Better tired than not

I came up with that expression a few months back when I noticed that everytime I had client meetings I'd be dead tired after. And heck I'm NOT complaining, it's quite the opposite. I'm actually REJOICING! Why? Coz that means money coming it, which is a good thing. Whenever there's less calls and less meetings that means there's no moolah, simple as that. So I would rather stand on a bus for an hour like I did today after my client meeting than sit around in the office. It truly is such a good feeling.

But, (yes, there's a but) the money coming in isn't for vacations. No no no. It's to pay for all the BILLS. Yes, I think that's what my world revolves around most of the time. Chasing payment due dates and trying to amass that sum to pay for it. I'm just glad and thankful that it works out fine. But I wonder sometimes, will they ever end?

Pawn Loans at Casino

I don't know whether casinos are allowed to have pawn brokers or pawn shops but this casino I went to last week had brokers. They didn't have an official stall or shop. They were just lurking around but everyone knew where to find them, the guards even gave us directions. The thing is, I had something to pay last week and I needed cash fast! I tried four other pawn shops before the people at the casino. But no one was accepting my camera. The first two didn't accept gadgets while the other two's bosses were out so they couldn't give me a price. So I went to the brokers and they loaned me very little for it. It was bought brand new 4 years back for around USD 1400. Now, I know a gadget's value depreciates. So I estimated that it would probably be half that. But you wanna know how much they lent me for that? 70 bucks. What a rip off, right? That's not even 1% of how much I bought it for and it's still good as new. What the hell is wrong with them. These people are crazy! And they charged me 20% for getting it back after just a week.

A lesson to the wise: Stay away from brokers at casinos (that is, if you can find a better alternative).

Better days

I want to think positive about my situation. But why? Because, 1) There is no pain in trying. 2) You're going to fry your brain and get a headache if you keep thinking very negative thoughts. 3) How will you improve your situation if you don't think positive?

I had a hard time trying to sleep last night thinking about yesterday's events (See this post here). Complaint here and there, I just couldn't rest with all their voices ringing in my head every second. I don't know how long it took me to finally to sleep. Probably a couple of hours even with the lights out. But because I had 2 nights of no sleep (with a 2 hour nap in between), my brain gave in to my body and slept for 14 hours. CRAZY. That's the longest time I've slept in months. And more than double my normal hours, which is usually 4 hours and 6 if  I'm lucky.

My question is, how do the higher ups (CEOs, Supervisors, President, Owners, Investors) in WAY BIGGER companies sleep when they have BIG problems? I wonder what they do in their situation. Maybe they deal better with it. I dunno. It would be nice if they gave some tips, or some insight as to what and how they think, and what they think of when they want to think positive.

I think of what would happen if I gave up on the company. I think about my family. Our food. Our house. Then I think, IT HAS TO WORK. It just has to. If I thought selfishly, it would be so easy. But what about everyone I'd be letting down? Don't I care about them to? This is why WE should stay focused. Exhaust ALL your effort into accomplishing the task. Think that one day, you and your work will be recognized. That this, THIS is all for SOMETHING. Keep going forward, keep thinking positive. Someday we'll be out of the red!

WHAT a way to start the day!

It's been a crazy CRAZY morning for me. I haven't had any sleep yet and the day before that, I only got 1 hour of sleep. Yes, you read it right. Yesterday, all I had was breakfast and 2 sodas, a coke and a sprite. Can you believe that? I was only able to have dinner at 2 friggin AM. Then it just got crazier from there. Well, this is all because I had some very important payments to pay. Very. Let's just say that if I don't, I might end up in the courtroom or something even worse. I've been in this situation before. Panicked and worried about what to do and then I picture my would-be doom if I don't make things happen. Then things get even uglier, it just feels like there's no bright light at the end of the tunnel and I just want to give up.

I don't know how to say this. I truly am grateful for the people who end up saving my butt BIG TIME. I cannot express how relieved I am. It's just so surreal to be over this huge obstacle. My mind is in a major daze from everything, including hunger and sleepiness. Though that doesn't matter right now. Sleep can wait a few more hours. Time to work.

Thank goodness for SpreadSheets!

For the longest time, I have been avoiding spreadsheets. The idea of having to fill in all these boxes are kind of intimidating and I thought it was tedious. So when I did computations, I resorted to using a calculator to do everything which in my case was reliable since I checked my work 3 or 4 times. But I realized it was time consuming having to re-check my work when I could have had a computer program do it for me in a quarter of the time. Yes, I am a late bloomer and I feel like a fool actually. But hey, better late than never right?

