Memory Keeper

Scary! I recently watched a History Channel program about December 21, 2012: The Mayan Calendar.

According to the show, numerous figures in history have made mention of the eventuality of the End of Days— the ancient Oracles of Delphi and the Sybil, the Mayan calendar, the ancient Chinese I Ching, the Indian Hopis, Merlin (the 17th century seer, not the fictional King Arthur wizard), and St. John in the Book of Revelations. Even the Internet-based project Web-Bot has predicted the same thing.

Disturbingly, at least two of the references above—the Mayan calendar and Terence McKenna’s time wave formula based on the I Ching—have given a specific date for this cataclysmic event. The Mayans, who were obsessed with time-keeping, were somehow able to design a calendar so precise (surpassing the Gregorian calendar), it was able to predict lunar eclipses thousands of years into the future.

Using their astronomical calculations, The Mayans believed that the earth is composed of five natural cycles, and that a new cycle of the earth occurs every 26,000 years. The last and 5th cycle will end during the winter solstice in 2012. During that time, multiple alignments of planets, including the sun, will take place and a previously unknown star or a black hole located at the center of the galaxy will affect the sun.

This belief has some fact in science. About five years ago, scientists at NASA discovered a massive black hole right at the center of the Milky Way. They admitted an alignment could take place sometime in the near future. The effect of this multiple alignment would shift the earth’s axis slightly and create a reversal of the North and South Poles. This reversal already took place about 700,000 years ago. The effect of this shift would cause powerful earthquakes across all continents, great floods and tsunamis, and near-mass extinction of all animal and human species.

The wise and revered Cumean Sybil and Oracle of Sybil predicted several milestones in history centuries before they happened, such as the rise and fall of the Roman emperors, the liege of the British kings, the discovery of the Americas, the Black Plague that eradicated a quarter of the world’s population. They also foretold the modern wars (World Wars I & II) where ships swam at the bottom of the sea (submarines), chariots that breathed fire (tanks), and men who had wings (airplanes).

The English seer Merlin foresaw wars, diseases and natural catastrophes as a prelude to the end of the world. The Book of Revelations predicted the rise of the Anti Christ, terrorist attacks and the wars in the
Middle East. In a chilling coincidence, most of these events are occurring in this lifetime. The war in Afghanistan, North Korea smugly detonating underground nuclear test missiles, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Anthrax, SARS and now the H1N1 virus, global warming and climate change—glaciers the size of Texas in Antarctica melting at a rapid rate, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, record high temperatures causing widespread forest fires and killing off several animal species as well as sub-zero winters never seen before, just to name a few… are all these signs of the times we are living in?

If you look at it objectively, no one can predict the future. Throughout history, generations and cultures have feared the end of the world one time or another, but they were all wrong. Even religion teaches us the same mindset. In Catholicism, we believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, Judgment Day, which is also known as the end of the world. But at the same time, we don’t know when this is going to be. The moral teaching of this encourages us to live a good and clean life everyday because the world could very well end tomorrow.

From that standpoint, maybe having a little fear about the end of the world is healthy in a strange way. It urges us to live life to the fullest, to remind the people in our life how much they mean to us every day, to count our blessings, to wake up to a new day and be grateful simply because the sun still shines brightly in the sky and we continue to live, even if this moment is all we have left.

On December 21, 2012, I would have just turned 32. I would probably be married then. Although I am still relatively young, I have lived a good and full life to my standards—enjoyed my childhood and youth, remained close to my family and God; I have fallen madly in love, experienced heartbreak and pain, traveled to new places, and have put to use my education by working in the corporate world. Who knows, maybe I would have also gotten around to writing a novel and going to Paris by then. That’s my own personal prediction.

She does not think she could ever forgive him. That was the thought that remained with her long after the other anguished, furious emotions swirling through her with the force of a hurricane eventually dissipated into stillness.

Her first impulse was to quell her reaction, push the ugly thoughts and the tears deep, deep down to a place where she could not reach them even if she wanted to. But the tide rose gradually and brought with it the whole crumpled mess, nudging against the borders she tried so hard to erect. Her stomach ached with the effort of repression.

************

She opens her eyes. It is that time of the night when the moonlight shining through the window is the only thing the world consists of. That moment between awakening and sleep, she is uncertain where she is, despite the solid weight of the bed beneath her.

