Not that any of us are superstitious, we just thought that today would be the best day to come out as a newly formed partnership.

Today, 08.08.08, Dep de Pasion and I embark on Visibility (full name : mediavisibility) .  Visibility is born out of the growing need of ad agencies to have specialized strategists and planners in the realm of out-of-home media without having to staff up and increase headcount.

Dep and I worked together for a few years in UniversalMcCann as the Out-Of-Home media specialists on accounts as Globe Telecom, Coca-Cola, Unilab and Philip Morris.

We bring to the table the experience drawn from handling these clients as well as all the dealings we've had with various Out-Of-Home media suppliers who own the numerous billboard sites in the metropolis. 

We are not another OOH supplier.  Neither are we an OOH media agency.  I have to admit that I have not found the right term to describe the partnership as the word "consultants" does not exactly fit the bill.  I would like to believe that we are in a "Category of One" if I may use that McCann cliche.  At its most basic, I guess we are a partnership to whom media agencies may "outsource" their "outdoor".

For the friends in brand and advertising on multiply who are in search of that "needed-yesterday-billboard-site-on-EDSA-Guadalupe", here are our addresses :  dep@mediavisibility.com and lloyd@mediavisibility.com

Make Your Brand Obvious.

I was doing my email when all of a sudden I was drawn to am Adsense clickable which said, "Three Cheers for The Cheapskate!".  I clicked on to it and I was led to an article in Business Week entitled,

Three Cheers for the Cheapskate

Spending money now can be fun, but it can hurt your future financial well-being if you don't save enough. Here's how to cut back...

It contained a slideshow which, although applies in general to those based in the US, provides more than enough nuggets of financial wisdom.

I painstakingly copied all the details for blindsided readers' appreciation.

Here it goes:

Track Every Expense

Financial advisors say the best way to control your spending is to know precisely where all your cash is going each month. There are several options: Make a budget; keep a spreadsheet of all spending; or buy a computer program designed to help manage your finances.

Vacation in the Off-season

Reston (Va.)-based financial planner Frank Boucher says he is taking his beach vacation in early September, when he found a luxury condo for half its cost during July and August. Vacationers can also save by staying with friends or visiting low-cost locations like developing countries.

Cut Out Investment Charges and Fees

Jeff Seymour of Triangle Wealth Management in Cary, N.C., points out that many investors end up paying 2% to 3% off the top each year for investing costs. Lower-cost mutual funds and index funds can slash that bill, savings that compound over several decades of investing.

Also, save more by taking full advantage of your employer's matching contribution to your 401(k) account.

Cut Back on Eating Out

Food is a daily expense that can add up quickly over time, so office workers can save a lot just by bringing their lunches to work rather than buying every day. Meals eaten at home almost always cost less than evenings out, even at more casual restaurants.

Downsize Your Car

Drivers stuck with a gas-guzzling SUV might consider selling it and finding more fuel-efficient wheels. (Of course, that could mean a financial hit given falling prices for the behemoths.) You can save on fuel and also on auto loan payments. High car payments are a frequent budget-buster, financial advisors say.

Cut Utility Bills, Especially Electricity

Experts are full of advice on lowering electricity and heating bills: Buy efficient light bulbs; lower the thermostat; turn off the air conditioning whenever possible; turn off lights and unplug appliances when not needed.

Make Sure You Don't Have Too Much Insurance

Life insurance can be a bad deal if you don't have dependents. For auto and home insurance, deductibles are often too low, advisors say. "You can save quite a bit by going from a $250 to $1,000 deductible," says Kirk Kinder of Picket Fence Financial in Bel Air, Md. "Also, shopping these for prices every couple years is important."

Find Cheaper Beverages to Drink

If you can break your addiction to fancy coffee, the free office coffee can be a money-saver over time. Unwilling to give up out-of-office coffee breaks, some thrifty consumers switch to a cheaper drink at their local Starbucks (SBUX) or other coffee shop. For alcoholic drinks, quality wines, beers, and liquor can be found at lower prices with a little research.

Examine Your Phone Service

Do you need both a landline and a mobile phone? If you have a cell phone, do you need long-distance service on your home phone? Canceling one line could mean one less bill every month. Many people have phone packages that are too expensive for their needs, so read your bill carefully.

Stop Paying for Premium Cable

Some penny-pinchers cancel cable service entirely to save $100 or more each month. Others lower their bills by cutting out premium movie channels.

Drive Less; Consolidate Trips

Think before jumping in the car. By planning and running many errands on the same car trip, you cut your fuel usage. Rather than driving, consider using public transportation, or walk, bike, or rollerblade somewhere nearby.

Use Warehouse Stores Wisely

Warehouse stores like Costco (COST) or Wal-Mart's (WMT) Sam's Club can be great places to get deals, but they can also encourage over-spending. "Just make sure you go with a list and only buy those things that you are actually going to consume," financial planner Frank Boucher says. "It makes no sense to get a 'bargain' on a bulk item if you are going to throw half of it away."

Lay Down the Law with Your Free-Spending Friends

It can be hard to keep up with wealthier or less thrifty friends. Some financial planners advise cash-strapped clients to seek out social companions with similar budgets. However, if you're honest about your spending limits, true friends should be willing to adjust their plans by, for example, choosing a less pricey restaurant.

