Chinese Romance, Getting Greener?

"Placing more importance on money doesn't mean there is no true love. Love is a feeling. It needs material support to become real, solid and lasting."


Greener?...

Nah, I'm not talking about ecology, environment, global warming or carbon footprints

Greener?...

Nah.. not the dirty green thing, tsk tsk dirty mind hehe *grin*, I'm a financial guy, not a porn writer =p

Greener..

Yes, green bucks!.. We're talking about money again, its what the site is all about.


It's known that Chinese are quiet shrewd in terms of money and finances. It is also known that interracial marriages are still taboo in this generation. But rarely discussed is how and what really constitute a Chinese romance. This topic is sensitive in nature, but I somewhat feel that I need to as a financial planner because its part of the financial reality.

What's Behind The Chinese Romance?....

Ligaw-Intsik (sa araw kung manligaw at may dalang weird na regalo)??.. well, there's some truth to it, the reason is that Chinese are protective over the their children, so its common that Chinese youths particularly girls have some form of curfew. But the weird gift thing, I would like to argue about that, I would say its exaggerated.

Chinese marry Chinese.. well, yes, there's a sociological, cultural and most of all, financial basis for that. I would forego the sociological and cultural topic coz that's not my expertise. However, in basis of financial, I would say its more like two companies talking about merger (remember the Equitable Bank and Banco de Oro?), both parties/companies want the merger to be the best for them financially and culturally.

But how do Chinese choose their partner?.. its hard to pinpoint what are the specific factors affect their decision. But I can assure you that financial is most likely a big part of it. Here are some surveys or studies I gathered:

• A poll conducted online by the China Youth Daily and qq.com, an online community visited mostly by young people, showed that nearly half the 8,932 respondents said "that money and other financial packages are the most important preconditions for love".

• Of those surveyed, "85.5 percent of younger generation paid more attention to financial status when considering potential life partners than previous generations".

• It was also reported that around 30% of girls in Beijing would prefer to marry a man who owned a house

• A survey conducted on female college students' attitude towards work and marriage. Among the 7,311 female college students interviewed, 72.2% of the respondents agree with the saying that it is better to marry a rich husband than have a good career.

The reality is kinda like "no financial statement, no date", you have to prove your worth both in personality and financially. Parents of girls often sets a standard to how rich or wealthy the male suitor should be. And because of the patriarchal social setup, girls more often give way to the system.

It doesn't mean that looks, honesty and kindness are not part of the equation anymore, but as the world gets competitive and life's getting harder. More and more weight are being put into security. Education, career and financial independence of girls are also part of the equation. Girls want someone who is ahead of them and can provide the best for them. Simple, practical and most of all, realistic.

Face it guys (particularly Chinese guys), if you don't know that your financial status would affect your romantic life greatly, then you should reassess the reality.

Please Read!

"Singaporean Girls - A Challenge To Love"
http://www.singapore-window.org/sw05/050213st.htm

HAPPY FATHERS DAY !

What's the best gift to our father? Maybe that's what you're thinking when you hear about Father's Day. (Tama ba ako?) Tuesday this week (June 16, 2009), I was part of the RFP's (Registered Financial Planners) who conducted a financial planning clinic at DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) at Intramuros Manila. The employees who attended the clinics are mostly retirees and those who opted for early retirement. That time, a sudden thought occupied my mind. I wondered how many of them are ready or equipt to handle retirement. Do they have enough funds to enjoy their golden years comfortably or do they need to rely on their children to feed and care for them? Do they have their own home to stay or will they stay with their children? Honestly, I guess most of them don't have any retirement plans, especially with regards to making sure their retirement money last a lifetime.

I interviewed one of them and learned that if they've worked less than 30 years, what they'll get is a lump sum based on the computation of : 3/4 multiplied by the last monthly salary multiplied by the number of years of service.

Well, let's say that an employee contributed 25 years of his life in government service, and his last salary is around P20,000 a month.

Retirement money = 3/4 x P20,000 x 25
= P375,000

How long will that money last if he saves it in the bank and spends only around P7,000 a month from the fund. Answer: approx 4.5 years.. =(

Now, going back to our topic. I'm sure many of our parents provided us the best care and comfort that they can give. More often than not, that care is at the expense of their retirement. Because of us, they've failed to accumulate enough money for their retirement. As their children, maybe it's just right that we give back when we are already financially capable .

"As a financial planner, I suggest that to augment their retirement money, we help them by creating and contributing to a fund purpose of which is to give our dear parents a better independent retirement life" - Berns

It's not much actually. If your dad is already 50 and planning to retire at age 65, a little amount of only P1,000 each month starting now until he retires, will give your dad an amount approximately P500,000 - P600,000 when he retires. Consider it as a retirement gift for your dear father. Not much, but he'll be proud of you.

