THE MEGASTAR ON MONEY
by Apol Lejano, Good Housekeeping, September 2002

Sharon Cuneta talks about working hard to give herself and her family the right kind of life. Plus: She gives tips on making your hard-earned bucks work for you.

Sharon Cuneta would be the first to tell you that, when it comes to money, she's no ordinary woman. "I probably make more than your average surgeon makes in a year, O kahit na siguro meron akong sampung Ph.D. pa." And don't think that she's bragging. Sharon has after all, been at the top of the showbiz heap for most of the 25 years she's been in the business. The money doesn't come from singing and acting. Up until the economy took a nosedive three years ago, Sharon was raking in majormoolah buying property , waiting for its value to appreciate, and then selling it off at a profit. "Malakas talaga 'pag artista," she says, "but I made a lot in real estate. I made a lot."

Financial savy has seen her through time when money was tight (Yup, believe it or not, she's had those.)' and was honed way before she started crooning "Mr. DJ" at 12 and making her first million four years later.

"I'd always set aside part of my allowance," Sharon says. "Halimbawa two pesos, 50 sentavos nasa piggy bank ko. Eight years old, tinanong ko sa secretary ng mommy ko, 'Paano ba 'yung bangko?' 'Paano ba nagwo-work 'yon?' 'Bakit sila nagde-deposit doon?' So eight years old nag-open ako ng account sa BPI sa may Quad -- twenty pesos!"

Now 36, wife of Senator Kiko Pangilinan and mother to daughters KC and Frankie, Sharon has learned so much more about financial management that she'd tell you that a savings account is the last place you'd want to put your hard-earned buck in. The interest rate is just too small. Here, learn more about the Megastar's money philosophy:

GH: Have you ever been broke?
SHARON: Yes, when Gabby and I separated. I was 21 and KC was two and a half.

GH: But broke is relative, right?
SHARON: That's true, but remeber my show moved from IBC 13 to BBC 2 and it dropped. From top 10 it fell to number ninety-something or eight-something in the ratings. Pasan Ko Ang Daigdig did not make so much money. It was an okay movie, not naman a flop, but according to the standards set for me by a certain number of people, it was a flop.

Money Mistakes (hers and others) 1. I was not always very careful about the people I chose to trust. Kasi kahit kilala mo, pagdating sa pera, iba na. Kaya me, I don't want to get into anything with a friend na involved ang pera. Kahit kamag-anak hindi mo ma-help talaga. 2. One of the biggest problems I've encountered with other people is nauuna yung status symbol. 'Yung wala pa man lang townhouse, 'yung hindi man lang makautang sa bangko to pay for a townhouse na babayaran over two or three years, uunahin Mercedes. Kahit utangin niya. Or Rolex na hulugan. You notice my garage, I don't have an expensive car there. Everything is a vanc or a working vehicle. Not to say I can't afford it, but I would buy a Benz if I really wanted to and if it was so easy. 'Yung kung kaya ko ang lima, bibili ako ng aisa. 3. Isa pang mali eh may pera, magne-negosyo ako. Anong negosyo? Naiintindihan mo ba yung negosyo mo o 'yan ba eh ipapasa mo lang sa isang tao na uubusin lang 'yang pinaghirapan mo? Kunwari you really love to bake, then you start small and sell a few cakes first. Mamaya ka na magpalai kung okey ka na. Hinid yung kabago-bago mo, you're not even sure if you can keep up with the pace for a year, bumili ka pa nang bagong oven. Mali eh.

GH: So how broke was broke?
SHARON: I was renting a unit in Twin Towers in Makati and for eight months I couldn't even afford to buy drapes! It was semi-furnished but I had, like, office furniture. 'Yung kahoy na pang mga taong naghihintay sa reception area, 'yung holstery niya gray. 'Yung floor checkerboard na black and white. Pinakiusap ko na i-parquet naman. Mabait 'yung landlord ko, kaya nung naging landlord ako, mabait din ako.

