Typhoon Juan

Satellite image of typhoon Juan released by PAGASA on Oct. 17, 2010 at 5 AM

Typhoon Juan internationally known as typhoon Megi is expected to make a landfall at the northen part of the Philippines on Monday morning, this is as per PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration), the nation's weather bureau.  The typhoon is expected to be a strong one with a maximum sustained wind of 160 KPH at the center.

Typhoons just like any other natural calamities are out of our control ... the only thing we can do is to be well prepared.  And speaking of being prepared, it's good to know that as early as yesterday, local government units especially those who are expected to be directly hit by typhoon Juan are doing preparations to somehow keep the damage to life and properties  to a minimum as possible.  Watching the news last night, food and water are stacked at the evacuation centers, lifeboats are being prepared, crops were harvested, livestocks are transferred to safe areas and people living at danger areas (prone to landslide and flood) were being requested to evacuate.

Of course there are still others who are hard headed, those who refuse to be evacuated because no one will look after their houses/properties.  Wow, material things are important than their lives ...what kind of thinking is that?  I understand that properties are important to us because it took time and lots of effort to accumulate all those things, but common, we won't enjoy those things if we're not already around.  I hope these kind of thinking for some people would change and just cooperate with their local authorities for smoother, easier and effective disaster management. 

Here in Metro Manila, as of this writing, the sun is up and no hint of any typhoon (it's because were our of the typhoon's path) but just the same here at home, we are preparing.  Emergency lamps are charged, food supplies are checked, we regularly monitor the weather update and most of all pray.  Yes, the best weapon we have for times like this is prayer.

It's My Husband's Birthday

Today is Andrew's birthday.  Happy Birthday papa ... you and the kids are the best gift God has given me.  I love you and I'll always will.

We planned to take a whole day leave at the office today but later on we decided to just meet after office hours.  However, I took an afternoon leave at the office so I have some time to buy a birthday gift for my husband but I just can't decide what to give him ... I'm not really good at buying and giving gifts ... I ended up buying some things for myself ...ha ha ha.

It's good that he left his office earlier so we have time to shop together.  I let him choose what he wanted for his birthday ... so problem solved, I have bought him a gift which he likes and definitely he will use.

After a little shopping, we had our dinner at Tony Roma's.  Andrew loves steaks ... and treating him to a tenderloin steak at Tony Roma's was a real treat for him.

Great food ... great view.

Mouth-watering medium rare tenderloin steak with baked potatoes and mixed vegetables.

After our dinner we went home immediately because the kids are calling and are asking why we did not bring them to dinner with us. Well, we're a little guilty but sometimes it's nice to have a little time just for ourselves.  Anyway we'll be having an extended celebration of my husband's birthday on weekend together with the kids.

Why and How I Started Investing/Trading in the Stock Market

 Last year as an effect of the global economic crisis, the bank's interest rate on deposit accounts was reduced tremendously that my little savings deposited on my time deposit account earned a very minimal interest.  Starting from 5% annual interest, it dropped to as low as 2.5% annual interest.  A 20% withholding tax is still to be deducted from the meager earnings I get from my savings.


This situation pushed me to start reading books from financial experts.  I bought books written by Mr. Robert Kiyosaki and Mr. Colayco and registered to Bro. Bo's Truly Rich Club.  Having read the insights of these financial experts, my financial outlook in life changed.  I now understand the value of investing.

There are different investment vehicle available in the market but what really caught my attention is the stock market.  Before, my perception about stock market is that, only the rich with large amount of capital can invest in this market and that it's a very complicated and difficult thing to learn.  But when I started reading articles from Truly Rich Club regarding the stock market, little by little I was enlightened. 

Of course, I did not immediately plunged into investing in the stock market, I did a lot of readings first not only from Bro. Bo's Truly Rich Club but also from other sources.  I visited Philippine Stock Exchange website and monitored the stock's movement of companies I'm interested in.  I also visited CitiSecOnline website, the online stockbroker Bro. Bo recommends and I attended the free seminars they hosted.  In other words, I did a research on stock market's ins and outs (at least the basic ones) before I opened an account at Citisec.

Now, it's more than one year since I started investing/trading in the Philippines Stock market and I'm really happy that I did.  It's high risk, yes, but you can always develop strategies to counter the risks.