Maybe, just to make sure that your dad will have that amount no matter what might happen to you, get a term insurance and make your dad the beneficiary. A 10 year term insurance of P500,000 in face value will cost you only around P2,250 a year! It's cheap. Most of all, you can be sure that even if something unfortunate happens to you, you'll still be able to express your love for your dad by ensuring him a better retirement life.

INDEPENDENCE or HINDi-INDEPENDENCE DAY

Congratulation!, you live in a free and independent country (ruled by swines that rapes our constitution, con-ass = conniving assholes hehehe). The higher chamber looks kinda like a pitbull arena where dog bite fellow dogs, and conducts a hearing about sex scandal of some celebrities. "Wow Philippines" nga!

The swines took several years for crafting the PERA bill (retirement bill which will help and encourage to save up for their retirement). And it only took those swines a marathon session that dragged toward midnight to passed the Con-Ass resolution. What the F***! (P***** INA), oops! I need to get another life insurance with huge value for saying those things.

Anyway, lets talk about independence.. If independence of a country means people rule themselves not by some other sovereign country, then personally what is your independence?.

• living and surviving by yourself?
• not relying on others?
• no debt?
• having your own family?
• darn good paying job?

Are those enough?, have you thought of your boss? the deadlines?, your landlord? and you keep working your ass everyday just to make things alright.. then it is not really independence. Lets have a closer look what really is Our Independence.

Our Independence (retirement) means,

• we don't have to kiss our boss' ass everyday
• we own our home
• we don't have debts
• children are already living on their own
• we have money to live comfortably for our remaining years
• and be able to do what we like to do (not really, as long as your health permits)
  

Our Independence is a journey, it entails a lot of challenges and struggles along the way more like the way our country went through. Having under the rule of Spaniards (boss and work) for many years and labored many years under Americans (providing for your own family). Finally, we earned our independence (retirement).

We don't need to struggle for 300 or more years to become independent. We only have almost more than half of our lifetime to do so. How then? save and invest, simple as that and need not be a struggle.

Scenario:

• 30 yr old couple with kids
• want to be independent at age of 60
• expected life expectancy of 85
• currently P30,000 is enough for the couple's living expenses, and considered it as comfortable living standard, and expect that nothing will change in the future lifestyle except more visits to health care
  
• inflation = 5%

Result:

Type of Investment	Expected Investment Return	Monthly Investment for Retirement (and 5% increase every year)
Bank Deposit or equivalent	4%	P31,250
Balanced Fund	8%	10,400
Equity Fund	10%	6,250

What if we only start saving P10,400 a month at 8%, 5 years later... we can only retire 7 years later than what we wanted to.. what that means is run into risk of having to work our future old body into old age, enduring rheumatism and some ailments when we should be resting and enjoying. And worse is that we risk being a burden to our children to take care of us when they should be focusing of providing for their own family and building their nest egg. That also exposes us to the risk of possible conflict with our future in-laws. Start investing for our retirement!

NO MONEY, NO HONEY

SAVING FOR WEDDING (NO MONEY, NO HONEY)

June is here! supposedly the month of weddings =) .. congratulations to all newly weds.

Some wedding trivia:

• Most couples marry in May, followed by December and January. June only came fourth, and the least number of marriages occur in November
• There is one wedding ceremony solemnized for every minute. (Daily = 1578 knots)
• The median age of marrying for brides remained at 24 years old, while for grooms, it was 27

source: census.gov.ph (year 2000)

The average wedding costs $23,657 (not including the engagement ring or the honeymoon). Here's where the money goes.
Item	%	Cheapest	Cheap	Not so Cheap	Extravagant
Reception	46%	$10,120	$11,500	$13,800	$27,600
Photo/Video	12%	$2,640	$3,000	$3,600	$7,200
Attire	10%	$2,200	$2,500	$3,000	$6,000
Flowers/Décor	8%	$1,760	$2,000	$2,400	$4,800
Music	6%	$1,320	$1,500	$1,800	$3,600
Tips/Taxes/Overages	5%	$1,100	$1,250	$1,500	$3,000
Ceremony	3%	$660	$750	$900	$1,800
Stationery	3%	$660	$750	$900	$1,800
Wedding Rings	3%	$660	$750	$900	$1,800
Gifts	2%	$440	$500	$600	$1,200
Transportation	2%	$440	$500	$600	$1,200
Total		$22,000	$25,000	$30,000	$60,000

Source: The Knot (US data)

Pardon me for not having Philippine data, but the above data can still give us an overview on wedding finances and financing. I guess the typical local wedding can range from 250k-1M Php.


Wedding Saving Guide for Bachelors (Guys, pay more attention!)

