All About Financial Planning - Philippine Setting

I just found a wonderful magazine that will literally replace my FHM and Maxim collection.  It’s called ‘MoneySense’. A Philippine-based magazine with lot of saving tips, good insights, financial case studies, stories about handling money, saving and investing. That’s why I truly felt that anyone should buy this. Their January-February issue looks promising with the title story “Where to Invest in 2009″. I haven’t got this issue yet, but I’ll surely will. Don’t forget to get your own copy, and together, let’s take the journey to Financial Freedom.

At my age of 29, a lot of people find it odd when I talk about Retirement and how I prepare for my own retirement. They would always say ‘Bata bata mo pa, retirement na agad ang iniisip mo”.  I can’t blame them.  Maybe they just have to see the other side of the coin where I am looking at. Let me show you some items on that side of the coin that I am seeing. Maybe you’ll also start to think about your retirement at this early stage.

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This story is not mine, that I’d have to clear first. Altho I’d greatly accept the idea that it is me, sharing this wonderful story to you. Not yet, but soon I’ll be for sure.

This was actually sent by my colleague Flo Espiritu, probably got in his email then sent to our yahoogroup. Maybe you’ve already read this. I just felt that I need to share this to all who haven’t. It’s a great story with a lot of lessons we can pick up. An anecdote by One of Singapore’s Youngest Millionaire. Here it goes.

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Ever wondered if there’s any guideline on how much should you be spending for Holidays like Christmas and New Year? If you have, at least I know I’m not alone. Good thing that I found an interesting article on Kerygma Magazine that tackles on this issue.

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The good thing about Saving is, it is indirectly related to how big a person is earning to do it. Meaning, you don’t have to earn a certain amount of money to Save. Small earner, big earner, medium earner, we’re all on the same category. Just like the saying goes, “It’s not how much you earn, it’s how much you can save that matters”. Even if you earn like a 100,000.00 a month but you’re spending 110,000 it’s no use compared to a minimum wage earner of 6,000.00 that regularly save like 600.00 per month (10%). That person is far better than the first.

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have planned to write about this a long time ago, but procrastination always gets in the way, so my apologies for delaying this post. This should have been one of my earlier posts as it gives the necessary knowledge about the life insurance.

I’m sure once a person realizes the importance of financial planning, you cannot take away protection or in short, life insurance. The latter will always be attached to financial planning, as well as investments. (Importance of Life Insurance)

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In my line of work, I often hear phrases like “I already got insurance!“, “My insurance is already matured so I’m already thru with that“.

It’s just sad to know when I ask them, is your insurance coverage enough? Most of them would answer, ‘I don’t know’.  Others would say ‘yes I think so’. And still some would say ‘maybe’, ‘maybe not’.

Today, I’ll share you a simple formula that is very useful to know if you got enough insurance coverage for you and your family. It’s very simple that even a 5th grader can solve this formula very easily.

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Last night, I was chatting with a friend. Between our usual conversations on investments, mutual funds, insurance coverage etc, she called my attention saying that she got this email saying exactly what I was preaching. As a financial adviser, I would always encourage her to buy more investments during times like this. Why, simply because shares are almost on a bargain price. And that would simply follow the Investing Wisdom of the Wealthy.

Intrigued by what she was saying, I asked her to forward the email to me. And here’s the exact copy of the email. The italicized text are from the email. My comments are in straight blue font.

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Assuming that we already have all the knowledge and learning we need prior to making that one big leap of finally investing, now comes one of the tougher questions to answer. Where should I invest my money? It’s as common as choosing what bank would you put your money into. There will be factors like Company Name, Location, Stability etc. But how do you relate this to investments like mutual funds or VUL?

That’s exactly the same question Erwin Apao have in Mind.  He sent us an email asking what are the basis in choosing for a Mutual Fund Company.  And that’s what we’re going share them to you.

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Finally, the US Election has ended. Barrack Obama was declared the winner and US can now focus on the financial crisis that it’s currently facing.

It’s been running for quite some time that the usual news on tv, radio and newspaper is about the Financial Crisis. Its the same reason why a lot of people out of fear pulled their shares from mutual funds, stocks, UITFs and other form of investments. And what do you get when you redeem when the market is down? Your guess is as good as mine, LOSSES.

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I was talking to a colleague last week telling me that he just lost in mutual funds by P15,000.00. Surprised with what I heard, I began to ask some questions related to his portfolio. From the question and answer portion we had, I got the following.  He said that he invested in mutual funds in 2007. He was influenced by his co-workers who have the same investments that’s why he got in.

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I was able to get hold of the Top 15 Insurance Companies in the Philippines based on Assets as of December 31, 2007. This is according to the records of the Insurance Commission, the government agency which regulates and supervises the insurance industry in the Philippines.

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