Sun Life Advisor Helps Couple Build Their Dream Business

When Colet Raya and her husband Gelo enlisted the help of Sun Life financial advisor RJ Montes for their insurance and investment needs, little did they know that he would also be the key to fulfilling their dream business.

“The first time I got insurance from RJ, na-feel ko na kaagad. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, okay si RJ,” Colet said. “And I was right. Through the years, he stayed talaga with us. Today, I have 10 policies with Sun life – for me, my husband, and for my three children.”

RJ’s advice proved crucial when the couple came across an opportunity for them to venture into build-and-sell. As interested as they were in pursuing the business, they had no idea how they could fund it without sacrificing their financial priorities. Fortunately, they had in RJ an advisor who was not only on top of their financial plans, but also makes an effort to constantly check in on them. When he learned about Colet and Gelo’s plans, he presented the idea of using the earnings from their investment-linked insurance plan, which has grown over the years, to fund their business venture.

“Sobrang sarap ng pakiramdam kasi natuloy yung business nang hindi kami na-gipit,” Colet shared. “Yun ang gusto ni RJ – ang magamit namin yung mga naitabi namin kasi nag-earn na, at hindi lang hintayin ang maturity ng policies. We can still enjoy it in the present.”

For his part, RJ credits Colet for her openness to his advice as they collaborated in ensuring their financial preparedness. “The fruit of their investments allowed for their business to rise,” he said. “That’s the beauty of what we do as a Sun Life advisor. We help clients realize their dreams by being financially prepared.”

The couple is one of RJ’s many clients within the Raya clan. The relationship stems from RJ’s very first client, who was the father of Colet’s husband. Accompanied by his parents who are also Sun Life financial advisors, he presented to the Raya patriarch as a young and rookie financial advisor, and successfully earned his trust and loyalty. Since then, RJ has been a partner of the entire Raya clan for their insurance and investment needs and had been a long-time financial advisor to Colet’s family.

Knowing fully well the benefits of having a Sun Life financial advisor, Colet encourages others to partner with one as well. “RJ is not just our financial advisor. We have a personal relationship as well,” she says. “Like our family, everyone deserves to have a partner for life.”

RJ and Colet’s story are among those featured in Sun Life’s latest campaign dubbed “Part of Your Life, Partner for Life” as featured on https://bit.ly/2021partnerforlife as well as Sun Life’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sunlifeph) and YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/sunlifeph).

Want to find your own partner for life in your financial journey? Visit www.bit.ly/advisormatch to connect with one today.

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About Sun Life 

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2021, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.36 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com. 

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF. 

Matteo Guidicelli and Sun Life Launch VLOG on Investing

Initially became known through his racing career, having started at an early age of 11, currently a member of ABS-CBN's Star Magic and having a pretty successful career will soon be launching his vlog on Investing and financial planning. In cooperation with Sun Life Asset Management Company, Inc he will teach Filipinos about how investing can help make their #lifegoals come true.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to lead another financial literacy campaign for SLAMC. It’s definitely relevant and timely. I myself have life goals I’d like to pursue, and I’m happy to share that ever since I ‘made it mutual’ with Sun Life, I’ve been well on my way to achieving all those goals. It would be great if more Filipinos can experience the same.” - Matteo said.

SLAMCI President Valerie Pama said that the company is committed to helping more Filipinos discover the benefits of investing so they may reap its rewards. "We all have goals htat we'd like to accomplish, such as buying a house or a car, traveling to a dream destination or planning a wedding. All those goals require a significant amount of money and most Filipinos easily become deiscouraged knowing how much they have to raise to get their dreams. "We'd like to show them that by saving and investing in mutual funds, all their dreams can become a reality. They simply have to 'Make it Mutual'."

This campaign of Sun Life entitled "Make it Mutual" is first of the series of financial literacy initiatives this year. Mylene Lopa which is Sun LIfe's Chief Marketing said  that the coming days will be more exciting as Sun Life rolls out its Financial Independence Month Campaign in June. "We remain committed to this cause. Sun Life is always eager to promote it in ways that are creative, relatable, easily understandable, " she said "We will never tire of advocating financial literacy to Filipinos."