Find Free Entertainment

Movie rentals, cable TV packages, book purchases, concert tickets—it can all add up. Use your local public library to read books and rent films for free. Depending on where you live, it might also be possible to find free concerts, performances, and readings.

Consider Alternatives to a Gym Membership

The health benefits of a fitness club membership are only worthwhile if you go often. But there are other options: Exercise at home, outside, or at a local parks facility. Or, sign up for individual exercise or yoga classes rather than a full membership.

Cut Your Own Lawn

Michelle Goldstein of Goldstein Financial Future in Dallas estimates her family saves $40 each time they mow their own lawn instead of calling a lawn service.

Be Smart with Credit Cards

Financial advisors admonish clients to pay off their bills each month to avoid interest and finance charges. For those stuck with debt, move cash to cards with low interest rates. Some find they spend less on impulse purchases if they cut up their credit cards and use only cash instead.

Annualize Your Expenses

When reviewing your spending habits, roughly calculate how much they're costing over the course of a year. "Realizing how much things cost over the course of a year can really help put things in perspective," says Bob Nusbaum of Middle America Planning in Pittsburgh. For example, if you spend $10 for snacks and lunch each weekday, that adds up to $2,500 in a year.

Force Yourself to Save

One way to save more is to trick yourself. Transfer money automatically from paychecks into savings or investment accounts. With less available in your checking account, you'll be more careful about your spending. Gradually increase your automatic savings rate over time.

Institute a Waiting Period for Major Purchases

Wait at least 48 hours before deciding to buy anything over a certain price limit—$50 for example. After the waiting period is over, "You may decide that the object desired really isn't worth the price," says Jennifer Hartman of Greenleaf Financial Group in Los Angeles.

Pay Bills Online—Save on Stamps, Avoid Late Fees

Set up your finances so bills are paid automatically or online at the click of a mouse. "There's no reason to pay for stamps and envelopes and run the risk of a late-payment fee when bill-pay programs are usually free," says Walt Mozdzer of Syverson Strege & Co.

Make Sure You're Deducting All Business Expenses

Chris Long of Long & Associates in Chicago says clients often make the mistake of mixing personal and business expenses on one credit card. That makes them less likely to get reimbursed for expenses by employers or to deduct expenses from taxes.

Buy Generic Drugs and Groceries

Store-brand products in grocery stores are often made by the same manufacturers as the brand-name items. If you take prescription drugs, ask your pharmacist if a cheaper, generic version is available.

Buy Used

Cars, books, furniture, and even clothing can be bought used for a fraction of their original cost. New cars in particular often aren't worth the extra cost; a lightly used vehicle can save you thousands of dollars with little or no extra maintenance expenses.

Shop Smart

Coupons are a classic way for shoppers to get great deals. Supermarkets vying for shoppers will frequently run "double coupon" promotions. Comparison-shopping on the Internet is easy thanks to a variety of sites designed to help shoppers find the best deals. When retail Web sites ask for "coupon codes," try to find one by using a search engine. But whether online or in person, avoid the temptation of bargain-hunting for items you don't really need. "Most of the time if an item is 20% off, we waste $8 to save that $2," says Neerja Bhutani of Bhutani-Palmin Financial Planning in Walnut Creek, Calif.


----- That's what the books say.  What the books don't tell you about beating the high cost of living in the succeeding post ;-)

Believe it or not, one of the easiest things to do these days is raising capital for a small and medium business venture.

From the time my wife and I were out last year in Europe, up until a few weeks ago in the US, practically three quarters of all foreign-based Pinoys I bumped into had this oft recurring question : "Ano ba ang magandang business na mapag-imbesan ("investan") sa atin?" .

My answer:  Marami.

Follow up question:  Ano?

This is where I started my discourse.  Number one, you have to find something that will match your character.  After all, this business you will invest your hard-earned money in will eventually require your active participation in the years when reverse migration begins.

I told one person, I am working on something new right now but I wouldn't want to invite you in it.  Asking me why, I told the person, "You are too structured.  You want to see a plan laid out before you and build it like a house until completion".  I continued to say, "This is not for you.  There are too many twists and turns along the way that the active verb in this venture is not "management" but "navigation".  The bumps and hops along the way may give you a heart attack :-)". 

Number two, you have to find partners who are willing to see the business through come hell or high water.

In a separate discussion at LAX airport while waiting for a flight, a Filipina lady from Boise, Idaho says, "It's hard for Filipinos to start a business because of the lack of capital".  I said, "On the contrary, the lack of capital is not the problem.  The lack of a person's passion and persistance in a specific venture is".  We've heard of so many stories of OFWs and Fil-Ams sending money back home for their relatives to start a business.  All told, the business folds up after a few months.  Was there a problem with capital?  No!  Problem was the passion, drive, and the persistence of the relatives back here in the P.I. who viewed the supposed capital as another form of a dole-out.

Got a great idea for a business?  Let's hear it out.  Then perhaps I could help you get the start-up funding, IF...

Just read this article from Inquirer.net .  Just shows the value of being prepared for the final appointment.

How about you?  Are you prepared for your final appointment?

