Stock Market Basics for the Busy Mom

logo taken from http://www.pse.com.ph/

My brother and I are "stock market babies".  Our parents met by being office-mates in a stock broker firm.  We grew up listening to stock market updates on the radio, and eventually watching live updates on cable TV.  Our 94 year old gwama still updates herself with the stock market until now.  It's no surprise that it is one of the topics during family gatherings on my mom's side of the family.

I admit, I'm not as active in trading stocks as my parents and brother, but I do feel fortunate that I was exposed to it at an early stage.  Recently (specifically in the middle of the night when I find it hard to go back to sleep after being awaken by the kids, hehe) I have been thinking about ways to invest.  Then I realize I haven't written much about the stock market here.  Anyway, I'm no expert but I do hope that these simple tips will help fellow moms who are thinking of investing.

1. Know the Basics

Investing in the stock market involves choosing a company where you want to invest in and how much you are willing to buy and sell its shares.  The bid or buying price is the amount investors are willing to spend per share of the company.  The ask or selling price is the amount shareholders of the company are willing to let go of their shares.  An investor places a buy or sell order of shares of a certain company.  The stock market, through the brokers, matches your order with the asking or bidding price of another investor.  There are certain instances when it take some time for the orders to be matched, depending on how actively traded the stock is.  You can find that out by checking the volume of shares transacted during the trading day.

2. Being online makes transacting easier
Having internet access is helpful when monitoring your investment.  Citiseconline is an online stock broker that makes investing convenient.  You can register with them and place the amount you are willing to invest in your account.  Then you can place orders and view your portfolio online anytime.  If you like to add more funds to your account, you can do it online by transferring funds from your bank.  Then if you decide to withdraw, you can fill out a form so they can deposit the funds to your bank.  All stock brokers provide this service.  If you want a more personalized approach, you can contact other stock brokers through phone.  The advantage of transacting through phone is you can chat with your agent and maybe get tips :)

3. Invest money that you do not urgently need

Investments take time to bear fruit, and even blue chip stocks have their "down" stays.  Invest funds that you do not see yourself spending in the near future so you won't panic when the market is not doing well.  Also, in doing so, you can afford to be patient while waiting for your target price.

4. Read, research and update yourself with what's happening in the business world.  

The performance of the Philippine market is somewhat affected by the way the international market performs, particularly, in the US.  A stock of a certain company might rise or fall depending on a recent development or disclosure by the company.  For example, a company's shares is likely to go up if it acquires a new big client or go down if it's facing a public relations crisis.  Also, if you can, try listen to business analysts and read on their technical / fundamental recommendations on how certain stocks are performing.

5. Take profits when you have earned them

It's not considered an actual profit until you sell your shares.  As my aunts would say, a peso earned is still an earning, which is better than a loss.  Try setting a target price for the stock you own, then sell if you reach your goal.  Otherwise, you risk the price of the stock going down and you miss your chance to earn.  The same goes with cutting your losses.  If the market price becomes lower that the amount you bought your shares, consider selling and switching to a better stock. 

Hope these tips will encourage you to think about investing in stocks.  As a full-time mom, it's a challenge to find the time and resources to contribute to the kids bank accounts.  Investing in stocks may not be easy and risk-free, but it is worth it when done wisely.

Any stock market traders out there? Care to share some tips? :)

Latch-A-Babe is having a sale!

Hello, Fellow Nursing Moms :)

The lovely ladies of Latch-a-Babe Nursing Wear are having a Mother's Day sale from May 11 to 18, 2014 :) Get discounts on their favorite designs as well as take advantage of the intro prices of their new line.  For more info check out their Facebook page here

Happy Shopping and Hope you had a wonderful mother's day :)

wearing one of my fave LAB dresses (Dharma) during the Dr. Newman testimonial dinner

The Tans' Sumilon Escapade

Last Holy Week, we had our first official family vacation with the twins at Sumilon Island in Oslob, Cebu.  I was quite nervous at first but we had a good time.  Here are some tidbits :)

Since Oslob is at the southern part of Cebu, the fastest way to get there is through a flight to Dumaguete.  It's an hour long flight, then a short car ride from the airport to the pier then an hour long boat ride to the island.  The kids were alright during the trip, thanks to snacks, toys, and of course patient grandparents and uncles to keep them busy.

