BAGUIO FLOWER FESTIVAL: STREET DANCE

February 24th marks the Street Dance Competition - one of the big events of Panagbenga Festival here in Baguio city. There were three divisions for this event - elementary division, high school division, and the open division.

This 2018, Baguio expected to have 1.2M visitors to watch the street dance. The route would start at the top of Session Road, Baguio's main thoroughfare, down to Maharlika Livelihood Center, then turn left to Harrison Road, and end up in Athletic Bowl. Upon reaching the oval, participants are going to perform and be judged.

 The guest speaker for this year's competition is Ilocos Norte's Governor Imee Marcos who spoke in Ilocano inspiring all spectators with a motivational speech.

There were 8 schools participating in the elementary division:

1. Aguinaldo Elementary School
2. Apolinario Mabini Elementary School
3. Tuba Elementary School
4. Dominican Mirador Elementary School
5. Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School
6. Josefa Carino Elementary School
7. Jose P. Laurel Elementary School
8. Baguio Central School

These schools showcased their talents in a 7-minute span which already included the time setting up. The judging was strict in this matter that for every performance, the time spent was announced.  Manuel L Quezon Elementary School was the second runner up and recieved 150,000 Php. The first runner-up went to Apolinario Mabini Elementary school recieving 200,000 Php. The champion for the elementary division this 2018 is Baguio Central School taking home 250,000 Php.

Five schools competed in the High School division where the University of the Cordilleras Senior High School was proclaimed the champion. The other participating schools were:

1. Remnant International School
2. Pines City National High School
3. Baguio City National High School
4. St Louis University Laboratory High School

There were 14 participants in the open division where St. Louis University took home the crown. Some of the other participants were:

• Gardeners' Tribe
• Umili Ay Kalalaychan Cultural Group
• Tribu Rambak
• E Kalinga Performing Group
• Caba National High School
• Tribu Bugkalot
• Chenmo Cultural Performing Group

BAGUIO FLOWER FESTIVAL: FLOWER FLAMINGOS IN SM

SM Baguio is also participating in Panagbenga 2018. Not only in the float competition but also has showcased humongous flamingos made of beautiful Lilies of the Incas or many know it as Peruvian Liles.

It has been early photo shoot sessions for all those visiting the mall or shopping although having your smiling face with the birds is somehow impossible not unless you would be okay taking a pose with their feet.

View from afar would be better but its not going to keep a clear face anymore.  With the problem of taking shots, still a lot of people made happy poses with the flamingos.

BAGUIO FLOWER FESTIVAL: GRAND FLOAT PARADE

The Grand Float Parade for Panagbenga 2018 was again another blast. With a lot of eager participants from two divisions and also those who are non-competing participants, the event was another success.

 Marching bands from Philippine Military Academy and St. Louis University opened the parade with great performances. The bands were followed by the participants of the non competing float division.  The theme of Baguio Country Club (a hall of famer) was the Greek mythology. The float was full of gods and goddesses like Aphrodite playing the harp. Those who modeled as gods and goddesses are models of FHM. The lead float was themed "Clash of the Titans" where you can see a big scorpion.

 Next was the float of SM Baguio. Using the Cordillera concept, this float is a participant in the non-competing category. With models in their native attire on the float, the float also follows a group of natives performing the canao.

Another non-competing float was from NLEX with humongous pineapples and a big parrot  with the rainbow background. The concept was tropical country. Also those signing autographs and joining selfies are the NLEX baseketball players.

 Floats that followed next were those participants for the big float category. 

• MC Master Siomai Hut Inc. float has a set of siomai on top. 

• Another is the float of the Department of Agriculture having a theme of "Big Corn" using 25 species of flowers. The float showcased so many gigantic corns made of flowers. 

• M Lhullier has the concept of the Years of the Dog and Rooster together. On the float are the models and some celebrities. 

• Porta Vaga's entry has the concept taken from the Bible: "From a tiny seed it has grown into a big tree." Their float has a big seed with sprout.

