Life In the Philippines

post office deliveries

The local post office in Dipolog city has been the bane of my life since I moved here at the beginning of the year. i do not know how many letters have gone missing but know I have lost quite a few important one. It all came to a head ten days ago, when I eventually had gathered proof that my mail was been interfered with. On the day in question my wife collected a number of letters stamped as been received up to a month before, but which had not been de lived.

One letter I opened was a time sensitive letter from my bank wherein they informed me that if I did not reply in ten days they would remove an amount of money relating to an ongoing fraud case from my account. I returned to the Post Office and read the riot act, advising them they were failing in their duty to deliver the mail. They offered many excuses, not enough workers, the weather,sickness. I would have none of it. I went as far as suggesting that they write to the Postmaster general and request the Post Office be shut down. I left a formal complaint with them.

Now miraculously the post is working as it is designed I am getting a regular supply of mail again. so it seems they can do their jobs.

I question sometimes why it is difficult to get people to do what they are paid to do, I do not know how many times have walked into shops and watched staff chatting to each other rather than assisting customers or even worse texting or using mobile devices.

Perhaps I am old fashioned but I used to like to think that I was paid what I felt I was worth, If I was not being paid enough I could leave. Sometimes it was a matter of more than money, I would do jobs I enjoyed or once where I could learn and take on new skills. I have done a huge assortment of jobs in my life so far working for people, with people and for myself. I do not think I have ever been fired, I have always been the one move on. I have been lucky.

One of the most challenging businesses in my opinion is to help people earn money online, the the world of so called fast money, rip offs and scams. The truth is there is good consistent money being made online from Multi-level-marketing when done the right way with the right company. Multi-level-marketing is now being taught in colleges. If its good enough for Warren Buffet its good enough for anyone.

The basis of Multilevel marketing is building and duplication actions which sell products and services on which one can build commissions through multiple levels.

Finding something that works and can be duplicated is one of the secrets that people such as as Billionaire Ed Mercer has used in the past and is using now to create new millionaires. it is not rocket science merely common sense and anybody with a little bit of money, his guidance and advice can create serious wealth.

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net

Life in the Philippines

Waiting on Bureaucracy

Having made our decision to leave the Philippines we are now in the hand of bureaucrats with regards to getting our paperwork in order and unfortunately here everything takes time which is very frustrating and is not making life any easier.

I am the kind of person who likes to get things moving and we have a tight deadline. The School year in the Philippines ends in March, so this is the earliest time we can move to Cyprus and will provide time for Jay to settle in prior to resuming his education in September which is the start of the School year. We have to register him in May so that is the latest departure date, to ensure he has a school placement.

The main problem is we need to formally adopt Jay, even though he has been living with us for two years and the authorities need time to consider this, in the best interests of the child. We know it is in Jay's best interests because a European education is far superior to what is available in the Philippines and most Filipinos leave the country anyway as the wages here are too low and they are better odd working abroad.

So for the next few months it seems I am going to have to bite my tongue and subject myself to what I see as unreasonable demands. Part of the problem is the Philippines is where we live, yes I have a UK passport but I have not lived there for 12 years so it seems crazy to ask questions in UK about about my recent past of which they have no knowledge. But here in the Philippines I am regarded as a foreigner and they expect that I have a home in another country, If I did I would not be living here now.

Another tropical storm has been working its way across the country this week, causing the using flooding and power outages which the locals just accept as a normal way of life.

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net

Dipolog City - House and Lot For Sale

Original Article @ Dipolog house and Lot for Sale

The Philippines does suffer from a high average rainfall especially at this time of year with over 400mm in the current month although in the spring this from down to around 100mm many houses are built with tin roof with the result that heavy rain makes it impossible to hear someone speaking, added to this is the lack of rain gutters and downpipes so an artificial waterfall is created. Our house and lot for Sale in Dipolog city, is finished with shingle tiles which reduce the noise to nothing and we have long lasting plastic gutters and downpipes, rather that metal which deteriorate rapidly in the tropic,

As you can image you can collect a lot of free water and we originally had plans to place storage tanks behind the house filled by the downpipes rather that letting this resource go to waste.

The one good thing about tropical storms they are over quite quickly and soon the sun is shining brightly again.

Till the next time

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+63659082832

How to Get Money

Return on Investment

How do people create wealth, well it does not matter who you are or what you do , you could be a billionaire like Ed Mercer or an ordinary individual working a nine to five job, but you need to find a vehicle which you can use to increase your wealth. Now at one time one of these vehicles was your home, however this was ruined by lenders lending more money than borrowers could reasonably repay, with the results that their loans exceeded the future value of houses and this caused the worldwide financial crisis which we are struggling to get out. There are however a number of other ways to get a good return on investment.

I do not recommend High Yield Investment schemes unless you are prepared to lose your investment, but they can work for some people but are very risky for the unwary. One business which I am involved with is a pre-launch Forex company and in fact you do not even have to risk $1, they give you $100 in seed money to advertise their new Forex trading system and until the company formally launches you benefit from any gains or loses the system makes, the latest trade last week added another 9% to my account which is now approaching $1,200. Yes it is an advertising ploy to attract people but if they join when the company launch there are monthly commissions available which could prove regular income of one or two thousand dollars all from zero investment. Even if the business never launches you have lost nothing but perhaps when it does it will have created some money to start you on the journey to greater wealth.