Bluewater Resort is well managed.  Their staff was quite accommodating and they have complete amenities.  Although as a mom, it would be nice if they can make some improvements so their resort will be more kid-friendly.  The resort only has two high chairs and there were other toddlers just like the twins in the resort.  An indoor area for the kids would be nice.  There's a small playground but if you have a lot of kids staying in the resort, the space may not be enough.  I'm happy with the buffet spread.  I personally appreciated that there were many choices of seafood dishes during Good Friday.  The cost is about P800/pax for lunch and P900/pax for dinner.  They even had a pasta station during one of the dinners.

As for the beach, the island basically has two main areas for you to enjoy.  They were both clean and one area has a small sandbar during low tide. I was glad the twins enjoyed their first experience of the beach although we've been to places where the sand is finer which is better for the girls who are just learning how to walk. If you are the more adventurous type, you can try clamping (sleeping inside a tent) by the sea shore. 

The highlight of our trip was the whaleshark watch and the visit to Tumalog falls.  We had to do them on Black Saturday because the people in charge of the butanding watch were on a break during Good Friday. 

We booked these activities through the resort which was a good thing because when we got to the island where the whale sharks were, there were already a lot of people waiting for their turn.   We tried to find out if it was always like this.  According to some of the caretakers it's not always the case.  Usually by 6-7 am

there are already around 9 whalesharks swimming in the area but when we arrived that morning, there were only two, probably because the one day break from their routine.  Pretty soon, more whalesharks swam in the area and we had our turn.  Kudos to my brother JP for following up for us and for keeping us posted while waiting.

When it was finally our turn, we rode a bangka to the viewing area.  The fee is different if you just want to view the whale sharks from the boat and if you want to swim and watch them underwater.  I'm so proud of Ben for being brave enough to swim and actually see the butanding from his goggles.  He still talks about  the experience once in a while.  Oh, if you don't have an underwater camera, you can rent one, have the boatmen take your photos and have it burned on a CD.

The trip to Tumalog falls was interesting.  We took a short car ride to the viewing area then we had a choice of walking or riding a motorcycle to the falls.  I highly recommend taking the motorcycle to save time and energy because there is some walking involved once you reach the falls.  It can get very muddy and wet so be prepared.  Ben enjoyed spending time at the falls.  It was the first time he saw one and even wanted to go swimming.  We didn't get to spend a lot of time there but some groups who planned to stay for lunch and brought food with them.

All in all it was a lovely experience.  I was quite anxious at the start with how the twins will adjust during the trip but they did well and I'm glad they love the water.  I hope I'd get the chance to bring them back to Oslob in the future, perhaps when they know how to snorkel

Have you tried the Explore Sandbox?:)

Thinking about what activities to do with the kids is not that easy.  To be honest, when we are at home, I'm tempted to just let the kids hang out in the playroom and do whatever they want.  However, I am always on the lookout for learning opportunities for the kids, especially Ben, which is why I'm so happy to find about Explore Sandbox.  Explore Sandbox is a box of arts and crafts activities that you can do with your kids.  You can purchase a box or subscribe to receiving them monthly.  

For the month of May, the theme is "keeping cool" so the activities involve ice, ice cream, and sunvisors :) Next month, the theme for the activities will be about the weather.  The instructions that come with the materials are easy to understand, with some teaching notes along with them.  They really make learning both simple and fun :) Seeing how interested Ben is with the activities in the first box makes me look forward to the future boxes even more.  As a plus, he is also excited to do the activities with Bry - another bonding activity for them, yehey!

For more information on the Explore Sandbox, go to their website   http://www.exploresandbox.com or contact   +63 917 534 6955.  It's a great gift idea, too.

PS.  I am also impressed that they asked for the kids names so they can have the box personalized.  

Thankful for "kid-friendly" stores :)

I went shopping with Ben at Shangrila yesterday.  I was thinking of buying a new pair of shoes for the weddings we will be attending in the coming weeks.  This is not easy when I have an active pre-schooler along with me.  I was about to go inside one of the first stores I saw when the guard of that store signaled that we couldn't bring along the food that Ben was eating. I respected the store's rule and walked further along. We came across another store where I saw a pair of shoes that I was interested in. The store was playing Rihanna's Diamonds which was a song familiar to Ben so he went inside.  The clerk was quite accomodating.  He didn't mind that Ben was eating.  He even gave in to Ben's request to play Diamonds again (for about 4 times) so that he can sing along with the song.  That way, I was able to shop properly for a few minutes.  Thankfully, the pair of shoes that I liked had my size and was able to buy them.

