Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa

One of my favorite vegetable dishes is Ginisang Sitaw at Kalabasa (Sauteed String Beans and Squash). Last Saturday, I tried a different approach and used a ready-mix called Ginataang Gulay. The ingredients are still the same (pork, onions, garlic, string beans, squash, soy sauce, salt and pepper) but I added the Ginataang Gulay mix which has coconut cream powder. This added a whole new dimension to the dish because of the coconut milk flavor and creamy texture. Needless to say, it's another sumptuous dinner for me and my loved one, all for the economical amount of Php 50!

My Home-Cooked Chicken Curry

I cooked my first chicken curry yesterday and it was a success! We were just supposed to buy a rotisserie chicken in the grocery last night but after passing by the spices and ready-mix aisle, I became curious about curry mixes. I decided to buy the Yellow Curry Mix packet and proceeded to get 1/2 kg of chicken, carrots, potatoes, red bell pepper and onions. When we got home, I turned on the stove, started chopping the vegetables and followed the instructions on the ready-mix packet. Thirty-minutes after, my chicken curry was cooked and ready to be enjoyed. It sure beats the rotisserie chicken :)

Home Is Where the Heart Is

It has already been more than three weeks since we moved into our new condo and I'm sorry I wasn't able to post about it sooner about it because everything's been so hectic. The first week was about getting things in order -- where to put our stuff, buying what else we lack and planning our chore schedule and cooking menu. On the second week, our electric stove got busted so cooking time was freed up to do other chores and TV time. Hehe. By the third week, we were mostly settled. Our family and friends have already visited as well and they have high praises for how our place looks. Us, we're just happy to have a place to call our own :)

My other blog

If you don't find me active here, it may be because I'm posting at my other blog, Ramp Up To Riches. I've decided to put up another blog so that I can create a site for my finance-related entries entries. See you there!

Just some updates

First off, I was surprised at the new look of blogger for posting entries. This just shows I haven't been posting for a while.

So much has happened since my last post so I might as well update you on what I have been up to. Since my last entry way back Feb, I have been to the US embassy to apply for a B1 Visa. I took down notes on the process and how much time I spent on each step because I wanted to share this on my blog. I wasn't able to do that but I was able to get a 10-year multiple entry tourist visa so yay for me! :)

Next, I went to New Jersey for a 3-day business conference. I got to match the faces with the names and voices of the people I work with because I would normally just interact with them via emails and conference calls. It was the first day of spring when I landed so it was still a bit cold, especially for someone who grew up in a tropical country. I enjoyed my hotel stay but it was not reachable by public transportation so I hired a cab service to take me to the malls and factory outlets. After the business conference, I took the train to New York and stayed with a former colleague for some fun over the weekend. I will never forget Times Square! I also met with a friend from high school who treated me to the Spider-man play on Broadway. We were even able to go backstage because she's friends with one of the cast members. I took a lot of pictures of course! I did some more pasalubong shopping and I had to buy another bag because the things I accumulated would not fit in my luggage anymore. I even thought of shipping my pasalubong via balikbayan box service but decided against it. Next time I'll consider it because it was so difficult lugging around three suitcases on the travel back home. You think that it's too much but it's nothing compared to the cartful, even more, of luggage and boxes that our kababayans had at the airport terminal. That's how I knew that I was lining up at the right queue of the Philippine Airlines flight to Manila; I just followed the brown, and sometimes white, balikbayan boxes :)

Then I was chosen by my former roommate to be the maid of honor at her wedding. It was my first time to be a MOH so I researched my duties and how to throw a bridal shower. We went with a spa party theme and I'm proud to say that her guests enjoyed the experience. We rented a hotel room and had foot spas, back massages and facial masks. We even had chocolate fondue for snacks! I also prepared some games and gave away prizes. It was so much fun! The next day, my friend and I had to get up early because she was going to have a make-up trial session. I took pictures while she was being made-up and so it was easier to decide which look was best for her. I also had to prepare my MOH speech and I'm glad I was able to deliver my speech without my voice trembling so much out of nervousness. Hehe :)

