What Simply Works!

I wish I am an investment-savvy person. That way, our hard-earned savings will not be ‘sleeping’ in the bank. I have met a few financial consultants in Singapore and they helped a lot by way of explaining the ins and outs of making investments. It was enlightening to know that even for insurance policies there are programs that allow the insured to allot a portion of the premium to a choice investment.

One investment type that is very popular among our circle of friends is Forex. Well, they say that this is pretty high risk but it goes without saying that the gains have high potential, too.

A friend who participated in online foreign currency trading shared with me that one of the downsides is that she has to be up on US time (opposite time zone in Singapore). Despite this, when she got a feel of how online trading works, she immediately got hooked. Also, she had to be up to date with current events and latest business news and was therefore always on the internet day after day.

I think foreign currency trading is for high risk takers. I prefer to be on the ‘safe side’ when investing and therefore Forex trading is not for me.

There is a non-profit organization that aims to assist uninsured patients to get free medication through their patient assistance programs. Patient Assistance.com is a corporation located in the US and has helped so many people through their programs.

I wish something like that is available for our fellow Filipinos back home. With a big chunk of our population living below poverty line, it will be greatly beneficial for patients to get free assistance in the form of medications. There are so many pharmaceutical companies back home which can sponsor the programs. I’m not sure if we already have something similar to this but I hope we do.

One of the most important considerations before my husband accepted his job here in Sydney is the insurance coverage. With Australia’s economy booming, it is expected that the standard of living will go up as well.

With our objective to experience a change of lifestyle and still be able to meet our target savings here, we had to go through the insurance coverage offered by my husband’s company thoroughly and checked if there are areas to upgrade based on our needs.

Since we are here on working visas, it is vital to choose a good private health insurance. So far, we have no regrets in the company we chose. We are comfortable with the coverage we chose especially with our child in mind. For permanent residents, however, Medicare will cover hospitalization or medical needs.

Our friend here who got the same coverage said that her plans for baby #2 are well underway since the insurance will take care of her delivery/ hospitalization expenses.

My husband has been asking me to make appointments with the dentist, chiropractor and optometrist. He said that we should maximize the benefits before they lapse. I guess the next opportunity I get; I will definitely make calls to schedule all of these visits.

Some hate it, some don’t. Some think that removing the Blogger navbar violates the terms and conditions for Blogger’s free hosting. Others say that there’s no clear statement from Blogger to keep the navbar permanently.

Well, whatever your feelings are about this topic, the code to remove the navbar is there for the taking. Here’s the link to the blog that shows the piece of html code that you just need to copy-paste on your blog’s template.

Easy-peasy, I should say.

http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/2005/01/remove-navbar.html

More blogging tips here.

(Ang cyclone na ito ay “simulation” lamang na makikita sa Discovery Centre sa Singapore. Bagaman nakamamangha ang luntiang kulay habang patuloy ang pag-ikot ng tubig, mababatid rin natin kung gaano kalakas na kalamidad ito.)

This cyclone simulation can be found at Singapore’s Discovery Centre. Even though I was in awe of the bright green color produced by the whirling water, I realized how strong and powerful a calamity this is.

More Litratong Pinoy here!

When a good friend of ours got hospitalized for a serious illness, one of our major worries for him and his family is the hospital bills. We feared for the worst financial setback possible. This is where health insurance plans play a major role. My husband and I are so happy to learn that their health insurance will cover all the medical costs. It is a big relief that now they can focus solely on the patient’s recovery.

As we get older, we realize how important life and health insurance policies are. Especially when we have dependents, we are given the financial security when we get proper coverage for the earners in the family.

I’m sure there are still some people that are cynical towards getting insurance coverage. Some on the other hand think that as long as they have a good cash flow, they don’t need to get life or health policies.

In this case, it helps to think of a possible worst case scenario. Having a good cash flow is fine but who wants to use it up for health or emergency cases? How would you want your children to end up when either of the earning parents could no longer work?

There are many financial agents out there who give free assessment and advice on this matter. If you don’t have coverage yet, I strongly encourage you to consider getting one.

Searching for the right frame for eye glasses can be a pain to some people. There are things to consider like comfort, the style of the frame should suit the wearer’s facial shape and even the shade or tint of the lenses matter.

Zenni Optical shop has a one-stop online shopping site that offers a wide selection of eye glasses for both children and adults. They even have a promotion called $8 Zenni Optical Rx Eyeglasses.

What’s nice about being able to shop online is you can already narrow-down your search such that you won’t have to spend a lot of time going around the optical shop browsing through the selection. You can note down the frame style you prefer and if it the price fits your budget, you just need to drop by Zenni Optical and make a purchase.

A lot of kids nowadays wear spectacles and in Singapore alone, they have campaigns to help children battle myopia or near-sightedness. It must be the early exposure of kids to television and video games that contribute to this eye condition. It helps that there are optical shops that offer discounts for parents who have kids that need corrective eye glasses.

When we were planning for our New York City trip in 2005, we knew that spending less than a week there is not enough. However, due to time constraints, we compressed our schedule so that we can visit most of the highlights there.

It was tiring to say the least. It was like every hour was critical for us that we should spend it wisely. There are a lot of buses offering NYC tours but we chose to tour the city on foot.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. I took as many photos as I can and I didn’t even let pass taking a shot of the door of Donald Trump’s office. There is so much history in every corner and every spot in that city. There is so much color and life to the structures and parks that I can sit contently while I watch the busy New Yorkers pass by.

Next time we get the chance, I will be more equipped to plan for our trip there. I’m sure that we’ll have a grand time again. We will not only visit the places we missed but we can also visit my in-laws in nearby New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Not really wordless today, but I can’t help but share about New York! I have one more wordless here. More from the other participants!

Shopping for babies’ stuff can be an overwhelming task for first-time parents. Aside from the budgeting aspect, there’s the challenge to come up with the list of must-haves. First, there’s the tendency to exaggerate and buy nice to haves thinking that the baby “might” need it. Second, who can tell what the exact needs of the baby are when it comes out.

A friend of mine shared that she bought a pram, carrier, wooden crib with matching crib beddings and a playpen. Only to find out that her baby dislikes being latched to a pram and staying in a playpen. That’s already a lot of money put to waste.

It is safe to have baby’s basic needs available. Anyway, it’s always easy to buy if and when it’s needed.

I may have been blogging for over four years but it’s only recently that I’ve started to gain interest in knowing a bit of the technical side of setting up blogs and the importance of SEO. There is so much available information out there that spending a few minutes or hours a day is definitely not enough.

So to share bits and pieces of my blog finds, let me start by sharing this tool called Website Grader. I stumbled upon this site a few months ago but never got around to writing about it until today. This tool lists the important aspects of SEO and you’ll see how you can improve on them.

There is still so much to be done to improve all my blogs’ grades but I’ll get there eventually. So why not give it a whirl now, here’s the link:

http://www.websitegrader.com/

More blogging tips here.