What made me happy giving that store a sale was the way the clerk handled Ben.  They didn't sell items for kids but I appreciated the way he was patient with him.  It was the mommy break I needed during an overwhelming day.

Behind the scenes of the twins birthday party :)

It has been almost a month since the twins turned one and looking at the photos from that day still makes me smile.  It's really nice seeing the happy faces of family and friends who took time out of their busy schedule to celebrate with us.  Here are some highlights that I'd like to share with everyone

Party Perks did a great job in organizing the event.  They took care of booking the entertainers who were flexible with our schedule.  They also helped us figure out a theme for the event.  I wanted something "girly" but not too feminine.  We came up with shabby chic which was quite lovely.  The decorations were very nice and detailed, from the floating plastic floral balls, to the fresh flowers and napkins in the center pieces.  And it seems that the guests like them too because they were all wiped out by the end of the party, hehe! I love the photo frames with the twins' photos. 

 

Speaking of photos, what made the party extra special was having a wonderful photographer.  Our photographer was Stanley Ong.  He already took our family photos in the past (like the ones we had in the centerpieces) so he already knows what strategies to use to make our kids smile.  I love the candid photos of the kids having fun at the party.  Bry and I were quite busy moving around that it was through the photos that we saw what was going on behind the scenes.

Of course, the party would not be complete without the Infinity by Memory Charms photo booth.  Thank you, a-ku JP and Ninong Bin for making the booth extra special for the twins.  It was nice seeing the guests upload their photos from the booth when they reach home.  I should have assigned a hashtag for the event!

Oh, and If you guys are wondering where we got the souvenir instafans, we booked them via booths republic.  They seem to be a hit for both kids and adults :) Look them up in Facebook.  They have other products as well. 

Last but certainly not least, a special thanks to Father Joel Liwanag, SJ for taking the time to baptize the twins.  Father Joel is a recently ordained Jesuit who was a classmate of mine and Bry's during our college days.  We were even groupmates in some of our projects.  It's such a blessing that the girls were baptized by someone who we personally know.  

We thank again everyone who joined us on that special day.  Hope you had fun :)

PS.  Our food was catered by Via Mare and the lechon was by Leonardos.  Bry and I were grateful for the good service and pleasant transaction.

Ben and DASH Chinese Summer Camp

This summer, I enrolled Ben in the DASH Chinese Summer Camp to keep him busy while he waits for the summer program in Explorations to start.  I was both excited and nervous.  I've been wanting him to try DASH out since last year.  I was not sure how he'll deal with being in a new school but my goal this summer was to give him more exposure to the Chinese language so I went ahead with it.

The DASH Chinese Summer Camp program is scheduled in two-week intervals.  It's Mondays-Fridays, 9am-12nn, with a combination of learning Chinese conversations, cultural activities, and arts & crafts / cooking.  The teachers use mandarin as their main mode of instruction.  They call the students by their Chinese names (if they have them) but the yayas who assist the teachers would talk to the kids in Tagalog and English.  I think this set-up is okay.  At first, Ben didn't like me dropping him of to school.  He didn't like the idea that the other students were bigger than him.  (The program is for ages 4-7 so he was one of the youngest.  He would also tell me that he does not understand what the teachers are saying.  However, I find him not wanting to leave the school whenever I pick him up which I take as a good sign.  I think it's good that he gets to interact with older kids and try to adjust to new surroundings since he will be moving on to big school next year.  

I promised Ben that they will learn to make dumplings at class.  That was what got him going to class during the first few days.  Finally, during their second week , they go to cook them,  Yehey!  I like that they have arts and crafts every day and they brought it home with them.  It made me feel that they did something productive during the day.  Also, during one of those days when I was asking myself if Ben actually getting more familiar with the language, he got a blue cup and said "lan se".  It made my day!!!!  

It was (and  still) an effort to bring Ben to school,  Since DASH's main branch is in New Manila (the only one that offers this kind of camp),  we had to adjust his schedule.  I'm glad I decided to enroll him though :)  I'm just a bit sad that some of the friends he made during the past two weeks aren't around for the next two weeks because they had other plans (which means another adjustment for Ben, sigh).  Anyways, I'm now thinking how we can be more consistent in making him familiar with the Chinese language throughout the next school year and most especially at home, wish us luck!.

For more information about DASH Chinese School.  go to their website.

How about you? What are your summer plans? :)