Side Topic: Make more memories with Enervon Prime

Have you seen the new Enervon Prime TV commercial? I first saw this on Facebook and it was an “awww….” moment for me.

My dad is 70 years old and I’m fortunate that his memory is still good. I can relate to this TV commercial because I dote on my father and think of him as the most decent guy I’ve ever known and will ever know. I hope you like this TV commercial just as much as I do.

One less way for BDO services

Two weeks ago, I deposited some money in BDO Pioneer Center Branch. My branch of account is Fairview Park, Quezon City, where I live, but I do deposit my money in BDO branches near my work. Since my account in BDO is for checking, I asked the teller for my outstanding balance.

I was surprised to find out that BDO no longer allows that. The teller said that I can only view my balance when I go to my branch of account. She said my balance will not appear if I check it from other branches.

This came as a disappointment to me because this is the only convenient way of checking the balance of my current account. Because I have a day job, it’s difficult for me to go to my branch of account just to check my balance. If I do, it would mean I need to come in late in the office as work starts at 7:30 AM.

Checking my balance in other BDO branches provided me the convenience and now, I’m left with no choice. Does anyone know if I can enroll my current account in BDO’s online banking? If it is allowed, does it mean I need to submit the documents to my branch of account? If yes, then that would leave me no choice but to come in late.

Or maybe I can transfer my current account to BPI? Hmmm….

2009 Goals: A Review

At the start of 2009, I listed down our goals for 2009 (see story). Goal-setting is an important component of financial independence as you need to see where you want to be and be able to keep track on how you are doing.

Since this is the middle of the year, it’s time for me to check on the status of our goals.

1) Additional personal savings of PhP120,000.
*** Status: Done. I expect to save more from my salary before the year ends.

2) Ebay net earnings of at least PhP10,000 (earmarked for travel)
*** Status: 60% complete.

3) Add PhP12,000 to our mutual funds in Philam Fund, Inc. and GSIS Kabuhayan Fund.
*** Status: 33% behind. We are running behind in this goal. This is largely because of the unstable market and I’m quite nervous of placing more money in our mutual fund.

4) Start a retirement account of PhP12,000
*** Status: 50% complete. Just right on track.

5) Completely get rid of hubby’s credit card debt.
*** Status: 26K left. We expect to complete get rid of his CC debt by August 2009, four months ahead of schedule.

6) Pay off our car debt in full by November 2009.
*** Status: One month ahead of schedule. We expect to fully pay off the car loan by October 2009, one month earlier than we committed.

7) Save at least PhP140,000 from hubby’s salary.
*** Status: 50% complete

Optional goal: Travel to a foreign country
*** Status: Our Singapore travel is scheduled on October.

How about your goals?

BMS Bank’s latest TD offerings

BMS Bank Manager Lorecel Benitez emailed Pinay and Money to offer BMS Bank’s latest product offerings. Here’s the excerpt of her email.

BMS Bank offers you a safe way to dramatically improve the earning power of your savings. BMS Bank Inc. is a progressive rural bank with 12 branches in Cavite, Laguna and Rizal and its Head Office in Pasig City.

 Our deposit products are substantially higher-yielding than those being offered by other commercial banks. We can give you an interest rate of 7% p.a. for our short term (i.e. 30 days to 90 days) and up to 10% for a term of 6 months to 1 year. BMS Bank is completely safe as we are a member of PDIC and therefore afford all our depositors the maximum coverage of Php 500,000.00 per depositor.

 Experience unique banking convenience with our pick-up/delivery service. We would be glad to render personal servicing of your banking transactions by picking up checks for deposit, delivering deposit documents or check withdrawals, etc.,. No more queuing up… you’ll be able to complete your banking transaction without leaving the comfort of your home.

Take that first step towards vividly improving the earning power of your savings. Attached herewith is a sample computation of our Golden Savings Account and our Twin Emerald and Triple Diamond Savings Account. You may call us at 471-2033 or at 0915 716 8143 and we’ll be gladly address any further concerns/queries you might have.

For those interested, you can download the file to see how much BMS Bank is offering BMS bank (download here).

Note: Just a reminder to everyone to always diversify your money and make sure you research well about the bank or the investment product before placing your hard-earned money.