Finally, I attended the Money and Wealth Summit 2012 last week together with my boyfriend. It was my first time to attend and I really learned a lot. I think I want to try out forex trading and later on gold investing. I plan to enroll in Mark So's Complete Forex Trading Course and set-up an account in FXCM Of course I have to power up my savings first and I have begun to do that by setting up an automatic savings account. Unfortunately, I don't have an emergency fund yet so I have to save that up first before I dabble into the riskier forms of investing. I also met the 9 to 5 Millionaire, Leila Hernandez, and I want to emulate her so I bought a copy of her book and workbook CD. Maybe one of these days I'll also attend her workshop and intensive training. Another good thing I was able to take away from the wealth summit was that I was able to submit an application for a housing loan. My condo balance payment is due next year and I want to be able to compare what rate I'll be able to get from my bank against what will be offered by the affiliated bank of my condo developer. Right now I'm researching what the best is for housing loan rates and terms. I hope I make the right decision this time because I got burned the first time I got a condo, I opted for in-house financing because I didn't know any better :( But past is past, that condo has already been fully paid and I've learned from my mistake. From now on, it's just brighter and wiser investing decisions for me :)

Wii want to Zumba!

Finally, I found a fitness regimen that I can stick to! I tried the Zumba Fitness on Wii last night and I enjoyed it! I've already tried Wii Fit Plus, The Biggest Loser and Gold's Gym Cardio Workout and though I was able to sustain my workouts over the Christmas break, my enthusiasm fizzled out when I went back to work. It became a chore I began to dread so most of the time I just opted to veg out in front of the TV instead of exercise. Hopefully this time I can go back to exercising regularly. Right now, I'm already itching to try out the other dance moves and classes (I tried the short class last night which included 3-4 dance songs plus stretching) and I can't wait to go home!

I'm going to look for other dance games, especially those carrying pop and hip-hop tunes so that I don't run out of dance moves :-)

My birthday song ... or lyrics

Just a little something to uplift my spirit (just youtube the song. hehe):


Lyrics | R. Kelly lyrics - World's Greatest lyrics

Happy birthday to me :)

Reflections on "My Maid Invests in the Stock Market ... and Why You Should, Too!"

Here are my notes and reflections on Bo Sanchez' "My Maid Invests in the Stock Market ... And Why You Should, Too!"

Envelope System
1. First Envelope - Tithe Fund (10%)
2. Second Envelope - Expense Fund (Food, Gas, Bills, Mortgages, Entertainment)
3. Third Envelope - Support Fund (for the family)
4. Fourth Envelope - Emergency Fund (6 months living expenses)
5. Fifth Envelope - Retirement Fund (pension plans, mutual funds, stocks)

Four Rules of Making Millions in the Stock Market
1. Invest Small Amounts Every Month for 20 Years or More
- Invest, not trade
- Take advantage of Money-Cost Averaging
2. Invest Even When There's a Crisis
- A crisis is a wonderful buying opportunity
- You can buy the stocks of great companies at cheaper prices
3. Invest Only in Giants
- this way, you'll be assured that when the stocks go down, they will be able to bounce back
4. Invest in Many Giants
- diversify your stocks

Nothing much to reflect on because I know most of this stuff already. What I took away from reading this e-book was the renewed desire to invest in stocks. I thought to myself, "I learned about stock investing five years ago, why didn't I try it then?" Then it occurred to me, I had no extra money then. Now that I have a little money I can set aside monthly and forget about, I think it's high time for me to start investing in the stock market. My goal is to have a net worth of 50M when I retire and I believe stock investing will play a great part in helping me reach that goal. I just have to have the discipline to buy stocks regularly and keep them. This is why I signed up for an account in CitisecOnline.com (COL). I sent my application forms last week, funded my account today, and tomorrow I can already start investing!

As if this is not enough, I have another secret weapon that will urge me to invest in stocks regularly and wisely. Being a member of Bo Sanchez Truly Rich Club, I get to receive his monthly Stocks Update which tells me what great companies to invest in, or if I'm more aggressive and have the extra money, what growth companies to look out for. This way, I don't have to waste my time researching about each and every company in the stock market; I'll just do my due diligence on the shortlisted companies and pick what I would like to invest in for that month. Good thing I already received my Stocks Update the other day, I can go right ahead and choose the lucky company for my first stock investment. Now if only I can remember to log in to COL tomorrow from 9:30am to 12:10pm :)

Reflections on "How to Know If Your Dreams Are God's Dreams"

By subscribing to Bo Sanchez' Truly Rich Club, I get to receive free ebooks authored by him. The first ebook I read was "How to Know If Your Dreams Are God's Dreams - Finding His Will in Your Deepest Desires" Here are my notes and reflections on it:

The Three Powerful Secrets Behind All Successes in Life:
1. Desire
2. Belief
3. Action

The 4 Signs of a Soul Dream
1. The Dream Is Connected to Your Most Important Values
2. The Dream Must Bring You Closer to God
3. The Dream Must Be Connected to Your Life Purpose and Core Gifts
4. The Dream Must Make You Happy in the Deepest Way Possible

How will you know your life purpose?
- Examine Your Roots
- Ask yourself two simple questions:
1. Passion: What do you enjoy doing?
2. Potential: And what do you do well?

