how financially healthy are we now?

the recent discussions in naw regarding investments and financial security made me remember the blog i did four years ago: http://8thoctoberweds.multiply.com/journal/item/18/how_financially_healthy_are_we

i left the items blank then but with hopes that i'll be able to fill them up within the next five years. now, after four years and another baby, our scorecard shows this...

	target amount		status
1. emergency fund equivalent to	Php 300k		achieved
six months' expenses
2. life insurance for us which is	Php 600k		achieved
equivalent to a year's expenses (exc. sss pension)
3. retirement fund for us which	Php 3 million		still saving via stocks
can sustain us until we're 70, or
probably 75 years old! =)
4. college fund for iñigo and future	Php 1M for each kid		still saving via pension plan and MF
sibling/s.
5. extra savings for other emergencies	Php 100k		replenishing since my father died
including grave sickness of other loved
ones
6. extra savings for travels and other	variable		achieved
leisures (or plans like business)

aside from those, we also have to invest again in a property since we already disposed our house and lot in laguna and will use the proceeds to pay as equity or downpayment. that means we have to allot again for monthly amortization of the balance. *headaches*

so can i say that we are financially healthier now? probably. jude and i are diligent when it comes to savings. we may have the moolah to buy the latest gadgets, upgrade our car... or buy myself a signature bag (but it's still my wish... lol!) but our future has to be secured first.  but what we cannot deprive ourselves are the annual family trips as we consider them as our reward.

but we still have to work and save more to achieve 'financial freedom'. jude has plans of retiring early but since past experience taught him to secure first the kids' education and our retirement, we have to work and save double-time so we can sustain our retirement. he also has plans of getting us a retirement house, in tagaytay or caliraya, laguna perhaps, so the more we have to invest now to achieve this.

these are just some of our dreams... let's see in my next update of this scorecard if they are already achieved... wish us luck again!

losing chickboy: iñigo's first heartbreak

the reason why i don't want yet the kids to have a pet is because they're still too young to take responsibilities in taking care of another being, much less understand the dynamics of life wherein people or things just come and go. i know they would have a hard time handling the situation when it's already time to say goodbye to things they have come to love; and honestly, i am not yet ready with an explanation.

that's why i wasn't pleased when iñigo got a pet chick from his school last friday. the teachers had this game of "agawang sisiw" for their araw ng wika wherein the kids should snatch a chick among the brood loosened out inside the makeshift pen they provided for that game. unluckily...err, luckily for iñigo... he got one. and so we brought it home and jude made an improvised cage for the fowl using a plastic box and he placed it under the staircase as it was raining hard last weekend. iñigo was so happy on his new pet which he named "chickboy" (after chicboy--his current favorite restaurant) though he never bothered to feed it or clean its shelter. I, on the other hand, was wishing that it will go away as i cannot stand the smell of its dung (okay... maarte ako! :D). it can also be a noise pollutant as it clucked incessantly. jude had to move it in front of our house and placed it inside iñigo's old ride-on-car so it won't get drenched even when the rain gets heavy.

but it was last wednesday night when our househelp noticed that there's no noise that was coming from outside. she then checked the box and to her surpise chicboy was no longer inside. she immediately told me about this and since chickboy can't also be found in the other units i surmised that somebody from outside the compound got inside and took the chick (burglary is very rampant in our baranggay).

iñigo got disappointed upon learning the news. but he wasn't that disappointed until after we said our prayers tonight as he already got worried over the plight of his pet chick. i was groping for an answer when he asked me, "mommy, is somebody already  cooking chickboy?" but instead told him that he just keeps on praying to Papa Jesus so the person who found chicboy will also take good care of it as we did. i was already feeling sad for iñigo at this point. i wished to lighten up his mood but was tacky to mention about a man from chicboy the resto, getting his pet chick because they have the same name. on this, he answered vehemently, "mommy, no, the restaurant man cannot get it... it's my pet!" the poor kid was already in tears. i further told him that the next fried chicken he will eat in the resto is probably chickboy--oh how naive i was to think that iñigo will also take it as a joke but obviously he didn't because the more it made him cry.

it's my promise that i will look for chicboy tomorrow which calmed him down and brought him to sleep. so there... anyone who had seen chicboy? or anyone who has a replacement for chicboy... please... GIVE THAT CHICK TO ME?!!!