Great Christmas Shopping Tips

'Tis the season to be jolly... and shop for gifts.

It's fun to shop, but I must admit, Christmas shopping can be really stressful.

Here are my tips for stress-free shopping.

1. Set your budget. Before I actually make my Christmas list, I first decide on how much money I can afford letting go.

2. Make your gift list. Almost all of us do this, I think. My list would be separated into four categories. (a) Family - mom, dad, sister, brothers; (b) extended family - lolo, lola, cousins, titos, titas; (c) Best friends - friends I often see; (d) Acquaintances - officemates, etc.

3. Set an amount per gift. Beside every name or group in this list, I put the estimate amount of my gifts. Then after that, I add everything and see if the total amount fits my set budget (see No. 1).

4. Assign possible gift options. Before I hit the stores, I put possible gift items that I can get for each person which will be within the amount that I have set (see No. 3).

5. Buy in bulk. Bulk items are cheaper. 'Nuff said.

6. Personalize. I get creative when giving gifts for let's say, officemates. I would sometimes make desserts and ribbon them. Or buy bulk cookies, candies or something. Repack them and put colorful ribbons.

7. Schedule your shopping. This saves you both money and time. Set a shopping day. Find out sale schedules and bazaar schedules that interests you. Also, being early eases some of the stress.

8. Hunt for the best deals.

9. Give. Always give something for the less-fortunate. It feels great for both you and them.

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Here are Christmas shopping tips I got from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Take Charge of Your Money.

The Rule of 72: What is it?

I learned this when I was 25 years old.

This rule was never taught in elementary, or even highschool math. Yet, this very useful tool is so easy to understand.

Simply put, the Rule of 72 should determine how long it would take for an investment to double its amount given a fixed annual interest .

For example, Php 100 invested at 10% would take 7.2 years to become Php200. Easy, right?

Here's the Formula: No. of years = rate / 72.

So now, how do we use this rule?

Here, look. Let's say you put that extra hundred in your pocket in a regular savings account. If you let it sit there and forget about it, will take you approximately 72 years for your hundred to turn into Php200! (I'm assuming savings gives us 1% rate of return.) That's a long, long, long, time.

But here's what I learned in Investopedia.com. Apparently, the Rule of 72 is only fairly accurate for low rates of return. As the rate gets higher, the rule gets less precise.

But then again, we can always use the future value formula if we want accuracy.

The Money Paradox by Efren Ll. Cruz

Funny, I haven't thought about this until Sir Efren posted this in our yahoogroups.

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Money	High Price/Return	Low Price/Return
Spending	with warranty	without warranty
Investing	not guaranteed	guaranteed

by Efren Ll. Cruz, RFP

Are you an impulse buyer?

I’m sure you are, if you got to read this far.

I must admit, there were times when I considered myself an impulse buyer.

When I was in college, my favorite weekend past time was to visit my favorite bookstores (plural, mind you). I’d stay there and browse every aisle. Eventually, when I leave the place, after hours of immersing myself in “literature”, I’d have bought myself a book. Did I need the book?

No.

Same goes for those cute pairs of slippers at 50% off. Those one-of-a-kind dangling earrings in the little shop around the corner. That new mp3 player… And the list goes on.
So I found this article by Marshall Loeb and I’d like to share it with you.

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Six ways to curb impulse spending

By Marshall Loeb, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Oct 23, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Is impulse buying taking a heavy toll on your budget? Here are six ways to get a handle on your spending:

1. Identify your triggers. Many people use shopping as an emotional outlet. But letting your emotions dictate your spending is nearly always a bad idea. To break yourself of the habit, try to determine what prompts you to spend unwisely and take steps to change your behavior.

2. Avoid temptation. If you’re inclined to overspend, consider a self-imposed ban on window shopping, casual browsing and unnecessary trips to the mall. Hint: If you know you’re going to be in a situation where you’re likely to be tempted, leave your credit card at home and only bring as much cash as you absolutely need.

3. Be a cautious consumer. You may think you’re immune to advertising, but even the savviest shoppers fall prey to marketing tactics now and again. Next time you find yourself eyeing a “new and improved” product, ask yourself why you feel compelled to buy it. Will that new golf club/razor/skin cream substantially improve your life or just deplete your bank account?

4. Take a time-out. If you stumble on a “must have” item, don’t get caught up in the excitement, advises MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston. Take a deep breath and walk away. Give yourself anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to figure out if this is something that you can afford and really need. After the cool-down period, if you can truthfully answer yes to both questions, go ahead and splurge.

5. Remember long-term goals. Before you buy, ask yourself if you’ll get more long-term satisfaction out of owning this item, paying down your debt or putting money toward that dream vacation. You may get a temporary boost from buying that scarf, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best use of your money.

6. Check you balance. If you find yourself standing in the checkout line, ready to buy something you’re not sure you can afford, hold off, suggests Weston. Go to your local bank or log on to your bank account online. Once you’ve viewed your balance, the purchase may appear far less enticing.

Marshall Loeb, former editor of Fortune, Money, and the Columbia Journalism Review, writes for MarketWatch.

Pacquiao's Paycheck

$7 million or 308 million pesos.

That's how much money Manny the Pacman made after his fight with Antonio Barrera last Sunday. (Inquirer story here.)

Not bad for a day in the ring, eh?

I just hope he won't hurt his body too much.

Peso seen to hit P43:$1

According to visiting HSBC economist, Frederic Neumann, our peso would hit P43 against the dollar by the end of this year. He also added that by next year it would hit P41 and would further rally to P40 towards 2009. (Inquirer story here.)

The rise of the peso is mainly driven by the huge inflow of dollars due to remittances of Filipino workers overseas.

Well, this is good news for some...

1. Importers
2. Travellers (to US)
3. Consumers

Bad news for the others...

1. Exporters
2. Families relying on dollar remittances
3. People with dollar funds.

Men with deep voices father more babies

Now this one's interesting...

According to a recent study, men with deep toned voices tend to father more children than their high-pitched counterparts.

Coren Apicella, a Harvard University anthropology student, spent six months studying the Hadza, a nomadic hunter-gatherer population from Tanzania. For her, they were ideal because they "provide a window to our past."

Hadza still sleep under the stars. Women gather berries and tubers while men hunt using the bow and the arrow. The Hadza are monogamous (but divorce rate is high) and they choose their own partners. They don't use birth control methods either, so they are what we can call a natural fertility population.

The study was pretty simple. It involved collecting voice recordings of 49 men and 52 women between ages 18 to 55 from nine different camps. They were made to say "Hujambo", meaning "hello" into a microphone.

Some analysis here, analysis there, and the conclusion (or maybe speculation?) was this. The reason why men with deep voices fathered more children is probably because they attract more women with their voice than their tenor counterpart.

Hmmm...

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Here's the full article by BBC News.