Energy Saving: Rice Cooker vs. Microwave Oven

May I digress…

Our highschool batch yahoogroups discuss interesting topics in our threads. We have topics ranging from tuna chorizo to the effects of laptops on men’s fertility.

The “hot” topic today was cooking rice using the microwave.

Apparently, some of my friends have been nuking their rice and it struck me as amazing. Naturally, I “googled” around and saw some tips on how to do it. For my friends “technique” involves “microwaving” the rice at 5 minute intervals and stirring until done. Generally, they said, it takes them 14 to 15 minutes to cook their rice.

Now, I cook rice using the rice cooker. I prefer leaving it there while doing other stuff while I wait for it to be done. Now here comes my question:

Which of the two methods would be more energy efficient?

So, again, I “googled” around. I am lucky. Believe or not, four Indian scientists did a study comparing the energy consumption of cooking rice using the microwave, electric rice cooker, and the pressure cooker.

The title of the paper is “Energy consumption in microwave cooking of rice and its comparison with other domestic appliances“ and was authored by S. Lakshmi, A. Chakkaravarthi, R. Subramanian, , and Vasudeva Singh.

I didn’t have access to the full paper ( I’d have to buy it), but the abstract gave me what I needed to know.

Among the cooking appliances, the electric rice cooker was the most energy-efficient while the microwave had the least cooking time (15 – 22 min). Now, this one’s useful, right?

And oh, here’s the bit that interested me the most. Presoaking the rice will save us energy between 5 to 11%.

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Related to this here’s a blog by The Ethicurean.

Investopinoy’s “cameo” appearance

Interesting post by moneysmarts yesterday.

I was there too!

A dummy’s guide to mark-to-market valuation

Holiday Economics – a new law

Yep! The practice of shifting legal holidays to the nearest Monday is now a law. Hooray for employees like me!

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act 9492, “an act rationalizing the celebration of holidays”, into law yesterday.

However, not all holidays are included in this law. Exempted are religious holidays: Christmas Day (December 25), New Year’s Eve (December 31), New Year’s Day (January 1), Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Eid’l Fitre (October 13) and All Saints Day (November 1).

Click here for the whole story.

My Mutual Fund – Prudential Optima Fixed Income Fund

My first ever mutual fund was with the Prudential Optima Fixed Income Fund.

For my first investment, I shelled out Php10,000 (min. investment is Php5,000). 2% was taken out as sales load so I was left with Php9,800 to purchase the shares at 1.2133 equivalent to 8,077.14 shares.

So let me see, as of July 20, last Friday, Prudential Optima was worth 1.4041 per share. My Php10,000 is now worth Php11,341.11. That’s around 13.4% return in 14 months.

Im happy.

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Important:
Contents of this post is personal and does not endorse Prudential Optima. For information about their products you may visit their website at http://optima.prudentialife.com.

My Mutual Fund – First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund

Last year, I made my first mutual fund purchase.

It was with the First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund (FMSALEF).

I started small, just placing a little over their minimum of Php5,000. I had saved up Php6,000 from my minimal workers salary for the first 4 months in my job. It was really teeny-tiny since after the 2% sales load, I was left with Php5,880 to invest, but I was really excited with it. Anyway, that money bought me 3,990 shares at 1.4735 NAVPS (Net Asset Value Per Share).

I have made subsequent purchases of SALEF after that. As of last Friday, June 20, the NAV for SALEF was pegged at 2.3544 per share. My Php6,000 is now worth Php9,394.05. That’s 56.6% return after a year and a month.

Not bad, really. Considering a time deposit would give me only 3.5%.

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Important:

I am not directly affiliated with First Metro Investment Corporation. If you want to get more information about their products, you can visit their website at www.fami.com.ph.

Cheers!

What is a contingency fund?

A contingency fund is also called as your emergency fund or “safe and sound” money.

By definition, according to most financial planners in the US, the emergency fund should be equivalent to 3 months worth of your living expenses if you’re an employee. This amount will be higher if you’re self-employed, around 6 months worth.

Why 3 months? This time-frame is based on the average time a US employee would find employment in case he/she loses her present job, thus the name “emergency” fund. In the Philippines, we don’t know the average time a Filipino employee would take to replace a lost job but with our current unemployment rate, I assume it would be safe to save up more than 3 months worth. Maybe 6 months will be enough or higher if you want.