Sun Life Asset Managfement Co.,Inc. (SLAMCI) is the mutual fund arm of Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc. SLAMCI is one of the leading asset management companies in the country with P57.8 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) as of April 2017. It currently manages 11 mutual funds collectively called the "Sun Life Prosperity Funds"

Health Plan and Life Insurance in the Philippines

Another profound afternoon with Finance and Investment Coach Aya Laraya wherein he impart health and life insurance and why do we actually need to learn about these 2 topics which has a big impact in our financial management. The session helped us on the conception, immunization and being clear on the topics of health and death.

In our culture, we're not really comfortable discussing about insurance and in the session we were able to learn about the following reasons why:

- It's depressing, which is real and it is felt in the session as well while we are discussing the topic

- Don't know who to ask, most of us just probably do not have enough connections that can really help us out in this topic without having the agenda of being sold into

- Too little or wrong information, simply just where or what or who to ask because not everybody can afford a financial consultant

- Lack of trust, for some reason this has been one of the concerns especially with what fly by night companies showing up all over the news

Aside from the above facts, Coach Aya also relayed some stats based on Sun Life's data about what were the top financial concerns of Filipinos:

 - 21% Personal Ilness
 - 18% Bread winner's death
 - 17% Family Illness
 - 12% Retirement/Old Age

In relation to the above stats, points were shared as well as to what Filipinos starting from Education(1), Health(2), Personal Celebration(3), Retirement(4) and Business(5).

Noticably, Health comes second to education and there are some realizations that were given to us in terms of health care. This is something that should also be taken seriously, because as we know "Health is wealth" and I don't think anyone would like to get sick or having a serious ailment.

I haven't really had major sickness but in the session it made me think of possibilities in the future. How will I pay for health care when I get older? Will I really have enough? What should I do now to take care of my health and how secure will my old self be?

Coach Aya layed down some of the data in relation to the current situation in our countries health care, like how much will the total cost be for every major sickness that our future self may have. Diabetes, Heart operation, etc. I wasn't able to get the exact figures that were presented to us and I think that it will also vary from what hospital and treatment you're going to get but what I'm sure of is it is not cheap. Can cost to more than a million or two or may be even higher. In the process Coach Aya also gave some points on how filipinos plan to pay for it versus how people can actually pay.


How people plan to pay:

20%    Spouse Income
14%    Children
10%    Philhealth
5%      Own savings
2%      Own Health Insurance
2%      Own Investment

How people actually pay:

20%    Spouse Income
16%    Relatives
11%    Children
7%      Own Savings
4%      Money Lenders
4%      Own HMO



The above data is really strickingly true, may not be exactly the same figures but all the factors are true, only a small percent of the community can really afford to health care and serious medication. Same is true for the following amounts on medical expenses:

= For P50,000, 5 out of 10 people finds it difficult to shoulder as medical expense
= P100,000 - P500,000, 7 out of 10 people find it difficult
= Over P500,000, 9 out of 10 find it difficult


In summary, only a small percent of the population can really afford to be sick.

As we know, prevention is always better than cure, in other words, preventing sickness will be a big help on our life. It wise to have a health plan because our health should always be taken into consideration in our financial management.

How do we choose a health plan:

Step 1     - Know your medical history, and I mean family history and what were the cause  of relatives death. Because there is a possibility that you might also get the same disease
        - We should have a check up that is something that is not covered by the company, sort of an executive check up in relation to what kind of ailment you can get in reference to your family history. ex. diabetes, high cholesterol, etc
Step 2    - Know what you need. This differs if you're single and if you have kids
Step 3    - What is your budget
Step 4    - Time to shop
Step 5    - Know the conditions, read the fine print and don't just take the agent's word for it.
Step 6    - Time to buy

The above steps was shared to our group and you can definitely use it for choosing a good health plan that will work for you.

Now lets talk about Life Insurance. What do we expect in life insurance? It can help us take care of our family, provide cash, replace income and help out in our child's education.

Why do we need to learn about this? Well, there is such a word that is called inheritance tax. It's really quite important to know this, especially for the future of your family. Like here in the Philippines, it is really serious because inheritance tax based from the stories shared by my friends and the attendees in the session, this is one of the biggest hurdle in the inheritance process.

Again in our culture this is not something that is commonly an open topic or something that we are comfortable talking about with. Reasons we do not talk about it is because its depressing, we don't have money, the topic taboo and we have bad money habits.

So what is the current process of inheritance in our country:

1. Assets frozen
2. Pay taxes
3. Transfer

The above process is pretty much direct to the point, before the person/s can inherit the assets they should pay taxes first.

And what are taxable?

1. Cash
2. House
3. Land
4. Investment(stocks, mutual funds)
5. Car
6. Jewerly
7. Artworks(paintings)
8. Livestock

In other words, everything is taxable.

So what is the actual process on paying inheritance tax:

1. Get BIR Form 1801
2. Prepare necessary documents (death certificate, court orders, titles, etc)
3  Pay

Now how do we choose a good life plan:

Step 1 - Shop
Step 2 - Know how much
Step 3 - Budget
Determine if you'd like to invest it in health or life insurance
Step 4 - Shop
Step 5 - Read the terms
Step 6 - Monitor

Almost the same as choosing a health plan.

My article may be a little long and it may not be arranged logically but what I learned that afternoon is a reality that I will eventually face sooner or later so I should already be planning ahead of time, being open about the above topics and sharing it to other so that they can avoid future headaches.

When is Debt Good? Simple Discussion with Finance and Investment Coach Aya Laraya

What is debt? Debt is simply the use of other people's money. At this point even inspite of our modern age perhaps most of us if not all have been in debt at some point in their life or may still be in debt which is something that most of us doesn't want to be. But in this fast paced life, it seems to be impossible not to unless you're born with a silver spoon. May it be with borrowing from a friend or relative, from financial insitutions, ending company, and the famous of them all which is credit card.

I had a great chance of getting in depth topic about debt with one of the sessions from Sun Life's Finance and Investment Coach Aya Laraya who is know for his Pesos and Sense a Certified Securities Representative, a Certified Investment Company Representative, a Realtor, a writer and a writer with an MBA and have 25 years of experience in the financial and investment industry, I've learned that dept is not that bad after all, and there is such a thing as a good debt, but before we go into that let me share some bullet points about debt.

Before going into debt we should consider about the following:
 - Whyu are you borrowing money?
 - do you HAVE to borrow money?
 - Have you considered other options?

Now after asking those questions, let me also share to you what may be considered as good dept that was shared in the session.

1. Business, for obvious reasons it generates income
2. Home, especially if it will be appartments or condo's that can be rented
3. Car, can be use for personal and you can have it rented/hired, ex. uber
4. Anything that can generate / enhance revenue, samples of these are investments on stocks or mutual funds and similar investment ventures

In summary, all of the above points can somehow return whatever you owe and generate excess which is considered as income.

Coach Aya even sited examples of companies that where actually getting into debt to grow their business and he also sited facts on why those companies engage into such.

For businesses they expand by using the methods like growing internally, wherein they depend on the company profit in order to grow their business, another way is by borrowing money from banks to fund and expand the business especially if the company profit is not enough for company improvement and lastly they list public ownership in other words offering shares of stocks to the public. We then realized that even big companies get in to debt but it is for the better.

We really have to get a better understanding about debt and study what it is and how it can help us instead of destroying our finances and getting into an even deeper debt.

Since there is good debt, definitely there is also bad debt which were meant for:
 - Consumer Goods
 - Emergencies

Clearly the above points will not generate income or will not give the money back. In the process Aya also gave some recommendations and pointers that we can use in order to get out of the debt trap. We were given the questions below:
 - How much debt can I have?
 - How much do you REALLY owe?
 - How much can you pay?

For consumer debts Aya also give out ways on getting out of debt trap. Starting from cutting up your credit card, creating a payment plan and issue cheques if possible for paying your debts.

There are most likely thousand of methods about financial planning out there specially in todays information age, but like what Aya have pointed out to us. Budgeting is personal journey and the theories and methods can be followed but it is not absolute and at the end of the day it will still be us that will decide on how we will manage our finances, the important thing is to continue learning and look out for what works for you.

Crowdsource the BLISS of a #LiveFreePH

How do you feel about the future? Is your family doing okay? Are the people around you hopeful or gloomy? With the Brighter Life Index: Social Sentiment or BLISS, Sun Life will show how optimism, prosperity, and the bayanihan spirit can produce a positive ripple from ourselvesto our loved ones and to the community where we live.