Before, I used to make around 30 rows and 6 columns on a Word document, and everytime I needed an extra column or row I'd have to add another one. Last week, I had to make a spreadsheet with 200+ rows so I just could not be bothered to make so many and at the same time compute with a calculator! So I decided to try out the spreadsheet. It took me around 6 working days to get everything done, or an equivalent of 3 working days if I didn't have to multi-task. Imagine how long it would have taken if I did it manually. I'd go crazy PERIOD. Lol. And I just found out, I can compute hours and minutes too. I actually have more time to actually do OTHER stuff now. Life just got a whole lot easier with spreadsheets!

What's up?

Dear Readers (aka Siblings),

I'm sure you've noticed some changes when you clicked my blog on your Favorites (which I'm sure is an excuse for not remembering my website url. I understand you guys are getting old! Haha. Kidding.) Anyhow, I changed my page font so you can read my posts better cause I'm nice! Truth is, I found it hard to read as well, so I changed from Consolas to Verdana. Common but practical. The important thing is I get my message across, no? And I changed the setting to reflect only my latest post cause my recent posts have been kinda long so scrolling seemed to be a bother. I've also (finally) managed to put up two posts I promised ages ago. Those are my most helpful posts on finance to date. *Crowd goes wild* Lol.

Anyway, work's been draining all the life force out of me. I'm trying to drum up business cause the bills don't pay for itself nor does it stop coming. What do I do? I made a Multiply webpage for the company a couple of years ago; the contact info there is up-to-date. And I still check from time to time to see if there are any inquiries. But there hasn't been any comments posted this year! Do people even use it anymore? I've already created a FaceBook page and had everyone at work add their friends. A couple of inquiries here and there, but it's not doing as well as I expected. I've even sponsored an event last month, but out of the hundreds of flyers we gave out during the event, we only got one caller asking about the flyer from the event. What's wrong with our strategy? We used neon-colored paper for the flyers and Facebook is the "in" thing, right? It just doesn't add up. Is there someway I can advertise for no cost at all? (Aside from word-of-mouth which isn't helping much.) Someone out there, Help!

Strapped for Cash?

To be honest, I find myself in this situation only too often, struggling to get extra cash for the heap of bills that have to be paid before their deadlines. What can you do?

I'll start off with what to do when you have this dilemma already, which is especially for those who need just a relatively small amount of money to: (a) make VERY important payments, by that I mean electricity and water, etc and/or (b) make very important payments immediately, which of course crosses out bank loans because it usually means you need a HUGE sum of money and considering the paperwork involved I doubt you'll have time for it. (I could be wrong. It depends what bank, maybe they have a faster process and better installment plans?)  Anyway, let's get to it. Your first option is to try asking your siblings or relatives if they can lend you some money (I know it may be embarrassing, but everyone's been through this) - though I suggest you do this only if you can pay them back immediately or with installments, at least. Alternatively, you can raise the money by pawning items. For those who are not familiar with pawning, this is borrowing money by depositing a valuable which you then of course, reclaim when you've paid them back with interest. (See here for post on pawning) These are my go-to options (for now) cause technically I'm just my mother's employee a manager, who's been with the company for less than a year. No loan benefits yet.

Now, what can WE do to prepare for this situation? Well, I think this should go without saying, but even I have to remind myself constantly, SAVE! Think twice before buying something. (Or at the very least, postpone it.) It helps a lot when I think all the spending I'd have to do at the end of the day. I go, "This book or a Korean lunch with my family?" Obviously the latter wins and I don't regret it. I'd rather see my family happy and full (to the point they where they can barely walk. Haha.)

Second thing you can do, SELL! I'm sure we all have stuff lying around that we don't need, some of us may have trouble parting with items. But think of it this way, other people may have better use of it, take for example a chair that you've only used once since the day you got it (which is around five years ago). Now your neighbor's daughter could be moving to a dorm or flat and needs one for really cheap. Why let go of the opportunity, right? That's extra cash in your pocket. I'm actually planning a garage sale myself, which I hope to start by April cause I need the extra cash and space in my house. We've already sorted out stuff to sell like books, clothes and bags. My only trouble now is getting someone to man the sale cause I'll be at work on weekdays. I could probably get someone to do it for me, but then I'll have to pay them. Maybe I should just do it on weekends? Aside from selling your old or unused things, you could sell other stuff to like homemade pastries (baking expertise would be a big plus!), perfume, wallets, apparel (if you could customize shirt that would be a plus as well.), burn CDs/DVDs of hard-to-find movies. Be creative, I don't know what floats your boat, but you do. So sell something you like or enjoy and have fun while selling. I hope this helps!

