One Check in the Bucketlist

2012 for me was a year of financial awareness. I learned more about savings, stocks, and other financial instruments. I also tried (hard!) to live within my means, to save enough funds for the rainy day, and to reduce my spending. And I'm still trying. I am now credit card debt-free and it feels great! I know my RFP instructors will be so proud.

I mentioned in my first post about my reasons for saving. The first item is to get my own car by 2013. And I guess all those savings and investments worked, because I'm buying a car!!! Well, we are. My significant other and I. This is our first huge purchase.

To Beauty and Beyond

I may not be the best person to talk about beauty and make-up tips, but bear with me for a while. I got the whole cleanse-tone-moisturize in my regimen quite perfectly and I think my skin is ok (no breakouts, except during that time of the month where I experience a pimple or two.) But here's my frustration: doing my own make-up.

I attended a friend's wedding last Thursday. Since this is a weekday, I decided to come to the office in the morning to have some work done, then have my make-up done in the afternoon before going to the wedding. I know I'll save more if I can just do my own make-up. I mean, I can put foundation, blush, and lipstick just fine. But I'm not really confident with the eye make-up. This whole eye shadow palette confuses me. And don't get me started with the eye liner!

Lessons I've Learned from CAL

I invested in Calata Corp. (CAL) when it had its IPO last May selling at Php 7.50 per share. Citisec (now COL Financial) only allocated 100 shares (which is fine with me because I don't know much about the CAL, but would like to buy anyway.) Lo and behold, before I knew it, the price continued to rise and I was just there, sitting in my work station, mesmerized, asking myself, "why is this happening?" But then, as fast as it went up, it eventually went down. And me? I was still there, still mesmerized and wondering how low can this get.

But just last week, I felt I finally came to my senses when I read this news. According to the news, there's an alleged manipulation in the price of CAL. As soon as I read that, I sold all my shares at Php 7.19. It was my first ever realized loss. Well, it's a small loss (Php 57.11  including all the fees), but still it's a loss and I knew deep inside that it should have been prevented early on (and gain in the process.)

So here's what I've learned: