Even before finding out about the FIRE movement, I have always been involved in the stock market. I remember being asked at work if I was interested in claiming my 13th month pay in advance… the HR was running a program to help employees prepare for the COVID Pandemic. I claimed mine because I just opened an account with COL Financial, I planned to take advantage of the Bearish Market. Jollibee and BDO were my stocks of choice. In 2020, I was only earning Php 28,000 a month… a month’s worth of my time went to my first ever investment.
Fast-forward to February 2024, more than a year into earning 6-digits in my global tech job— and two weddings later… on a vivid sunny afternoon, I got on a jeep from the outskirts of Makati Med and got off at Buendia… I walked into an old building, went up the dark stairway and reached the Pag-Ibig office. I asked the receptionist for the MP2 savings form. I was going to put all my eggs in one basket, because a 7% un-taxed interest is what felt safe then. I ended up putting all I had in the account the day after that, it was already around Php 400,000 coming from my Maya TD and COL account. That was a special day because it ignited the FIRE in me— pun intended. This was the beginning of my love for FIRE.
The Global Market was already in the picture then, but only for a few hundred dollars. IBKR is my trusted online broker. The Philippine government was diabolical to ban a very credible global brokerage app, but let gambling apps get a “free” pass in the country. Kung mananatili nga namang mahirap, financially illiterate at walang magandang opportunity for foreign investments and mga Pilipino, mananatili tayong gipit, maledukado at bobo… patuloy na maluluk-lok ang lahat ng magnanakaw sa gobyerno. A well-informed Filipino is hard to fool.
With the news of Filipino tax money in a maleta here and there, this year, I have decided to stop adding more to my MP2 and go all out on my Global Index Fund of choice– VWRA (with a few tricks, I got the IBKR app to work). It took me a small side-line and layoffs in our company to have the confidence and urgency to take more risks— talk about reversed psychology. I should have started sooner, but it is what it is.
Presently, the plan is that a few hundred units of VWRA and 1.5 million pesos in a high-yield savings bank will be retiring me in four years. Check my maths, projections and progress here: Google Sheet. My choice of 5% withdrawal rate post-FIRE is something worth discussing in another blog.
Finally, there is one last thing I want to share… although growing up poor is my main motivation to financial independence (aren’t we all driven by our traumas?), marrying the right man has equally contributed to this. I cannot stress enough how who you marry can affect your lifestyle and how you see and treat money. Luckily, maaga akong lumandi, and so maaga ding na-mulat. Hindi kina-kailangang mayaman ang mapang-asawa, ang mahalaga, may pangarap, may respeto sa sarili at sa perang pinag-paguran niya. Although mas madaling mag-mahal kapag hindi kumukulo ang tiyan.
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