The Road To My NEW Car

Buying a car a new car is not an easy decision. I have to study my finances, I have to consider everything before I do my purchase. Although I planned to get my car this December, I instead decided to get it on February.

This is what I have done so far.

1. Join Team Celerio Philippines

    This is the support group of the car of my choice. I choose Suzuki Celerio because it is the most fuel efficient car here in the Philippines today. Although the Team Celerio will tell you that to have a 34.34km/L fuel mileage is quite a feat and in reality is quite hard to do, it is still achievable. Some had done modifications with their car and most importantly, one has to change his/her driving habits. A celerio has a tachometer that is very visible for its driver. The tachometer measure your fuel efficiency. Keep a tachometer reading of 2000rpm. keep your tires 39psi front and 36psi on the rear tires, put in a petrol with the recommended octane level, avoiding traffic jams and lessen the use of aircon could result to a fuel mileage close to the 34.34km/L target.

2. Visited the casa.

   I did that last Sunday. I met up with the SA and I learned a lot about the car. I know that right now, there are no new units still, and it will become available on end of Nov or early December. I also learned the price of the celerio and their price offer.

3. Consider other purchase options

   A bank called me yesterday to tell me about their offer. Comparing the prices (since I will not pay in full for the car), I learned that the best offer will come from PS Bank. The in-house financing of the casa has interest that ranges from 10-11% per annum. PS Bank has interest a lot less than that. Just roughly 4.3% per annum. Although the freebies are not as good as with the casa, at least I get to save a lot from their offer.

With that prepared, I am now ready to purchase my car. But the last thing I have to do is

4. Prepare a the down payment.

   I could buy it right now and sacrifice my savings.

   Or I'll buy it in February and have those money invested right now in the stock market. Of course, since I am a financial advisor, I did the latter. I am quite positive that right now is the best time to get into stock trading. And I'm quite good at it. All the stocks I bought were matched! 

The road to my new car won't be easy. Another premise to that achievement is for me to loose 5kg!

That is, I will only buy my car if I get to loose 5kg! And I am serious.

My boyfriend is not happy with this decision. He doesn't trust my driving skills. But I will work on convincing him that the car I am buying is perfect for me, and although it will cost me money, I will make sure it will produce money in return. I plan to do more dealerships especially since I'll be more mobile when I get my car.

And that's the plan for 2012.... I am going to get that car! No matter what it takes. 

Buying A New Car (Suzuki Celerio MT)

I am planning to buy a new car.
This is my choice. A Suzuki Celerio Manual Transmission.

I will be going to the casa today. Just to inquire but I am planning to buy a new car because I needed it to boost business.
Why is this my choice?
1. It fits my budget.
2. It is the most fuel efficient car right now here in the Philippines at 34.34km/L although according to Team Celerio Philippines the average fuel consumption is 9-15km/L for city driving and around 20-30 km/L for highway driving. The challenge for me is to beat that fuel efficiency! Hehe. Since I am used to driving at 80kph and I drive carefully and I avoid pressing the brakes to much, I think I can achieve that.
3. I am usually 90% alone in the car. If I have passengers it's usually just 2 or 3.
4. I need it badly for my job as a financial advisor.
5. Since I have two jobs, my time is budgeted for my jobs. I don't compromise my time with my lovedones. I want to be always there if they need me and that I believe is achievable if I have a car. Well, at least it's easier to go from point A to point B.

Here though are the downsides
1. My monthly savings will decrease. (Solution: To get in more sales.)
2. Car maintenance could be a hassle. (Solution: Deal with it. That comes with the car.)
3. I have to be mindful of the weather. Since this is a small car, flooded streets should be noted and avoided as much as possible.

There. If I get my car, my lazy days are over.
Yeah.