As a retirement strategist, this is perhaps the most important aspect of retirement strategy. ;)

Qantas jet lands with 'gaping hole' at NAIA

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 13:35:00 07/25/2008

MANILA, Philippines - A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that punched a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.

Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo, which had taken off from London and made a stopover in Hong Kong, plunged nearly 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) in what one said was an "absolutely terrifying" ordeal.

An urgent investigation is underway into what punched a hole of about three meters (10 feet) in diameter into the fuselage near the right wing.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the plane, carrying 346 passengers and 19 crew, was now undergoing an inspection on the ground in Manila, where luggage could be clearly seen jutting out of the hole.

"There was a terrific boom, and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first [class] and the oxygen masks dropped down," June Kane, a passenger from Melbourne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We were told that one of the rear doors, a hole had blown into it, but I've since looked at the plane and there's a gigantic gaping hole in the plane."

"It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm," she added, speaking from Manila.

Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said initial inspections showed the aircraft had sustained a hole in its fuselage, and it was being inspected by engineers.

He said the flight crew performed emergency procedures after oxygen masks were deployed and there were no reports of any injuries.

Qantas Airways boasts of its safety record, having never lost a jet to an accident.

In the 1988 film "Rain Man," an autistic character played by Dustin Hoffman insists on flying with the airline precisely for that reason.

In a statement, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the plane had been flying at 29,000 feet when the crew were forced into an emergency descent after a section of the fuselage separated and resulted in rapid decompression of the cabin.

It said the crew descended the aircraft to 10,000 feet "in accordance with established procedures" and diverted the plane safely to Manila.

The bureau said it was sending four investigators to Manila to assist local authorities with the investigation.

Qantas flight QF30, which took off from Hong Kong at 9:00 a.m. (0100 GMT), had been due to arrive in Melbourne at 1145 GMT, according to the Qantas website.
June Kane said the problem appeared to centre on the baggage compartment of the plane.

"I'm looking at the plane now and just forward of the wing, there's a gaping hole from the wing to the underbody," she said.

"It's about two meters by four meters and there's baggage hanging out so you assume that there's a few bags that may have gone missing."

Passengers praised the crew for landing the plane safely.

"We heard a very large bang, the oxygen masks came out. But the crew was very calm and everything was fine," said Phil Rescall, a 40-year-old man from England traveling to Australia for work.

"The shock came when many got off the plane and saw the hole," he told Agence France-Presse. "You see the hole and you realize we were very lucky."

"Some people were crying, some people were pretty shaken when they saw the hole."

"The crew were terrific, they did a great job," another passenger, Brendan McClements, said. "Everyone gave them a round of applause as we landed."

Qantas said a replacement plane would collect the passengers and crew later Friday and fly them overnight to Melbourne.

It said the 747-400 involved in the scare was not the one used to fly Pope Benedict XVI out of Australia earlier this month after his visit to Sydney.

Tarra V. Quismundo, Phil Daily Inquirer

My posts in this blog have been off topic for some time now.  It has been quite awhile since I last posted something on "Retirement" and "Retirement Strategy".

Here's my first "Retirement" post for the 2nd half of 2008 :

The Perks of Being Unemployed

It has been more than three years now since I last received a payslip under an employer-employee arrangement.  For a large number of working Filipinos, the payslip which comes on the 15th and 30th of the month is a very comfortable security blanket to have.  In actuality, most decisions made by heads of families are tied up to the figures printed on the payslip.  This either frees them to make the decision to make a purchase or to withold the urge to spend and wait for a better day.

This is not the case for people who are unemployed like me.  I do not have a payslip to fall back on.  Nothing to expect at mid-month and at the end of the month.  The perk of not having a payslip is being able to trust God more.  He is after all, the great Provider.  There is no room for me to make a financial decision based on what's coming in the middle of the month and at the end of the month.

In being unemployed, one will begin to feel the intensity when praying the Lord's Prayer as one approaches the line "Give us this day, our  DAILY bread".  The fact that there is no other source apart from God's blessing drives me closer to His bosom.

I look back to the past few days and stand in amazement at how a Loving Heavenly Father has provided for this unemployed bloke.  I look back at the first half of this year with all the tumultuos happenings in the financial and economic arena taking place. All I can say now is, "Whoaaa!  Thank You Dad!  Indeed you never let your sons and daughters down"

It was a different Hans Lopez-Vito I got to meet yesterday.  No longer was he in a hurry to catch a meeting or get back to his computer.  You could feel the spring in Hans' step as he walked down De La Costa Street.

I guess Hans was enjoying the freedom of not being employed (at least for a few days until next week). 

In one of Hans' lectures to college students whereby he debunks the myths of having a career in advertising, Hans has this presentation slide which shows how Hollywood has played up and perhaps stereotyped the modern day advertising executive.  Overworked, harrassed, heftily paid yet ironically undercompensated given the enormous work demands.  The movies came with different storylines: "Sweet November", "What Women Want", plus a few others.  Amidst the diversity, all of these spoke of one thing - an imaginary line to cross which marks a major turning point in the career.

