Citibank “Your reward, your choice” promo

Have so many Citibank charge slips with not many movies to choose from? Good news! Citibank has unveiled its latest promotion, “Your Reward, Your Choice”.

Terms

1.)    For every P1,500 minimum single receipt purchase, cardholders can exchange the charge slip for a P100 discount on the following establishments:

• Mercury Drug stores
• Rustan’s Department store, Supermarket or Shopwise
• Store Specialists, Inc.
• Shell gas stations
• Discounted movie tickets (saw the prices of the movies lately? Terrible!)

2.)    Card holders can redeem the discounts within sixty-calendar days from the end of promo period. It is unclear, however, whether the one-month validity of the charge slip is still enforced.

3.)    Card holders can only redeem a maximum of two charge slips (worth P200) for one transaction. And although it states that “splitting of one transaction into several approvals will not be allowed”, it does not say that card holders are not allowed to enter multiple transactions at one time (i.e. split your groceries into two baskets worth P1,500 each or pay your insurance premiums a day at a time with each payment worth only P1,500).

4.)    Re-selling of the premium item is not allowed. The buyer needs the card. But if you’re willing to redeem it personally and “sell” it to someone else (I know of somebody who did that), then I guess there’s no problem at all.

5.)    Manual approval sales slips are not allowed (anymore).

6.)    The rest of the mechanics are immaterial but if you still would like to read them, click here.

PSE reaches record-high…not.

PSE reaches record-high…not.

Today, the PSE unveiled the New Trading System (NTS) with disastrous result. The glitch was bad to say the least. Our index jumped 472 points and set a new record-high! It would have been a cause for celebration. I would have recouped all my losses already! Unfortunately, that was not to be. It turned out to be a fluke. The index was down by 2.71 points…bummer.

Glitch or not, at 3,888, the index is really nice to look at. The question now is when will the index actually reach that level?

Your guess is as good as mine.

New Trading System unveiled by the Philippine Stock Exchange

New Trading System unveiled by the Philippine Stock Exchange

The Philippine Stock Exchange will switch to a New Trading System (NTS) today replacing the previous 15-year old Maktrade system implemented when the Makati and Manila stock exchanges were unified.

This NTS, which the New York stock exchange uses, will introduce new “pre-opening” and “pre-closing” sessions wherein using prices of last transactions which may be unduly high will not be used anymore. Another feature would be on the daily trading limits for orders where 2 limits would be implemented, static and dynamic thresholds.

For static thresholds, which used to be known as the floor and ceiling prices, the upper limit is 50% above the reference price, while the lower limit is 50% below the reference price. The reference price is the previous day’s closing price.

On the other hand, an order entered which breaches the Dynamic Threshold will cause that particular security to be frozen by the PSE thereby stopping all trades until the PSE reactivates the security with a new dynamic threshold.

This NTS is part of the PSE’s commitment to enhance the trading experience and support systems for all investors, PSE support groups

Benefiting from the expanded senior citizen act RA9994

Benefiting from the expanded senior citizen act or RA9994

After our weekly jogging at Rizal Park, my family and I went to the nearby fast food chain and ordered something to eat. Knowing that the law had been implemented last Tuesday, I was delighted to discover that the fast food chain did comply with the Expanded Senior Citizen Act or Republic Act (RA) 9994 (some businesses can really be unscrupulous).

Under this law, senior citizens are exempted from the 12 percent Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT). Before, the 20 percent discount was applied on the retail price of the commodity being sold which in this case was a breakfast value meal. Read more

First half ranking of Philippine equity funds

First half ranking of equity funds

I have been investing in mutual funds for quite some time now and I would say it is one of the most ingenious financial instrument ever created; thanks to Massachusetts Financial Services. Although mutual fund has had its fair share of criticisms, I thought it was a good way for the small-time investors like me to also enjoy the returns what the big-time players in the stock market are enjoying.

But the greatest frustrations lie in not having enough online resources of knowing which funds are performing well and which are not. More importantly, why are some performing well and others are not.

The Wealth Warrior will attempt to decode the mystery. Read more

A truly inspiring story

A truly inspiring story

First published in Business Mirror June 28, 2010 http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27005:a-truly-inspiring-story&catid=28:opinion&Itemid=64

Last week I was having a conversation with an acquaintance when she broached the topic of investing. Having heard from another friend that I am into it, she asked how I was doing.

I answered that my portfolio was doing quite well and couldn’t be happier with it. Impressed, she said that she’d like to start investing but only when she’ll have a bigger capital. Being a financial advisor and faced with an “excuse” like that, I had the urge to lecture about the fallacy that had since prevented people like her from investing. I resisted. There is a proper time for that. But I couldn’t help but be disappointed that despite all efforts to kill the myth, it is still very much alive today.

That’s why when I heard about the unique story of Editha Comoda from my associate, Carmela Catapang, I immediately sought an interview because I couldn’t pass up writing such a story and let readers be encouraged by her. Read more

The dying middle class

The dying middle class

by: Kendrick Chua, CIS, RFP, The Wealth Warrior

In the comic strip, Prof by Rene Aranda of The Philippine Star, Prof sees a dead man out on the fields and upon closer inspection, he was shock to discover that the man is a “middle-class” and he died because “high cost of living”. The strip may be humorous but it is also satirical and the two panels are reflection of the reality happening in our society today—the middle-class are declining in numbers.

To begin with, just who are the middle-class of the Philippines? Are they the ones that work as corporate employees or professionals that can provide five meals a day for their family? Are they the ones that can send their kids to college albeit sleepless nights? Or are they the ones that can afford to travel just once a year on budget airlines and stay in budget hotels? Yes, those descriptions fit them more or less.

Continue reading the rest of the of the article here.