“Millionaire”…ten years after

10 years ago, I made Philippine television history. After 2 editions of the Philippine franchise of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” across 2 networks and 2 different hosts, I managed to snag the top prize of that game show, the first non-celebrity top prize winner in that franchise’s history.

For some who may not know me quite well, this may come across as a humblebrag. It also doesn’t help that the game show itself has long ended its run on Philippine television, so there is no clip showing that “winning moment” being advertised on television as part of a promotion for the show or the network where it aired.

Nevertheless, this is no fake news nor some hidden knowledge. One can still find full episodes of me in the hotseat (chances are, it may be the videos I myself uploaded). One can also check the Wikipedia entry of the game show and you can see my name listed there.

Normally, this would be an opportunity for me to look back at what happened. However, I already have done that and I wanted to focus on something else entirely. Unfortunately, it has taken me a while to find the words to write here, thus the delay and having missed the exact date of the anniversary which was the 18th.

Word of warning as this is not a feel-good story all throughout.

15 minutes of fame…somewhat

The thing about winning the top prize of a game show shown on the country’s number 3 network is that you are both famous and not famous at the same time. Which to me is a good thing as an introvert. I got to do what I do in life without being bothered constantly.

But while I was not looking for much publicity or exposure, TV5 still managed to promote. I was thankful the network did not milk me to dry with their promotions, though the way they promoted was quite weird I have to say. I was a question in Willie Revillame’s game show which aired in the network at that time. And I found myself to be the subject of the network’s real-life story anthology series (to compete with Maalala Mo Kaya and Magpakailanman) hosted by, weirdly, Cristy Fermin.

However, I was not invited to come to the network’s morning show “Good Morning Club” which was unfortunate. I would have loved to have talked to Paolo Bediones, Martin Andanar, and Lourd de Veyra, among others. Not to brag but I can be an interesting morning show guest. I would have been happy to show my geography knowledge while they’re at it. Honestly, it was a missed opportunity for the network.

How I spent my (almost) 2 million…and why I have some regrets

While some may think that PHP 2,000.000.00 (in reality, there was a 20% tax deduction on my winnings so I ended up getting only PHP 1,600,000) is a big amount, real life shows that 2 million is not actually that big, especially if have huge purchases that you planned to spend it on. All in all, I spent it mainly on 2 things:

1. House and lot

In my case, I’ve made it clear early on that I was eyeing to buy a house of my own after having lived in an informal settler area then moved to a rented property as soon as I was beginning to earn money.

At that time, I was eyeing a house and lot property near an aunt’s place in Binangonan, Rizal. There some choices I was eyeing, but at that time, I was working in a Taguig office and with no direct link between Binangonan and Taguig, everyday commuting would be a struggle.

Looking back at it now, I sometimes wonder what could have been if I just spent on the lot and spent much of it buying a car to drive. But at that time, I felt I was not ready to drive, not much because I have learned how to drive yet (I figured it was easy with driving schools around) but more because I felt I was not confident that my knowledge of cars would contribute to possible bad decisions I might make in car ownership, regardless if those fears were justified or not.

So I decided to look for properties in the Cainta-Taytay area, particularly the area around Ortigas Avenue Extension which provides connectivity to Ortigas Center, Makati, Fort Bonifacio, even Cubao at times and (depending on where you live) Greenhills. But as we discovered, the price of properties around the area was already expensive, more expensive than the PHP 1.6 million that I have at bank.

It did not help that we felt pressured (internally and externally) to find a home at the soonest time possible. It also did not help that we came into the househunting scene with little knowledge of how the whole process works. Because of this, the house we ended up buying gave us some additional problems, despite the low price tag that we initially bought it at. This ranged from some extensive repairs to having to deal with paperwork that we should not be doing as buyers in the first place.

Even today, the house we bought has presented problems. Like now that I’m ready to buy a car, the property has no carport. Also doesn’t help that the street the house is located in is along a very narrow road that can only fit a car and a half. I suspect the area the house is at was a late addition to the property, which explains the poor street development compared to most of the village.

Nevertheless, I managed to stay in this home for almost 10 years and I’ve had some good memories. But as my needs have changed and the environment has not improved on my end. I feel it is time for me to move. But where? Who knows…

2. Corrective eye surgery

By contrast, I feel the most worthwhile “investment” of my win is having corrective surgery done for my eyes. Having worn eyeglasses for most of my life since I was a child, it was liberating to finally see the world without the need of wearing eyeglasses or contact most of the time.

To be specific, what I had was what is called PRK surgery. It’s somewhat similar to LASIK in that it corrects vision by using lasers to “reshape” the cornea, but instead of creating a flap in the cornea, PRK takes off the top level of the cornea completely. I was supposed to get LASIK since it offers faster recovery but because my cornea is thin, the ophthalmologist called for me to do PRK instead.

After almost 10 years, I am happy to report that my vision is great, despite some side effects of my surgery such as having difficulty reading in dimly lighted areas unlike before. But it’s a common side effect anyway so I don’t mind it.

Did I save anything?

I will admit to say…no. Apart from the little that remained after my winnings, I admit I had a poor sense of financial literacy back then. Not that I was unaware of it. It’s just that at that time, there were very few outlets who taught me how to do financial planning right. Instead, all I got was years of missteps, accumulated credit card debt and a lack of direction as to rebuild my finances after that windfall.

It is only as late as five years ago that I was able to get a better grasp of how to do better financial planning. Even so, it took a while before I got to boost my finances so I can rebuild my finances and realize some plans that I long harbored.

Despite no game show to rely on this time around, it has been exciting and promising to be on this financial journey as a renewed, financial literate guy. Here’s hoping the journey will be something I can sustain and that I will be able to realize my goals anew.