Sunday, August 28, 2005

money, money, money,.... money!

I attended this Citigroup seminar in the office the other day, and learned a whole lot more about investment. It was amazing how, if you compare the interest rate in a regular time deposit account, factor in the current inflation rate in the Philippines, your money can be losing value up to about 5% every day that you keep it in that account. People may think they're saving by keeping their money in bank accounts, but if you consider inflation and the ever-rising cost of living and the ever-plummeting value of our peso, your money is actually spending itself away...

They also touched on mutual funds, bonds and other securities we may be interested to avail of. Being Citibankers, we had the advantage of getting these investment instruments minus the usual brokerage fees. Also, as opposed to entering, say, the stock market on your own and having to monitor the shakes and turns yourself, entrusting your shares to the professionals can save you lots of time and energy.

I happily took in all the info, listing down the products I consider investing in. At first, I wondered how I was ever going to afford to put in enough money to actually 'grow' my moolah considerably. After all, it's not like I'm earning millions every payday.

But, interestingly, when I was doing the math upon getting back to my desk, I realized that about a 10-15% monthly cut from my paycheck can amount to a substantial amount of investment per year. And, at the rate that some instruments go, it's very worth it to get in asap. 10-15% is, interestingly, doable on my part too! I just have to think of it as an 'expense'... like shopping or going out.

Hay, I sooo want to start saving up and making my money grow. I hope this is the start of it :)

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