What happened in Miami last year?

Hey everyone, how are you? Today, I’m going to take you to a trip down memory lane when I was still in Manila celebrating the 2017 Pride Parade. This was my first time attending such event and I must say I had so much fun. I’ve never been to a parade this colorful and diverse. There were fun games, merch booths, food stalls, and live performances from well-known personalities. Not to mention the music was booming for 12 hours straight, so there were no dull moments. For those who are not familiar with the Pride Parade, it is a celebration of diversity, inclusion, social and self acceptance, legal rights, and pride for our LGBTQ community. The venue was in front of Marikina city hall so security…

I recently discovered a Netflix series called “Billions” (I know I’m late! Almost everyone in my workplace watched it years ago). I was amazed by the series because it provides great detail about the investment industry. I’ve watched many series where the main characters are doctors, art curators, book editors/publishers, and physicists, but never one about a portfolio manager. So, you can imagine my excitement when I finally found a series representing my profession. I’m currently on the 8th episode, and I can’t help but wonder how people outside of the industry perceive us after watching it. I wonder if they are curious about how much of what is shown on TV happens in real life. The answer is quite simple. Like most TV series,…

Hey everyone, how have you been? For me, I’ve been busy as usual with my revisions, work, and life in general. I have been under a lot of pressure lately so I decided to unwind this weekend by going to Red Sky at Night event. When I was still in the Philippines, I loved going to events like this especially those that involved arts and culture. Red Sky at Night showcases work of local artisans and also celebrates culture of residents who where originally from different parts of the world. There were live performances, music, food, arts and crafts, games and activities for children (and adults also!). Here are some of the snippets I took from the event.

Hey everyone, welcome to Food for Thought (a new blog series I launched last week) where I answer one common question and hopefully we both learn something from it. This week’s topic is a bit relevant to our current situation and one of the most famous questions asked at your basic Economics class: Why can’t the government just print more money to solve national issues such as poverty? The short answer is: Inflation. The long answer is: Let’s first start on why money was invented in the first place. Before fiat money (paper money which technically has no instrinsic value) was invented, our ancestors use the barter system. It is a system where goods and services are exchanged between entities. However, one of the major problems with…

This week has been productive for me. I’m currently in the transition phase of changing jobs and so at one point I am not so busy with my current job, but on another I need to set some ground work for my next job. I’ve been joining some networking events of finance professionals on island and fortunately met a lot of people in the industry. I’m pretty sure I’m going to see more often since I love attending conferences and fire side talks! The first event that I went to is hosted by the CFA society. They invited a speaker from the United States to come over and share outlook of the markets in 2023. It was a good event, although very technical at some…

Checking in today. This blog always lingers in the back of my mind, and even though I keep telling myself I’ll write something, I often don’t. Is it that I’m getting older, or is it just that my energy drains faster these days? I promised I’d keep this space alive so I can one day look back and see how life was—even if it’s the little things. I’ve said it before, but it still feels true: so much has been changing around me. Am I getting older faster than I thought? Lately, I’ve been struggling to manage my emotions and behavior. I haven’t been great at recognizing what stresses me out, or how to stop taking everything so personally. And let’s not even talk about…