Good Mornings at McDonalds

Time check: 4:04 am. Whoa! What a nice way to start my day by being productive in this blog! During mornings, I just can't get everything put together if I don't get a sip of my daily dose of coffee. My coffee is my energy drink. Yes, I am such a coffee lover but I limit my coffee intake to 2 cups a day, one in the morning and one in the evening because taking more than that everyday may not go well with my goal of being healthy (and slim haha!). But then, if the situation calls for it, I just have to get my third cup :).

For all the coffee lovers, McDonalds is giving us a treat during Mondays and Saturdays from September 22 - October 19, 2013. All you have to do is buy any McDonalds meal and you can get a free upgrade to a McCafe cappucino or Iced Mocha! And that would be anytime of the day! One more thing, I'll just paste here what was on their Facebook page:

You also get a Buy 1 Take 1 espresso coupon that you can use any day until December 31. 


That's too much of a treat especially that McDonald's coffees are something to crave for. I just love their coffee!


You can grab this treat from their participating stores here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/mcdo/mccafe-stores-philippines/503793256340717

Please check out the McDonald's Facebook Page for more details and for more treats awaiting us.

So, if Monday is not your favorite day and Saturdays are your rest day, a cup of coffee with your favorite meal from McDo will make your days better.

Thank you, McDonald's!

I Shape Me.

And for today's inspiration, I found this quote that really inspired me to get up and get this body working! I kinda feel lazy today (blame it on PMS!) but this got me going.

Its September and I still haven't reached my target weight which is 118 lbs. Let me just emphasize that on the first day of this year (January 1, 2013) my weight was 142 lbs. Oh yeah! At 5'2 tall, who would think that during my "single" days I weighed 105 lbs! And I am not exaggerating it, I was really living an unhealthy lifestyle late last year due to stress and some other factors that I can no longer remember. Almost everyday was a Starbucks day, everyday I ate breakfast and lunch (sometimes even my dinner!) that I bought from the fast food chain because I was so lazy to cook meals for myself and for the family, I would take the cab even if I can easily walk the short distance from the MRT to the office. It was the lifestyle of an ordinary employee working from 9am-6pm and literally have no time for herself.

After resigning from my day job, I realized how unhealthy I've become. It was really an eye-opener for me when I was catching my breath most of the time and really getting so tired after playing with my one year old son. I thought this should not be. I can only take care of my son if I am healthy enough and the last thing a mother would want to happen to her is to be sick and not being able to take care of her child. And to that I decided that I am willing to take all these pains of exercising even if its not really something that I like doing even when I was still single.

The thing with doing something almost everyday, whether you like it or not, is that it instantly becomes a habit. And that is why, today, even if I am not in the mood to work out, I still do it. Because my body is already looking for it when I am not working out. Its like already a part of my weekly routine that I should work out at least 3 times in a week. If I don't get to do that, I almost feel weak and stressed and I feel like I've got tons of fat lurking in my whole body and multiplying everyday! Ahahaha! So for all you girls out there, I know its really hard at the start but true enough are the words that I read from some fitness motivational quotes website:

THE PAIN YOU FEEL TODAY, WILL BE THE STRENGTH YOU WILL FEEL TOMORROW.

And it surely makes sense now! I am happy to say that my work out is starting to pay off! Yes, not yet on my target weight but I am surely getting there. And one more thing, I know I am stronger today because I can easily carry my son, play with him all day and still feel energized, climb the MRT stairs without panting like a horse. And for that I say thank you Lord for giving me the strength to keep going. So let's all continue this and we will surely get to our goal weight!

What is a Mutual Fund?

Oh my! Where have all the time gone? So fast time flies, didn't get the chance to update this blog often! But I made it a goal to blog more often this September and my target is to have at least 6 blogs for this month. So let's start with this very informative financial article I would like to share to you.

As a financial advisor, I often get the question, "what is a mutual fund?" Obviously, to a lot of Juan Dela Cruz, this supposedly a basic form of investment was never a general knowledge. At school, financial education was not a subject of importance. So for us to be able to know our options regarding financial planning, I suggest you educate yourself and be responsible in getting information about financial education through reading and consulting financial advisors. You do not need to follow all their advice, what you need is the knowledge you can get from them and the options they can give you and from there you can choose what financial plan suits best for you.

Now, back to our main topic, according to Wikipedia:

A mutual fund is a type of professionally managed collective investment vehicle that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. While there is no legal definition of the term "mutual fund", it is most commonly applied only to those collective investment vehicles that are regulated and sold to the general public. They are sometimes referred to as "investment companies" or "registered investment companies." Most mutual funds are "open-ended," meaning investors can buy or sell shares of the fund at any time.

For simpler terms, mutual funds is a pooled money from investors being managed by a professional fund manager who is then responsible to buy securities (bonds, stocks, etc). The fund manager will be the one to analyze what would be the best security to buy in order for the money to grow. Mutual funds entwines risk in investment. For people who wants to invest in this kind of investment vehicle, as with any other investment, you need to understand it first before throwing your money in. Your profile as an investor should be taken into consideration as well as your current financial status and goal so as to minimize the risk of losing money.