Within this silvery bubble of moonlight she feels disconnected from the present, the images she saw the previous afternoon seemingly unreal, like a dream she could forget with a blink of an eye. But even as she tried to convince herself that it was, in her mind’s eye she could see his careless beatific smile, mocking her. Forgetting came easily to him it seemed, and she wishes she could adopt the same.

It was the proverbial stab in the back, what he did. She allowed so few people in her life as a precaution, having learned the price of friendship the hard way over the years. People you thought were friends will hurt you and walk away, not necessarily in that order, she knew that now. She was wary of getting close to acquaintances, no matter how outwardly nice they seemed.

But him. He had been in her life forever. His roots had grown in her heart, twining with her veins and arteries. She loved him like family, despite the time and distance that had set them apart recently. To think he could casually toss her out of his life like a withered fern was excruciating. It was inexcusable.

Maybe his reasons are just the opposite, a voice in her whispered. You know him. Too well, that’s the problem. Just because you refuse to see doesn’t mean it’s not right. there.

Delving deeper into it was too much. She has misjudged herself.

The moonlight hovers, suspended and untouched by the inner battle going on inside her. She takes a minute to photograph this moment so she won’t linger. So she won’t turn back.

She will leave him here, their life’s memories ensconced in the shimmering light of a dream.

She closes her eyes. Now she can begin to forget.    

I was idly trawling the internet last night, watching videos of “Bones” on youtube, smiling at Booth and Brennan who seemed to be a perfect fit, then all at once saw a particular picture of them that resembled another couple I fell in love with a long time ago: Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lance.

The next second my fingers were flying over the keyboard to type “Silk Stalkings” in the search box, and wouldn’t you know it, several matches came up. I was immediately transported to the latter part of 1993, the TV in my bedroom blaring on Wednesday nights at 9 PM (after GMA’s Best) as I faithfully tuned in to the program that started my TV addiction for years to come. Sergeants Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lance, Palm Beach Police Department’s ‘dynamic duo’, meant so much to me they practically existed in my 12-year old reality.

It wasn’t so much the cases they solved– crimes of passion in posh, ultra-wealthy Palm Beach, Florida– that drew me in, not by a long shot, but rather the relationship between the two gorgeous leads. They shared great chemistry– worked well together, flirted a bit, bickered a lot. They were best friends who were (over)protective of each other and would lay their lives down for the other without a second thought. Their friendship was platonic but often times contained an undercurrent of romance that rose up to the surface during a few episodes.

My fervent adolescent wish was for them to end up together. Chris and Rita’s relationship set the standard as my definition of a perfect romance– a good foundation for a relationship began with friendship before developing into something more– as I grew up, this standard I believe in even to this day, a jaded 28-year old multinational employee; light-years away from the scrawny wide-eyed 12-year old high school freshman I once was.

Tragedy then struck when GMA 7 suddenly replaced ‘Silk Stalkings’ after less than three seasons with another Stephen J. Cannell production, action series ‘Renegade’ (that would shortly sink down to the bottom of TV history). I was in tears as I watched the last episode they aired– a devastated Chris believing Rita had been murdered in her apartment, later revealing the body to be Rita’s house sitter. As last episodes went, it was a great one, since the storyline explored their relationship and further reinforced their bond by the end of the hour. I was infinitely sad as I closed the TV afterwards because I thought they were destined to be just friends forever, and that was the end of it.

It wasn’t until a few years later I learned that they did end up together in the fifth season. They got married and Rita got pregnant (not in that order). But they didn’t ride off into the sunset as I hoped; right after their beach wedding Chris was shot and killed by a hired assassin that kidnapped Rita. She then handed in her badge and gun and left Palm Beach to parts unknown in order to raise their unborn child in peace. Sometimes fiction is closer to reality than we think.

Since then, I’ve moved on to other onscreen couples– Scandal & Danielle (Cobra), Dr. Quinn & Sully (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), Doug Ross & Carol Hathaway (ER), Max & Kenny (Picket Fences), Mulder & Scully (The X-Files), Booth & Brennan (Bones); pairings with good chemistry and happy endings. But Chris & Rita, my original dynamic duo– like all warm and fuzzy childhood comforts– is the one that feels most like home to me.