For some, crossing the line could mean total abandonment of the frenetic activity in the ad world.  National artists Cesar Legaspi and Malang did just that.  Giving up being art directors for a home-based career in painting.  For others, it could just mean a few tweakings, continuing in advertising but, taking things at their dictated terms.  I for one have realized that in as much as I would like to spend the days painting at home, I can hardly escape the trappings of Out-Of-Home media.

Hans shall still continue in marketing and advertising, this time though, he takes his skills to the regional level as he moves to Shanghai. 

While descending in GT Tower's elevator, I couldn't help but ask Hans in our native tongue, "Pila ka na Hans?" (How old are you now?).  "35 na `ko", was the reply. 

"Te, amo naman gid na ang edad nga kinanglan mag-desisyon.  My last day in the agency was the day before I turned 37".

Maayo lang nga paglakat pare!






Todos los Ilonggos de McCann (part 1)

A few years back I got this remark from a colleague in the industry, "You're always like that.  You love to break things apart and create a new 'whole' ".  She was referring to the pen I had in hand but made allusions to the way I worked within the industry.  The pen was actually a hybrid of sorts having the body of a Parker yet having unique self-styled inner workings and a more fluid, non-Parker gel cartridge.  I have never heard of the term pen-smith but I'd have to tell you that if it were guns we're talking about, I'd be a gunsmith.

I love to fashion my own pens.  Some time back, I would periodically hear my friend/colleague/boss, Cookie Bartolome say, "That's a nice pen." after letting her sign agency documents with the pen I'd hand her.  The secret is now out, the pens I'd have in my pocket would always be one of a kind.  The moment I take them out of the red plastic bag of National Book Store, I would immediately get to work on it with my pliers and other tools in my desk drawer to create the writing instrument which suits me best.  For the fashionista readers of this blog, think of the term "alterations".  Ahhh now we're connecting!

Yet, this blog post is not about pens.  This blog post is really about my "problem".  The problem with me is that I often break up the system and create a new norm.  I am a non-conformist to the core.  An OOH media vendor once said to another in my presence, "masyadong malikot ang utak nito".  My former boss, Venus, also said in a meeting we had some months after I had resigned, "Naku, kung ano-ano talaga ang mga napagiisipan nito".  She was saying that as we were laughing in her office because I had identified a new and uncharted income stream.

I just have to state it bluntly.  I confess.  Malikot talaga ang utak ko.  But then when you come to think of it, that's what we really need these days.  The word "malikot" sounds quite negative given its connotations of mischief.  But when we begin to translate that in English as "innovation", now we're talking!  Of course the innovation needs to be used for the good of all rather than wielding it a la Lex Luthor.

I was spurred to write about this for two reasons.  One, I am about to embark on a new consulting stint with a company whose Business Development Officer isn't inherently "malikot" (sigh).  Two, the two books on my desk:












Making Innovation Work (How to Manage It, Measure It, Profit From It)...published by Wharton School Publishing, and







The Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine -- and What Smart Companies Are Doing About It














So much about "My Problem".  Now if you'd excuse me, I need to jot down a few new ideas :-)

While tutoring my daughter for her summer math class, I was just having some math fun with an amortization table on a lazy Labor Day afternoon.

Some discoveries and direct applications:

1) If you were being offered by a condo salesman a condo payable in 5 years; and if the amount being financed or spread over 5 years is P 1 million, at the rate of 17.25% (in-house financing), at the end of the 5th year you would have paid a total of P 499,231.84 in interest charges alone.  That's easily rounded off to half of the amount you loaned!

2) When a bank says they will offer to double your money in 5 years, that means that they are providing you with an interest rate of 31.6% per annum.  That's too good to be true, and obviously, if someone poses that rate to you, there's a large chance that this could be a scam.  Then again, this is the index by which people are pushed to go into any form of entrepreneurial venture (vis a vis leaving money in a bank).  Provided that one's business generates a 31.6% profit steadily over the 5 year period, one would have more than doubled their money by then.

For those of you who want a copy of the Excel amortization table, please feel free to send me a PM indicating your email address.  I will email the amortization table to you as an attachment.

Over the past three weeks, a number of people have been asking me, in reference to this multiply site, "What is a Retirement Strategist?" .

Here's shooting from the hip, 'blindsided' readers : A retirement strategist is somewhat like a life coach.  Only that the coaching is more skewed towards the latter years in life.  As a retirement strategist, I help people deal with some critical questions pertaining to life from 35 years old onwards.

This doesn't mean that anyone less than 35 cannot avail of what I have to offer.  In fact, the younger you are upon developing your retirement strategy, the better.

Allow me to give you some scenarios.  A person has a nice job in the Makati Central Business District.  Earns well.  Saves a little bit.  But then, given the way time is zipping by, he or she finds that the years spent in the corporate grind snatched away the moments for planning future dreams.  It's a classic case of, "Can't see the forest for the trees.".  By the time the person is aware of what's totally happening, it may be too late.  Things may not be irrepairable but, we do know that this minor glitch has a fair amount of impact down the line.

This minor symptom leads to what is more commonly known as "mid-life crisis".  MLC is sometimes worse than cancer.  At least for cancer, there's chemotherapy - a basic one shot solution with other preventive treatments and fixes on the side.  For mid-life crisis, there are many other items to deal with and, the solutions are in phases.