Assumption:

• Start saving by 21, the age you start working
• Marrying age of 27
  
• You shoulder all the cost. (You don't want to burden your parents anymore. Whatever they have saved should be for their retirement.)

• Invest in equity fund every month (approx.annual return = 10%)
  

For 250K wedding.. you should save at least 2,500 / mo.

For 500K wedding.. 5,100 / mo.

For 1M wedding... 10,200 / mo.


Sounds like much for a single day event eh? *grin*.. fact of life bro, hehehe

Mars, Venus, and Money

by Mr. Berns

"Women grow up to equate money with safety and security, while men see money as power, enhancing their sense of masculinity and competence."

Earning Styles
MEN
· Stake his masculinity on being a strong financial provider
· View compensation as only one measure of their professional achievement
· Earn 28% more than female counterparts
· See money as a flow that keeps on coming

WOMEN
· Few associate having more money with more femininity
· More likely to consider stimulating work as a key reason instead of the pay
· Less earnings = less confidence about their earning power
· See money as a pool that can be drained dry

Spending Styles

MEN
· Tend to have an enduring passion for power toys: cars, gadgets, etc.
· They evolve into megashoppers as they grow older and experience financial success
· More likely to boast about the amount of money they spend on a car, trip, or house

WOMEN
· Tend to treat themselves to clothing, jewelry and beauty treatments- items that enhance their value
· Particularly indulgent in the first few years of their careers, doing so as a declaration of freedom
Saving Styles

WOMEN
· Women save only half of what men do, on average
· Start saving later than their male counterpart

Investing Styles

MEN
· More willing to shoulder investment risk
· Know more than women about investing, or think they do
· Worry less about risk of losing if there’s a probability of a healthy profit someday
· More likely to invest in stocks or stock funds

WOMEN
· See only one dimension of investing: risk: the risk of losing money. They totally ignore the second and potentially more devastating risk – the inflation
· Many are jittery about investing, wind up being overly cautious and keep cash in bank CDs or Treasury Bills

Borrowing Styles

MEN
· Tends to borrow up to his limit
· More likely to get into debt trouble, higher average debt load than women

WOMEN
· Tends to borrow only what she needs
· Risk-aversion limits their opportunities, prevent them from starting their business, etc.

References:
Gender Differences in Personal Financial Literacy Among College Students (Chen Haiayang - Financial Services Review, Oct 2002)
Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Investment (Charness, Gneezy - Sept.2007
The Money Book of Personal Finance (Eisenberg, 1998)
Gender earnings inequality in the service and manufacturing industries in the U.S (Greene, Hofnar - Jan.1995)
Spending patterns of men and women (Shipp - Monthly Labor Review, 1998)
Who Buys What: Identifying international spending patterns (Nicholas - Feb.2007)

What To Do With Bad Financial Decisions You Made

Money Talk

“Financial matters will come to you, for better or for worse. If we’re going to be in denial and will avoid talking about it now, we’re going to be less equip to handle the issues that might pop-up later.” -Mr. Berns

Admit it, most of us are afraid or have no interest of talking about money, and yet we backbreak over it. We work day-in day-out, on the extreme there’s even the term “Karoshi” (death from overwork). What for? "For the money I guess, for the security that money gives."

We don’t like money talks with friends. It’s like some kind of taboo that spoils the fun and the mood. But observe a conversation on things that most of us think is "the" deal of a lifetime. We excitedly utter:“I bought a nice laptop for just P20,000(a little under $500). It’s a grab!" Even buying a nice dress, 50% off from regular price is a joy worth celebrating. In a serious relationship, we also have the belief, talking about money spoils the romance and intimacy. We get to hear “ang panget pag-usapan ang pera”(Filipino words. In English: "It's ugly to talk about money")

Money myths are deeply entrenched in our thoughts that we view money as the root of all evil, that money corrupts, changes people, and that it can’t buy happiness. The truth is, money is neutral, and the problem lies with the LOVE of money. As some people turn sour focusing on the money, the smarter ones treat people ahead of money”.

Our psychology with money can be summed up by this quote: “One of the reasons we are secretive about our own money is that we want to present ourselves to the world as being very sensible and rational about money, when in fact we are not.” – Dorothy Rowe, author of The Real Meaning of Money

Ok, we discussed about how we avoid money talk, now what? “If you, or with your partner haven’t walked carefully through all the money matters that might come up in time, I promise you that money will one day become an obstacle for you and your relationship” – Suze Orman


Final Words

Financial matters will come to you, for better or worse. If we’re going to be in denial and will avoid talking about it now, we’re going to be less equip to handle the issues that might pop-up later. Aside from talking and dealing with money, we also need to plan ahead. You might be thinking that the future holds much uncertainties and that planning is way beyond you. Well, think again!. We can actually plan to at least a certain extent---our future, for having a blunt weapon by our side is better than having nothing at all.