this, my preference is still the old school spreadsheet. Anyway, when I logged into my online account, I noticed an amount that I ...

How patient are you? How much do you value your convenience? If I were to answer these questions, I am ashamed to admit that I'm not the most patient person. I discovered while I was in high school that I don't have much patience, particularly in waiting for a jeepney ride. As I'm a student with limited allowance, I learned to walk to certain destinations just to keep me from waiting for the elusive jeepney ride. I would rather walk than wait. Additionally, on rare occasions where I do wait, I would often look for a jeepney that has more empty seats. I find it very inconvenient to be squeezing myself in when the jeepney is almost full.

In quite a few number of financial blogs and books I've read, one of the things often discussed is Net Worth . According to these literature, in order to properly plan out your financial future it is essential to get a base point. That is, determine where you are financially. Once you know where you stand financially, you can easily take steps towards setting financial goals.

When a politician is accused of corruption here in the country, one of the things that come into question is that public official's Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth, or SALN. So, what's a SALN?

A friend of mine once asked me how one computes for the amount of insurance to get. Off the top of my head, I just replied, "Suppose you die tomorrow. How much do you think will your family need from the time of your death to until your youngest child's eviction age?" By eviction age, I meant the year when your child is able to support herself/himself. I can't recall exactly where I got this idea, but that's what came to mind. Then I also added to factor in yearly inflation rate. Anyway, as I am trying (haha, as I'm still learning..) to be an advocate of becoming financially prepared, I thought sharing this blog post that i've read can give those who are interested in getting insurance a clearer idea. The post was written by Elvin Peria of journeytomillions.com. This is what he wrote on the topic on how much and why you need insurance. I hope you learn more from the article than the vague explanation I gave my friend. PS. I hope Mr. Peria ...

my whole education was primarily funded by the people of the philippines. i went to a public school from elementary all the way to college. studying at punta princesa elementary school wasn't expensive at all. primarily because the school is just walking distance to our home, and it being a public school, tuition wasn't much. the same goes for my high school and college education. as i was fortunate enough to study at u.p., tuition wasn't also much of a problem. [truth be told, my parents mentioned something like we have to study in u.p. else it would take a miracle for us to finish school due to high tuition costs in private schools. so, u.p. it was and all 3 of us (my siblings) were glad we had parents who insisted u.p. is the only high school and university for us.] tuition in u.p. is subsidized by the government. [although, i heard that tuition in u.p. now is around 16K per semester compared to my 5K or for some, zero + allowance, during my time] plus, during second ...

Are you one of those who still keep notebooks to jot down things? Well, before apps became a thing to help one in practically anything, I used to keep good old traditional notebook to remind me about expenses and whatnot involving money. I also use that notebook to jot down some quotes I read somewhere. One of the notebooks I used to keep had these money quotes. Before I lose it, I figure I'll just transfer them here. Hopefully, anyone who may happen to chance upon this little place in the web might find it helpful, the way they were and are helpful to me. "Bring the whole tithe, into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it" (Malachi 3:10). ----> Give back a portion of what you have to bring glory to the name of the One who made you were you are! Even if you tithed, housin...

Just a week after the Philippine election was held, the stock market saw a surge of activity. The PSEI rose back to 7,400++ level. On my FB feed, I see people posting and sharing news of a positive market outlook. If you know zilch about the stock market, you can easily hit YouTube and find videos explaining what the stock market is all about. You may also crawl the web and search for stock market related posts. However, if you are the type who wants to attend live seminars to fully grasp concepts such as the stock market, perhaps you should check out Bro. Bo Sanchez' The Truly Rich Club (TRC) seminars. If you're from my hometown of Cebu or you're in Zamboanga City, you're in luck as the TRC is bringing their caravan to Zamboanga City and Cebu City on May 21 and May 28, respectively: Screen grabbed from TRC e-mail Should you part with your hard-earned PhP497 to attend this seminar? Well, only you can determine if it's worth the price. If you're someone wh...

