The Chairman's Message + Webinar on Stock Trading

I received this year's COL Financial Chairman's Message and it began with this panama quotation:

"If investing is entertaining, if you're having fun, you're

probably not making any money. Good investing is boring."

--George Soros

I must be doing something right then because my stock portfolio is the most boring thing on the planet right now. And that's because I haven't touched my portfolio in more than a year. Sadly, my stock investing has been downgraded in my financial priorities. Debt payment has taken the first spot and insurance premiums and the office cooperative have become my primary investments. But don't you worry my dear stock portfolio, you'll have my undivided attention soon enough.

 Alright, enough chatter, here's the chairman!

Lifestyle Assessment Series: Housing

We had barely spent a week at our then new condo unit but I was already plotting how I would resell it (using an assume balance payment plan), take out another Pag-ibig loan and buy a bigger house for our growing family. Checking out house and lot ads and calculating how much loan amount would I qualify for and how much of my salary I should allot for that, became a mini obsession for a while

I didn't think twice about all this because this was my norm, what I grew up with. My parents renovated our bungalow twice and in the process, took out 3 different housing loans in a span of 10-15 years. I thought it was normal to fret over money all the time and to rush to the bank every month to fund checks, otherwise, the PDC would bounce and we would be in deep shite.

But when I began to immerse myself in the personal finance universe and my eyes were opened to the joy of being debt-free and even early retirement, I realized that I was perfectly free not to saddle myself with so much debt. That being debt-free was a viable way of living (imagine that!).