Financial Literacy Made Available to Filipinos by Gameplay Company Sense for Money - Part 1

Photo by: RSS

“Breaking news! Breaking news!” The game master hollered. 

The players stopped, turned their gaze towards the lovely, but confident voice, and listened intently, as if their lives depended on it. And in a way, it did, because the game highlights how a player thinks and reacts to situations. It re-creates what really happens to players' lives in gameplay without losing real money.

Ms. Tuesday L. Santiago, Sense for Money Gameplay Development Head, and game master during the launch of Praxis Café belted out information in the form of breaking news stories, which changes the external economic conditions in the make-believe world and in turn affect the players’ financial position, either positively or negatively.

The game is engaging, fun, and simulates real-world scenarios and decision points that people make every day. It simulates the financial life of people. It made me think about the importance of getting health insurance and the high interest rate loan sharks charge their customers (I've had the opportunity to get a loan from a 5:6 before so I can really relate to this one). It isn’t far off from my perspective of what my financial world is, and may become, if I haven't learned my lesson yet.

During the game, players start with some money, a job, and hope that they do well. The roll of the dice, the luck of the draw from the deck of cards, breaking news stories, board placement events, and player decisions combine to make for an interesting, stimulating, and sometimes, suspense-filled evening that somehow feels surreal.  

Photo by: RSS

Alas, only one player is left standing when the money count ended. And it wasn’t me (it was that guy with the restrained grin on the right being interviewed by Ms. Santiago). Sigh. Luckily, this is only a simulation, a game. I get to do it over again and aim for better results. I didn’t finish at the bottom, which is a small consolation, but the goal is to be better at it because this will translate into what happens outside the café, when a breaking news story really affects the value of my assets, and the roll of the dice maybe the last paycheck because of contractual work.

I learned much without the dire consequences of wrong financial decisions and others may, also, in a safe and encouraging environment. As a life-stage financial planner (my day-time job), I always think of ways to help educate clients on the importance of savings, income replacement, and sound investments. Praxis Café is a crash-course in what I try to explain to clients daily, without lecturing, and in a gamely atmosphere.

This game is highly recommended for young ones who aim for more awareness in how their personal finances can be improved and also for the more mature with lots of experience and higher expectations. For more information, please get in touch with these lovely ladies ---> see photo below.

The All-Women Sense For Money Philippines Team

www.senseformoney.com

Unit GFC-1A Classica 1 Condominium

112 H.V. dela Costa St. Salcedo Village,

Makati City

+6327205753

fb: @praxiscafePH

p.s. you can sign up for a fun, fantastic, and free game. Just click on the link ---> i want to change my financial life for the better!

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 *March 8 is International Women's Day. Happy Women's Day to All!

**all photos by me. I retain all rights to these images. :)

EDITED: 2 August 2017

True Riches

We are extremely lucky to be alive today. The advances in medicine, technology, and science have increased our life span, decreased mortality rate, reduced poverty, allowed wireless communications at lightning speeds, and information (on just about anything) is just a search away.

Above all this, the number of self-help books, podcasts and video casts, audio and video coaching programs, seminars, distance learning, and other worthwhile personal endeavors, have skyrocketed in the last ten years. I believe that the rising tide of spiritual awareness is the backbone of this revolution in self-development. It continues to grow day-by-day.

And because of the great opportunities available to us, at this time, I cannot help but wonder about its relationship to prosperity. Personally, if I am not a monk or a priest with a vow of poverty, then in all honesty, I would like for me and my family to live a prosperous and abundant life. Sadly, many people still haven't found the prosperity in their lives and live in despicable conditions. In the following quote, the ancient Chinese Sage Lao Tzu already explained how, 2,500 years ago:

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“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.”

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 

In the various communities we partake in, both online and offline, we contribute ideas and opinions that shape the collective energy of the group. Helping our community become a positive influence makes it possible to take a step forward to what Stephen Covey calls “the age of wisdom”: the time when insight is the norm, productivity will skyrocket, and peace will occur. Lofty ideas, but something worth aspiring to attain in our lifetime.

On a more personal level, I believe that true riches can be equated with contentment and being grateful with what you have at any particular point in time. One doesn’t need to reach his or her financial goals to be prosperous, but we can simply be happy with what we have already; to strive to reach the peak of the mountain and be happy climbing it at the same time. 