SMARTalk is not for me

Browsing the papers yesterday, I saw an article that said SMART has unveiled its SMARTalk service. From June 26 to September 30, 2009, all SMART subscribers can make unlimited calls to any SMART number.

I admit I felt excited with this one. My husband and I regularly call each other and the unlimited calls would be great for us, especially since we are both post-paid subscribers. Searching the SMART website, I found out more about this new service. And then the bubble burst…

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) indicates that to avail of the service, SMART Gold subscribers can buy SMARTalk Load 100 or 500 from any SMART load outlet. P500 is good for 30 days of unlimited calls while P100 is good for five days. But the load is on top of the monthly service fee that SMART charges its post-paid subscribers. In my case, this is either P100 or P500 more than my regular P800 monthly service fee.

This disappointed me because I try not to exceed my monthly allocation and I certainly don’t want to add on to it. The monthly service fee that I pay for already includes about 40 minutes of talk-time and about 200 free messages so I really don’t have a need for this new service.

SMARTtalk is potentially good for prepaid subscribers, who like calling their friends and families. Unfortunately, this is just additional expense for post-paid subscribers like.

Money Lessons from Michael Jackson

By now, you have heard the news that the King of Pop Michael Jackson has died.

Years before his death, we saw how the media and the general public made a laughingstock of the pop icon, with his ever-changing physical appearance to his never-ending financial woes. Despite of many years of fame, earning obscene amounts of money, we have seen Jackson fall into the trap of the money (mis) management web. It is just disheartening to note that the musical genius probably died broke.

Here are some money lessons that we can learn from Michael Jackson.

1) Live within your means.
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton once called the King of Pop “a millionaire living like a billionaire.” According to Hilton, despite the dwindling income of Jackson, he continued to live like a king, spending $400 for ice cream, lotions, etc.

2) Straighten out your life.
One major cause of his money problems was his never-ending legal battles. He paid millions in legal fees, shelling as much as $25 million to the family of the boy, who accused him of sexual molestation. Promoters also sued him for millions of dollars for breaches in contracts. All these could have been avoided (aside from the public humiliation he experienced) if he straightened out his life, kept his dick inside his pocket, and honored his obligations.

3) Be true to yourself.
Here’s where it all began, his pursuit to improve his physical appearance. Okay, Jackson suffers from vitiligo, a chronic dermatologic disorder that causes depigmentation in patches of skin. This is said to be the cause of Jackson’s formation from a black man to a white being.

But over the years, Jackson also had several surgeries to correct what he perceived to be his imperfections. He was also rumored to have used equipment to slow the process of aging. These treatments, whether aesthetic or medical, racked up his medical bills.

4) Learn to let go.
His Neverland ranch requires $3 million a year for maintenance. He was also unable to pay taxes for the famed tourist spot. Despite his increasingly dwindling financial resources, Jackson refused to let Neverland go. At the time of his death, he no longer has the deeds to Neverland.

At the end of it all, Michael Jackson was just like the rest of us. He committed the same money mistakes like any ordinary individual (of course, the amount is not the same). His life would have been much better—financially, physically, morally, mentally and emotionally—if he just got his act straight. I’m just glad that despite of all these, he will still be remembered as a musical genius.

Michael Jackson…gone too soon.

How to waive annual fee of BDO

Last week, I visited BDO to get the statement of account for my checking account. While waiting for the BDO personnel to get the document, I saw BDO’s flyer for its BDO Gold Credit Card.

Reading the Terms and Agreements of BDO Gold, I found that you only need an annual cumulative purchase of PhP180,000 to waive the annual fee. This also applies if the combined usage of the principal cardholder and the supplementary cardholder is PhP180,000.

However, this benefit only applies to the principal cardholder. If you are a supplementary cardholder, the annual membership fee is free for the first year only. You will charged for the succeeding years, irrespective of amount of card usage.

Why is this important? Because it is clearly stated in BDO flyers, BDO cardholders have the definite knowledge on how to waive its annual fee. Cardholders wouldn’t be given the runaround like what I experienced from BPI when I requested to have my annual fee waived (see story).

The PhP180,000 annual purchase is also not too bad. This is just about P15,000 a month. But always remember to pay in full after charging purchases to your credit card.