BLISS is a Facebook application thataims to get the pulse of Filipinos abouttheir current financial situation as well as their outlook for the future.

“BLISS gives us the canvas to paint our #LiveFreePH campaign. Through crowdsourcing, we seek the brightest spots while also determining the areasthat are in need of a bit more sunshine,”explained Sun Life of Canada(Philippines), Inc. Chief MarketingOfficer Mylene Lopa. “Together with the Sun Life Foundation, we will help turn dim prospects to bright opportunities.”

How BLISS happens

Harnessing the power of crowdsourcing, BLISS gathers insights directly from consumers by asking Filipinos about their current state and their outlook for the future. Responses will be collectedprimarily via Facebook.

The results will be embodied by a map of the Philippines, where positive sentiments will be represented by sunny weather, while negative ones will be indicated by thunderstorms. This will be updated real time, with different aggregations available for viewing.

BLISS will also radiate warmth in real life, as the Sun Life Foundation pledgesto match survey responses with a donation to help localities with bleakoutlooks, as indicated by the stormyicons in the results map. Inspired by the practice of bayanihan (communal work),the initiative translates insight to action, via the information that will be shared by online users.

“Sun Life Foundation believes in actionthat is powered by insight, and we’rebringing that to the social mediaplatform through BLISS,” said Sun LifeFoundation Executive Director AnneZillah Flores. “We’re taking it further by actually responding to the gaps that will be determined. We will fund projects to help communities with bleak prospects so they can adopt a brighter outlook.”

BLISS to #LiveFreePH

From the present to the future, BLISS narrates the changing story of Filipinosfrom multiple points of view: self, family, and community. Income, health, and work-life balance are identified as personal concerns; food, nutrition andfinancial security comprise the familial territory; while access to quality education, healthcare, and livelihood opportunities are the societal factors that impact the nation as a whole. When addressed properly, these concerns can become the building blocks of a nationwide movement towards financial independence.

“From BLISS, we lay down the blueprint of #LiveFreePH – to practice foresight by being conscious of our needs while sharing the benefits of living the brighter life,” Lopa said. “We hope that by working together towards financial freedom, we can create a story of a prosperous and optimistic nation, because in our journey to financial freedom, we can go far if we go together.”

Share the BLISS to help communities in need and the chance to win awesome prizes like an iPad Air. Go tohttp://bit.ly/1hDBxhn to begin.

About Sun Life Financial

Celebrating 150 years in 2015, Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Sun Life Financial and its partners have operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of March 31, 2015, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $813 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.

Legacy The Sun Life Story - by Sun Life Insurance

A company's history is shaped by many factors the culture in which it exists, the challenges it is faced with, but most of all the people who steer it.

The Story and success of Sun Life in the Philippines, as the number one and longest-standing life insurance company in the country, is a testament to the enuring love and trust its people has shared and nurturted withe the Filipinos for 120 years.



Pioneers paving the way for progress. Ordinary folks achieving feats of brilliance. A company professing its commitment to a nation on the verge of attaining its full potential. Grand themes that flow through the veins of a legendary tale forged under the magnificent sun.

Legacy: The Sun Life Story weaves through decades of how the country's first and longest-standing life insurer stood by Filipinos throughout a resplendent history. It tells of an enduring love spanning over a century; from Spanish colonial days to the birth of independence, from the pains of war to the joys of rebuilding and from the attainment of democracy to recent cataclysmic and challenging events that bring us to a present filled with hope for a future that is brighter than ever.

Written with mastery by Palanca award-winning playwright Floy Quintos and brought to life by veteran actors Robert Seña and Isay Alvarez, this groundbreaking musical play unfolded in front of Sun Life employees, advisers and clients. It also has play dates in key cities where the brand holds presence such as Manila, Cebu and Davao.

Taking inspiration from the romance of the past and the groove of the modern times, this original musical celebrates the journey of those who have paved the way and continue to play a part in Sun Life's mission to provide brighter lives to its beloved Filipinos. By honoring and revisiting bygone days. Sun Life compels the present to become more meaningful. It reaffirms its commitment and upholds the legacy that has been built for over a century, radiated by a love that can withstand the travails the time may bring.

You can also check the links below to know more about Sun Life Insurance:

www.sunlife.com.ph
https://www.facebook.com/sunlifeph