Got this idea from a tag topic on Facebook. Just thought I’d post a copy here. J

1. I was christened Maria Margarita at birth. The former given by my dad who wanted ‘Maria’ to be part of his daughters’ names, and the latter courtesy of my mom’s favorite cocktail. My childhood nickname was EmEm– a chopped-up version of the first letters of my names. A neighbor of mine used to call me Gremlin, but that’s another story.

2. Contrary to what most people know, I am not an only child. I had a baby sister named Maria Cecilia (nicknamed Macee) who was born prematurely in 1984 and died 16 days later. 

3. I wrote my first poem when I was eleven. It was entitled ‘Imaginary Love’. J

4. My favorite food in the whole world is my mom’s mashed potatoes. I could eat them for the rest of my life.

5. When I was in sixth grade, I secretly sent my crush typewritten love letters signed in code (inspired by my Nancy Drew phase). To my mortification, he eventually found out who I was.

6.  I can see ghosts. (insert scary music here)

7.  As seemingly prim & proper as I am now, I was the kind of kid who climbed roofs, played patintero and hide & seek with the other neighborhood kids, and ate fishballs sold on the street (with chili and sweet sauce mixed together, yummy!). We rode our bicycles everywhere during summer vacations, and played and danced in the rain during the rainy months.

8. I love to read ever since I could remember. I can spend four straight hours with my nose buried in a good book.

9. At the office, I absolutely cannot work without music playing in the background. The silence is suffocating for me. (Which is kinda ironic, because outside the office I find silence comforting.)

10. I spent my worst and best birthday in 2002 when my dad was in the ICU after undergoing a triple bypass at the
Heart Center. He left me a birthday card with actual instructions to access his will and bank documents in the event of his death. But on the morning of my birthday, he regained consciousness and groggily waved to me from the window of the ICU. It was the best birthday gift I ever received.

11. I believe in reincarnation and would like to undergo past life regression hypnosis. I once dreamt I was being chased in the woods at night by village people with torches screaming bloody murder. As crazy as it sounds, I have the strangest feeling I was a witch in a past life.   

12. In college, I was supposed to graduate cum laude but didn’t because of a single measly subject that didn’t make the cut-off grade. It was a math subject.  L

13. I can be a great friend, but once a friend hurts or betrays me, it’s impossible for me to go back to the way things were. Most of the time I just have to walk away.

14. My dream is to go to Paris and write a novel.

15. I used to love watching horror movies (I didn’t even flinch when I watched ‘The Exorcist’), until I hit my mid-20’s for some weird reason. Now Reagan scares the crap out of me.    

16. Some of my friends say I’m neurotic because I tend to over-analyze things to death.

17. To date, I’ve had three boyfriends: my first love, my escape hatch, and my true love.

18. A professor courted me when I was a college sophomore; he was handsome and smart and the crush on campus (then again, that’s not saying much since it was an exclusive school). Then one day he just disappeared. I later read in the paper that he was jailed due to rape of a minor.

19. I’m OC when it comes to accessorizing. I’m one of those crazy people who can’t leave the house wearing a black belt and brown shoes. LOL J

20. When I was 15, I modeled for a teen magazine. Then five years later, the magazine went out of circulation.

21. My first job after college at a Japanese engineering firm was like a corporate boot camp. It was hell, but after a year, I emerged from it a more mature and resilient person.

22. I love theme parks and all the scary rides that come with it.

23. Places that provide me solace are churches and bookstores.

24.  I absolutely love cold weather. If I could, I’d be perfectly happy to live in Baguio or Tagaytay.

25. I love my life and I thank God everyday for all the blessings He’s given me.

Another year about to end, forever lost to the recesses of time; we shall never pass this way again.

And as always, I’m tapping out an entry for posterity before the memories fade away as soon as another page turns. 2008 was above all, about the death of a friend and colleague, Binchy Mayuga: a premature and shocking death at 38 years old. A beautiful person so full of energy, vibrancy and faith that life found him too much to contain. Even 10 months after his passing, I still can’t believe he’s really gone.

2008 marked the continuing story between Mawel and I—my longest relationship thus far I’m proud to say! He was transferred full time to CDO in July after a job promotion and although he gets to fly home only twice a month, true love can indeed withstand any physical distance.

I was able to visit Davao this June for a company event; it was a nice change of scenery and I’m always appreciative of visiting new places.