Next to debt payments (if you have any but better if you don’t ), building the contingency fund is the next step to financial freedom. This money should be kept in instruments where it is accessible but also pays a decent interest. Now, bear in mind that you want capital preservation for this fund so I would not recommend putting this into stocks or any high risk investment instruments. You can opt for a savings account if you want to be very liquid, but then again you can look into time deposits, T-bills, or a well-managed low risk mutual fund for example. 

It is always safe to save for the rainy days, they say. Build your contingency fund so that if you fall hard, you will have a cushion to fall into.

 Good luck to us!

Mama’s Advice on Buying a Property

Two weeks ago, my mother and I had this conversation over the telephone.

me: Ma, my stay with our company dormitory will expire January next year (2008), I have to look for a place as early as now.

mama: So what are your plans, anak?

me: Well, I was thinking maybe, if I can afford it, I’ll buy a house or a condo somewhere near my work.

mama: Do you really think you need to purchase a property? You’re still young, anak, and still mobile.

me: Sayang kasi ang rent money, ma. Maybe if I could get a place with a rent to own scheme? What do you think? Should I rent or buy?

And here’s what my mama told me:

Ask yourself these first: What will be my purpose for the place? How long do I think I will stay there? Do I see myself moving in a few years? Months?

Now, should you decide in acquiring a place you should ask yourself these questions:

1. Will it or does it serve your purpose?
2. What is it’s business potential? Will it be easy to sell or rent out when the time comes that you won’t need it anymore?
3. Is the location good? Does it have any hazards? How are the surroundings? Will it be prone to flooding during rainy season?
4. How about the price of the property? Do you think it is undervalued or overvalued? What were the materials used? Did it use high quality building materials?
5. Who are the builders of the place (if it is new)? Who were the previous owners (if pre-owned)?
6. What are the financing schemes? What are the terms of payment? Is it reasonable? Do you think you will be able to afford the mortgage?

me: Ma, so will I buy now rent first? mama: Assess your cash outflow. Can you afford the monthly amortizations? Will you be able to handle the maintenance costs of your house? Or if you buy a condo, will it still fit your budget if you include the association fees, etc.? You must first assess your capacity to pay or else your property will eat up your salary.

me: Oh, ok. I will ma.

Then, our conversation shifted to something else…

After some thought about the matter, here’s my conclusion. Maybe it’s wiser for me to rent first and wait for the time that I will be able to really afford my own place. (Which I hope will be soon.)

What is a Mutual Fund?

There are a number of ways to keep your money.

Aside from the usual savings and time deposit, you may have heard (or not) of an instrument called mutual fund.

This industry is relatively young in the Philippines as compared to older economies like the United States.

I visited www.icap.com.ph, the official site of Investment Company Association of the Philippines and here is how they defined Mutual Fund.

What is a Mutual Fund?

A Mutual Fund is an investment company that pools the funds of many individual and institutional investors to form a massive asset base. The assets are then entrusted to a full time professional fund manager who develops and maintains a diversified portfolio of security investments. People who buy shares of a mutual fund are its owners or shareholders. Their purchases provide the money for a mutual fund to buy securities such as stocks and bonds. A mutual can make money from its securities investments in two ways: a security can pay dividends and interest to the fund, or a security can rise in value. The fund passes any dividends, interest or profits on the sale of its portfolio securities, less fund expenses, to shareholders in the form of distributions.

In the Philippines , there are currently four basic types of mutual funds—stock (also called equity), balanced, bond and money market funds. Bond funds invest primarily in bonds such as treasury notes issued by the Philippine government and commercial papers issued by reputable companies in the Philippines . Having a full basket of only fixed-income securities, bond funds provide capital preservation while maintaining a conservative stance in terms of asset allocation. Like bond funds, money market funds also have a conservative stance since they have a full basket of fixed income funds. The main difference lies in the term of investments of money market fund investments, which is one year or less. Equity funds invest primarily in shares of stock issued by Philippine corporations. The dominance of stock issues within the portfolio positions the fund to attain a more aggressive rate of growth. Balanced funds invest in both shares of stocks and bonds, thereby accessing the growth potential of stocks tempered with the presence of secure fixed-income instruments. Professional fund managers create value for shareholders by providing superior yields within controlled risk exposures. Certainly, expective in both security selection and asset allocation go a long way in ensuring better long-term rewards for mutual fund investors. (Source: Investment Company Association of the Philippines)