Extra Money Management

Posted by Analyse at 7:05 PM

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

With Francesca's queries on her new project, questions on investment have suddenly reverberated on my sleepy mind and my idly pocket. Am I doing the right thing? Am I investing my money wisely? Are there other fruitful ways on how to keep my money from dizzing off?

Let's talk business. Well, I don't have million euros to invest, let me assure you, just some extra euros (and I mean, just extra euros!). I'm a newbie in this game with just a coin in my pocket so if you have bright ideas in mind which won't require thousand euros on the table at once, I might give it a second thought.

First, here's how I manage to get by with my finances and how I invest, I might give pointers to other fellow bloggers (as if naman, ang galing kong mag budget...):

Investing on solid grounds: I'm hitting two birds in one stone here. I bought a townhouse in Manila at the same period when we bought our house here in Dijon late last year. Ambitious move. Utang po yun. But instead of buying the house in Manila in an installment basis, I preferred to pay it cash to escape from the high interest rate being practiced there. Imagine if I pay in an installment basis, my bank will be overly happy with the sending charge I'll be giving every month!

So where did I get the money? You don't expect a young engineer paying cash, right? Since we're buying a house in Dijon, frenchguy deblocked some of his stock options and part of it went for the payment of the Manila townhouse and the other, for the DP of the Dijon house. By so doing, I didn't pay any interest at all. Brillant?

So how do I pay frenchguy and the Dijon house? For the first 3 years, the monthly payment taken by the bank from my account is actually destined for the Manila townhouse (thus paying frenchguy), that gives me 30% ownership of the Dijon house. Fair deal, right?

FYI: We are paying a little over 3% fixed interest rate for our loan.

Investing on PEE (Plan Epargne Entreprise): Company stock options, that simple. It's one of the best ways to invest your money, well, if everything turns out well. There's always a risk in this game. The best way is not to keep all your savings in only one company.


I put a meagre amount monthly in our company since late last year and it has grown almost 50% eversince. Not bad, huh. Bad news is that it will be blocked for 5 years! Will it grow 50% at that time? Nobody knows.

FYI: When frenchguy deblocked his stocks, the gain was estimated at 250%!

Saving on Livret A: A safe and flexible way to keep money in the bank as it is always available and non-taxable. My bank offers 2% interest. It is limited to a certain amount tho..maximum savings shouldn's exceed 15,300€.

I put some extra money from time to time...I'm searching for a better deal, ya know, higher interest rate with no duration engagement ;)


Here are my two top of the list future dream buys:

- A small car with air conditionning plzzzzzzzzz... I start to be tired with my ever so lovely pawis-steering Peugeut 106. During a hot summer day, I have this impression of entering into an oven. I'm already overbaked! I don't dream big, a small one which I could park no-sweat will do just fine.

- A beachfront lot for our retirement. Opo, I'm dreaming of having a little family restaurant facing the sea with frenchguy as the chef. We will serve crêpes...reservation will open in the future..

Just curious on how my fellow kababayan bloggers deal with their money. Any pointers?

21 comments:

tintin said...

I can only dream right now of owning an investment property. I even had to sell my measly walmart stocks (hot right now) for expenses with the house. Keep up the good work!

Plain_Jane_Too said...

I do a 401K but am limited to 8% of gross pay due to being considered an HCE by the US Internal Revenue Service hence I also do stock options - all automatically deducted per pay period. The 401K is invested in the Vanguard Mutual Fund family. I did a similar investment plan in my previous company.

My California house's equity is now over 100% of purchase price so that is another good investment. Am paying accelerated mortgage to pay-off the house quicker. The Missouri house is a rental and is paid off so the rent goes to a 'slush' fund ;) A property manager I trust handles the rental.

I have no plans to retire in 'Pinas so no plans to buy property there - I don't know the laws and my rights so am leery of buying a property for investment purposes.

I've always maintained that investing and saving for the future is very doable - just a matter of shifting priorities. Should I eat out more and save 1% less in my 401K? Should I go on holidays and vacations more often and have 5% less in my 401K?

Sometimes I wish I was more of a risk taker in property investing (like Francesca :) but I'll have to do what is comfortable for me and will make me sleep mahimbing, di ba?

Analyse said...