Major addictions this year include: the Twilight series (not the movie though) & David Cook. And my beautiful new laptop. J I started going to the gym to engage in serious exercise for a healthier (and sexier!) me.

Global economic recession was officially announced this year—the worst since the 1930’s Depression, and we are starting to feel the heat. Our office has suffered in terms of sales performance and had to lay off several workers which is always difficult. We witnessed history in the making when the first-ever black President of the United States was elected, Barack Obama, who represents a new age in America and the world. Even if hard times continue into the next year, we are hoping that he will serve as a beacon of hope. 

Resolution in 2009:  Save money! (I always make this vow every New Year’s but I’ve yet to do it) Yeah!

So, how did I end the year? On a positive note: being serenaded by my boyfriend with romantic ballads amidst all the fireworks going off in the background. (wink)

Happy New Year everyone! Cheers!

I’ve read Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series long before the fan frenzy started and spread like vampire venom. Initially I was hesitant to read the books because they catered to tweens, but glowing reviews from the New York Times, Washington Post, and the fact that it stayed on the former’s bestseller list for several months in 2007 piqued my curiosity. (Also, I was a fan of Harry Potter—and this franchise originally targeted juvenile readers not even hitting puberty, so.)

Like any warm-blooded female, I immediately fell in love with Edward Cullen. I wanted him to ditch that wussy Bella and bite my neck, and we would live out the rest of eternity driving a red-hot Porsche. But since fate had other things in store for both of us, I didn’t take it personally.

Edward and Bella’s saga was mesmerizing; the classic case of an alternate universe that was the stuff great stories are made of. Boy and girl Meet Cute in high school, fall in love and go to the prom together. But the guy happens to be a vampire who’s 107 years old and the ordinary, mortal girl is in danger of being his next meal every time he holds her hand. It’s the type of premise that requires one’s imagination to work overtime, but it actually works.

So when I heard that Hollywood was going to do a movie based on the first book, I was thrilled. It was understandable to envision various actors for the roles of the two titular characters. Brandon Routh of ‘Superman Returns’ immediately popped into mind to play perfect, chiseled, statuesque Edward. I half-hoped the pale, brunette lead on the TV series ‘Wildfire’ would audition for Bella, because she had sort of a shy, isolated feel about her.

Nevertheless, I could hardly wait to see the screen adaptation. I twisted my boyfriend’s arm months ago to accompany me to watch Twilight upon its release, and we were planning to watch it on Dec. 1, a holiday. But as it turned out, I couldn’t wait that long, so I found myself taking a half-day leave last Friday just to catch the mid-afternoon screening at ATC. It didn’t matter that I was by myself, or I was playing hooky. I simply needed to watch Twilight.

It’s hard at first to determine why I found the movie to be disappointing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that if a story is based on a book, the reader has a clear understanding of the essence of the characters—the way they think, speak, move. Kristen Stewart is a visual Bella without any problem. She pulled off her character’s lonely, reclusive and clumsy nature and her mumbly manner of speaking. The problem was that she was so intent on portraying Bella’s monotonous personality that it completely overwhelmed everything else about her character. Take the pivotal moment when Edward came into her life, for example. Meyer’s Bella encountered a rapture once she met Edward. It was like she found a reason to live, an otherworldly passion she had never before experienced in her life. It was complicated given Edward’s background, and she was confused, but overall she believed she found the love of her life.

Stewart was unable to translate that essential part of Bella onscreen. She came off as stiff and lifeless in all the scenes where she was supposed to portray shock, fear and love. When Edward admits he’s a vampire, she hardly looks like she just received the most surprising news of her life. When he shows her what he looks like in the sunlight, her murmured reaction of “You’re beautiful” was as flat as the words typed on the script.

Robert Pattinson as Edward turned out to be surprisingly good, especially next to Stewart’s Bella. He is not exactly the perfect visual of Edward, but then again, I don’t think any real guy can look like him, Hollywood actor or no. I have to give credit to Pattinson for literally seeing his effort to epitomize the character. You can see his inner struggle for control. His intense eyes are beautiful, and the glowering looks he sends a clueless Bella is believable. I can believe he is a vampire, and an attractive one at that. In fact, the first time Pattinson appeared onscreen, all the teenage girls (and gays) in the theater started shrieking, much to my amusement. (Similar shrieking and howling ensued during the romantic scenes)

I liked the actors who played the Cullens. The actor who portrayed Carlisle fit him to a T. Esme was lovely. Alice was the only one who looked remotely graceful. Emmett was a cocky hoot whose screen presence was enough to make me chuckle. Rosalie wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the book described, but Nikki Reed certainly had Rosalie’s hatred towards Bella down pat. And Jasper… looked disturbed.

