Get On The Bandwagon

Do you have savings or time deposits sitting to make 2-5% profit a year? Don't be too excited, with the current year's inflation at 2-3%, you're really not taking home a lot.

Stock market pays for experts, amateurs
By Alcuin Papa, Elizabeth Sanchez-Lacson
Inquirer
Last updated 02:03am (Mla time) 10/14/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The profits they make in the stock market on a weekly or even daily basis can easily equal, if not rival, most monthly salaries of fairly high-level corporate executives.

But Danny Go and Bonner Dytoc, middle-class blokes who are not even 40 yet, consider themselves no different from the rest of us. Except for the fact that they are smiling all the way to the bank.

The mass of Filipinos may not yet be feeling the effects of the new highs in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi). But market traders like Go and Dytoc have been making a killing since the local market started rising around a year ago.

If you want to get serious about making your money grow, please invest them. For the young ones new to the word investing, it's a way of making your money grow without you having to lift a finger. Or, at least not that much. There are a lot of instruments around that can make that happen for you, from bonds, mutual funds and stocks. Your choices will just depend on how much "reward" you want to get.

Have you heard of NAVs, UITFs, portfolio, diversification and asset allocation? If these are too foreign, how about "taking profits"? Now, we're talking... To put it simply, those are but a few words that go along making passive income.

If you're a little anxious, don't worry. There's a crowd of investing newbies and experts that are grazing the PinoyMoneyTalk forums, sharing knowledge and ideas about financial matters. The threads are very inspiring and informative. Here's to share a few:

How to budget money, manage time and maximize your money-making experience

Malaki na ba ang makaipon ng P1M by age 30?

I hope everybody takes time to sit in the forums and educate themselves. A lot of what you'll learn here are stuff they never teach in school. Get out of the rat race and be prosperous, Pinoys! Don't be left behind!

Myanmar Unfolding

You probably heard already what's going on in Myanmar...

Myanmar: Nine dead in crackdown

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Nine people have been killed in a crackdown on anti-government protests in Myanmar, after attempts to clear demonstrators from the streets of Yangon on Thursday, authorities say.

The dead include eight protesters and a Japanese man, Myanmar authorities said, adding that another 11 protesters were injured.

An American witness told CNN soldiers waded into a crowd of protesters in Myanmar and beat several of them mercilessly, at least one of them to death

"All of a sudden, the police and military guys started coming toward the crowd, and all of a sudden started beating them and running after them," said the woman, who witnessed the incident from atop a nearby building.

"And in one corner they got around, maybe, five or seven people, and they started beating them so bad for almost five minutes, and then they took them and put them in trucks.

"And there was this one guy, laying down on the floor, and he was dead. And then these same police came a few minutes later and picked him up and took him to the police station."

Red-robed Buddhist monks who had led several days of marches were largely absent from the streets Thursday after soldiers raided monasteries the night before. Monks reportedly were beaten and taken into custody or confined to the monasteries.

It was just a few weeks ago when I saw Jim Carrey at YouTube, not his usual comic self, trying to raise awareness in Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy crusade. Now, it has caught the eyes of the international community.

Philippine history of not too long ago would probably bear the closest semblance to these events, and I don't think Filipinos would have a hard time relating to the Burmese people. Napagdaanan na natin yan, di ba? Somehow I can't help but feel fortunate that we've dug ourselves out from the same predicament (at least, to some degree).

How bad is it over there that the military junta has to govern from hidden headquarters? If you have a few minutes to spare, check this site out and know the answer.

No one would be willing to trade places and liberties with the Burmese. Ninety percent of the population is living under just one dollar a day.

"Please, use your liberty to promote ours." - Aung San Suu Kyi