In case you haven't realized it, retirement is not all about finances.  A large part of the work of a retirement strategist is dealing with the non-financial aspects of retirement.
                                                                                    
Allow me to give you this picture.....that of an iceberg.  We do know that more than 3/4ths of the iceberg remains under water, invisible to the human eye.  Retirement is like an iceberg.  What people usually see upon mention of retirement are: the financial package, days of leisure, saying goodbye to work, and unashamedly, old age.

The retirement strategist deals with other not-too-visible issues such as: quality of life (transition from the current to the ideal), career reorientation (using old skills in new ways), spirituality and relationships, adapting to change, and so much more.

Why is there a need for a retirement strategist?  Well, one quick answer is because most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.  In other words, in the busy-ness of the daily grind, most people are impaired in the retirement planning process.

Retirement strategy talks of exit strategies and other vehicles to take you places.  We always talk about the corporate ladder.  Whoever was the boss who devised the term corporate ladder was an absolute genius!  He framed people's sense of thinking that there was indeed such a thing as a ladder.  Through the years, people have been thinking inside the box in reference to THE corporate ladder.  The retirement strategists tells you, if you're on the so-called ladder, get down (no matter how high you've risen) and walk over here to take the elevator.

More to come.

New Beginnings was first posted close to three years ago.  Today, the sequel.

I have found that the month of April is like a January of sorts for me and my family.  Most of the milestones in our lives happen around this period.  At one time, we had four reasons to celebrate on a single Sunday in April.  That would have been the child dedication of my eldest daughter Bea, my birthday, the housewarming of the first house my wife and I built as a couple, and my wife's entry into a new job with the Department of Justice as a prosecutor (often commonly known as a fiscal) in Bacolod.

Today, while technically still in March, it certainly feels like April.  I feel like a Dad who is so giddy to bring his first child to school on the first day.  Only this time, I will be bringing my wife to her first day at work in her new job.

After close to eight years of serving the Republic of the Philippines as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice, she moves on to work as a lawyer with the Development Bank of the Philippines.  The time spent as a fiscal has allowed her so much legal insight into the nooks and crannies of life in the Philippines.

A concrete example would be that for a considerable amount of time, she has served in the family court of Mandaluyong, which is the venue for annulments, adoptions, and other family-related cases within the city's jurisdiction.  There, she has found that money is never indeed the elixir to happiness.  Annulments arise from the residents of a highly prominent subdivision in the city over the strangest of circumstances.  These stories are an attestation to the notion that "truth is stranger than fiction".  The plots in the cases she handles would put the writers of 'Marimar' and 'Maging Sino Ka Man' to shame.  I told her that when the time is right, she could be a consultant to scriptwriters of telenovelas. LOL!

She has also discovered that the law school one hails from merely provides "badge value" when lawyers are in what I'd call "marketing mode".  One's law school is hardly an assurance that they will perform well in court.  This causes us to smile whenever we're in this certain mall situated within walking distance to a well known law school.  The kids must be deluded into thinking that studying while sipping Starbucks coffee will enhance their performance in court in the years to come. 

As it was, the career with the prosecution has come to an end at the same time work drew to a halt for Holy Week.

A new chapter now unfolds.  And as I think of the fact that we are both in the neighborhood of 40, indeed, life truly begins here.

Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft

The new retirement is not all about rest and relaxation.  It's all about re-direction.

from the AFP(Agence France-Presse)....

Blair on course to become richest ex-British premier

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 11:15:00 01/31/2008

LONDON -- Middle East envoy, adviser to a leading Swiss insurer and a blue-chip US investment bank, sought-after public speaker: Tony Blair has not dropped the pace since stepping down as British prime minister.

This week Zurich Financial Services announced that Blair would advise them on a range of issues, including developments and trends in international politics and climate change.

That came a few weeks after JPMorgan Chase said they had recruited the 54-year-old to be a part-time senior adviser on political and strategic issues.

Between times, he is spending a week to 10 days in Jerusalem working unpaid for the Mideast Quartet of the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia -- a job he was appointed to on the day he left office last June.

The list could get even longer. Blair has admitted he could see himself accepting a "handful" of similar posts: he has struck a deal for memoirs and launched a youth sports initiative; a faith foundation is in the pipeline.

And there is much talk of him becoming the first president of the European Union.

All told, Blair could be on course to become the richest ex-British premier in history -- although no figures have been officially confirmed.
Several media reports have estimated that his salaries from Zurich.

JPMorgan and one-off fees for speeches could see him earn more than 10 million pounds in less than year.

John Burton, Blair's former election agent, said his old friend was not spreading himself too thinly and was well-used to a heavy -- and varied -- workload.

"He's got that gift of being able to assimilate information pretty quickly," he told Agence France-Presse by telephone from his home in northeast England.

“I stayed at Downing Street two or three times and he took three red boxes to bed with him. It was non-stop. It's a tremendous load but he's well able to cope with it,” Burton said.

"He's a respected figure and he's an expert in some of these fields just through being prime minister," he said.

It is not just a one-man band though: Blair has about 12 full-time staff at the American Colony hotel in Jerusalem, plus another eight working out of his Saint James' Square offices in central London.