I think my life purpose is to help. That's what I've always done and that's what has always made me happy. I don't have much talent to share but I've always been good at giving people the support they need. I don't know how this will translate to my Soul Dream but maybe it will have something to do with empowering the underprivileged and underdogs in our society; providing them with tools and knowledge that will help them get out of their dire situations. Maybe a scholarship foundation for not just the bright kids, but the not-so-bright kids as well -- anyone who wants to learn, basically.

Another passion of mine is reading and learning something new. I would love to put up a public library with an interactive section and play area. Because learning should be fun, really! Nowadays, we don't just learn from books anymore so we should make knowledge available through all media. We'll have computer stations with access to the internet, we'll conduct skills trainings and we'll offer personal development seminars. After all that learning and "sharpening the saw" is done, one needs to have a break and unwind so my library will be adjacent to a recreation hall where people can watch movies, play games or just hang out. I've always had this vision -- you know how there are centers for culture and arts? Mine will be a center for hobbies and fun. I would call it The Beehive because it will be a complex abuzz with activities. Each room in the hive will be full of people pursuing their passions and interests. One room would be a music room, the other a dance ballroom, and still another a board games competition arena. I don't know if I would be able to build this library and activity complex but I've always fantasized about it. Hey, I can dream, right? :)

Ready-ing to Retire

I am so excited! I'll be making the last payment on my condo next month and after that I can start processing the papers for the transfer of title. Of course there are still turnover fees to pay but I think I'll be able to manage that. Just this month, I was able to pay the property taxes which had already accumulated since 2008. Now I know I have to take care of it yearly to avoid the penalties.

Now that I've already made my first property investment, this got me thinking that I should start building the rest of my investment portfolio and start thinking about my retirement. I've read dozens of books and magazines about personal finance already and now I think it's time to start applying what I've learned from them. I have always wanted to take advantage of the power of compounding but it is only now that I'm taking steps towards it. I know that I should have started earlier and there are a dozen excuses I tell myself why I didn't, but at least now I know that I am ready and willing and that it's not yet too late. This is why I signed up for Bo Sanchez' Truly Rich Club so that I could be properly guided as I go along my financial journey. It's only been two weeks since I signed up but I am already reaping the benefits. Reading the e-books and hearing Bo's power talks reminded me why I wanted to be financially independent in the first place. His newsletters and inspirational emails encourages me not only dream my big dreams but also to take concrete actions to realize them.

For those of you who knew Bo Sanchez as a Catholic lay preacher, don't worry, he still is. But what business does he have, teaching about personal finance? Sounds weird right? I know! I was a bit turned off myself when I first learned about it. I thought he turned into one of those fanatical evangelists who masquerade as messengers of God but only really want to con people into shelling out money for "miraculous healing items". But when I heard his reasons for doing something about his financial life and deciding to teach others how to save and invest, it actually made sense to me. After all, most of the things people have problems about and pray about is money. And hey, I believe in God and I think about money, so why shouldn't he? So having said that, I am now a convert. I am ready to be wealthy and I want others to be the same :)

