Seeing the Fruits of our Labor

I have set up a personal fund (intended for educational fund for my future child) way back in 2009 when my salary was meager and just enough to get by. I am really happy I did because looking at the statement of account that was delivered to me last month (Yep! I just opened the mail today.) I am really delighted to see that my money produced money after 6 years.

Imagine, I started with 9Php per share and now it’s at 37Php. I am estimating an increase of 68% after 6 years. Banks could never beat that. Thank you so much PhilEquity. J

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How I/we started

If I remember correctly, the last recession was 2008 and I started investing March 2009. Frankly speaking I am not a disciplined saver that time yet and I was just adding 1000Php every time I have extra. Would you believe until 2014 I did not put a regular amount on my PhilEquity account? Silly me.

For the past couple of years we put most of our hard-earned money in FAMI-SALEF. We withdrew some shares to fund our wedding and after that we began rebuilding the fund again. As of today I can say that we are almost at the same level as before (the wedding.) It’s not yet celebration time but we know we are getting there. ^_^

For 2015, we are planning to put more money on PhilEquity since according to our review it has the best performance among other mutual fund companies. And also, this is the fund dedicated for the education of our child and children to be (if we are that blessed) so we need to beef it up.

I will try my best to put a constant amount beginning January of 2015. All I need is a little dedication and an effective plan. I’ll just need to find the balance especially because we are going to have our little angel soon.

Till then. ^_^

The Garlic Challenge

Remember the time when the garlic price shot up 300%? I was really devastated that time. I love cooking and I love putting lots of garlics and onions whenever I sauté so it was really upsetting when the price went up.

I challenged myself to plant some garlic starting with a few cloves. I planted last Sept 27, 2014 and waited patiently for sprouts.

It took the garlic two weeks before I saw something green protruding.

I was really happy when the shoot came out! 

This is how it looks now. (After 3 days.)

Happy planting! J

We were really into gardening lately...

I don’t usually complain about things but our backyard is really upsetting me lately. I told Paul about this few weeks ago and he agreed that we need to do something about it. So we scheduled a weekend to work on it.

Last weekend we bought some pole bamboos, some Bermuda grass and ornamental plants. We worked in the backyard all day just to finish the first phase. (Actually majority of the work was done by husband because I am not allowed to work much.)  Although we still have a long way to go, we are really pleased with what we see in our backyard today compared to how it was.

No Photo yet. Will update once backyard is okay.  J

My husband wants to have a zen inspired garden. And because of that I don’t have enough space to plant my herbs and vegetables. So the plan is to plant in containers/pots. I’ve read about container gardening in other blogs and I am really excited about the idea.

As of writing I have 2 pots of ginger, 1 pot of onions, 4 pots of onion leaves and 1 pot of dill (needs to be replanted). I also have pandan planted on the ground. I am looking forward to planting some pepper, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other vegetables.

Onions

Ginger

Onion Leaves

It is really a challenge having so little space for planting. But I am grateful because with the space that we have we are learning how to manage everything. We keep things simpler today and we try to learn about plants every day.

That’s it for today. We will share more about our progress on the next coming weeks. J

On Marriage, Being a Wife and Having a Child

More than a year ago I married my beloved man, my best friend my confidant and my everything. It was such a wonderful day attended by the most important people in our lives.

Together as one we started a life. We moved to a house far away from the city. Every day we commute to work.  As much as possible we don’t want to waste money on gas. Our commute from house to work is much more bearable than the ones taking MRT every day at the same time traffic is not very good for the health of the driver.

As much as possible I would want us to have packed foods not only because it is cheaper but they are healthier. During the weekdays I would wake up few hours earlier than my husband to prepare for the day’s food. In return my husband would prepare sumptuous meals during the weekends. Mind you my husband is way much better than me when it comes to cooking. So I guess I am lucky! J

Every day he had to endure the grueling hours I spend on work. Oh my work! But he never forced or imposed anything on me. He wants me to go on with my career and explore more in the corporate world. On the other hand I never objected on the decisions he made on his career either. We just supported each other.

My husband is a very simple man. We never splurged much on date nights or movie nights. Most of the times, movie night means watching TV together in our humble abode. We would go out to buy some snacks before turning the TV on and switching the lights off. We would go on a road trip from time to time to just get out of our usual routine.

We would always touch base with our friends. We know how important it is to have our own circle but we are no strangers to each other’s friends. Recently we’ve been spending much more time with his former officemates because the activities they want are simpler. Well I cannot hike with my condition right now so I am contenting myself with afternoon walks with our trusted “Tsa-tsa.”

And now we are blessed with our own child. We are so excited with the news at the same time scared. Questions like “Are we ready to become parents?”, “Can we really raise this child?”, “What does future hold?” and many more are turning in our heads. But what the heck! We’ve been praying for our child - our very own child. So I guess no matter what the future holds we can make it through especially because we have very supportive families and friends.

Now we are excited to arrange the house to become baby friendly! So help us God. J

A New Fund to Try - Soldivo

I’ve received a text message from my Mutual Fund broker about the opening of Soldivo Funds on October 8, 2014. At first I was just thinking “Okay another fund to try.” But then it gets serious when one of my friends is willing to try it also. So we decided to place a small amount of money for the initial investment. I also plan to put additional investments monthly to take advantage of the peso cost averaging.

Anyway the fund we are going to open an account with is the SOLDIVO Strategic Growth Fund. Before deciding to put our money in it, I talked to my broker and asked questions below:

Minimum Initial Amount = P5000.00

Minimum additional = P1000.00

How much is the Entry Fee? Not more than 3.36%

How much is the Exit Fee? 1.12%

How long is the holding period? 6 Months

Partner bank for deposits or bills payment? BPI

They don’t have the online payment facility yet but I am hoping and praying and I am positive about it that they will make this improvement since it is easier for investors to just transfer funds online.

For now I am going to issue post-dated checks for my succeeding deposits. It’s much easier that way and of course this method forces me to set aside money.

For more information you can download the Prospectus of SOLDIVO Strategic Growth Fund here.

Happy Investing! J