The Frugal Celebrity: Give up the glam, buy a house in the US Edition

GMA artist Kris Bernal and her sister in her ~$600k California home. 

Working in the media and entertainment industry exposed me to how it was pretty much a boom and bust situation. When it's good, it's really good. You get projects left and right and one after the other, then it's forty years wandering the desert and the seven plagues the next. Since it's the first industry I worked in, I learned early how to budget my money, how to make it last until the next payday which may be a month, or two, or six months away. Who knows. 

That's why when it comes up in the news, I always have a soft spot for people who can forgo the trappings of celebrity--buying all the designer goodies, #travelgoals, the big muscle cars--and scrape and save for a future when the spotlight is no longer trained on them. One of the first entries on my blog when I returned to blogging was about Scottie Thompson, who saved up his basketball money to put up his own business. 

Recently, there's Kris Bernal, a GMA artist who saved by not hiring a glam team and driving herself to work and then using that savings to buy a house in West Covina, California. Primarily, she got the house because she has a sister working there as a nurse who then fell ill and Kris Bernal thought it would be nice if her sister didn't have to think of making rent on top of health concerns. 

Bernal often taped three times a week, especially if working on a soap opera, and having a glam team--stylist, make up artist, hair stylist--and a driver to bring her to work and back home, are considered necessities. But what gave her pause was how much having this team would cost her in the long run. "Pag inipon mo kasi yun, its very expensive, e." She pegged the driver's salary in a month at PHP10,000, that adds up to PHP600,000 for five years. Add to that the salary of a stylist and a hair and makeup artist. So that makes the celebrity life really expensive indeed. 

She put her money in a time deposit so that she wouldn't be tempted to spend it. (Of course, I think that time deposits don't really do much, but hey, if it worked for her, you do you, ate.) She built her savings for a decade. Recently, she also opened a Korean BBQ restaurant. "Hindi siya ano, na bigla na lang dumami ang pera ko. Hindi nila alam na sobrang tipid ko, as in ang dami kong tinipid at tiniis para lang mabili ko itong bahay, mapatayo ko itong House of Gogi, yung ganun." 

She bought the house in April 2018, and according to Zillow, modern-minimalist home has a lot size of 3,750 square feet and a floor area of 2,022 square feet. Pep.ph, which ran the article, found out that "four-bedroom homes in West Covina are priced from $500,000 to $600,000." So Ms. Bernal's five bedroom home with a loft cost her around $603,000 or PHP32,121,207. If she saved for it for a decade, she was putting aside ~Php3M/year. She's right to be proud of her purchase. Really frugal indeed. 

That's around PHP26M to PHP31M.But based on our research, the house was

What to do with your (championship) bonus

Bonus season is coming. 

The thirteenth month (or 14th and even 15th if you're lucky) is something that employees with regular jobs look forward to come November or December. Unfortunately, once the money is there, most people will spend it on expenses, paying back debts or bills, or worst, living large. Before you know it, it's all gone. Or as one saying goes: "Dumaan lang sa palad," or "Nahawakan ko lang sandali, wala na agad." 

Yes, the 13th month is mandated by law. But if you're a "service provider" or "contractor," then that extra money is dependent on the largesse of those we work for. 

Similar to gig workers, athletes are notorious for having boom and bust careers. At their peak, they can command super high salaries. It’s easy to live large if you’re also earning outstanding sums of money. The wear and tear on the body is just too much, that by age forty, it’s time to consider retirement. But they are also prone to injuries. And all it takes is one misstep, one moment before the sport you love leaves you debilitated, in pain, and worse, bankrupt. 

In the Philippines, we see this fate in our athletes. Item: At 63 years old, Efren “Bata” Reyes is still playing the rounds because he can’t afford to retire yet although he already wants to. In his heyday, a championship could get him $100k. Competing in tournaments abroad cost a lot of money now. Expenses could be as high at $5,000 and you need to place at least third to break even. These days, he admits things have changed. After an eye operation in 2005 and an unsteady wrist and tiring easily, Reyes cut short his stay in the US , citing fatigue. 

Item: Then there's Rolando Navarrete, former boxing champ who went on a drug addiction down spiral and is now broke. 

It’s just sad to see them like this. At their peak, with all their money, there will be entourages and people who ask for a little help. But one should also think about the future. 

I don’t follow basketball as much. But I’m glad to come across this piece of news: the bonus received by Scottie Thompson of the Gin Kings was enough to open “three, four” franchise branches of a barbershop. What’s better: the article from Spin reveals that the business was his own. With a capital of nearly 1 million pesos, Scottie debuted Thompson’s Sports Hair Shop in his hometown of Digos in Davao in late 2016 and now has a franchise out in Paranaque. He’s also gotten some more inquiries about opening up branches in other places. His shop’s signature service, the Thompson’s Cut is relatively affordable at Php120, but also has a student friendly rate of Php99. He’s even thinking of learning the trade himself. So it’s not farfetched that you will have a PBA player cutting a customer’s hair. 

All in all, it’s good that he was already thinking ahead. At 23, he’s only going into his third year playing professionally in the PBA. But he knew that he wasn’t going to be in the game forever, and it was never too early to plan for the future. 

So if you get a windfall or receive your 13th month pay, don't spend it all. Be like Scottie: enjoy some of it, and then save and invest the rest of it. 

Good job to that and congratulations on the championship, Scottie Thompson.