August 2014

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Guide to Grading Book Condition

Here are the following terminologies on grading your book condition, as proposed by AB Bookman's Weekly back in 1949 ¹:

As New a. k. a. Mint - literally the book is still in "brand new" condition. May be still sealed in plastic or without it. No wears, folds, stamp and any other defects.
Fine - secondary to mint condition, sign of a very little wear on the book's jacket or the book itself in a sense that the grader will consider the book as still in fine & looks new condition.
Very Good - a little wear on the book's jacket or the book itself
Good - worn book but all pages are still complete . The wears, folds, dirt & any defects may be noticeable.
Fair - worn book. The wears, folds, dirt & any defects are noticeable. Or if there's no wears, folds, dirt & any defects but the jacket is missing, consider grade it as fair condition.
Poor - "don't judge the book by its cover" ⁴. The wears, folds, dirt & any defects are noticeable. Worst than that, page(s) may be missing and cover was scratched out

Reference:

¹ AB Bookman Grading Scale - http://hughhollowell.org/the-original-ab-bookman-grading-scale-1949/
² List of User Book Conditions - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_used_book_conditions
³ AB Bookman Weekly - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_Bookman%27s_Weekly
⁴ Don't Judge a Book by its Cover quote - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_judge_a_book_by_its_cover

Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Ready to be Rich's Guide to Investing

I don't much read non-fiction books but when i do, I choose & read a non-fiction book that would make an impact to my life. An essential material like our elementary & high school textbooks. And that's when i found out Mr. Fitz Villafuerte of Ready to be Rich blog published his Guide to Investing book, I decided to buy it.

Title: Guide to Investing

Subtitle: Learn how to invest effectively to achieve your financial goals

Author: Fitz Gerard Villafuerte, RFP

ISBN: 9789710118137

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Central Book Supply, Inc.

Price: 500.00 php.

Guide to Investing Front Cover

Guide to Investing Spine. The book is thinner than i expected. And the price is not cheap.

How do i discovered 'Ready to be Rich' blog & this book?

I discovered Fitz Villafuerte's blog a couple of years ago and became a subscriber ever since. That was the time i thought about my future. So i researched about finances and stumbled upon at his blog. Recently, he published this book and bought it. Now, featured on this blog because it's worth a read and I'm blogging this as a support to Philippine literature (in finance).

Should i read this book?

I was 24 years old back that time (now 26). I'm researching about finances as I've said. I'm thinking of what would become of me in the future. I ask myself, what will happen in the next 5 or 10 years? Will i get married? Perhaps, no. I'm still single. Will i be able to buy my own house? My big dream since childhood because i hate living in my current home. Or, will something happen unexpectedly? Do i have savings to pay the hospital? I already thought of that before and created a savings account at BDO (for emergency needs). But there's more. The current income i get isn't sufficient to reach my goal - buying a new house in the next 5 years, budget for marriage rites (in case), and budget for my life (life/medical insurances).

If you think it thoroughly, living in the Philippines is like sleeping in a bed with swarming leeches. Politically, flow of money in this country is leaking and the leaked money is gone through politician's wallet. And that's not all, did you even realize that every year, market prices are increasing? (e.g. oil, transportation fees, college tuition fees, and even garlic/"BAWANG" prices goes up!) It's called inflation. And realize further, with inflation, every year you salary increase and do you think you profit with your increase? Perhaps, a little but in my opinion, the increase only catches up with the inflation.

I think, most of us Filipinos are in the same situation and not really aware of it because we're not that financially educated. Finance subject was not in our elementary & high schools curricula (not sure for those who are enrolled in international schools). And no, don't tell me you learned it from your Economics & Math subjects, they don't teach how to properly handle and grow money. They didn't taught how to save money in the bank. They didn't taught the importance of saving money.

And to answer the question if you should read this book - as I've told you my situation, yes, we should.

Investing may be the answer. May be the solution on how we can grow money. The book answers our question about investing (click back cover of the book below):