People look to the Internet to earn money and it is difficult to discern which are good and which are bad for a long time Zeek rewards was flavour of the month but the business was not sustainable and many lost money they could not afford to lose.

The secret to securing a good return on your investment is to follow someone who is trustworthy and has a track record of success and one such person is Ed Mercer who has taken up a challenge with Guinness world records to create 100 new millionaires in this time of recession. If you want to share with his success you should join him on his challenge and reap the rewards of his research. A word of warning however, you will need to be prepared to commit time, money and effort to build your serious wealth, it not a program for dreamers it is for those people who are prepared to do what ever it takes to build success.

David Ogden

Ed Mercer- 100 millionaires
Prelaunch X

Life in the Philippines

Bureaucracy in the Philippines

I have never known a nation like the Philippines for bureaucracy and I am sure most of it is to make money for the government and their cronies, Unfortunately at the moment I have a number of tasks to undertake before I leave the country which require dealing with government department.

Yesterday I need to get a simple police clearance, so I downloaded the form from the the National Bureau of Investigation and headed to the local office in Dipolog city, only to be told that as I am an Alien, I need to go to Manila some 1,000 Kilometres away. In a similar way there is no longer an immigration presence in Dipolog city so when my visa expires next week I need to travel some six hours to Cagayan Del Oro to renew it. Trying to get information and answers by email is virtually impossible.

I Compare this with getting information from Cyprus where I am planning to move to, with emails sent requesting information on Visa and residency questions being answered within hour of been sent and not requiring any travel. You may be thinking I am crazy to swop living in the Philippines where you can live like a prince on a few thousand dollars, compared to Cyprus where costs and taxes are higher, but there are a number of reasons no least being being able to qualify for a European passport for my Son to be wife and child. I do not wish to return to the UK as the weather is too cold, but can survive in Cyprus with hot summers and relatively warm winters.

The main reason however relates to lifestyle, it is a safer place to live as a millionaire and has good communications which is essential for me as I am working with billionaire mentor Ed Mercer and rely on the Internet to build serious wealth for myself and my family. Many people have dreams to be wealthy, but few really commit to the idea, I have discovered that many self made millionaires share Ed's experience starting life with little or no money and building a strategy to succeed.

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net

Dipolog House and Lot For Sale

Original Article @ Dipolog house and Lot for Sale

Dipolog house and lot for sale

Hardly had we completed our dream house in Dipolog City than we have to move away due to my business commitments, so now we are in the process of putting it on the market.

This is an excellent time for someone to purchase a new property which is ready to move into as we are leaving it virtually fully furnished including large screen TV, Larder Fridge/Freezer, Gas/electric Hob, Oven and front loading washing machine. Curtains and blinds Beds, Office and computer desks.

We are removing only our personal possessions and pictures. we will be sad to go as our garden is beginning to mature, but business is business and if you really want to be successful you have to be prepared to do what ever it takes.

We had originally expected to stay for 5 years or more otherwise we we would not even considered buying, however things change and so move we must.

We also have to set about selling our Mitsubishi Strada 4X4 which is just over a year old, and finding homes for our two dogs Fred the oldest is just over a year and Ben the youngest 9 months, we adopted both and they are turning out to be excellent pets and at the same same time guard dogs, we will miss them dearly as they will miss us. They are great with children, we have a ten year old child and a 4 year old and both dogs are happy to spend time both in the house during the day and on guard duty at night outside. when ever family members are out our the children are expected home they sit expectantly at the gate of our house.

Till the next time

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+63659082832

Life in the Philippines -Business

Operating a Business in the Philippines

I have been reviewing my business commitments and as I have mentioned in previous posts the Philippines is a hard place to operate business, not only are the margins small but people who live in the provinces are on low wages.

I know of many people who have set up local businesses operating resorts, restaurants and bars, but they struggle to earn a living and have to rely on income from abroad to make ends meet. Don't get me wrong the Philippines is great place to live and your money goes a long way, but if you need to work the rewards are not worth the effort.

Yes you can hire workers for very little cost but to have good results you need to keep on top of what they are doing. The pace of life is slow here and you need to set aside quite a lot of time to get business transactions completed and there is a love of needing lots of paperwork.

I have been setting up a business connected with Ed Mercers 100 millionaires challenge and that has been a challenge and an eye opener in itself. As an Internet marketer branding is very important and one point I always stress is if the company has a website it is important that they use an email address connected to the website but here many companies just use a yahoo address. Just yesterday I received a reply to an email sent over a month ago to the manager of a company official email address, she apologised saying that it was a new address and she normally used yahoo. Is this the way to run a serious business?

I suppose local people who operates business just do as others before them and know no better, but for those who have dreams of expanding or attracting business from overseas they need to make great changes in the way they work, including removal of corrupt business practices.

I was happy to start setting up a business here but for the past 18 months have been banging by head against a brick wall, I now see that the time has come to move to an area where business ethics and practices are more inline with my thinking so rather than complaining, I am going to vote with my feet and an put together an exit plan in line with my goal for building serious wealth.

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net