Imperfect Life

 

6 cut, 6 death experience!

6 papers to sign saying “hey your dying!

I was even told “You only have few years to live”

I nod and reply “Devil don’t die easily!”

 

Struggle is real after every procedure.

For I will live life with 1 or 2 dysfunctional senses

But who know what’s going on

Behind this silly face

Of course, none, except few.

But let me tell you,

Therapy was bad, Inoculation was worst.

Counseling is heart breaking

Hospital check-in is nightmare!

Oh how will I describe how tough it is was,

I can only show few hairs lost and blood clots.

 

While others are holding hands on valentine’s day

My dextrose hold me tight saying

 “don’t go mylove, will be together for a while”

So many times, I sneak pick to run away

But the wise doctor already knows my plan

So he confiscate my keys and wallets ahead of time

With her is a nurse whom I thought siding on me,

He keep my valuable till I finish all my dose,

It was boring, It was miserable.

Sigh…!

 

After many years

here I am kicking and fighting.

Fighting for life

Because life is worth fighting for.

Living my dreams, seizing every opportunity

To do what I miss.

 

If you ask me if I questioned God

No, I did not, Coz if I die now, I know why.

How about those who are in good shape who died the next day?

 

My life has change for good I should say.

I focus more on loving myself.

Seizing opportunity to do what makes me happy.

Living life stretching my freedom

As long as am not hurting anyone.

Nor breaking the rule of my religion

For me God is good, And so am blessed.

 

If God permits I want to see the world I haven’t seen

I want to be in places that gives me joy

And made me a better person

I want to explore a little bit more

And experience life out of my comfort zone

Float in dead sea,

See the Northern lights,

Live in 4 reason country are among my list.

Added to that are sky diving and other extreme sports

That’s would make my adrenalin run so fast than my heart beat!

So I will take one day at a time

Till all mylist will turn into done!

 

I am not yet at my 100% if your curious,

But why wait for the perfect situation

Instead lets make those imperfect, perfect!

To live life with joy and excitement.

 

In my own time, When all are shut down

I kneel down and pray

To thank the lord who created me

And asked him for a meaningful life,

Full of joy and good memories

And so I choose to love myself

And be good at myself

That whatever happen, I will choose to be happy

Will choose to smile even if it hurts somewhere

For by understanding the gift of life

We will understand the joy of waking up!

 

(Original Poem written in Doha, Qatar)

Copyright @savingcent

Lets Invest!

If your are talking to me on a regular basis you will observe that am very kin to discuss about money, saving, investment and retirement which are consider taboo for many of us or its just that not everyone is comfortable talking about finances. 

As someone who work in corporate world it is our greatest dream to leave our corporate job and enjoy simple living, but we also understand that doing so is not easy, it requires alo't of sacrifice and huge payment for us to attain what we always wanted. Indeed great things has great price! and so am choosing to pay now so i can have a caviar in the future whenever i fancy so. 

In today's world buying almost everything is just at the tip of our fingertips, we are also bombard by the advertisement specially because on today's era we have alots of exposure in social media, and the marketing employee are doing their job very well and so we easily give them our hard earn money by simply letting us know the latest product, the best product that they say "we need" in our life. But the truth is, those are just plus factor or marketing strategies for us to buy. This is the very reason why i choose to be minimalist, rather than going with the flow because if i follow the trends then i'll end up in garbage bin, and live pay check to pay check so, i try my best to save and invest as much as i can. 

Just a disclaimer that i am not in anyway expert in the field of finance or investment. Whatever i share in this blog is purely based on my own personal and what i have learn from watching various youtubers gurus such as Chinkee Tan, Marvin Germo, Vince Rapisura, Wealth Arkhi, Alux, Top Think and ect...which i hope you will learn from it same as i do.

1. Invest in Cooperatives

Choose good cooperative with good credit scores. Make sure that you study first the cooperative and their goals, missions and vision to ensure that it adhere to your personal perspectives, religion and beliefs. What i mean by it is that for example i am a Muslim and my religion is Islam even if the cooperative with good credit score but the lieu of business does not adhere to Islamic Law then i wont invest on them.

Check also the legalities of the cooperatives where you are investing and don't just throw your hard earn money. Do the background checking and ensure that your doing it in a right way which means that your information about the cooperatives are factual and not just hear say from your friends, or social media post which you browse randomly.

2. Banks and Time Deposits

It is true that banks has a very low interest rate specially the time deposit, but if your goal is only to preserve your capital and you have a very low tolerance then this is for you. This is a no brain preservation of your money, just go to the bank, ensure that you are under PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Company) with limit of 500,000 PHP for Philippine Banks then you can peacefully invest your money without worries. So if you have one million pesos better to split it into two bank this way you can be sure that whatever happen to the bank your money is safe and guaranteed to be return to you. 

3. Rural Banks

We often overlook the rural bank because they are not accessible to us or not fancy at all. But Rural Banks has good return compare to the commercial bank plus the fact that you are helping the local community. So try it for yourself.

4. Pag Ibig MP2

Many people do not know about it, or they take this for granted but if you have a money where you don't need in the next  5 years then MP2 is for you. MP2 is a Government Guarantee and the rate is high. Last 2020 despite of the pandemic the dividend is 6% + which is very good in my opinion. And if you are OFW you can pay MP2 at Lumpsum (whole years or whatever and however you like it since this is voluntary).

But if you would to ask me i suggest that you put your contribution each month that you receive your salary in that way you will gain discipline in saving and investing your money.

5. Stock Market

Before i would recommend the stock market to anyone i would 1st recommend them to invest in themselves for them to know the technical know how of what they are doing. 

Stock market is not a get rich quick scheme rather you should be patience and should be willing to learn, read factual news from  a reliable sources and evaluate accordingly and do not panic. If you can control your emotions during the high and low of the stocks then this is for you, otherwise don't do it.

I invest in the stock market but i am not a trader, i am more of a investor which means that i alot amount to buy stocks at my choosen companies (specifically blue chip companies) and i let it do the magic. So, even if the market is high or low i dont worry much, because i only invest what i can afford to lost at the same time choose my own risk. Lastly i choose long term investment like 5-10 years.

6. Invest for your retirement

When we are young and earning money we forgot to invest for our retirement because simply because we thought we are young. But we have to remember that we will never be young forever and we should not take for granted the power of compound interest. By doing so we will be able to ensure that when we grown old we have good chance of enjoying and living the life that we deserve.

There are so many opportunities for us to invest our hard earn money, but we must have to be wise and smart in this way our hard earn money will never go to waste. 

One of the best retirement program that i can recommend is investing in property, PERA (Personal Equity Retirement plan) from various banks, and many other wise investment. Always be cautions because in retirement we cannot afford to lost our money when we are old. So get rich quick scheme is a No, No!

7. Invest in your health

Take it from me, someone who has 6 major surgery. I realized that no matter how much money you have, if you have poor health you cannot enjoy your money.  Many times in the past i get long holiday from work because i work overtime but because i have hospital check-up i was force to stay at home, i cannot even travel abroad.

Invest in your health by eating the right kind of food at the right amount. As you take good care of your physical health you may also not to forget to take good care of your emotional and mental health. Having the balance of life and work is not just a luxury rather it is a must in our era. Do exercise and enroll at gym!

So have you invest any of the above? or do you have good suggestion where we can better invest?