Geek and Money

Licensure Examination For Teachers (LET) Results September 2008 Out Now

jersonn8 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:53:56 +0000

Congratulations to all successful examinees of the PRC licensure examination for teachers. The future of the next generation are in your hands. While the pdf download is not yet available, y You may refer here for the list of new elementary teachers and secondary (high school) teachers. Keep checking for updates. Thanks!

UPDATE:

Download pdf files of LET Results here:

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IPower Promo Is Back | Limited Offer Only

jersonn8 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:14:59 +0000

The IPower 50% discount on hosting services is back. For only $3.98/month or $47.76/year, you get a FREE DOMAIN NAME, 1500GB of space, 2500 e-mail accounts, easy-to-use site builder, and FREE Google and Yahoo advertising! What are you waiting for? Get IPOWER now!

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How To Waive Your Credit Card’s Annual Fee

jersonn8 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:55:35 +0000

As I said before, credit cards can be good friends, if you use them wisely. Using them wisely means you get something out of using them, instead of them getting more money from you. One way to use your credit card wisely is to get rid of the annual membership fee. Annual fee costs usually range from Php900 - Php2500. But if you negotiate well enough, the annual fees can be easily waived. Here’s how:

Request for a waiver of your credit card’s annual fee. Some banks are kind enough to grant the waiver outright.
If #1 fails, threaten to cancel the credit card.
After #2, CSRs of credit card companies would offer “x-deals” just to keep you from cancelling your account. Here are some of them:
- Charge a total of Php3000 on your card and the annual fee will be waived.
- Give up the points you earned from the card and the annual fee is waived.
- This is my favorite -> Join the text alerts service and the annual fee is waived. Walang kahirap-hirap. LOL

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Another Missed Opportunity

jersonn8 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:19:32 +0000

First Metro (my online stock trading broker) has announced that Ayala Corp. Preferred Class “A” Shares are being offered at P500.00 per share at a fixed dividend rate of 8.88% per annum. I am not familiar how this works. All I know is that an annual dividend rate of 8.88% is quite high (especially when compared to time deposits in banks).

Too bad the deadline for reservation was today (Nov. 12). And the minimum initial investment was Php50,000 (Php500 x 100 shares). It was like a double black eye because even though cash was on the way, I won’t make it on time, and it would mess up my savings plan for 2009. And right now, having an emergency fund should be my priority. Oh well, better luck next time to me…

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Apple Online Store Philippines Now Open

jersonn8 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:20:43 +0000

The official Apple Online Store in the Philippines is now open. Now, Pinoy Apple Fanboys can buy Mac, iPod, and third party gear directly from Apple at Apple Online Store, Philippines.

I was awed in surprise to be receiving such a good news… I was in the hunt for an 8GB iPod touch, and was hoping to be able to buy it from the Apple Online Store. But to my dismay, it was way overpriced. Last time I checked, an 8gb ipod touch costs $229. Last time I checked, a dollar costs Php48.50. And I know my math is right when I say Php48.50 x $229 is not equal to Php14990. What’s up with that?

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Savings Plan For 2009

jersonn8 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:52:03 +0000

Looking back on my goals posted on the first entry of this blog, it seems I failed miserably on item #1. This was mostly because of items #4 (I bought a MacBook) and #5, in which I invested all my potential savings into the stock market. A portion of my online income also went down the drain when I made a gamble in forex trading. Also, I never found the time to work on item #8 but at least I learned many money making opportunities.

I stopped buying shares for a while since the stock market had crashed and my stock portfolio has shrunk to 50% of its original value (I run out of investible funds, too). I realized that if I had not invested in stocks at all, I would have had built my emergency fund already. But then again, I would not want to miss out on the potential capital gains. Not to mention cash dividends from my stock investments, though not much, helped increase my passive income (item #7). Fortunately, I was consistent at not incurring any credit card debt, and I did make money online. But I still have an emergency fund to build.

This is why, as early as now, I am already trying formulate a savings plan for 2009. There are only 51 days left for the year. And that means I only have 51 days to make a feasible savings plan for 2009. In this plan, I should be able to:

Build an emergency fund worth three months of my salary before the end of December 2009. That’s a six digit figure
Allocate funds that will be invested in a diversified investment portfolio.
Save enough cash for use as a down payment for a car or a house.

Got any tips for a geek who wants to save money? Drop a comment below. Thanks!

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Second IPower Payout

jersonn8 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:31:00 +0000

IPower’s affiliate program has been the best online money making venture I’ve had so far. My second payout amounts to a total of $200. Matched can’t beat that. Text Link Ads can’t either. Hopefully my google adsense earnings would. Anyway, thanks IPower!

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Smart Bro Unlimited 3G For Only Php1500

jersonn8 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:09:47 +0000

This might seem like old news but what the heck, better late than never. In response to Sun Broadband Wireless Unlimited 3G for only Php999 a month, Smart Bro would be offering an unlimited anytime, anywhere plan for the flat rate of Php1500 per month.

Smart Bro Plan 1500
Unlimited 3G Usage
Php1,500 initial fee (includes USB modem dongle)
Php1,500 monthly service fee

Smart Bro Plan 799
40 60 hours free (Php10 per 30 minutes in excess of 40 60 hours)
Php799 initial payment (includes USB modem dongle)
Php799 monthly service fee

Smart Bro Prepaid
Php10 per 30 minutes
Php2,500 one-tme fee for the USB modem dongle

If only it can be used with an unlocked iPhone 3G, that would be so awesome. But unless Smart does something to fix their crappy 3G signal, this geek ain’t buying. I might was well take the risk with Sun Broadband Wireless Unlimited Plan 999 as there have been good reviews going around some forums. Or maybe Globe has something up its sleeve to counter in this never ending telco wars.

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Cash Is King

jersonn8 — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:34:52 +0000

I never thought I would say this but I found it to be true. Having cash when needed would have generated passive income or savings from my gadget lust. It is because of the missed opportunities for low risk investments that came along. RTBs and some corporate bonds that give out 7% to 9% interest per year would have been nice to have. But when they were available, cash was not. All of my savings are invested in the stock market, losing half of its value. Also, since I didn’t have cash, I had to charge Php68,500 for my Macbook (zero interest of course). But paying in cash would have saved me Php8,500 (my Macbook had a cash price of Php60,000). But I don’t regret getting my Mac. These are the tradeoffs that I have learned to live with. But moving forward, though not applicable at all times, I have to realize that cash is indeed king.

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Barrack Obama Wins 2008 US Presidential Elections

jersonn8 — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:29:28 +0000

This time the title is for real. Obama won in the real fight, not just in the game. Obama needed 270 electoral votes to win. As of this writing, he already garnered 286. Congratulations US President-elect Barrack Obama. I hope your win could help turn the economy around. Again, congratulations!

Victory Party:

McCain Concedes:

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