Because Ideas Change Lives
Some good news: For the 4th quarter of 2021 which was released on January 2022, the AFPSLAI Capital Contribution Account (CCA) dividend rate for that quarter is at 4%. We don’t know if it will be consistent for the rest of the year onwards, but it’s at least much better than the 9% we got for most of 2020.
In any case, here’s the AFPSLAI dividend schedule for 2022!
(This article contains affiliate links.)
There was something about the title Personality isn’t Permanent (by Dr. Benjamin Hardy, PhD) that really got my attention. I didn’t buy it at first, but something about it stayed in my mind. Thankfully, a few months later the digital Kindle version had a huge discount so I bought it right away.
My intuition was right. That book DID contain some extremely valuable lessons on personal growth and self-improvement and I’m very glad to have learned about them.
The main point of the book, if you haven’t guessed from the title, is that our personalities change over time. If you think about it, it’s pretty obvious. How many working adults are the same as who they were back in high school? How many 40-year olds are exactly the same as their 20-year old selves? Most likely very few. Extremely shy introverts can become outgoing leaders, and reckless party animals can become more intellectual and contemplative. Obviously, people mature and grow over time, right?
Think about this though.
How many of us develop some negative personality traits because of some trauma from our childhood? How many of us who have been bullied as kids grow up to become extremely shy and reserved, or become bullies at work? How many of us failed some tests, got scolded by our parents, and had the thought “I’m not very smart” etched into out minds? How many of us couldn’t keep up with other kids at sports and had “I’m not strong or athletic” marked into our self-image? How many abusive adults were the result of their parents abusing them as children?
Are those bad experiences and traumas holding us back from trying new things, such as good habits and hobbies that can improve our lives, because we think the effects of those traumatic events are a part of our personalities and are therefore “permanent”?
That is the most important lesson within that psychology book. We grow and change over time, and we can CONTROL that change. We can choose what part of ourselves we want to change for the better. Nothing in our personalities are permanent—not even our toxic habits and traumas.
We can be more confident, more generous, and more emotionally mature if we really want to. We can be the kind of person who is disciplined and courageous enough to succeed at what we value, such as our careers, relationships, physical and mental health, and more.
To do that, however, we have to imagine what kind of person we want to become. We have to seriously start thinking and planning our future selves.
[Read more…]Welcome to this short guide on how to renew your driver’s license! Since I personally needed to renew mine at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) last August, I thought about writing about it here. If you want to know a bit about the requirements, the fees, and the things you need to do, just keep reading this guide. Take note though that the process may be different depending on what branch you go to and the prices will likely increase in the future so budget a bit more for it.
In any case, since we don’t need long introductions here, let’s start with the guide!
Here’s what you need to bring.
*As of this writing, renewal costs P585, and the medical tests cost approximately P480 at the Ayala MRT branch, so bring at least P1,065. If your license is expired, you have penalties you need to pay, or you need to revise your records, then you need to bring more.
The prices may increase in the future. If you want an updated list of fees, you can check it out on the main LTO website here: https://lto.gov.ph/license-and-permit.html#license-schedule-of-fees-and-charges
Notes on the medical fees: The clinics for the medical tests are said to be private according to the LTO’s tarpaulin (pictured somewhere in this article). That means it’s not government-owned and regulated so the prices may be different depending on the branch you go to.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE LTO PORTAL ACCOUNT: Use a different password for this account. You may need to login this account on a public PC at the LTO branch. It’s best to be cautious here to avoid getting your other personal accounts hacked.
[Read more…]Here’s an important question: How do you react when someone tells you facts that you don’t want to hear?
Do you immediately get angry? Do you get defensive? Do you start making excuses, play victim, and throw a tantrum because you were hurt by what they said even if it might be true?
If that’s how you react, then you might end up sad and miserable. Furthermore, it will all be YOUR fault no matter how much you make excuses and deny it.
[Read more…]Taxes. Everyone pays taxes. You pay taxes whenever you earn a salary (depending on the TRAIN law), you pay taxes when you operate a business, and you even pay taxes when you’re buying something from the store. Taxes are an unavoidable part of modern life as it’s how governments earn money.
You will, at some point in your life, have to get a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and it’ll be the one you will use for the rest of your life. You can only have ONE TIN by the way as it’s illegal to have more.
Why do you need a TIN? There are lots of government, bank, or other official transactions where you’ll need to provide one, and in today’s online gig economy, if you want to start an online business, do freelance work online, or even earn money as a YouTube or Twitch Streamer, you’ll need to have a TIN to monetize and start earning money.
Here’s how to get a TIN and a TIN ID here in the Philippines.
[Read more…]