Automated queueing at BPI

In what I suspect to be a bid for efficient and paperless over-the-counter bank transactions, BPI has implemented an automated queueing system in their BPI-Philam Makati branch. I experienced this wonderful innovation today when I deposited to my account. I usually bank at the BPI branch at the KPMG building but when I got there shortly before lunch, the line was so long that I decided to have lunch first at Jollibee the Insular building. After lunch, I remembered that there was another BPI branch at the Philam building so I decided to go there instead of going back to KPMG. Getting inside the Philam building is like going through airport security; you have to pass through a metal detector doorway scanner and have your things go through the x-ray machine beside it. After subjecting myself to that tedious process, I went to BPI and found it odd that all the customers were seating. I asked the guard if there was a queueing system and he pointed me to the side of the entrance. I was expecting number tags hooked to door, or a ticketing device that prints numbers which will be called by the teller later; but I was not expecting to find touch-screen computer terminals. I gave it a try and I soon found out that before a number is issued to you, you have to input the transactions you are planning to do at the bank. But then, I thought, this would mean that there would be no more need to fill up deposit and withdrawal slips. I glanced at the counter where the forms are usually placed and sure enough, there were nowhere to be seen! I completed entering my account number and transaction amount, got my number and sat at the couch to wait for my number to be called. It still took 10 minutes before my number was called (I guess this is just because there were really a lot of customers), but when I got to the counter, I just handed my number and money to the teller and she already had all the transaction information in the system. She counted my money, gave me my receipt and I was off!

It would be really great if they could implement this in all of their branches and I do hope that all the other banks follow suit. It would take a bit of getting used to, especially for those who have aversions to technology but I'm thinking people can adapt. This would mean no more precious time wasted at lining up at banks. Now if only someone could apply this to doctor's offices and clinics, that would be sweet!

Sick birthday girl

I celebrated my birthday with the beginnings of a cough. A week later and I'm still hacking. At least it has subsided and has become less embarrassing. I'm starting to sleep better too. Good thing I was able to rest over the long weekend. But now that I'm back at the office, my coughing fits have started again; I think it's the cold air that's aggravating it. I even stopped running in the mornings because my coughing has left me weak. I do hope I regain my health soon so I can use the new shoes I gifted myself for my birthday.

Heavy feet

After several years of not working out, I started exercising again last Monday. I decided that I would jog around our neighborhood for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of crunches and dumbell exercises in the mornings. I began my warm-up by walking for 10 minutes. This was going to be easy, I thought to myself. Then I decided that I would alternate jogging and walking every minute for 10 minutes. This was when my torture began. As I started to jog, I felt my feet become heavy. Even though I knew I was jogging, I felt I was going so slow that I thought I moved faster when I was just walking. It didn't help that my shoes are kinda old so I started feeling pain in my right foot. Then my shins started hurting. I wanted to stop but I didn't. I waited for my one minute to be up then I slowed down to a walk. That eased the pain for a bit, but then I had to do it all over again, jogging and walking and cursing until my 10 minutes was up. Then I just walked all the way back to my home for my cooldown.

At home, I laid out my mat and did some crunches. Then did some leg lifts and dumbell squats. I felt good afterwards and I would have gladly gone back to bed; but I had to go to work so I just took a shower instead.

It really perplexed me why I had such a difficult time jogging. Have I become so heavy that I can't even carry my own weight? Probably. Should I have stretched after my warm-up? I don't know. I don't recall my shins hurting when I run on the treadmill. So was I running incorrectly? Or is it really more difficult to run on the road than on the treadmill? Don't know the answers to those questions either. But I definitely need to replace my old shoes, that's for sure.

I rested yesterday then I tortured myself again this morning. I plan to exercise M-W-F to allow my body to recuperate in between workout days. I feel I could keep this schedule better than trying to exercise everyday and failing. I just hope I could control my food intake so I can lose weight faster. I'll buy some groceries over the weekend so I can prepare my own food. Until then, I'll stick to sandwiches and salads for lunch.

Crappy Weekend

I just had the crappiest weekend, literally. At first I couldn't figure out what could have caused my diarrhea but after careful review of what I ate last Friday, I was able to determine the culprit -- mushroom soup! I suddenly remembered that my stomach does not agree with shiitake mushrooms; but I have never had it this bad before. I was going to the bathroom almost every hour on the first day, and night! I was totally drained and dehydrated but still I didn't take any medication, thinking I would get better the next day. But I didn't. At least the interval lengthened from one to three, giving me a chance to catch some decent enough sleep. But I still had to keep my food intake at a very minimal amount because by this time, my bottom could not take the battering anymore. Good thing I woke up feeling a bit better this morning. My bowel is still loose but at least I didn't have a compelling urge to go running to the toilet all day. And I'm still watching what I eat, just in case.