Projects and Investments

It is already November! One more month before December and then it's goodbye 2011.
I had been too busy this year. I have two jobs and numerous projects and investments that occupies most of my time. Obviously, I've been working too hard to earn money. Although for me, it is really not about earning money, it is the challenge of beating inflation.
How do I get to manage all my activities?
I bought a small notebook. In it, I put all that I have to do. Prospects I need to close. Obligations I need to pay and payments I need to collect. I am also very religious in my accounting of my daily expenses.
I've pointed out from my previous entry what my problem really is. It is searching for what drives me. Until now, I am still in search for that very specific reason. In general though, I am sure that my reason should be to do everything for God's glory. That should only be my mindset. Knowing that, I now focus on what keeps me from doing that specific goal.
Again, from my soul searching (which I obviously do a lot), I found out that my main problem is that I don't keep my word. I say many things I don't mean. I usually blurt out words, saying it with conviction and then change my mind about it later. Again this inconsistency had been such a nasty habit. It is the only reason why I still haven't become what I expected myself to be. The only person that hinders me from achieving my goal is myself. And I intend to do something about it. One step at a time.
Second habit I have to change is to stop being judgmental. I am a self proclaimed anti-social. I hate the crowd. But I believe this is not healthy and therefore I should also change that.
Beating inflation has been a game for me. That's what my projects and investments are for. Right now, I have allocated my funds for my various projects and investments. Since it is November and year-end is approaching, investing season for me for this year is already over.
It will be harvesting time from now on and save more funds.
I'd like a big balance in my checking account this year-end. That I believe should be something to look forward to.

End of 3rd Quarter 2011

Ber months are here, Christmas is around the corner, and it's the end of 3rd quarter.

I was supposed to be busy with my jobs, but I've been lazy this past few days, I don't have my usual drive. It's quite frustrating. But of course, that's an internal problem I have to resolve.

My problem is that I am consistently inconsistent. And that's just bad because I can't have a pace if I'm inconsistent.

I've been encountering problems with my jobs and these are because I tend to get lazy and slack off sometimes.
I got older again last month, and I still encounter these same problems. Even if I'd want all these to change, truth is I will still go back to this habit.

What's driving me? I guess that's just something I have to answer and I just have to anchor myself on that thought...

Right now though, I'm quite sure that I'm not okay yet.

I'm sure this is just a phase, this will probably change over time...

Hopefully.

Payaman!

I'll get there.
My vision board is in figures. I don't need pics to keep me motivated, when I want something I research about it, know how much it will cost me and I work out that figure.
And I am sure I will get there.

I learn a lot of things working as Sun Life Financial Advisor. (I am also a full time Structural Engineer.) But honestly, I find my part time job as a financial advisor more rewarding. Although right now, I can't give up engineering yet because the reality is there are too many projects and sadly there are only few engineers. That's the scenario here in the Philippines. There's a lot of Nursing grads though. Well. That's thanks to the parents who want their kids to work as caregivers abroad.

There will be a lot of projects here in the Philppines. That's what I believe. As a developing country there are a lot of infrastructures that has to be done, and again, few engineers to design them. Most of our engineers are working overseas. SAD. Too many nurses though.

Anyway, that's not what this entry is about. This is about me getting richer. And as I said, I am positive I'll get
there. I will just share the lessons I learned from Chinkee Tan's talk on our last branch meeting.

Like fire, there are also 3 things that creates SUCCESS. These are attitude, skills and knowledge. Skills and knowledge can be easily achieved through effort. You enroll yourself in college and attend lots of seminars and you'll get the skills and knowledge you need. Attitude though is different. It is something you have to change from within. And this is what he focused on in his discussion. And the bottomline of it is that, there are just 4 pointers to remember in getting or setting up the right attitude for an individual to achieve success.

Remember this pointers:
1. Be positive.
2. Be consistent.
3. Be persistent.
4. Be a visionary.

Apply all four and with skills and knowledge, success is just around the corner.
So here is what I say when they say, "Oi,kumusta." (Hey, how are you?)
My answer here now is, "Eto, payaman!" ^_^ (Here. Getting richer.)

Emerging Leader

I am an emerging leader!
I'll be attending a program in my company which will make me an effective leader.
This will be good for my future career in politics. ^_^

New Netbook!

I'm very happy with my latest purchase.
I bought a Neo B3380 Netbook and I'm quite happy with it's performance. It is very fast compared to the old laptop I was using. Yey!
I bought it t Php13,800.00. Cheaper than the Neo's suggested retail price which is 16K.
I'll probably write more now that I've a faster computer.