But not everyone is happy, particularly elements of the right-wing press who have castigated Blair's wife, Cherie, in the past for allegedly "cashing in" on her husband's position with lucrative public speaking tours.

"Has the man no shame?" lawmaker Norman Baker, from the second opposition Liberal Democrat party, was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail.

"It is a huge embarrassment for Britain to have a former prime minister hawking himself around with a big 'For Sale' sign around his neck," Baker said.

The Financial Times does not begrudge Blair the right to earn lots of money nor doubts his capacity to juggle a number of very different briefs.

Yet it questioned the wisdom of mixing business with global politics.

"Mr. Blair will no doubt be scrupulous in not mixing appeals for peace and compromise in meetings with Gulf leaders with appeals for contracts with JPMorgan," the influential business daily said in a recent editorial.

"But it is impossible completely to separate his identities as an international envoy and international salesman," it said.

Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics, dismissed such an argument.

"His position is transparent. It's all over the newspapers, everybody knows who he will be working for, there's no secrecy in any of this," he told Agence France-Presse.

Blair's Conservative Party predecessors Margaret Thatcher and John Major both went on to the international public speaking circuit after leaving Downing Street and wrote their memoirs, albeit with less fanfare, Travers added.

The former Labor Party leader's need for cash is easily explained.

He left office after 10 years in June last year, moving into a plush central London townhouse bought with a mortgage estimated at 3.5 million pounds, according to the media.

Travers said Blair's role for the Quartet "won't last forever" and "I'm sure he feels the need to stock-up on serious income and that's what he's doing."

On the EU presidential post, for which he has French President Nicolas Sarkozy's backing, the academic said Blair could be playing the long game: getting rich quick could be an "insurance policy" against not getting the job.

Saw this article on the net.  Title denotes a similarity to what I posted last year about being "all dressed up with nowhere to go".  Or is it just another case of being...blindsided?

 

Highly skilled and out of work

Long-term joblessness spreads in the middle class

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post

updated 3:53 a.m. ET Jan. 21, 2008

WASHINGTON - An unusually large share of workers have been out a job for more than six months even as overall unemployment has remained low, a little-noted weakness in the labor market that analysts said threatens to intensify the impact of the unfolding economic downturn.

In November, nearly 1.4 million people -- almost one in five of those unemployed -- had been jobless for at least 27 weeks, the juncture when unemployment insurance benefits end for most recipients. That is about twice the level of long-term unemployment before the 2001 recession.

The problem is ensnaring a broader swath of workers than before. Once concentrated among manufacturing workers and those with little work history, education or skills, long-term unemployment is growing most rapidly among white-collar and college-educated workers with long work experience, studies have found, making the problem difficult for policymakers to address even as it grows more urgent.

"What has happened is a polarization of the labor market. It was very strong at the very top and very strong until recently at the bottom," said Lawrence F. Katz, a labor economist at Harvard University. "But in the recent weak recovery, and now recession, demand has been very weak" for jobs in the middle.

Caroline Dixon never contemplated any of that when she resigned in April after nine months as a program officer with the Spina Bifida Association. She left because the job was "a bad fit," and she said she was confident that the economy was strong and she would soon find work. For a long time, she never stopped in the unemployment office on Naylor Road near her Southeast Washington home.

But as weeks out of work stretched into months, Dixon, 41, became a fixture there. Now she can be found there on weekdays, spending untold hours at the heavily used computer bank checking out potential employers, printing job notices and e-mailing her resume. "I jokingly tell
people that I'm headed to my office when I'm coming here," she said, without a smile.

High rate looks likely to grow

With the economy sliding toward a possible recession and the jobless rate having spiked to 5 percent last month, the already high rate of long-term unemployment is likely to grow, as it has during past slowdowns, a prospect that has spawned calls in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail to extend unemployment benefits and expand tax cuts to protect jobs and fuel the economy.

The growth in long-term unemployment has occurred even as displaced workers have taken bigger pay cuts to reenter the job market. A 2004 study found that workers who lost a job in 2001 to 2003 took an average pay cut of 17 percent in their new jobs, more than double the average cut of those displaced in the late 1990s.

"When people are losing good jobs these days, they have a very hard time getting back to the type of job they had before," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group that presses for more generous unemployment benefits.

While strong corporate profits, low inflation and record manufacturing output characterized the extended recovery that followed the 2001 recession, some economists call that period of expansion a "CEO's recovery." Real wages were mostly flat, poverty ticked upward and an unusual number of people had a hard time finding work -- a fact masked by relatively low overall unemployment rates.

"This tells you that this has not been as good an economy as the overall unemployment rate would make it seem," said John Schmitt, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "This dynamic causes anxiety among people even if they still have a job. It is very important to understanding the level of anxiety that the work force feels as a whole."

Dixon estimates that she has sent out more than 100 resumes, yielding four interviews. And nobody is talking about paying her anything near the $65,000 she made in her last job. "All of my friends keep telling me, 'You'll get a job,' " Dixon said. "But that's what I thought six months ago, and I still don't have one."

Growing anxious

Dixon said she and her friends and family grow more anxious the longer she is out of work. For nearly all of her life, having a job was a given: Her late father had worked 35 years for Washington Gas; her mother retired from her last job after more than 15 years. After graduating from college in 1989, Dixon worked for 16 years at the American Forest Foundation before moving to the Spina Bifida Association in the District.