TinTin, me too! anyways, my long term plan for the house in manila is to have it rented by students (that's why i bought withing univ belt din)...well, small time investment nga lang..

oh well, our house is still barely naked since we moved...have to save again for that!

Plain Jane, hey thanks for dropping by, welcome to my hideaway!

wow, you're quite an investor. we have accelerated payment also for our house, that leaves us with so little extra money for the rest of the house expenses, but we try to buy stocks in parallel (being deducted every month too), that would prepare us for the future.

buying an appartment here for renting purposes is another investment option we're considering...oh well, we still have no means at the moment tho..

Bokbok said...

You did the right thing Ana. There's someone I know who's in a tight squeeze and has trouble paying off debts, drowning in it because of this damned monthly interest. Worst thing is, the house is now in a deteriorating state and he hasn't finished with the payment yet.

Buying a property in the Philippines? No, the idea never occurred to me as I, too, have no plans of retiring there.

Hey, want my seven-year old, low-mileage (63000 kms.), sunroof deux-cent-six? haha! kya lang wala ring aircon, haha!... kaya nga gusto ko na ring palitan, eh!

bisous!
bokisky

Analyse said...

Boks, the interest is really high in the philippines. sad to say that they give 0%interest for those who could pay, which mean 1-2 yrs to pay, with astronomic monthly amortization. and who could pay that? not the common pinoy who works 6d/7, 48h/wk in the philippines! i know someone who pays a house for 30 yrs, gosh, if you compute the totality, nakakaloka!

still dreaming of retiring in the phils, not in manila of course, in the province...tipong summer dito, winter doon hehe..

hehehe, salamat na lang, im looking for aircon nga, mine is 10yo with 175,000kms and counting..pero see the pix, kumikintab pa naman hahaha...

bises...hey long weekend ahead, enjoy it!

Anonymous said...

yung extra euro mo sistah, penge naman ng kalahati!!!!! ajehjeh! ey, na-miss kita bading! ahahhahhaha =)

Analyse said...

Nao, baka wala na ring mabili yung kalahati ng extra euro ko e, sobrang liit na kasi nyehehehe..

duke said...

ana- i used to have stock options with my previous work and it really helps.. kaso ngayon no work ang beauty ko! very nice and intelligent move i must say .. galing mag ayos ng finances!paturo naman!

am actually going into stock trading in the coming months but I am still summing up the courage to start. kakatakot mag take ng risk pero i have to!

duke said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Francesca said...

Hi, ana, okey ah, ty sa stariray ko rito! I kinda like it, hihihi.
Investing? Lolo got a lot. Kaya siya medyo may ipon, otherwise, i postponed/or cancelled our marriage. LOL!
anyway, tips:
sabit sabit lang sa mga rich people na nag trade ng market. Lolo ganyan, nakikiamot kung baga sa pusoy, sali sali, taya taya ng konting thousands here and there.
Then sa bank. Yong bank manager niya, nasilip na sa tagal na ng savings niya, 3.5% lang tubo a year, wawa naman. Pinasok ni Manager sa shares buying. yong dating shares na binili ni Lolo at 11,000 euros each, nabalik sa kanya ng 16,000 each x 30 shares yon in 3months!Laki! Kaya nabili niya itong bahay sa Nice.
Then lifestyles ni Lolo. That was before I came into his life, of course!hihihi!
Walang girls, bars, alcohol, cigarettes,even TV!
15 years, kinakatok siya ng tax office even in the middle of the night if totoo nga na wala siya Television kasi wala siyang binabayarang tv tax sa France! Of course over na yan sa tipid, but thats his life before.Take note, BEFORE! Ngayon meron na, may pc at dvd pa! LOL
He do not give loans to anybody, kaya pera niya kanya. Anak niya mag loan, he told them to go to the bank as the bank is for loans, not him.
He start work when he was 16, wartime pa noon, start saving, until now.
He always remind me to have a good standing with the bank, as the bank can support you if you support them. If you put money to a friend, when that friend goes away, off it goes your money too.
Marami pa, mahabang istorya.
Sa susunod naman.

Analyse said...