So let this be a lesson to all. Know thy enemy, and avoid it :)

That hippie show

I recently finished watching the whole series of That 70's Show. It took me a couple of months to go through every hilarious episode, all two hundred of it! When it was first shown in the Philippines several years back, I was instantly fascinated because I would spot some home decors and appliances that were similar or exactly the same as what we had from the 70's. We had the glass fruits, framed hanging painted tiles on the kitchen wall, that brown refrigerator, orange and green-colored ceramic jugs and even the garden set. Then when I got to know more about the characters, that's when I got hooked. Unfortunately, the local TV network airing the show did not complete the entire series so it took me until now to find out everything that happened in the show.

I'm an 80's/90's kid but if I were to choose, I would choose the 70's. Maybe that era wasn't so great in this country because of martial law, but generally speaking, the 70's was groovy! Life was simpler then; as long as you have a decent job, you would be able to provide for your family comfortably. Families spent more time together because they have breakfast and supper together and watch TV at the living room together. Since there were not too many things to do, the neighborhood kids hung out together and found creative ways to entertain themselves. Contrast all these with what we have now. Sure, everything is high-tech, convenient and available in an instant but somehow, the family values and quality of life have been sacrificed.

Now if only Kelso was indeed able to invent a time machine so we can visit the glorious days of the past! But since this is not so, I'll just content myself with visiting Nostalgia Manila so I can go back and reminisce my childhood days. :)

On the road to fabulosity!

Since I am not getting any younger, I decided to start paying attention to and doing something about my looks. Just like what happened to my weight and metabolism, age has caught up with my skin. The sun's damaging rays and other external factors contributed as well. So, armed with a Slimmer's World gift certificate, I called their Trafalgar Plaza branch to have me scheduled for a free facial treatment. On the day of my appointment, I went and got my facial and felt wonderfully refreshed. I knew that this was not enough though so when the beauty consultant asked me if I would be willing to stay for a short while for a beauty discussion, I willingly obliged.

Ellen, my beauty consultant, walked me through the beauty package that would be most appropriate for me and would address my concerns. She prescribed 12 sessions of facial, 12 Diamond Ultrapeel, 12 Nutracell and 3 Glycolic Acid Peel, all spread throughout a period of one year (for more info, click here). This got me all excited until I heard the price. Good thing that they're having a buy one treatment, get one treatment promo so I can avail of the package with 50% discount. Still, I was not prepared to make the commitment because it would not fit my budget, even if I get it on 0% interest for 6 months on my credit card. I told Ellen that I will just have to wait for my salary increase this year before I can start on my face and skin program. However, I did sign-up for electrocautery to get rid of my warts so that's a start.

I had my first electrocautery session yesterday. Initially it was supposed to be the face and neck only but it turned out I also had a lot of skin tags in other areas so I upgraded my enrollment from face and skin only to full body. The first session covered the face, neck and chest so the assistant applied topical anesthesia only on those areas. After that, she put masking tape where the topical anesthesia was applied so that my skin could absorb it better. Then she left me for 30-45 minutes so that the anesthesia could take effect; I think I was able to sleep during that time. After that, the dermatologist removed the masking tapes on me and started cauterizing my warts. Thank God for the topical anesthesia, I wasn't able to feel any pain. There were maybe two or three times when I felt it (the assistant may have missed applying anesthesia on some warts); the pain was like being pinched, but with heat. I did smell the burnt skin and it wasn't pleasant. I must have more than a hundred cauterizations so the procedure took almost an hour. When it was all done, antibiotic cream was applied on the cauterized areas and I'm supposed to do this morning and evening for the next 7 to 10 days until the scabs vanish. I'll be returning to Slimmer's after two weeks for a followup session on the same areas then I'll start electrocautery sessions on the abdomen and back. Hopefully by that time I would have my merit increase already so I can sign up for other beauty treatments :-)

June Gloom

For many various reasons and a particularly major one, the month of June makes me sad. During this time, I turn to music to keep me sane. Current on my playlist is Rob Thomas' album, Cradlesong and The Script's self-titled album. I dunno why but I seem inclined towards songs that have, to borrow from Paul Doucette's words, "more uplifting melodies with really downer lyrics" (see Matchbox Twenty, my favorite band). I guess maybe because it allows me to cry and sing my heart out at the same time. Just like The Man Who Can't Be Moved:

Lyrics | The Script lyrics - The Man Who Can't Be Moved lyrics

Suffering in Suffrage

Today marks a very important event in Philippine Elections. This is the first time that we had nationwide automated voting and the experience was very promising and very horrible at the same time. What used to take 30 minutes took 3 hours for most. My sister and I were less fortunate, it took us 6 hours just to cast our vote!