• Jolibee mascots starred their float. They danced jofully. The float has a big Jolibee to celebrate their 40 years of bringing joy to the world. 

• Sitel Phils Corp. has a Cordilleran concept. Their performers also danced actively before the float. Kambal Pandesal float joined the big float division with the concept of small retail stores in the Cordilleras. 

• ABS-CBN float is filled with so many celebrities and the theme is Love.
• Also participated is the Coop Taloy Norte.
• Efficascent Oil float reminisced the kings and queens of the Philippines before (datus and lakambinis)

 The small float division was started with the Maybank float. The concept is "The Tree" Their concept last year was also the tiger but it has grown now. They were the champion in the small float division last year.

• Lubao International Balloon Festival Inc. has the concept of a hot air balloon. This year's Lubao Festival (the biggest hot air balloon festival in Southeast Asia) will be held on March 23- 25 in Pampanga.

• Metro Pacific Water /Saleng Garden  also participated in the small float division.

• Coca Cola also had their float in the concept "Taste the feeling of happiness." The Filipinos love of culture and diversity.

• Universal Robina Corporation had the float's concept of the Lion Head in Kennon Road.
• Float for Igorot man has the concept is to promote the Igorot Man.

• Palawan Padala also joined the competition with a parrot mascot. They highlighted the culture from the south.
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 Also participating are the winners in the street dance the previous day. From the Elementary division are Baguio Central School the champion; Apolinario Mabini Elemetary School - the first runner up, and Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School - the second runner up. In the High School division - University of the Cordilleras Senior High school was the champion. For the open division, champion is Saint Louis University.

Congratulations once again Baguio City!

ADOPTING THE BABY STEPS: SAVING FOR COLLEGE

courtesy of Flickr

When everything is settled in with your emergency and contingency funds, instead of jumping to your retirement fund, complete all responsibilities and work with your children's college fund first. It would be good to think about your retirement fund but it would still be a number of years away while children are growing quickly. The moment you started a family, it would only take around 18 years before you got a kid to send to college. While, hopefully, it would still be double those number of years until retirement.

With the lesser time frame for the children, it would be better to focus on a year or two solely on saving for their college fund. Allot two years focus on each child. So if you plan or already have 2 or more children, double the number and that would give you the total number of years you are supposed to save for college funding solely. The two years may not even be enough for an employee to save for each child, but this is just the focus or saving solely for one baby step. The succeeding years, you might want to divide the savings among your retirement fund and the children's college fund. 

Baby steps 4 and 5 together. 

This is a new scheme which combines saving for both college and retirement fund. So give two years for each child and save their college fund. After the two years, divide your savings to college fund and your retirement fund. Paying off your retirement fund earlier ill be requiring you to give lower payments. The installments paid on the retirement fund will be earning interest which will be possible to suffice the inflation on your senior years.

How to plan on the first two years for college funding?

It is not just checking on the tuition fees of each university, but compute all the expenses that your children will be asking from you.

• Start with learning the fees of universities in your local and also in another city. You can decide on which to start with. After all, you are going to save while your children are still young, thus, there is no point of asking a 9-year old on which university he would like to go to in college. To be at a safer side, check on the university out of your town which offers the lowest fees and use that as your basis. Another alternative is directly targeting potential universities you would like your child to attend to.
• Include the expenses for books, school tools and gadgets that your children will be required. Since this is not yet certain for now, you can make an assumption that at least 15% of the school fees would be for projects and tools needed at school.
• Learn the way of living in that place, check out the people's lifestyle. Does the place offer cheap board and lodging? On the other hand, scout for information about dormitories of schools too.
• Do not forget to include the inflation of all expenses in your computation. From the school fees to transportation, food and housing, inflation should be computed.