Duke, i was into stock trading din dati nung wala pa kong work, of course i was using frenchguy's money hehe. and it was motivating lalo na kung you earn like one month salary in a day di ba hehe...but then, i stopped it since i started working, now, as in stocked halos lahat coz most of the companies where i put some shares are not in a very good health, antay antay muna...

one thing i do before was follow their trend and strategic moves, see the BOURSORAMA link in my sidebar? tambayan ko yan dati, it's very informative, you could click the company name, then go to actualités...or sometimes, check Japan market too, they open earlier, kadalasan, pag bagsak sila, bagsak din CAC40 and US markets hehe..

in our company, halos wala ng risk coz aside from buying the shares lower than the market value, the company gives a certain % of the amount din...unless super bagsak of course...

there's always a risk...read a lot and be informed, in the library, i read finance mags before hehe..

Analyse said...

Ate Amy, naku baka lalo ka ngang sumikat nyan hehe...but kidding aside, e di confirm mo na kuripot nga mga french hehehehe..i guess frenchguy and lolo michel will click together, ganyan din yan kasi...

actually, frenchguy's stocks really helped in the financing of our house, biruin mo, it grew 250%! saang bangko ka kikita nyan di ba.

hay naku, sa sobrang good standing nya sa bank nya, ayaw syang bitawan, kuripot ba naman. while me, nung i transferred my bank from Lyon to Dijon, go agad, wala pa ngang closing fee hehehe..student pa lang kasi ako sa Lyon nun, as in 0 balance yata lagi hahaha..

so ano pang kakuriputan ni lolo michel...but hey, it pays off naman di ba hehe..

duke said...

ana-sige magbabasa basa pa ako ng konti.. hihihi like you shempre money ni husbandry ang gamit ko!

Analyse said...

Duke, just remember, if the stocks are low, Si tu n'as pas vendu, tu n'as rien perdu! Goodluck sistah!

Anonymous said...

OFF TOPIC: waiting for your new entry, been here for a couple of hits now. Musta na ba sistah! hay luvs ko talaga ang mga badingish tulad natin! c yah round! [*besos*] mwah!=)

duke said...

ahhh .. I will memeorize that and keep in mind! tenk u berimats!

asphaire 許泰莎 said...

hey there!!! I saw ur post on Duke's page... surprised when I saw that youre in Dijon!!! I was just there and I didnt know many pinoys lived there!!! nice to know there are some!

Tobie said...

Sadly, I don't really earn enough to start buying property yet. Although i have learned that it really does help to spread out your money in various investments.

I have investments in the form of 1 dollar account, 2 time deposits and another big thing which I simply decided to let my father handle. heh. So personally, I just hope that I'll be financially stable somehow before I hit 30.

silentmode_v2 said...

haba naman ng comment ng nasa itaas ko..hehehe.

2 houses in different locations, smart move! for me, i don't go for the big things yet, just saving 200usd a month...small but it will go there sometime.

about the peugeot thing, how do you pronounce it....

don't laugh ah, the way i pronounce it is...

peo-dyot or pi-dyot (pigeon?) hahahaha! <<-- idiot.

Analyse said...

Nao, ayan na!

Duke, goodluck sistah, and have fun with that new game hehe..

Asphaire, thanks for visiting and welcome! Let me stand corrected, actually, I guess I'm the only Pinay in Dijon...so kahit na maghanap ako ng friend dito, wala akong mahanap hehe..

Tobie, thanks for visiting! do it little by little..no hurrying! when I was still working in the Philippines, my salary just allowed me to buy home appliances, so I had this dream of buying a house there to put all my stuffs ;)! work hard, rest easy!

silentmode, haba nga hehe..i'll read it later..

yeah, kunti kunti lang sa umpisa, once you start investing, i guess it becomes addicting kasi afterwards! ya know, we're human, we always want something bigger..hanggat kaya of course!

peugeut = pou - jou (with j pronounced as j and not h)...i guess that's the closest pronounciation, not O and not U, it's in the middle. hehe, ok lang yan, they couldn't pronounce our NG rin naman e hehe..

Francesca said...

Silent mode, it is a dilemna to pronounce french car as peugeut! Even the english people dont know, so hindi ka nagiisa. ako nga noong una, pwe-ge-wot basa ko dyan, then naging pu-got (ulo) LOL
Ana, will post some business ideas soon in my blog, la lang time...