One gift, a million blessings

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Eddie and Raquel Bigay carry their first born Ernie.

It was the 90s and Eddie and Raquel Bigay had worked for the life they wanted. The pair successfully built a business in Paranaque after years of selling fish, and they lived with their kids Ernie, May Ann and Lady Lyn.

That is until tragedy struck. Eddie died unexpectedly from a second operation to remove his cirrhosis. But even with his passing, the family man was still able to provide comfort to his grieving family. He left them the gift of starting over, courtesy of a reliable partner, Insular Life." 

Blessed with the gift of life and lucrative business, Raquel confidently shares her story with Insular life. 

A million reasons to hold

“I think he really thought his decision through. Maybe it scared him that we would be alone to fend for ourselves. How will I send the kids to school? How will I look after them? What will I do with hospital bills?” Raquel shared.

She recalls seeing financial advisor Marietta “Ayie” Lantican in their shop and how they talked about death and plans. Raquel knew their finances well, and so she called the financial advisor when the hour came for Eddie.

But nothing would have prepared her for his last gift—one million pesos from Eddie’s Insular Life insurance policy. It was more than enough to pay for the hospital bills and the funeral service, and she didn’t have to give up the life they have built together. 

Widowed at 33, Raquel took charge of the family and the business. “We felt that things were difficult for mama, but for us kids, life continued as it was. I thought mama will transfer me and my sister to a public school or maybe dismiss our tutor back then, but nothing changed. Our quality of life remained,” recalled Ernie.

Death was not going to end what Raquel and Eddie built. Instead, it gave Raquel a chance to explore other opportunities and apply her knack for business. With the insurance proceeds as back -up funds, Raquel with the help of her mother, siblings and her young children dared to continue the fish dealership /retailing. Through the years, she slowly but successfully expanded to other lines of businesses.

Now all grown up, Ernie works with Raquel in growing their businesses, Mary Ann works with China Bank ( IT group) and the youngest, Lady is a software developer with Orbium.

A strong “no” to catastrophe

Ayie only laughs when she recalled how Eddie and Raquel rejected her proposal outright. She told Eddie in jest, “I check the fish you offer me for quality and I buy them if it meets my standard. The two of you haven’t even seen my goods and you refused me outright.”

Eddie’s laughter signaled the start of their friendship and professional bond. For two years, she would help Eddie prepare for whatever life gives him. And good thing he was prepared, for he left his family’s Magandang Buhay intact. 

“I tell people, you can’t control everything. Even simple things like growing old everyday is out of their hands. Life doesn’t see them as a vendor, business owner, or chairman of the board,” said Ayie. This is why Insular Life helps them realize their unspoken dreams, including the ones they hold for their family and even grandchildren.

It has been almost 25 years since Eddie left and 27 years since he took Ayie’s advice. These two women have returned his gift in manifold ways. All family members now have their own policies and are enjoying their Magandang Buhay. Despite receiving the returns from her investments, Raquel still intends to work on her next project: augment her pension earnings, become independent for all her days, and secure an even better Magandang Bukas.

Tips to conquer your fortune this 2017

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The year of the boisterous monkey is about to end, and people are only too happy to bid it farewell. In its place, the Fire Rooster comes speeding in, setting its track ablaze with fortunes waiting to be claimed.

Chicken? Rooster? Not again.

You’re probably thinking that you’re in for a bad year. After all, in Filipino culture, the Rooster or the Chicken is considered a symbol of tight times. “Isang kahig, isang tuka” is only too familiar to kids who grew up with their grandparents.

So before you write down 2017 on your forget list, know that the Rooster favors the hardworking and goal-oriented. It brings great success to those who can aim sharply as this zodiac animal. The rooster has no qualms about sharing a fortune. You only have to earn it with a rooster’s sure-footed steps.

Think and crow like a rooster

Make 2017 your banner year by having a clear goal in mind. Open the year of the Fire Rooster with your eyes set on a successful outcome, and you will find that great financial habits can yield results.