How to save for the college fund?

courtesy of SLU FB

• You can open yet another account for your children's college fund. This will assure you that you have divided all savings properly. The only drawback is that every pay day or day of deposit, you will be carrying so many accounts.
• Another thing is to have it included in your contingency fund. Remember that your contingency fund is something you are not to touch unless you are out of job so your college fund will be safe. Another good thing of pooling your fund into this account is the higher interest rate your fund will be earning as you keep bigger lumpsum.

Know more about the other Baby Steps.

ADOPTING THE BABY STEPS: SAVING 3-6 MONTHS OF EXPENSES

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After placing an end to the old you, you are now ready to start building up your wealth. Being debt free is such a good start for investments but before working on your dreams, it would be better to make sure that you are secured for the immediate future. There is an immediate security that you need to fund on at times that future problems with your finances arise. This baby step is similar with building your emergency fund. The only difference is these problems can come but not that urgent although devastating. This is the problem of unemployment.

When someone gets laid off or retrenched or basically let go, the first thing that comes to mind is: "How am I gonna live now?" And for the family person ... "How will I support my family?" Unemployment occurs any time to any one despite excellent performance in the company. 

How to plan for the immediate expenses?

courtesy of Career Trend

In the Seven Baby Steps, it was very clear that you should be saving for 3-6 months expenses. However, would saving this much be enough until you can land to another job which will sufficiently support your family? The better thing to do is to check the chances of getting hired with equal or even better pay after computing your expenses. Don't just focus on the expenses, also think about the probability of landing to an equally paying job.

• Compute for your expenses, even at least the basic, which means wants are still not included. If you are confident that you can save even for those in the want list then there is no stopping you. However, if you would like to move on to the next Baby Step, it would be better to tighten your belt a little "to live like no else soon". 
• Now that you have an idea on how much you spend, you can start checking the length of time you are supposed to save this amount. There may be countries where it is easy to get back to a job like around 3 to 6 months, but there are also places where competition is high. Although there are some part time jobs to help you make ends meet for the meantime, your target is to get back to the old income level you once had or even better.

How to save for the contingency expense?

When you know how much and how long you are supposed to save, then it is easy to do the math and start the baby step. 

• Open another bank account to place your contingency fund. It is best to have an account which is not easily accessible such as bank accounts only using passbooks. Banks are surely closed on weekends which will hinder you to have impulse withdrawals on those days you go shop out with the family.
• If you find it troublesome to fall on queue every time you make a deposit, then you can still carry an account with a card but make sure you can discipline yourself never to touch the card for any other reason than for the unemployment contingency.

Read about the other baby steps.

ADOPTING THE BABY STEPS: THE EMERGENCY FUND

courtesy of iMoney Singapore

The first thing to consider before working to financial freedom is to secure oneself financially. This is when you would have to prepare for emergencies. Because emergencies would also occur at an untimely, it is best that you are always prepared. 

Before you can tackle your first baby step, you should identify your possible emergencies in order to know just how much emergency fund you should set aside. Make a comprehensive study about your lifestyle and create an inventory of everything you need and those you have. It is clear that "want" is out of the question here. There is no emergencies for things we want.

What are those circumstances that most of us consider as emergency?

courtesy of NearSay

• Health emergencies. Top priority is to stay alive and well. Anything wrong with our body or to anybody in the family, surely this should be given prompt attention and care immediately.
• Weather or environment influences. It is the rainy season, so it would be best to keep a big amount of the emergency fund ready just in case a cyclone comes visiting your area. This is true to all other disasters which are no doubt always categorized as emergencies.
• School fees and projects. A school activity came up, you have to have some fund for this or else your children will feel you have deserted them.
• Broken appliances. This depends on how important that home device is. If one can still live without it, then don't consider making a fuzz when it broke. For example, the microwave doesn't want to work anymore, think if it is a critical situation for the family, if you can still prepare meals without it, then consider buying a new microwave when truly there would be extra from your budget. Another is the computer, there are some people who work using the laptops or computers, then having this device broken should be considered an emergency or else, there would also be no income without it.
• Car maintenance. Just like home appliances, setting the emergency fund also depends on people who have cars or not (and if cars are vital for living or not that much).

