Digital Floors and Ceilings

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis may have few positive impact in our lives and one of those is awareness to health. Health is wealth as sickness can drain wealth or worst lead to untimely demise.Sickness can have a factor of protection and prevention which involves the topics of immunity, lifestyle, stress, environment, vitamins, diet, genes, and exercise. Due to vast origin and complex human nature we cannot escape facing illnesses at least few times in our lives.  When we got sick, we usually go through different stages. Diagnosis, wherein we go to a physician for checkup. In this stage there are also specialized equipment and tools necessary to determine the cause of our sickness. After proper diagnosis, the doctors would then recommend medicines or treatment procedures to cure our sickness until recovery. Each of the stages during diagnosis, treatment, and recovery requires substantial amount of money depending on the nature of illnesses. Oftentimes, it is difficult to face illness...

I still encounter this question despite several resources available online. So here are the basics: Stock broker, settlement account, and funds. Stock broker . There are several stock brokers in the Philippines which offers both traditional and online trading. Traditional trading is when you call your agent and she/he will do the actual buying and selling of stocks in your account. Online trading is logging in to your broker account and doing the actual buying or selling of stocks Settlement bank account . These are existing or new bank accounts that you can use to transfer fund or receive funds from you stock broker account. Majority of local bank accounts can be used as a settlement account linked to specific stock broker accounts. Recently, payment apps can also be used in funding stock broker accounts. Funds . Of course in order to buy stocks you need cash. Initial funding varies per broker, minimums of 5,000; 1,000 or 10,000 are common among online stockbroker...

Photo by  Allie Smith  on  Unsplash IPO fans and traders today rejoice once again after the latest initial public offering in the Philippine stock market opened at 8% higher than the initial price. Fruitas seems to be a relief after the last two IPO which failed to make a good short term return at the open. Until today Axelum Resources, Inc. is still trading below their IPO price level and All Home Corp is near its initial price. Let's discuss a little bit of FRUIT's background. Fruitas Holdings, Inc. opened its first store at SM Manila last 2002 which then grew into more than 800 stores around the Philippines. It expanded to several brands including Buko Loco, De Original Jamaican Pattie Shop and Juice Bar, Juice Avenue, Johnn Lemon, Black Pearl, Buko Ni Fruitas, and Fruitas Ice Candy. In their IPO prospectus, the initial public offer proceeds will be used majority for expansions and acquisitions although some will be to pay up existing debts. I've seen several ...

After watching the latest animation movie from Pixar, several thoughts came to my mind and these are few of those. The characters resemble the emotions we put when investing specially in stocks. The following article contains spoilers for those who haven’t watch the movie. "Inside Out Review!"   by  AntMan3001  is licensed under  CC BY-SA 2.0  Joy Joy is the first thought that will come, as we are new in the stock market, we are excited to buy our first pick. Aiming to have our initial gain, our first share of dividends, our goals instantly pop out from our minds associated with those investments when target appreciation was realized. We are always eager to check the news regarding our picks, their projects, income, and rumors and disclosures. Sadness We waited days, months, years, checking portfolio with hitting some buy and sell transactions. We realized that it is not easy. We gain some, we lose some. We hit some curved balls for a ...

Opportunity of a Lifetime by Wilson Sy is the compiled version of Philstar's Philequity Corner. The biography of the Philippine stock market is written in this book with lessons from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, 2000 Philippine Political Crisis, and 2008 US Subprime Crisis. This book explained the role of central banks in managing world economies and stock markets. The fall and rise of the Philippine Peso including its sweet spots. Fiscal reforms and politics that shaped the current economic conditions of the Philippines. These topics revealed the basic investment principles of the fund.

"Business Adventures" by John Brooks is like a fiction touch in a non fiction book. It is jam packed with facts and lessons from great stories that probably shaped business histories. From history of stock market fluctuation, a case of insider trading, the mistakes of a big corporation like Ford in its Edsel model, the challenges and rise of Xerox, history of income taxation, employment issues with regards to intellectual property, to British pound historical devaluation and rescue. Each story presented in such a way that can put you at the edge of your seat.

If The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is the first completed book for 2013. This one is the first for 2014. Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is truly a thought provoking book. Ever since I read The Black Swan, I believed that the extremistan truly ruled the world. This book exposed 3 sets of personality, the fragile, that breaks and fall upon encounteri ng black swans. The robust that demonstrates resiliency when faced with black swans. And the antifragile that gains from black swans. The journey with the book revealed the pitfalls of large economies and corporations and the recommendations how to be antifragile. Few of my favorites includes the barbell strategy and the skin to the game concepts. Embrace uncertainty, randomness and error... It may just change our lives.

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is about understanding the events, positive or negative that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. If Malcolm Gladwell studied outliers and the power of snap judgements, Dan Ariely is master of irrationality, Taleb is the guru of randomness. He explained that although the world is full of mediocristan or gradual and steady changes, it is shaped by extremistan or surprises like discoveries, inventions, wars, stock market crashes, terrorist attacks, etc. The negative part of the book is the heavy words used. My nose bled several times to the rescue of my mobile merriam webster dictionary.

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham as my first read book for 2013 is a fusion of my interests in non fiction books and stocks. For the past 8 years of monitoring PSE, valuations were never been as high as the past year and early this year which should trigger better research and understanding "Mr. Market".Graham teaches strategies for both aggressive and defensive investors, balancing portfolio thru common stocks and bonds, cost averaging, reading and comparing financial statements which proves the comment of Warren Buffet "This is by far the best book on investing ever written."