"I have two doctors, my left leg and my right." -G.M. Trevelyan

Since my gym membership is currently frozen (till the end of the month. as I failed to pay on time. arr.), I've been walking a lot as an alternative exercise. I'd walk from my office to my house, or from my house to Shopwise, or from my house to Ayala Triangle after work. It shouldn't be so bad as an alternative exercise -- I read an interesting article where it says, we should start walking because:

1. Walkers Live Longer
2. Walking Helps Prevent Weight Gain
3. You Can Walk Off Weight (for long-term weight loss)
4. Walking Reduces Risk of Cancer
5. Walking Reduces Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
6. Walking Reduces Diabetes Risk
7. Walking Boosts Your Brain Power
8. Walking Improves Mood and Relieves Stress
9. Walking Can Prevent Erectile Dysfunction (n/a for me, of course. haha)
10. It's Easy to Get Started Walking

As for me, it maintains my active lifestyle, hence it's easier to get up in the morning. Secondly, it keeps me warm (not fever-like. but rather the opposite of "ginawin"). It also makes my exercise dynamic, seeing different views, unlike in the gym where I'd rely just on the TV or on my music to avoid boredom. Best of all, at the end of the day, it makes me feel like I've had a good workout without feeling exhausted from strenuous cardio exercises, thus I'm having more time for myself. :)
 

New leader has Facebook problems

ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Reuters!) - Croatia's newly elected president has run into a problem -- how to accept thousands of new friends on Facebook...

..."I have 5,000 friends, which is the maximum allowed on Facebook. I also have another 7,000 waiting so I don't know how we'll work that out" the silver-haired, bespectacled law expert and classical music composer told state radio on Tuesday.

WHAT? seriously? do you really need to add those 12,000 "friends"? Do you know there's such thing as fan page? LOL. Read full article here. Oddly Enough!
 

Saving for retirement must start NOW

This post will be long, prepare for boredom. hehe!

1 out of 10 filipinos save up for retirement, according to this -an article which I found while googling for investment types currently being offered in banks (hehe, idle time now, and I'm trying to be productive okay!) Simply, this article says that saving for retirement should start as early as 20s. so that you don't have to cram on saving on your 40s and 50s, so that later on, you don't have to worry your kids about your financial needs when they've got families of their own. true diba?

I got bothered with the idea. for one, I'm in the mid 20s and my savings don't sound reasonable enough for someone of my age, job and position. two, I'm still not disciplined enough when it comes to "paying myself first" -the saving scheme which says that on your payday, set aside your savings immediately before you splurge. Well at least I've been conscious about it since last month, though I still do not deposit religiously every payday. because simply, I haven't outgrown traveling.

In fact, if I lose my job now, and assuming that I'd maintain my simple lifestyle which means eating 3x a day, going to my fave gym with unlimited entry, providing 10 kilos of alpo for my labrador monthly, going on night outs at most once a week, and paying for the PLDT bill and minor grocery stuff (yun kase assigned sakin sa bahay), then I'd be able to sustain myself until 12 months only. That might be just 6 months or lower for someone not living with his/her parents!

Imagine, for those 4 years I worked, I saved money good for 1 year. If I work for 35 more years, does that mean my savings will be good for roughly JUST 9 YEARS??? (kung ganon sana 69 patay na ako hehe. and we're talking abt 9 years of basic living ha, no luho no travel!) and hello there's the inflation rate which will surely eat up my savings. plus of course the possibility of having children which I must feed and send to really good schools. Of course there's the SSS monthly pension but that would be just enough for my basic needs and monthly utils, or perhaps pati caregiver? haha shux. that monthly pension might not provide that "retirement" definition I have in mind. I really should be more conscious of saving. or investing. I'm still not a risk-taker though. BUT I WILL BE, once I double my savings, hopefully next year! (now I've got a goal and definitely a bigger motivation!) BDO UITF or something. promise! hehehe.

On a related article, the step 3 in retirement planning is to estimate other sources of retirement income -to help you calculate your retirement capital needs (in step 4). Of course I first thought of SSS pension, as that's the most feasible for now. so I messaged a friend who's working in the accounting department in my previous job, then asked her if she has an SSS matrix for that so I'd know how much an average IT guy could get once he reaches 60 (pension depends kase on the average salary and number of contributions). She first asked what it was for. I said it was for me -which sounded really funny of course! As expected she said "ano ba ang bata mo pa!"

That reminded me of the first article's author. She went to the bank to ask for its investment options for her retirement, then the teller just laughed, thinking that she's just 24 and THAT IT'S TOO EARLY TO THINK OF RETIREMENT.

We filipinos tend to think of today, and TODAY ONLY when in fact, saving for retirement must start NOW!