These days, her mother, who lives in Capitol Heights, often sends Dixon encouraging notes with Safeway gift cards tucked inside. "I'm sure she's concerned," Dixon said. "She's always asking, 'So, how's the job hunt going?' I tell her, 'If I had a job, you'd be one of the first people I'd tell.' "

Dixon has managed to stay afloat by occasionally working as a substitute teacher at the Washington Middle School for Girls, using a small profit she earns from a rental property and tapping into her savings. She said she considers herself lucky to get free health insurance through a D.C. program that provides coverage for the unemployed.

Still, things are getting tight for Dixon, who is single and has no children. "I need a safety net under my safety net," she said.

Officials who work with the jobless said they are seeing more people like Dixon-- educated, with stable work histories -- having a hard time finding a job.

"It seems like for the skilled worker who has experience and credentials, finding a job that matches their skill and experience is like reaching for the brass ring on the carousel," said Howard H. Marshall, manager of the Baltimore County Workforce Development Center in Hunt Valley. "A lot of people are grabbing for it, and only few will get it."

Not working out

Jan W. Saurbaugh, 57, a former computer specialist who lives in Timonium, Md., started working at 14, when he got a paper route. By 19, he had joined the Marines. For most of his life, he has worked steadily, shifting with life's circumstances and the economic currents.

After leaving the military, he trained and worked as a welder. When neck injuries from an auto accident left him unable to do that, he went to community college to learn computer-assisted drafting, which led to seven years of work with the Coast Guard in Baltimore. Saurbaugh, who exudes an old-school formality with his ramrod straight posture, tightly knotted necktie and neatly pressed corduroys, said he made the mistake of his career when he left his drafting job for a computer-related Coast Guard job in Washington. The position was officially designated as temporary but offered an immediate $12,000-a-year increase over his $38,000 salary and the promise of more raises.

"One guy told me, 'I've been on temporary status with the federal government 13 years, and I've always had a job,' " Saurbaugh said, which put his misgivings to rest. But then Saurbaugh faced what he called a "bad turn of events."

Scrambling to complete his bachelor's degree, Saurbaugh found himself getting little sleep and struggling with the commute to Washington. He developed a sleep disorder that caused him to miss significant time at work. Nine months after taking the job, he resigned under pressure. A sheaf of commendations and awards he had accumulated with the Coast Guard could not save his job.

"I was devastated that I didn't have work," Saurbaugh said. "But I figured I was just a couple of months away from my degree. I figured once I had it, somebody would pick me up."

That was more than two years ago. In between, he has worked only three months -- at a car dealership where a childhood friend is a manager. "I sold eight cars a month for three months. That wasn't cutting it. I am just not a car salesman," he said.

Saurbaugh, whose wife is partially disabled, has sold his camper and drained his retirement accounts and is now dependent on family for survival. His elderly in-laws took a home-equity loan to pay the mortgage on his three-bedroom Cape Cod, and his brother-in-law pays for the couple's health insurance. "I thought by this time in my life, I'd be the one peeling off a few bills for someone," he said. "I hate asking people for money."

He said that if he doesn't find work soon, he will have to sell his house. Saurbaugh said he has looked for jobs everywhere, even applying at electronics stores and bulk-office-supply businesses. But, so far, nothing.

"I keep telling my wife: 'Things are going to work out. They'll work out," he said, shaking his head. "But they haven't."

 

January 1.

Happy New Year!

Or so you thought.

Today, is actually the day you begin to work for the government. You will slave it out for the next three and a half months until April 14, 2007 gathering money for the government to spend. By April 15, you can then relieve yourself with the idea that you are finally working for yourself.

So how did we arrive at this?

Well, granting that 28 to 30% of your annual earning is allocated to taxes, that would mean that a conservative 28% of your 365 days for 2007 would be devoted to just that....paying taxes or plain and simply, working for the government. 28% of your 365 days is about 104 days or, the same amount of time between January 1 to April 14. Little wonder then that the deadline for filing income tax returns is April 15.

Surprise, surprise!

Happy New Year!



(if this really bothers you, then you can just read Robert Kiyosaki's books to find out how some people end up paying less taxes without actually evading them)

I was walking in Glorietta and saw this guy wearing a super nifty shirt.  All it said was :

RETIRED.  If you want to talk to me, I'll have to charge you for consultancy.

`nuff said.

My wife just turned 40 last month.  I catch up in a few months time by April 2008.  The season between her 40th birthday and mine seems to mark a special period for us as we take advantage of major redirections in our lives.  Added to this, we will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this coming June 12, 2008 (yes, nag Centennial Wedding po kami).  So the time from her birthday last month up to June 12 of next year looks like an exciting chapter.  Two milestone birthdays and a milestone anniversary.

When people say that life begins at 40, they ought to know what are the mechanics behind the statement.  Here lies the clincher: you see, in our 20s, we usually have all the energy and the time but hardly the money.  In our 30s, we have the money and the energy and the money, but we don't have the time.  Later in life as we grow old, we have the money, we have the time, but we don't have the energy.  Ergo, the emphasis on 40.