It was 275 square meters, with three bedrooms and a maid's room. There was a toilet outside and a bathroom in each bedroom. It was a good place for us.

After eight months, I had money na so I got the help of production designer Manny Morfe. WIthin three days, nakasabit na. Simple lang kurtina lang siya na ang colo celadon green pero 'pag uwi ko, wow, parang ibang world, iba ang itsura!

GH: Why didn't you just go back home to live with mom and dad?
SHARON: I didn't want to go back to my parents and say, 'Oy, I need money. SOrry ha. Pwede ba maging squatter dito? Since the day I married my first husband I never asked even a single centavo from my mom and dad. Never ever. To thi day, na dalawa ang asawa ko.

I felt that if I don't do it now, I'll never learn. WHat's a better time that right after your marriage breaks up? I had to prove so many things to many people and to myself.

And I'm also not self-destructive eh. If I fail inone area, to make myself feel good, I have to push myself in another area para hindi naman ako masyadong feeling inadequate sa failure ko. Ang pinaka-convenient was my career. WOrk was the one that numbed me. I needed it.

GH: So how did you manage your money at that time?
SHARON: It was only when we separated that I had to think about rent. Since then natuto na 'ko. Ganito pala kahirap. I kept a notebook: Merong columns dito. Ito ang projected income ko, every two weeks susweldo ka sa ATM. Kahit papaano alam mo na ang average electricty bill, water bill, condominium dues, 'di ba? So expected ko na. Kailangan malapit dun palagi 'yung balance sa checkbook ko. Talagang binabantayan ko.

Woman Earns More Than Man: Sharon On How Kiko Handles It Before we got married, Kiko was the one who offered to sign a prenup. He said, "Show it to your lawyers." I did. It was fine. So from the beginning we got that out of the way. And every month or twice a month, he writes me a check. Whatever he can contribute. I certainly don't ask him for my luho. I know I'm the exception eh. I'm not the norm. I don't think it would be fair to compare, unless bilyonaryo ang napangasawa ko. From the beginning alam ko na 'yon, na 99 percent 'yung mapapangasawa ko, mas mayaman ako o mas marami akong naitabi. Kiko is not bothered. Kaya nga pinakasalan ko 'yan, cool na cool lang. Napaka simple.

GH: Wasn't it relatively easy to make money as a showbiz personality?
SHARON: People alwasy think that, but how dare they think of my job as sensless and trivial when it really is hard work. You make a lot when you get there, and you make more if you stay there, but not everyone makes it and not everyone who makes it maintains it.

GH: You mentioned that from being a tenant, you became a landlord. How did that happen?
SHARON: Dahan dahan. WHen things started to get better - 'di ba I was renting in Twin Towers? - they were building Pacific Plaza right next door.

By then I had already bought my first property but it was really stupid because it's up in Antipolo and up to now there's no water. And I didn't know. Akala ko it was a good deal.

Anyway, I bought a unit in Pacific Plaza. Somebody had bought it at pre-construction price, so second buyer na 'ko pero good price pa rin. I had two to three years to pay for it. Pikit-mata, binili ko. This was two years after the breakup. Pinaayos ko talaga thinking I was moving to that unit, but then my Mommy started getting lonely. I thought naman, ngayong hindi na nakakahiya, may sarili na akong condo, pwede na 'kong umuwi.

And I had other things, paunti-unti na. I had nabili na in Tagaytay; after six months you sell at a profit -- lote, lote, lote.

GH: How do you know if a piece of land is a good buy?
SHARON: No. 1 in real estate: location, location, location. If your site is good, then no matter what kind of structure you put up, it's good. Una location, then you have to know how much it costs per square meter in an area like this. And then if it's a reputable company like Ayala, then chances are you won't go wrong, especially now that terms are very good.