I wish the movie had gotten more material from the 500-page novel. It featured a great soundtrack, but it didn’t mask the fact that they used it to fill in the empty and unnecessary parts—like Edward climbing the tallest pine tree in the forest with Bella on his back. We’ve already seen him display his amazing strength and inhuman speed in earlier scenes, so why the need for a human monkey scaling trees with rock music playing in the background? I wish they had provided more dialogue to Jacob. His critical conversation with Bella on the beach was clipped and devoid of any real emotion (but then again, that could just be Kristen Stewart).

Sadly, for all its hype and impressive advertising campaign, the movie lacks bite. It’s mediocre at best. The supposedly fascinating vampire angle is hardly explored, and the screen versions of Edward and Bella lacked any real depth. The crucial discussion of immortality in the book was merely mentioned in the movie. And there are a few scenes that will make you reach for your phone and check for messages.  

But at the end of the day, if you’re a fan of the book, you should still see the movie. I know that the expectations of the screen adaptation of a great book is high and at times, unrealistic. But there have been fairly good movies based on books—the Harry Potter series, for instance. Chevalier’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ screen adaptation riveted me as much as the book did, and ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ was even more hilarious than Fielding’s novel.         

When I texted my boyfriend that I found the movie to be a waste of 170 bucks (during this economic recession of ours, no less), he teased me that even if ‘Twilight’ didn’t excite me, he bet I would still watch the sequel when it comes out. And he’s right.

1.

It was stitched at the bottom-left corner of the navy blue bath towel hanging from a hook; sewn in a girlish loopy script in pale pink silk thread was her name, Belen.

Sitting on the loo with a hand resting on my chin, that one word stared at me at eye-level and suddenly brought on a wave of melancholy. My grandfather must have had the same matching navy blue bath towel, with his own name etched on the bottom-left corner: Lino. But it had been two years since his death and my grandmother had folded it away in a box along with his other clothes to give away to relatives or the electrician.

Now that she was the sole owner of the bathroom, there was no need to hang up a towel with a reminder of whom it belonged to. There would be no confusion over whose towel it was, no countering that the other one’s towel was out in the backyard hanging on a clothesline to dry. It was the only bath towel left, it was only my grandmother who was left.

2.

She cut most of her hair off in a surprisingly chic bob. The cut suits her wavy pearl hair. I’ve never seen her sport such a short cut before; she always had thick long curly hair that she kept up in an old-fashioned bun near the base of her neck. It has since become the uniform hairstyle I associated with grandmothers.

The only times I saw her with flowing, unbound hair was when she and my grandfather spent the night over at our house. Clad in a nightgown, she would brush it out carefully before going to bed. As a child whose mind was filled with fairytales and books, I thought she looked like a lovely, albeit haunting, Victorian lady.

My mother was ecstatic upon seeing her new look; she gushed that she should’ve had it cut a long time ago. My grandmother merely smiled and I, sitting next to her in the backseat, wondered if she cut her hair off as a symbol of mourning, the same way Native American wives do when their husbands died in battle. Or maybe she saw her hair as a heavy weight binding her and wanted to be free of it. I read in a book that memories are retained in our hair; the longer it gets, the more memories are stored in each strand. Maybe that’s why our hair weighs us down, our heads heavy as we walk around. I used to be one of those girls who took out her problems on her hair. During my student days, I invariably found myself heading for the salon for a quick cathartic snip when the solution to a particular problem eluded me.

Whatever the reason, my grandmother refused to divulge and leaned back on the seat, lifting a hand to absently pat the base of her neck, like trying to remember a phantom memory from long ago.

3.

There were deep scratch marks gouged in one of the armchairs in the living room, courtesy of my cousin’s stupid dog. The mantelpiece was cluttered with photographs of her grandchildren, eighteen in all, minus the one who had died as a baby—my sister. There were new paintings on the white walls, presumably to brighten up the room with their vibrant hues. There were no noticeable traces of dust on the furniture, but nevertheless the room gave off a feeling of neglect, of abandonment.