The wife of a friend from work invited me and a few other people to attend PhilAm Life's Financial Planning Tool seminar. As I'm a sucker for anything financial, I readily agreed to attend the event at the City Sports Club. Who would say NO to a free seminar with free dinner to boot, right? Probably, those with a date, haha. After all it was a friday night. Kidding aside, I attended the event because I believe in supporting endeavors that promote financial literacy among Filipinos. I believe that there is hope for us filipinos to break away from the bondage of poverty. The road to getting there may be long and winding, but I dare say that we Filipinos will eventually find our place on the financial map. I'm hoping it will happen in our lifetime, but if it won't, then let's take comfort in the idea that our future children will be reaping what is being sown today. Thanks to the internet and social media, access to information is becoming readily available to those ...

The Filipino people yesterday flocked to different voting precincts to cast their votes for the top positions of government; president and vice-president. In yesterday's election, registered voters also get to select their new 12 senators, 1 congressman, and the heads of their local government units (mayor/vice-mayor/its council OR governor/vice-governor and board members) . When a country is about to select their top government officials, the stock market index tends to move downwards due to uncertainty of who will be the country's new leaders. Investors become wary and tend to adapt a wait-and-see attitude. Some tend to sell their positions. On the last trading day prior to Monday's elections, the Philippine Stock Exchange Index closed below the 7,000 points mark as shown below: Voting ended at 5:00 P.M. Philippine time yesterday, and counting of results immediately started. Unofficial results of canvassing by the PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Vot...

Earlier, I saw a post that a batch mate from high school posted on his FB wall. His status message mentioned something about teaching personal finance in our schools. Naturally, I clicked on the article that he linked as I'm often curious when it comes to matters on personal finance. The article was entitled "5 'Money Lies' You Should Stop Telling Yourself by Age 30" and was written by Miss Lianne Martha M. Laroya. The article listed these 5 lies that people often tell themselves about money. They are as follows:

This is late information, but I thought of still sharing it anyway in the off chance that there might be newbies who just signed up for COL. COL or formerly Citiseconline is now called COL Financial Inc. COL is my chosen online stockbroker. To those who haven't heard of COL, you can find their site at colfinancial.com. Click on the picture below to direct you to their site, in case you might be interested in getting into the Philippine stock market. screengrabbed from colfinancial.com When funding one's COL account, one has the option to use the services of major banks in the Philippines such as BDO, BPI, and Metrobank. I just recently learned that one may now also use the services of Chinabank to fund one's account. Through the bank's Bills Payment facility, one may pay online or pay OTC (Over-The-Counter). In the past, I've used either BDO or Metrobank. Whether you pay online or OTC, there is NO charges incurred. But just last December 27, 2015, I received ...

Just a few days from now, Filipinos will be deciding who will run the country in the next six years. Before campaign season began and when I learned who are in the running for the two top posts in the coming election, my preliminary vote goes to Santiago and Cayetano. When campaign season got into full swing, my FB feed is already showing a 90% to 95% inclination for a Duterte presidency. As I'm a Cebuano, my feed is expected to show a loud cry for Duterte. Curiously, I couldn't say the same thing for his running mate, Cayetano. This makes me question the seriousness of its supporters in putting Duterte to Malacanang. The mayor has been consistent in telling voters that he would need Cayetano's help to make his presidency a success. So, I don't understand the underwhelming support for Cayetano from the Duterte supporters. Binay is outrightly a non-consideration for me. His name is synonymous to corruption, which is why I'm still not going to be surprised should he...

Were you one of those who took out an SSS loan when your area was hit by a calamity? Are you facing difficulties in paying off your loan? Perhaps you should look into SSS's Loan Restructuring Program and find out if you qualify to avail of this program to clean up your overdue loan principal and interest in full or by installment under a restructured term depending on your capacity. In both schemes you can take advantage of condonation of loan penalties.

It's been ultra hot in Mactan and I've been craving for ice cold treats. Usually, I'd go for shakes to cool off. The problem is my blender broke a few months back and I haven't gotten around to buying a new one. To ward off the heat, I just settle with some ice cold drinks. However, I've had enough of it and want something different. SO, what does a born and raised Filipino do to beat the summer heat?? MAKE ICE CANDY!!!!

Who is this man? Why is he front and center?