I am a physician, currently practicing as an Anesthesiologist. My other passions are finance and investments. As of 2013, I have passed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams, all in my first attempts. I received my Masters of Business Administration degree in 2008. I received my certification as a securities specialist from the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2009.
Here at Finance MD, I advocate investing and smart spending. However, the reason why we have to manage our finances wisely is to ultimately enjoy the fruits of our labor.
One good way to spend your labor’s fruits is to buy some really cool high quality brand name shoes. It would be nice if you can customize and personalize them too. If you read further, there’s an arbitrage opportunity in these shoes somehow.
Here’s my own customized, personalized Salvatore Ferragamo shoe – that I don’t plan to buy yet.
Fruits of Investment? Customized Salvatore Ferragamo driver shoe for thefinancemd.com (see the inscription above). Calfskin driver shoe in Ultramarine with metallic Cherry hardware and Cherry soles. Image created at ferragamo.com
Want to create your own customized, personalized Ferragamo driver shoes? The best part is you don’t actually need to buy it, if you don’t want to. Here’s how!
Eurozone ministers are gathered in Brussels today to determine the fate of Greece in the Eurozone, and by consequence, the fate of the Euro itself. Greece may be bankrupt (according to its Finance Minister), but it is the only country that can boast of having a Hermes bag made out of the image of its flag.
European Union and Greek flags near the Parthenon in Athens. Image from bloomberg.com
Kung Hei Fat Choi! Today, February 19 is the start of the Year of the Wooden Goat / Sheep / Ram according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. In this post, I will list some investment and money tips from experts in Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology.
Goats and sheep are totally different creatures, but that’s not important, right? Image from fengshuiben.blogspot
In a love story – whether it ends happily or not, the setting is also important. In this post I will feature Christian Grey’s Penthouse in Escala, the setting for most of the “action” in Fifty Shades of Grey.
The Escala apartments is actually a real-life building, though E L James had not been there when she wrote the book. She used the promotional materials of the condo to describe the penthouse.
See related post about Fifty Shades of Grey here. The movie will be open in the Philippines on February 11.
Address: 1920 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Escala, the setting for Fifty Shades of Grey. Image from bizjournals.com
Penthouse – Christian Grey’s pad in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
Capes as worn by men, had been around for a long time and had been in and out of fashion every now and then. Are they due for a comeback any time soon? Will you invest in one?
Women have always been able to wear capes in a normal setting. But if you’re a man; unless you’re Batman, Superman or going to any type of cosplay gathering, a cape will probably make you look silly.
In Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” video, we actually see a man in a cape. The video is set in present time. However, I doubt if anybody actually walks their dogs dressed like that.
You have Taylor Swift, Sean O’Pry in a tux, three Dobermans, a palatial mansion, and yet the wind-blown cape steals the show. Image by mtv.com from the Blank Space music video
Nobody has identified what brand the cape is (but many have posted that Taylor is wearing an Elie Saab gown, see related post about Elie Saab here). I checked some shopping websites (ok just one – lyst.com) to see if a cape similar to the one above is available.
Since the focus of this blog is investments, I’ll post about what fashionistas call as “investment pieces”. From a perspective of an investor and not a fashionista, do these things really exist?
Fashion pundits throw the term “investment pieces” as if they were Jordan Belfort – played by Leo DiCaprio in TheWolf of Wall Street – throwing money off a yacht.
Because “luxury” confetti is so much more expensive. Image by popsugar.com from scenes of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
Like in the real world, the income gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” of tennis continue to widen. The disparity actually exists even between the “haves”. I can offer some explanation for this. Geometric progression has something to do with it.
A lot has been said about the income disparity between the have and have nots of tennis. I’m just talking about prize money here. The disparity between endorsement money is a whole different ballgame… errr match (since we’re talking tennis here).
Apparently, the disparity exists between the “haves” themselves. The Wall Street Journal ran an article last year regarding the income gap between the 1st and 32nd ranked tennis players, and compared that gap across a variety of professional sports.
Why the number 32? In a tennis grand slam, such as the recently concluded 2015 Australian Open, there are 32 seeded players. The seeded players represent the top tier of the sport. The article is pointing out the disparity even within that top tier. Here is an infographic:
Alexa rankings pay much better. Image cropped from wsj.com
Note: The data from the wsj article is as of August 22, 2014. After the 2015 Australian Open, the no. 1 ranked male and female players are Novak Djokocic and Serena Williams respectively – they also both won the Australian. The no. 32 players are Fernando Verdasco (still!) and Coco Vandeweghe.
Finance, M.D. thefinancemd.com 