My grandmother, seated in the other armchair that was not victimized by the psychotic dog, seemed content to sit there the whole afternoon as she chatted with her daughter-in-law about a particular case of a failed marriage of the present day, spanning a total of four months before the couple got an annulment. Young people nowadays don’t try hard enough to make their marriage work because there’s an easy way out, she muses. She married her best friend just before the Japanese invasion, in order to have a husband to protect her from the soldiers’ filthy raping and pillaging. After the war was over, she could’ve separated from him, but instead went on to spend 60 years of marital bliss. That was the rule in the old days, but today a marriage like theirs was the exception.

After all the children have grown, it’s inevitable that they leave home. That’s just how life is. I listened to her words and thought, has it been worth it? She has six children but no one remained near to take care of her, even after their father died. She seemed to blend in the furniture of this place, becoming part of the silent atmosphere of the forgotten. I made the conscious decision to remain close to my parents a long time ago. I didn’t have a choice if you look at it morally. I was the only living child they had. Who would take care of them in their old age? I couldn’t bear the thought of either one of them being part of a silent room, watching dust motes dancing in the air as they sit in broken chairs, thinking, that’s just how life is.

4.

Still breathing, was my grandmother’s reply to how she was doing. She said this with a laugh, like it was the punch line to some cosmic joke. I hugged her good-bye, telepathically telling her to keep breathing until Christmas, until I turn thirty, until my wedding day, until I place her first great-grandchild in her arms. Until I can show her that I can try hard enough to make my marriage last a lot longer than four months.

I suppose love makes it all worth it, as cliché as it sounds. Love is what continues to sustain you to live after loss, to sole occupancy of an abandoned room decorated with gossamer dust from the past. She doesn’t need her hair to retain the memories; she keeps them alive all around her, of a home filled with the sounds of laughter and footsteps of six boisterous children and a husband that protected her from the meaning of singularity, of loneliness.    

Work today was interesting for a change, since Prof. Andy Ferreria of AIM came to visit as a guest speaker for our WIL monthly meeting. His topic was on Achieving Financial Freedom: A Guide to a Happy Retirement.

I initially attended only for the sake of attending because I personally didn’t think the topic applied to me, being several decades away from retirement. But it turned out to be surprisingly a serendipitous moment for me that I think I’ll remember for a long time to come.

Prof. Andy retired at the ripe old age of 32 because he was able to be ‘financially free’ by then, which meant that he was able to achieve his financial goal of saving up to a certain amount that he can live on—making the money work for him, not working for the  money anymore. After ceasing to be a corporate slave and becoming financially independent, he started to do what he really wanted: to teach. It didn’t pay much and he even shouldered his hotel and airfare expenses in order to teach at a distant university in Zamboanga, but he didn’t care because it was his dream, and he had the money.

Sounds unbelievable right? But he went on to spend an hour and a half sharing with us his secrets to attain this seemingly impossible feat.

-          Live within your means. If you earn P100, don’t spend P120. Who will pay for the P20? Your credit card. Which means…

-          …Settle your loans as quickly as possible. For me, that means paying off my credit card debt instead of routinely paying only the interest rate or minimum amount due. Otherwise I’ll be a slave for life if I keep on spending outside my means and building up my debt.

-          Follow the 80-20 rule: Spend 80% of your salary and save the 20% every month.

-          The 80% you spend (aside from the monthly expenses such as food, utilities, rent, etc) should be spent on an item that increases value and not decreases it. A good example he gave is jewelry: if you need to buy jewelry, buy gold instead of silver. Silver tarnishes over time but the value of gold increases. And if ever you need the money, you can pawn gold jewelry. (Same goes for watches: buy the original ones instead of the cheaper ones because of its escalating worth.)

-          The 20% you set aside should not be kept (and he couldn’t keep on stressing this enough) in a savings account. Why?

-          Here’s why: first of all, if you’re really serious about setting a financial goal for your retirement, you need to sit down and do the following things: 

Make a list of everything you want to retain in your lifestyle once you retire and their corresponding cost today. (Me I want to be able to travel abroad once a year.) Then sum up the total cost. Then you need to compound the amount, which involves the annual inflation rate. So for example, if the total cost is P100 this year and the inflation rate is 10% every year, then your cost will be P110 next year and P121 the year after that. So compute it until you reach your retirement age, say 30 years from now. That amount will more or less be at least the figure you need to save by that time in order to live the lifestyle you want by the time you retire.