GH: How come you know so much about real estate?
SHARON: My father [the late pasay City mayor Pablo CUneta] taught me. My father was self-made, nagkutsero pa 'yan. You know, we moved through three houses in San Lorenzo because he'd buy it, improve it, and then after a year sell it. Palaki nang palaki. Even the house in Dasma in already second.

GH: The economy is now very bad. How are you affected?
SHARON: Nagkaproblema kami when th crisis hit. We were in Boston in the middle of Kiko's year there, 'yung dolyar gumanyan (makes a diving motion with her hand). And I had so much hope riding on my real estate investments. SO I'm not very liquid, and I still have so much utang. If you know my utang, you'll fall off that chair. 'Yung mga inaasahan ko na next year I can unload this property and from the profitganiti-ganyan, wala akong na-unload. Tapos walang umuupa. I have three units that I rent out, Twin Towers and then two in Ortigas.

GH: Any other investments?
SHARON: Jewelry.

Sharon's Strategy: What the GH reader should do if she had P50,000 If I really wanted to bake, I'd start out really small with P5,000; or maybe just a few cakes talaga kahit P3,000 lang. Half of the P50,000, ilalagay ko sa mataas na yielding na ccount, hindi sa savings ha. I wold put it in a reputable bank that been around for a long time. Ask the bank, because they usually have something if you tie down your money for more than a month. Maybe treasury bills. WIth P50,000 you really want it to be conservative. Habang nag-iisip ka kung ano ang gagawin mo sa kanya, put it away somewhere. I will put some 10 to 15 percent in a savings or checking account for an emergency.

GH: WHy nothing else?
SHARON: I'm very conservative. You do not put your money in stuff you don't know very well. For example, I do notplay with stocks, because I do not understand it. Hindi 'yung isusugal ko 'yung pera ko, katarantaduhan 'yon.

GH: You do have the Sari-Sari franchise at Shangri-La Plaza.
SHARON: There were franchising and I've known them since 1986. SI Marnie [OCampo, Sari-Sari owner] ninang ni Frankie 'yan eh. I was alwasy there, I wore it every time, lalo na when I got big and they came out with big sizes. So me, halika, paano bang mag-franchise?

But you know what, I'm an artista. I will not put all my energies into something that is not connected to what I feel I was born to do, which is either to sing or act. So you hire people to run other things for you. It doesn't make sense to me to stay up at night thinking how my boutique will do.

GH: What's your money goal these days?
SHARON: I'm trying to find an investment or several investments that will give me more than I make in a year in entertainment. I just think, and I don't know if she wants it known, that Amalia Fuentes is in that situation. Nakaupo na lang siya, but because she was smart, the money she makes parang superstar siya.

GH: So how do you think you'll find this investment?
SHARON: I ask a lot of advice from people I work with, frompeople who are successful, from FPJ, Boss Vic, Henry Sy. My question is, 'If you had this much money, where would you put it?"

GH: If you weren't Sharon Cuneta, how would you go about saving money?
SHARON: I think any book you read about investing will tell it to you, and I've known it since I was a little girl: Pay yourself muna. Hindi 'yung ubusin mo na lang.

Money Tip: 1. One thing I learned early on is that you have to make it work for you. That's when your money is earning more money and you're just doing what you love to do and not really paying attention to it. 2. Don't be enslaved by it. The minute you're so obsessed about how much your balance is, parang dumadalang. 3. My dad taught us that ang pera hindi pinagyayabang. It's a tool. Money alone is not the problem, but the value of the people who handle it. Parang ako, I need money because I want to buy my kids what they want, buy my mom what she wants, or give gifts to my husband. Ayokong maging sampid. Ayoko nung, "Huy, Becky I want to buy this, but I have to ask Kiko." It's about the kind of life you want, like maybe I just want to keep traveling when I'm older with my loved one, my friends. 4. Have a certain amount set aside that you kinda forget for a while; a certain amount that you spoil yourself with; a certain amount for your necessities; and a certain amount for your tithing, for your Church, for your social conscience.