Pawn Loan 101

If you asked me a few years ago what a pawn shop was, I would have said it was a place where you sold your stuff in exchange for money. I was right and wrong. Right, because you can sell your items. Wrong, because you can also borrow money by putting up an item as collateral and a pawn shop sells stuff too.

Prior to my first pawn experience, I knew a bit about pawning because I ran some errands for my mother one of which was paying for the interest of her loan before the maturity date. But when I had to pawn some jewelry on my own, I remember thinking, "Is this the way it's done? Is this the highest offer I can get on my jewelry? Is this even safe?" I sure wish I got some advice then, because I had no idea what to expect or what to do. So what should you know as a first-time pawner?

Number one, please make sure the pawn shop is legit. I cannot stress how many sob stories I've read and heard about pawn shops running away with people's valuables. Look for a business permit and/or license. It should be displayed for consumers to see. Two, know the reputation of the company. Are they well known? Do they have other branches? Those would be good signs to look out for because you know they're established in the industry. Three, Location! If you're going to pawn your stuff, make sure that the place itself and its surroundings (the street, road, neighborhood, etc) are safe and well-guarded. It shouldn't look run-down and creepy. You wouldn't want to have your stuff stolen even before you get to the pawn shop. We wouldn't want it to be stolen during your loan period either, so make sure the place has a safe, has grills between the customers and the pawn people (the staff of the pawn shop, I dunno what you call them), is cemented all around, not made of wood. Why did I mention this detail? I remember watching the news one time and the pawnshop's ceiling was made of WOOD. It had a second floor which was a residential area. The tenants/theives sawed through their floor, took everything in the safe and fled. Damn. I would have never thought that people could do such a thing. But I would never have pawned my stuff there! Nuh-uh, not in a million years. The place itself looked like it was where theives sold their goods for quick cash. I'm quite picky actually and I like to play safe. So far so good. When in doubt, get a second opinion and a third and a fourth. Do your research. It doesn't hurt to be sure (and extra extra careful!)

With that out of the way, let's talk about the loan and payment part of the pawn. (Sorry, if I don't get the terms right but I'll try to explain as clearly as I can.) First, have your item appraised. I suggest you know the worth of your item before you go in so you have an idea of how much you should be getting. They may not give you the whole value of it, since you're not selling it. But it should be somewhere close I guess. The best item to have appraised is gold, since its value never (or barely) depreciates. Not so sure about diamonds and silver. Other specialty pawn shops accept cellphones, cars, houses (obviously you'll just give them the title deed), designer bags, etc. Have a look at the yellow pages, you might be able to find something there and do not forget to follow the tips above.

Say for example, they give you a thousand bucks for your gold bracelet and their interest is 5% on or before the maturity date, which is a month from now. Today's March 22. So if you want to get your bracelet back, you have until April 22 to buy it for the thousand bucks you borrowed plus the 5%, a total of $1050. OR you could just pay back the interest of $50 and extend your loan for another month, which is the wise thing to do if you can't make the full payment just yet. Otherwise you incur penalties and/or additional interest the next time you pay since you missed the maturity date plus now you're on month #1, another 5%. Now, the redemption period varies from one pawn shop to another, where I'm from, it's 3 months after maturity date. So you have until July 22 to buy it back before it gets sold to someone else. (Confused? I'm pretty overwhelmed myself. Lol.) Let me break it down for you.

Loan Date: When your loan was granted

Maturity Date: When you have to pay the principal loan plus interest if you want to redeem your item or just pay the interest, to extend your loan another month.

Grace Period: aka Redemption Period; Starts the month after your maturity date, depends on the pawn shop, for some it may be 3 months, some 4 months.

Expiry date: END of Redemption Period, LAST day to EVER get your item back (I don't know what happens beyond this. I don't want to know.)

Principal loan: How much they'll lend you, depending on your item.

Interest: What the pawn shop charges for your loan. Varies from pawnshop. In the US, some charge 5%, others 10%. You should check their interest rates before you make your final decision.

Net proceeds: Some pawn shops charge advanced interest, which is deducated from your granted loan. So if they grant you $1000, they'll only give you $950. When you pay them back on the maturity date, you'll be paying the net proceed plus interest, basically the worth of your whole loan. So you're paying $1000, instead of $1050.