How to plan for Baby Step 1?

courtesy of Hospitality School

Now that you identified what kind of emergencies you might most likely encounter, you can arrange how much you should keep. 

• Check out how much hospitalization fees are in your place. Imagine the worst scenario and get the most probable billing for that. There is no need for you to go and interview hospital personnel. You can gather information from people around you who have had hospital emergencies. Knowing the amount they spent, add at least a fraction of that amount just in case bills and services will inflate.
• For natural disasters, if you are able to complete all your supplies before the season of disasters arrive, then that's absolutely great. The only thing you have to consider for your emergency fund will be emergencies that might happen to your house. For example, flooded basement, cut electricity, no communication or transportation services, etc.
• Have a talk with your children's adviser to know just how much they might need for projects and other activities besides their tuition fees. Among all the emergency categories, this is the least amount.
• If your home appliance is a vital part of your living, then keep the purchase amount as part of your emergency fund.
• Similar with any vital home appliance, if the car is considered a necessity, make sure that you have enough funds to maintain it.

Starting with Baby Step 1

Now that you got an estimate on just how much you should keep for emergencies, it would be easier for you to save (having a specific amount for a goal). 

courtesy of Khalaf & Nguyen, PLLC

• Allot a certain amount every time you receive your pay in order to quickly complete your emergency fund. Although this depends on how fast you would like to complete Baby step 1, you do not really need to pressure yourself too much yet especially if you still got time on your side. For those parents who are going to have college kids soon, then they should definitely work double time for Baby step 1.
• Keep your emergency fund somewhere easily accessible. You can open a regular savings account with a card and with the least maintaining balance. Having a card will be more convenient to extract from your emergency fund when the need arises.

Check on the other Baby steps.

JUST HOW EASY ONE MAKES BABY STEPS

courtesy of Money Control

As the popular saying goes "One has to learn how to walk before he could run", this is the same thing when one wanted to reach financial prosperity. Everyone would like to be in that euphoria sometime in the future. It is always the dream of everyone to work hard while young and strong so he could relax and enjoy life after.

Although some people tend to enjoy every bit of their time, (this is, in fact, also good) others do focus on their future. So many are of this case especially if they have more responsibilities in life like parents who have huge duties for the family. Those single can still enjoy more of their time while they are young because of not that much responsibilities.

courtesy of Imgur

The "Seven Baby Steps" is a very popular book written by Dave Ramsey gearing toward financial prosperity and freedom. In this book he discussed ways on which a regular person can still achieve wealthy lifestyle. One has to follow a certain principle in life in order to gain what one dreams of. In it, and also in his videos, he would always reiterate saying "One has to live like no one now, to live like no one else in the future. A simple line pointing out to delayed gratification.

How easy or hard are the steps then? For a person who has a strong will to gain his goals in a given period of time, it would be easy to have the baby steps. There would somehow be a different case for those who have instant self-gratification as one of their beliefs in life. The days of great industrialization had brainwashed people to buy a lot of products. The manufacturing industry came out with so many ideas like, "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die." This scheme truly worked for the industry. So many manufacturers became rich! These days, if that same saying is still working on someone else's mind, then that person should pray that he is truly going to die soon or else, he will be broke for the rest of his days.

The principles inside the book start with getting ready for things to happen in the present then moving on to forming your future. Although everything is true, some people might find some baby steps only adoptable in the better worlds. A slight variation would be needed for some places which are still thriving on their potentials to success. In some cases, an alternate list of baby step like the following may be more adoptable.

courtesy of Medium

Baby Step 1: Keep an emergency fund
Baby Step 2: Roll out of debt
Baby Step 3: Fund 3-6 months of expenses
Baby Step 4: Save for your kids' college fund
Baby Step 5: Invest on your home
Baby Step 6: Work out on your retirement plan
Baby Step 7: Build and share your wealth