-          So going back to the 20% you set aside, you need to manage your personal wealth wisely. You don’t need to be earning big bucks in order to achieve your desired goal; you just need to start earlier, the better. Your money you save should be more than the inflation rate every year. You can’t achieve that by living on the measly 2.5% interest rate in your savings account while the inflation rate jumps up from 9% to 12% on a good day in our economy. Instead, you should invest your money. Which brings us to:

-          Speculative investment, Capital or Owner investment, and Lending investment. A good combination of the three kinds of investment in the pyramid is the key.

-          Speculative investment: lotto, casinos, 5-6 etc. This investment is advisable for those in their 30’s, since if they lose, they’re young enough to start over again. High risk, high pay-off.

-          Capital or Owner investment: Small businesses, real estate, government or corporate bonds, mutual funds. Good for those in their 40’s. Income takes longer to generate but lower risk.
 

-          Lending investment: You lend your money to the bank which their clients use to borrow as a loan. (I forget what this is called) You live on the interest, which is much higher than the savings account or time deposit can offer. Advisable for those near retirement age. Consistent income and lowest risk.

-          The Capital investment, specifically mutual funds (with 20% interest per annum) caught my attention. He phrased it in a creative way: if a smoker can invest the P40 a day he’s using to buy a pack of cigarettes in a mutual fund instead, do you know he can be earning P14 million  in 30 years just by that amount alone? Interesting right? Instead of nagging a particular smoker I know to quit smoking because of the usual dangerous consequences to his health, I can just casually rattle off this number and watch his inner entrepreneur and nicotine addict struggle for domination.

-          Tip on real estate: when you buy a property, make sure you have a plan for it. Are you planning on building a condo later on and renting it out? Or are you just waiting for its value to appreciate then sell it after several years? Which brings us to the fact that you should choose the location of your property. The areas where you purchase it should be a place where the land is increasing in value and not the other way around. Your best bet is the pre-development value, which is usually 40% less than the development value of the property. Also, you need to be careful in choosing a respectable developer, someone who will be sure to develop the land and subsequently catapult its worth. Otherwise, you’re stuck in pre-development hell forever.

-          Going to small businesses… of all the financial instruments, do you know this is the investment where you can get the biggest and fastest gains? Prof. Andy gave us some pointers on this: You need to have the passion for your product or service; you have to personally love or be interested in what you’re planning to sell. Second of all, you need to have a market for your product. This is a package deal: you can’t have either/or. Next, you need to be able to provide this product (food, for example) with consistent quality. And finally, you need to start your business small first, as a sort of actuarial feasibility study. One of the examples he gave us was a simple barbeque stand. Start small: set up your barbeque stand in your garage, open your gate and let your neighbors be your customers. Your product needs to have consistent quality; that is, same taste every day. If you gain a lot of customers, you’re ready for an expansion. If not, well, at least you don’t have to worry about food for the rest of the week.

-          He also mentioned a good point: who says you don’t have the time to manage a small business? I f we spend an average of 7 hours on sleep, 8 hours at work, 1 hour for breakfast and dinner, and 2 hours on the road a day, what do we do with the 6 hours left? He brought up the idea of a setting up a night school supplies store in your local barangay. Lots of kids inform their working parents of their last-minute needs in school for projects only during dinner when they get together as a family. By that time it’ll be too late to go to the mall. So where can you go to buy the supplies? A nice small school supplies store carrying the basic last-minute items students forever need: illustration boards, cartolina sheets, glue, etc. Sell them at prices 30% more than at the bookstore and you’ll still sell them because it’s an oasis to desperate and overworked parents. You can be open at 7 to 12 pm and earn extra income right there.  

Interesting stuff for me. I know it is because I was able to jot all of these points down from memory. This insightful talk made me realize a life-altering idea: I don’t have to be a corporate slave until I’m 60. If I can manage my personal wealth as early as now, I can achieve financial freedom at a much younger age and pursue my life’s dream of being a writer. The day will come when I can afford to sit down and write my novels because I’m not working for money anymore; I’m making money work for me.