The trick is to take charge of your destiny. Is it wealth that you want? Is it better work-life balance? Is it a comfortable and secure future? Reflect on your goals and extract every bit of detail you can draw from them

Be specific. Exactly where do you want to be? You need to be specific about your wishes. Simply saying you want something may not be compelling enough for you to act. You want to be rich? Well, how rich is rich to you? It’s more proactive to say, “I want to have a net worth of P5 million by the time I’m 40 years old.” See, it’s easier to track your progress if you have actual numbers, or metrics, to measure yourself by.

Know when to hold off spending. Tell yourself, “My budget is my friend.” Roosters are long-sighted, because their eyes are transfixed on their goal. Pick up this trait and you can look forward to greater rewards and yields, if you stick to your budget.

Remember, today is the best day to build your net worth. Your net worth is a good place to start and expand your horizon. The way towards wealth starts with building your net worth. Net worth, in simple terms, is your assets less your liabilities. Take heart: having a low net worth isn’t the end of the world! All you need to do is begin. So take one step forward!

Trace that red thread that connects you to your dream future. Asian folklore says there are strings that bring two fates together. Visualize that thread running through time, connecting you to your ideal self. Maximize the time in between by investing and growing your money, from its present to future value.

That is why you should plan for your investment basket. Today, there is a wide variety of investment vehicles that you can choose from. These vehicles come with different risks and expected returns. So,hit the books, and know the pros and cons of wealth-building tools. Better yet, consult with experienced professionals. Let them guide you on the best way to grow your fortune this New Year.

Create and insist on having a good mix for yourself. Your portfolio should be as hard-working as your dreams. Diversify to mitigate the challenges of this exciting year of the Rooster. Be as bull-headed as this zodiac animal and you will take home your desired earning.

Don’t gawk too long over your wins. A strategic financial plan will bring robust yields, but make sure to keep engaged in your goal. Along with your advisor, review your investments’ performance and plan how to proceed. So, during your annual financial review, ask yourself: are your investments delivering the returns you expect? Are there over-performers? Are there under-performers? How are their results affecting your financial goals?

Review your investments, and re-calibrate if needed. Like a fire rooster that has a strong sense of time keeping and responsibility, review and re-calibrate your portfolio to get back on track. That is, you may have to take profits on over-performing portions of your investment and re-allocate these to the under-performing ones, to “average down”. This is the concept called "regression to the mean". This tells us that over time, the returns we get from each investment would approximate its average historical return.

Keep your eye on the prize. Like the hard working rooster, keep your eye on achieving your goals. The conditions surrounding may become challenging, but just persist and find ways to mitigate those challenges.

Rein in the Fire Rooster with a good team. Connect with a team that gets you started on the life that you want today. Pursue your financial goals with Insular Life and have fortune on your side with the right mindset and the burning determination that are perfect for the Year of the Fire Rooster.

To get more advice on personal finance right from the experts, visit Insular Life’s blog, http://www.savingstips.com.ph/.

Changing mindsets: Millennials as successful insurance financial advisors

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Working towards squad goals. This team of millennials enlists their peers for a beautiful future. 

The face of the economy is rapidly changing and at its core are millennials who are raising the standards for their careers, seeking greater purpose and incentives that are beyond the nine to five grind.

Ysabel Victoria Benitez is one such millennial. She stepped on the gas right from her first day of work. She drove towards her dreams, only to find herself burned out at 23. Now at 27, she is living her life goals. Joining the world’s top financial advisors at the Million Dollar Round Table, she shares in the new path of success millennials enjoy, paved by Insular Life.

Ysa Benitez brims with happiness as she tells their stories. She has lived the promise of Magandang Araw. Today she and her team are on a mission to bring others to their Magandang Bukas.

Millennial challenge

Ysa had high hopes when she joined the corporate world. From a young age, her dreams were crystal clear. “I want a three-bedroom house with a two-car garage in Pasig or Quezon City. I want to travel once or twice a year. I want to get married at age 30,” she said. But after less than five years of working long hours, she found herself face-fallen and dreading the future.

“When I look at my dream board, when I look at the things I want to achieve and the salary I’m getting every single cut off, I knew, that it would take me years and years and years to actualize them,” she said. Eventually, her restlessness grew and compelled her to explore other career options. Luckily, she didn’t have to look far; her mom, Elvie Benitez, provided her a life’s worth of reasons why an insurance career is the best choice.