I’ll be ending on this note, hoping to have shared a little light in a dark world. To quote Dr. Wayne Dyer, “there is no way to prosperity, prosperity is the way”. Keep smiling every one.

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*Originally published as “The Way to Prosperity In The Age Of Wisdom – Dr. Wayne Dyer” in Bubblews.

2014 (Philippines) ASUS Zenfone Delivered Right At Your Doorstep

I've recently signed up with Lazada* Philippines' Affiliate Program. Aside from the possible financial rewards, a modest hope comes with it: that this blog becomes a channel where readers may find special discounts, exclusive offerings, or just reliable information on the latest gigs and gadgets. Simple goals, which I hope can be achieved with your (readers) help.

For my first time at bat, I will be promoting the ASUS Zenfone, which will be released on July 17, 2014, at 7 PM in a special sale, exclusively on the Lazade site.

Please click on the ad image to place your order.

 
Bang For The Buck Smartphone
With its ASUS ZenUI, 2GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass, and expected less than PHP 10,000 price (priced lower than the Xiaomi Mi 3), this smartphone gives great value for your hard earned pesos. An Engaget reviewer gave it a score of 9 (view here), which I think will go down a little (to average out as other reviewers' scores come in). But, from the reports I've seen, this phone lives up to moderate expectations. It's a steal for a dual-sim smartphone.

*Lazada is one of the largest and most trusted shopping sites in Southeast Asia.

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The Facebook For Bloggers

Photo Credit: Kris Krug via Compfight cc

Bloggers and online freelance professionals have a world of their own on the internet. In this world, anything is possible. You can even earn from sharing your thoughts and ideas.

One of the best sites where this can be realized is on Bubblews. It's a site where members share posts, photos and images, ideas, recipes, news, etc. Much like Facebook, one can comment, like, dislike, on the posts. The only difference: members earn from the advertising revenue generated by the site (50/50). Each like/dislike/comment/post has a monetary equivalent! :)

To become a member, one simply needs to register and start earning right away. As newbie on the site, I'm extremely happy with the community. It is positive, helpful, supportive, and fun. It's a great blogging site for new and experienced bloggers alike.

It's easy to become a member, just click ---> here. For me, it's a great site that we can all learn from and harness our writing and blogging skills.

Thanks for the read. All the best to everyone. :)
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P.S. The links are referral links which means that I earn a few cents for the first post you will make.:")

To learn about Bubblews founder and CEO, Arvind Dixit, please visit this article.

Extra Income For Writing Articles Online

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Stay-at-home moms, freelance writers, students, and working professionals often look for ways to augment their income using their free time. Searching online, one may find the proverbial, "needle in a haystack", true to form.

A quick Google search on the term "online jobs" will literally turn up millions, nay, billions of results, which can be disheartening to newbies. Picking legitimate opportunities might take forever and you don't want to be scammed, as many of us have been, before finding the right opportunity.

If you have the knack for the written word, why don't you try writing articles online?

A good place to start is at ExpertsColumn. This site accept articles and pays authors based on the number of times articles have been read. Articles can be as short as 300 words, except for poems and recipes, and 1,500 words at most.

Earnings vary at ExpertsColumn, but you can get around $1 to $1.50 per impressions (i think you can get more, if you have more readers from the US, Canada, etc. -- i still have to explore how this works, though). You will need to provide your Paypal account to be able to register and withdraw earnings with a minimum payout of $5, which you can get through Paypal.

A nice thing about this site is the referral program where users can earn extra from other writers who have signed up using a special link, such as this: register at ExpertsColumn.

If you want to get started on ExpertsColumn, please click on the following link ---> sign up here and start posting excellent articles. Send me a message once you've started and I will help promote your articles in my blog.

If you want to learn more about ExpertsColumn before signing up, please check out their FAQ page.

P.S. About the affiliate program: while signing up using my referral link gives me extra income, it won't affect your earnings. Signing up on their website without using my referral link will let them keep the revenue from the ad clicks.

Update: As of May 2013, ExpertsColumn.com will end the revenue sharing scheme due to the low number of visitors and declining earnings.

Happy Chinese New Year 2013

Wishing everyone a Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) or Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese).*

Let us welcome the Year of the Water Snake 2013 with a sense of joy and gratitude (we should see the financial markets slithering up to record-breaking heights this year - according to Feng Shui experts).
For detailed Feng Shui tips: click here and, more, here.
*Check out this link for the text and audio of the Chinese characters for happy new year.