I just got back to stocks trading once again and executed my first "buy" ever on 15 June since almost 2 years of hiatus. At sobrang nanibago talaga ako at nangangapa sa execution. I visited the videos I made on how to enter during EOD just to execute the entry properly. So far, slowly but surely I'm getting there to where I left off last December 2024.
My first buy was $RFM. I selected this stock out of three stocks that I filtered during this stocks screening that I did. You may watch it below.
During these almost two years na hindi ako nag trade, I was very busy then naman on some other things like setting up my small business, travelling to two countries and then reading again a lot of books about real estate in preparation to my plan to go home for good to the Philippines maybe in two to three years time.
I also realized lately, that it is not just really important to start saving and then investing at an early age, but it should be consistently done also. Although, I started investing in 2015, I felt at that time that I'm to late to start because I'm already 38 at that time and had been an OFW for already 9 years at that time. Pero wala pa din ipon at that time. Anyway, if I did save and invest consistently even in 2015 kahit 5,000 pesos a month, that 11 years ago, and that's roughly 120 months. So, meron na sana akong Php 600,000. At a rate of 6 percent per year compounded the amount will probably be as what is shown below table.
It shows USD in the table for computing purposes lang naman yan dahil yong online calculator ay USD yong kanyang unit. Obviously, peso lang po ang ibig kung sabihin nyan.
So, with all those erratic savings and investing from 2015 kahit papano meron pa rin namang naipon kahit papano. There's a lot of factor naman kasi as to why we cant consistently do it. Andiyan yong what if I die tomorrow? hahaha eh di si kumpare ang magbibilang ng naipon hahaha! Then there's some disruption because of changing financial circumstance. When your kids start going to college. Malamang walang matitira sa sahod.
Well, kahit ano pa man daw changes ng financial circumstance, you should not stop saving and investing. For as long as you are working and earning, you must set aside for your future self. Because time will never go back once spent. Even a small amount goes a long way. To all OFWs, we will not be working all the time. Time will come we will get old and our body will tell us to stop, or our jobs will no longer need us, or our boss no longer need us.
Last week, akala ko katapusan na ng working career ko. As an HR Officer, I knew the termination script by heart: the gentle, measured tone, the sliding of the termination order, the obligatory offering of a tissue. I was handling exit interviews, and guiding others through the worst days of their professional lives.
It was a Tuesday afternoon when my desk phone blinked. It was my HR Director.
"Could you step into my office for a moment?"
When I walked in, the glass blinds were drawn tight. A single, folder sat perfectly centered on his desk. I felt a sudden, cold weight drop into my stomach. I knew the choreography of this room far too well.
The HR Director sat with his hands clasped, wearing the exact same mask of practiced corporate empathy I usually wore myself.
"Remind me," he began, his voice softly modulated.
"How many years have you been with us now?"
"Nine years and ten months," I replied, forcing my voice to stay steady.
"Just two months shy of the ten-year milestone.
" He didn’t smile. He looked down at the folder, then back up at me.
"You know the market has been unforgiving lately. The management has made some difficult decisions regarding our operational costs. I'm afraid the company is restructuring. We're downsizing the department, and your position is being eliminated."
The clinical language washed over me, but the reality hit like a physical blow. Downsizing. Panic immediately clawed at my chest. I'm forty-eight years old. I am nowhere near ready to retire. My mind raced through a terrifying inventory of my finances. My savings account is a shallow puddle, continually drained over the years by a staggering tuition fees for my kids.
I never had the surplus income to build a diverse investment portfolio or a safety net. I had bet everything on this job, banking on the stability of my salary and the assumption that I would ride it out until a quiet, properly funded retirement at least at fifty-five. I knew the termination policy. At ten years, employees were entitled to a significantly larger, vested termination package. If it is resignation, tt nine years and ten months, I would receive the standard minimum.
"Sir," I started, my voice cracking as the armor of my profession fell away.
"I don't have a backup plan. I don't have the savings for this."
He said no way "Rey we are not terminating you. We called you here to tell you that you have to move to the first floor and take my old office there. Your office at the ground floor will be given to the newly hired that will join next week"
A sigh of relief, my boss was just joking at me. I left his office still can't believe what just happened. I imagined what if it is true? Anong gagawin ko? Napa-isip ako ng malalim that night. I promised to myself that I should be ready and be consistent in saving and investing from now until my last working day. Hoping that whatever I saved, I will invest in a security that will make my money secured and the same time that money will work for me replacing my income to pay the cost of my living. Pero paano? Samahan ninyo akong hanapin ang sagot sa tanong na yan sa mga susunod ko pang mga blog post. Stay tuned.
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