The deliberate choice

“My mother is a single mom. Life insurance has been her bread and butter. Imagine all three of us siblings went to private schools and no one was left wanting. On Sundays, we even eat out in nice restaurants. The life insurance business is very generous to its agents.”

Her respect from her mom’s career had taken root right then, for she experienced first-hand the honesty, sincerity, and real impact of the insurance business on the lives of its partners. Today, she experiences Insular Life’s generosity, herself.

In less than three years, she has earned her qualification to the Million Dollar Round Table, an elite organization comprised of the top five percent of the world’s financial advisors. Joining other top-performing financial advisors, she took part in the annual conventions hosted in Toronto and New Orleans.

But for Ysa, nothing beats the fulfilment that her new career brings. “A child will be going to college, a couple will get to retire comfortably, there’s that fulfilment that you can rest your head at the end of the day and feel that your clients achieved their goals. They were able to plan for the quality of life that they wanted, and I played a part in making that happen.”

Dressed for the big leagues. Ysa Benitez proudly shares her story of persistence and success in the insurance business.

Taking the reins of the future

This millennial financial advisor now leads a team of 25- to 39-year-olds in building a career in insurance. She is urging them to start their own dream boards and explore the vast opportunities in the business.

Ysa holds big hopes for her team, seeing in them her own drive for success. “We’re a very passionate generation. There are a lot of things that we really want to do and I think these are big-ticket items. With big ticket dreams, you need a career that can support them.”

With Ysa’s coaching, her team of millennials applies financial planning and are making their personal finances a model for their clients. They continue to hone their know-how with conventions and trainings offered for free to Insular Life advisors, adding to the success stories their team are composing at Insular Life.

One advisor managed to completely wipe out her family’s debt. All of them are leaving behind old habits of “one day millionaire spending” in favor of building real, tangible wealth. Most of their team members are themselves Insular Life policyholders, baring their trust in the products and the company that they now share with their clients. Just recently, their team has committed to make the journey to 10,000 — an effort to reach 10,000 millennial clients in three years’ time.

Exhilarated by this new mission, Ysa and her team continue to set more goals: “We’re seeing a lot of houses and cars in our dream boards, and very common also is to slow down at age 50. We’ve set our retirement funds already. We’re looking at a lot of traveling too.”

Claiming her place at the table. Benitez returns to the Million Dollar Round Table and shares the success of young, Filipino financial advisors.

Personally, she has had fruitful three years in the insurance business. “I haven’t been able to cross off the house yet because we’re actually building my mom’s dream retirement house. I owe that to her. For the longest time, she’s sacrificed so much for us, and it brings me so much happiness to be able to do that for her.” 

Her dream reveals the other face of millennials—a group that is caring, generous, and purpose-driven.

Insular Life celebrates 104th Anniversary with a concert

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Insular Life on its 104th Annivesary held a grand celebration with a concert of great band bringing back the music of the 70’s - the New Minstrels and the Circus Band. They performed 70s songs of disco, rock, soul, funk and jazz fusion.

"104 years by any measure is a very long time. The length of human generation in modern time is 30 years. Thus, Insular Life at 104 years, has outlived more than three generations." said Mr. Vicente R. Ayllon, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Insular Life.

Ms. Amy Tamayo, First Vice President and Chief Marketing Executive, shared that “It is our way of giving back because our client has been supporting us for years.” 

“A concert is something that is appreciated by many generations specially when the performing artists the almost the same age of our policy holders”, she added.

Well-known International celebrity Lea Salonga, the brand ambassador of Insular Life, also joined the celebration as she entertained the Insular Life policy holders, VIPs and guests.

“It is a good gesture of our insurance company to hold event like this. It allows us to bond with other policy holders and to our agents” said Mr. Hector A. Cauna, policy holder of Insular Life of two years.

Insular Life awarded P100,000 check to SOS Children’s Villages Philippines as a token and support to the kids who performed at the lobby of  Insular Life building in Ayala Alabang. 

(Photo credits : Raffy Pedrajita of Digitalspidey.com)