In my honest opinion, mutual funds is one of the best investment vehicle for the ordinary Juan Dela Cruz. Why? Because it does not need a very large amount of money to start investing and it helps our money grow faster than that of savings and time deposit. Remember, investing is different from plainly saving.

If you want to know more about mutual funds, you may watch this detailed video from Sunlife





 





Here is another informative video, this time from  Peso and Sense



 



If you are interested to know more about mutual funds and other forms of investment, I would be more than glad to share my knowledge to you! Just contact me and I would be happy to accommodate you.

Stay postitve! And pass it on!

Frugal and Fab!

Dear Mommies, I know how hard it is to resist the temptations of shopping for a high heel red shoes just so we could stick to the budget. But the fabulous life we live during our single days need not be compromised when we become a mother. Yes, I know that in a mother's world, a shower is already a luxury but just a reminder: Your beauty is one of the things your husband loves about you. Please do not let it fade just because the needs of the kids should always come first before yours. You can be fab without spending so much. The happiness of seeing yourself beautiful in the mirror can change a lot about yourself. We need not to buy expensive and branded things to look pretty. Make sure your budget would include a little to buy something for yourself once in a while. Looking good need not to cost an arm and a leg. Here are some of my tips for being frugal. I hope this could be of help to you too:

1. Buy yourself some cosmetics. Yes, I know its not a budget friendly advice but hey, we're talking about being fab here. You don't need an expensive lipstick to get everybody's attention. A lipstick of quality can may you look as good and brighten up your face without having to cut your family budget in half. A foundation, lipstick and eyebrow pencil if properly applied can make you a head-turner. Add up a smile and sexy eyes... perfection!

2. Invest on classic-looking clothes. Classic never gets out of fashion. A simple and elegant little black dress and little white dress is a good investment on clothing. You can wear these two dresses a lot of times and just add some accessories to make it look different everytime. You can add bangles, watch, scarf and even you bag can be an accessory to your outfit. And because black and white are neutral colors, mixing and matching with bold colors will always result to fabulous!

3. Tyangge is the place to be. You don't need to have all your clothes branded to feel fashionable. What we all need is not a name patched on our clothes but a good looking jeans that would fit us properly. I surely realized that when I was a mom. I never visited tyangge when I was still single. But now, its one of my favorite place! How many times have I bought an ill fitting pants when I was still young? Oh God, I can no longer count! I bought them just because its the fashion trend and because of the label. Now, its a different perspective. I recently bought a pair of jeans for 500pesos (yup, 2 for 500) in tyangge and I would always get a compliment how good it looks on my legs. One more thing, because it fits me well, its also a comfort to wear.

4. Work-out from home. Gym membership fees are ridiculously expensive. If you really, really want to be fit, you do not need these fitness center to get in shape. You can easily search and download work out videos from the internet that would be effective for you. I, for one, can attest to that. I downloaded a video of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and I was able to really shred some lbs! Yes, I am proud to say I lost some lbs but there's more to lose to reach my ideal weight. Jillian Michaels ways work for me and I am keeping her as my virtual trainer. No need to go to the gym (I hate it, I get bored in the gym), no expensive fees, no transportation expenses, definitely home-based, best of all, in no time you'll see the difference in your body. Try it!

These are just few of the things I would like to recommend as a mother to be able to stay fab and yet applying frugality in every way we can. 

Be frugal and still be fab. Please make this as a pledge from now on.

Stay positive and pass it on!

The Million Peso Calculator

I know that I have a lot more to learn when it comes to financial literacy. But as far as I'm concerned, a lot of readers of this blog may have the same goal as mine, to reach their first million peso. I know its not a lot but hey, its still the start of becoming a millionaire! I am in the process of realizing this goal and hopefully by the end of the year this would materialize. Stay positive everyone!

I am in no position to give you advises regarding financial freedom since I am still in the learning process of it. Instead I would like to share to you this tool I came across the website of Mr. Fitz Villafuerte that gives you an estimate how long it would take you to reach you 1million peso. Of course, this is not accurate but you can just try it for fun. Who knows, this may just give an idea how to reach your million in shorter span of time.

First enter your Current Savings, and then enter how much you can save in a month in the Monthly Deposits box. The Rate of Return is simply an estimate of how much the amount is growing annually (e.g. the interest rate of the bank you put in your savings, gains from your investments, etc). Lastly, your current age.

Let me quote his description of the tool:

"This financial calculator uses the principle of compound interest to calculate how your money will grow. Although the presented results are not realistic because it doesn’t take into account other factors such as inflation; it nevertheless gives us a strong vision of what’s possible for us. By estimating our financial status and using this simple tool, we can have an idea how far (or how near) we are to becoming a millionaire."

Hope you enjoyed using the tool! How far or near you are to your goal, one thing's for sure, believe you can and you'll have it.

Click here to put this Calculator on your site.

Stay positive and pass it on!