Investment tips for the stars — and you

(First of two parts)

Here today, gone tomorrow. But that’s the way things are in show business, the most unstable of all professions. You may be earning big now, but this may not go on forever. In most cases, you are left with a name, a reputation and a lifestyle to maintain – but not a career to prop up all three, especially when the going gets tough.

So what should you do? If it’s not too late for you. The keyword for a more stable future is "invest."

Below are the things you should invest on:

• Invest on property.The first thing a TV-movie star should invest on is a trusty vehicle. It doesn’t have to be luxury car. But a serviceable enough van that doesn’t conk out every so often would be nice.

As a celebrity, you need your own private vehicle not necessarily because it is degrading to be taking public transportation, but because you may be hopping from location to location and it may be difficult to get a ride in the middle of the night especially if you have to shoot in Tanay, which is a favorite location place among people in the movies.

Once your financial status improves, get another vehicle for color-coding and in case the other car breaks down. But stop there. Cars are not a good investment because as most everyone else knows, vehicles depreciate easily. Change cars every three years. Trade the existing one for something new so you are not saddled with the mechanical problems of the old one, which should be starting to set in after a couple of years.

I know that in show business (or even in other fields), luxury cars are a status symbol. But if you ask me, I take my hat off to the practical person – and not to the one driving a flashy vehicle, which may need changing again once the new lines come in. This is going to be a vicious cycle – and how long can you keep up with that? There will always be a new BMW or Mercedes Benz model in the market, but there won’t be movie offers all the time for the film celebrity.

• Jewelry? I don’t know much about jewelry. But as far as I know, there is a trend now (a takeoff from Hollywood) for the big jewelry shops (Bvlgari, for instance) to lend their rocks to movie stars during awards night presentations (like in the recent Film Academy Awards). Under such arrangement, you are provided not only with the gems, but also with an escort to guard not your life, but the jewelry.

For women, I guess it may be wise to invest on a few precious stones that you may pawn or sell in hard times that hopefully would never happen. Also, wouldn’t it be nice if in your old age, you have some pieces of fine jewelry to pass on to your daughters (who hopefully won’t fight over these rocks) that would remind them of the hard work you put in when you were in show business?

• The best investment I can recommend is real estate. You can never go wrong here if you buy the right property and deal with the proper people (talk only with real estate brokers you can trust).

I know that a lot of people prefer to buy a house and lot – rather than a condo unit. But then, if you’ve been in show business just for a couple of years, chances are, you only have enough funds to buy a house and lot in far Fairview or perhaps in those new subdivisions in Alabang. (I understand that houses in Greenhills now cost around P40-M.) This is not practical especially if you live in the south because your place of work is in the Quezon City area and you will be wasting a lot of time traveling (lucky for those who know how to sleep in the car).

The most practical thing to do is get a condo or a small townhouse nearby. Now is the best time to buy because the real estate business is down (for the high end that is) and condos are being sold cheap and at very reasonable terms.

With the current scenario, it would be foolish to rent because if you have enough for a down payment, you can get a condo that is already habitable – and at terms (sometimes interest free for as long as five years). So why rent when you can own your own place?

But again, check – double check – the background of the real estate corporation you are dealing with. Has it built other condominium buildings? If that was the same company that constructed the eight-story building that collapsed in Manila last week, forget it. And be careful when buying condo units at pre-selling rates. Some condo buildings are never finished or sometimes not even constructed at all.

The problem about condo living (although it also has a lot of plus benefits) is that you have to keep paying association dues and you need to be employed somehow to be able to pay up. (When living in gated subdivisions, you also have association dues, but the rates are basically lower.)

And let’s be realistic. After being cooped up in a condo unit for so long, some of us would want space. When the time comes that you are already aching for space, maybe you would be able to save enough for a house and lot in a reasonably nice enough subdivision where you can have your dream white picket fences. Also, hope and pray that the economy has improved so that you may sell your old condo unit at a good enough price. If not, and you can afford to keep it, have it rented out.

But whatever happens, you have a roof over your head and somehow you already have a sense of security even if you no longer have a career in show business.

(More investment tips in my next column)