EXAMPLE:
Loan Granted: $1000
Date Granted: 22 March 2011
Maturity Date: 22 April 2011
Month # 1:      22 May 2011
Month # 2:      22 June 2011
Expiry date:     22 July 2011
Interest: 5% or 0.05 of Loan = $50

Situation 1: You have enough money to get back your item by maturity date. That's great. Just pay the loan plus interest, take your item and you're good to go.

COMPUTATION:   $1000+(5% x $1000)=$1050

Situation 2: You don't have enough money to pay for the loan yet, but you can pay for the interest by maturity date. That's ok as well. Pay your interest to renew your loan.

COMPUTATION:   5% X $1000 = $50

Situation 3: You missed your maturity date, but you now have money to pay for the missed maturity date and this month. Penalties/Surcharges apply. For this example we use additional 2% for the missed payment.

COMPUTATION:   Missed payment + Current payment
[(5%+2%) X $1000]+(5% X $1000) = $70+$50 = $120

If you missed two payments, maturity date and month #1:

COMPUTATION:   Missed payment x2 + Current payment
[(5%+2%) X $1000]x2 +(5% X $1000) = ($70x2)+$50 = $140+$50 = $190

If you want to make the full payment, add the principal loan plus any missed payments and the current interest payment. You get the gist. I know this post is starting to look like a math book already. Lol. After hours of slaving over this post and I'm finally content with how this turned out. This is for anyone who has been in my situation before, partly clueless about pawn loans. If you have any suggestions or insight that can help, please feel free to post below. Thanks for reading!

Aching feet

ARGH.

May I rant for a few lines? I just spent five hours straight walking around the city. No, I didn't go sightseeing. Lol, but I'd like that. Considering I've been in this city for almost a decade now, I still haven't been to the tourist spots. It's like living in Paris and not going to the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower. Something like that, probably not as glamourous but still worth visiting. Anyway, back to my rant, so I walked from one place to another, barely had five minutes to rest and then I had to go to a meeting. Occasionally when the air-conditioner swung in my direction, something reeked of sweat. I'm pretty sure it was me. But I tried smelling my collar and it seemed fine. What the heck, at least they know I'm really busy. (Ha! What an excuse.) But you know what, I don't care if my feet are aching so bad right now. I'm glad that business is picking up and I'll gladly do it again if it's all it takes to get things running smoothly again.

Busy blogger

With the load of things on my to-do list each day, I seriously do not have energy left at the end of the day. I don't know how other bloggers do it. Maybe it's their full-time job, maybe it's their hobby, still I admire them for working so hard on their blogs. Not that I don't though, I've always enjoyed blogging, still do. In the past, I reviewed products, something that I liked doing but not enough to keep me motivated to work at it and with university taking up majority of my time, I just couldn't keep up. This blog however feels different to me. It's something that I would have wanted to read when I was starting out in the business world and I feel like this would be of help to other readers. Things like what to do in when you're low on cash, how to handle finances, what to invest in, stuff like that but in an understandable manner especially for newbies. Now I'm not preaching or anything, nor am I an expert (which I really am not) but I'd just like to share what I know hoping that someone reads my blog one day and thinks,"Hey, this is helpful" or something to that extent. :) By the way, I have a couple of blogs in draft already which I will finish typing up after this one. And after sifting through the new bunch of bills that I just got in the mailbox. Surprise surprise. Lol. Yes, my friends, this is life.

Lessons of Life

About a year ago, I was put in charge of the family business (more like thrust into managing it really, but doesn't put in charge sound better?). So I was taught the basics, how to sell in order to make money which would in turn pay the bills, which by the way is only 20% of what I needed to know. As for the rest? I just learnt (and still learning) those along the way.

Of course, life isn't without its complications. When I found myself in a knot, I'd have no clue what to do. There was literally no one I could ask for guidance. I would always be in a foul mood feeling angry, panicked, sad, helpless and abandoned. There were tons of times I wished that all of my problems would just disappear. Sometimes even pretending like they weren't there. But it only made things it worse, creating even bigger problems. Believe me, I was scared as hell thinking it would never end. I realized that doing nothing about it isn't gonna help at all. So I did what I had to - face my problems and solve them one at a time.

Eventually things started to look up. And here I am still standing. You know the saying, "When there's a will, there's a way." It's a very good description in my case. It takes tons of willpower and inner strength to get you through tough times. I know there's always gonna be bad days and really really bad days. When you do feel like giving up, as I have many times, just think of something that keeps you going. For me, it's proving to myself that one day I will make it big time and being able to design and build my dream house with a new car to match. Remember, all those successful people had to start somewhere. Some got a lucky break but what the hell, who says we can't be just as great? Motivate yourself because there's only one person you can count on: YOU!