The polling centers opened at 7am but we came at around 9am. We went straight to the voter's assistance desk to confirm that our names are still in the active list and to get our room assignments. We had to do this because even though we already know our precinct numbers, the room assignments would be different because five precincts were grouped into one cluster, and therefore one classroom. Our room was on the first floor of the public elementary school and that's where we spent 6 agonizing hours standing in line. What happened was there were a lot of individuals cutting the line in front so those of us at the back were not moving. There were not much volunteers to marshall the lines and no numbers were issued, like what they implemented on the other floors. Another thing that contributed to the slow lines was the time it took for the teachers to look for the voter's information sheet in the voter's book. It seems that the voter's info sheets were not arranged alphabetically so looking through them took quite a considerable time. Also since there were five precincts lumped into one classroom, you would expect that there should be one teacher assigned to each voter's book per precinct but there were only two. After finding my info sheet and affixing my signature and thumbmark, I was given my ballot and it was a breeze from thereon. I shaded my choices, fed my ballot into the PCOS machine and had a drop of indelible ink on my index finger. I guess we were still lucky because other polling centers had it worse. Some had brownouts in their area while some had PCOS machines that did not work. Also there were reports of violence in some areas, most especially in the provinces.

Hopefully things will run smoothly in the next elections. More PCOS machines should be added (provided we still use the same automated system) and something should really be done regarding the voter's information sheets. I believe this part of the voting process should be automated as well. Either they start encoding whose voter's information sheets into electronic format, or have everyone register again electronically in order to capture everyone's biometrics as well.

Now that the voting process is over, we move on to the more exciting and critical part of the election, the tallying of the votes and eventual proclamation of the winning candidates. I just hope and pray that the no padding of the vote occurs and that the results would be truly reflective of the people's choice of leaders for our nation. Then all of our suffering in casting our votes would have been all worth it. God bless the Philippines.

Start Spark

I joined SparkPeople last year but it's only now that I'm using it. I wasn't motivated to lose weight before but now I'm more decided than ever to be fit and healthy. I guess the biggest factor which contributed to my decision is my age. I've reached 30 yrs old and they say that once you reach this age, your body starts to decline. And boy, have I began to see the signs of aging! My joints are always aching, I easily get tired and I run out of breath whenever I take the stairs. I don't want want to feel like this anymore; I want to feel light and energetic. I want to be able to do the things I want to do, and look good doing them!

So far, I've set my fitness goals, tracked my calorie intake and joined a SparkTeam. I plan to follow the exercise videos as well and I'm going to do that tonight. Later on, I would like to learn to prepare nutritious meals with the help of their SparkRecipes. I've made a commitment to myself to stick to Spark at least until I've reached my goal weight. This is a big commitment for me because I really don't have the luxury of time, especially when there are project deadlines to meet. But for my sake, I am willing and determined to visit the site everyday and track my progress to a perfectly healthy and sexy me!

Click here to watch an inspirational news story about SparkPeople.

My personal finance journey

Back when I was experiencing quarter-life crisis, I started to become interested in personal finance management. It all began, as most stories like this goes, with "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. Reading this book woke me up from the zombie-like state I've accustomed my self to just to able to survive the daily grind of going to work. It made me realize that I owe it to myself to do something about my situation because I'll never be able to afford to do all the things I want to do, just by being employed. From RDPD, I moved on to "Pwede na! The Complete Pinoy Guide to Personal Finance" by Efren Ll. Cruz. Since this book was written by a Filipino for Filipinos, the content was more relevant to my case and I learned quite a lot more. It taught me how to assess my current financial situation, encouraged me to think about my financial goals, and prompted me to map out a plan on how to go about achieving them. I've read a couple of personal finance books since then and to update myself with money trends and to further supplement my financial IQ, I subscribed to MoneySense, a local personal finance magazine.

Based on what I've learned so far, I was able to start building my investment portfolio. I've recently acquired a new condo together with my boyfriend and I've also started buying old pension plans. I still have lots of debts but I'm proud to say that these are not consumer debts. Let's just say I'm using them for leverage and as soon as I get my bonus/merit increase this year, I'll be able to pay off a significant part of it. Also, I'm still thinking of other ways to increase my income. Hopefully more opportunities to earn will come my way before the year ends :)