My personal belief is that people should strike the perfect equilibrium of time, energy, and money at about age 40 (40 is just the ballpark number; it could be a bit sooner, it could be a bit later).  What a person ought to do at 40 cannot be dictated upon.  There's a myriad of activities and life pursuits to take on given the various personalities and temperaments we all represent.  However, at this point, ideally, there should hardly be an excuse for having a lack of any of the three elements. 

"Carpe Diem" as Eden Nares would always say.

Here's an item I saw on the Inquirer. net.  I'm reposting it here for your convenience but at the same time supplying the link.

Click here.

You may browse the article but please, do not fail to read my comment below.  Cheers!

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Do you really want to retire early?

Posted under Millionaires, retirement

When I was in my early 20s, I longed to retire at 30. Now that I have reached that marvelous age (plus several years), I realize I need more time. Besides, I can’t imagine not doing what I’m doing now. I would probably be lost without my writing that constantly defines and affirms every day who I am and what are the little things I can do to leave my little mark in this world.

A retirement survey by HSBC called The Future of Retirement in fact showed that many Filipinos would like to work even after they retire.

Boy Javier, an advertising executive, on the other hand, decided to get off the train early. And he is having the time of his life, according to this MoneySense article in the personal finance section of INQUIRER.net.

When I “retired,” I stopped wearing a watch and abandoned most things attached to it. An hour or a day or a week is totally irrelevant. Now is important. Now is forever.

Now I am reading a book. Now I am playing with my three granddaughters, cooking pasta, diving in Anilao, putting for my fifth bogey in the front nine. Now I am free! When I set my watch aside, I did not “retire.” I went off the train and took the bike into the unknown.

It’s been eight years since I retired. That bike has taken me to dreamland – to islands in the Visayas and Mindanao, some so small they could not be found on ordinary maps; to a farm in Lipa where there is always fruit in season and a hammock and a beer for listening to music with; to cheap bookstores so I could renew ties with Sufi and Zen masters, pundits of Wall Street and corporate America and journeymen of the sports and spiritual varieties; to hospitals where I awaited the wondrous births of my three granddaughters, made vigil over my wife’s thyroid operation, and anguished over my mother’s long and fatal battle with a stroke; to the kitchen where I experimented with pasta, meat, and seafood; to Palawan…to Boracay…to Thailand. Have you ever been held by border police while crossing Juarez into Texas?

It all sounds so…I don’t know…ideal? Romantic? Is this what I want with my retirement too? Then should I do everything to retire by 40? 50?

I want to feel this way now. I don’t want to wait till I’m 40 or 50, or even formally retired from work. I don’t think the age and the formal status matters. Filipinos need to do the work that they love so that it doesn’t feel like work. (Easier said than done, I know). Yet if we do find that Holy Grail, then perhaps we all don’t have to formally cross that “retirement” line.

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My comment:  Retirement is such a broad subject.  Especially nowadays when the entire concept of a "traditional retirement" as characterized in the industrial age no longer exists.  Hey, we've long crossed over into the age of information.  There's a whole new meaning to retirement now (another blog entry on that soon).

At any rate, here's what I have to say about the article.  I admire the blog writer's intent to pose this question, "Do you really want to retire early?".  However, in posing such, I feel that the writer is speaking primarily to male readers.  I may even go to the extent of reading between the lines that he is not posing the question to his readers but is in fact subliminally POSING THE QUESTION TO HIMSELF.

Look at it this way, I have been married quite long enough to know that you should not even dare pose a question like this to a woman.  After all, there are very, very few women who would like to be chained to a desk or be a cube-monkey.  If women had their way, they would spend the entire day doing SSS ...shopping, salon, spa, shopping, sipping Starbucks, socializing with the ladies, shopping, etc. ....of course apart from the other social responsibility and spiritual pursuits.

Do you really want to retire early?  In my mind I can hear the women say, "You're barking up the wrong tree".

This may sound a bit cruel.  This is reality though.

Why do people need an exit strategy from their current employment?

Here's why.  It's a simple game of numbers.  Count the number of colleagues around you in your same level/position.  For purposes of example, let's say there's 8.

Count the number of people above your level/position.  Let's say at 4 directly above you and 2 more at the next level.  Count the AVPs, count the VPs.  Count the boss herself (in this day and age, the boss would most likely be a female).

Total : say, 20 .

There you have it.  You have a 1 in 20 chance to rise to the top.

And that's only plain numbers.  Factor in favoritism, and internal corporate politicking.  You've just doubled the odds against you.  1 in 40 chance.

Here's another factor to consider.  Granting that you are the fortunate person who strikes that 1 in 40 chance able to hurdle your way to the top.  The next question to ask is this....

-What is your age?
-At what age do you see yourself inching closer to the top?

If you can't stand the numbers involved, you'd better prepare an exit strategy. 

Don't know where or how to start?  See a retirement strategist.

There's this neat time calculator on the internet at www.timeanddate.com .  You can actually calculate the time between two dates down to the last minute.  I recently calculated the time from now until my 40th birthday.  The answer : 40 weeks.

With that in mind, I should write down the 40 things I want to do before I turn 40.  That way I'd have one week to do one item on the list.  Now, to get my pen and paper....