Live Within Your Means

I was a teenager when my Kuya taught me this valuable lesson. He sat me down one day and told me to always weigh in whether a purchase is a need or a want. That was a good guide to live within your means.

 

Since then I learned to be cautious about making purchases, especially large ones. I purchased devices through installments and made sure to pay the bill on time. When I buy gadgets I make sure they would last a long time and I only replace them when they don't work anymore or are worn out. It also takes me a long time to decide whether to buy an item. 

I've wanted to purchase a second sewing machine for more than a year now. I have researched and canvassed what I want to buy. I have not bought it because there's so far no need (and space for it). I dilly dallied over buying a sewing machine for over two years, Sweetie bought it for me, haha. Well, it's still working, so I really have no reason to buy a new one. 

I think what also helped me was growing up with a Mom who lives simply. She only had branded bags because Titay would give it to her as a gift. Mom also rarely wore make-up and also usually got her supply from Titay, haha. My grad school professor explained it's a matter of putting it in proper perspective. Are you buying a car to get from point A to point B? Or are you buying a car to show off? 

Followed Kuya's advise and even when I moved to Singapore, I lived like I was still in Manila. I did that because I wanted to buy our own place. Looking back, I may have gone extreme because I was so cautious at spending. Good thing Kuya taught me another way to manage my money and since then I've been able to enjoy the fruits of my labor more. All the years of hardwork culminated in purchasing our dream home. 

One thing I learned in the last few months is to make sure you are surrounded with people you can really trust. We all worked hard and thought we were secure in the knowledge that we are able to take care of Mom. None of us touched the money our parents gave us because we allotted it to take care of her. What we did not know was someone else was spending it for their own lavish lifestyle. Envy, after all, is the root of evil.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Prioritizing

Oh boy, this month is proving to be an expense filled one. Aside from from the usual expenses - utilities and groceries - several things cropped up at the same time. We were planning to move forward with our home development project, but health has to be prioritized. We're still in the process of signing up for medical insurance so this means everything is out of pocket for now. Yikes!

Luckily, my original pulmonologist here still treats us as family. My Dad was his professor and he has cared for us through the years. I was really surprised about his generosity because it's been 2 decades since I last saw him. It was his wife, my original cardiologist, who discovered I had mitral valve issues. 

We met with him yesterday through a video call. I was so nervous because he spoke to me in Bicol dialect throughout the consultation, haha. Good thing I understood everything (I can understand, but I struggle speaking the dialect). All good for now, but he wants to determine the cause of my PEs. He also prohibited me from going near a hospital. He also said not to mess with my blood thinners. 

Car expenses also kicked in. I had to get my car registered so that meant spending for emission testing and insurance. I realized my car hasn't had any maintenance since 2019, so Hyundai's quote is a crazy amount. Well, at least I could delay that to next month since getting the car fixed isn't urgent. I thought about selling my car, but decided to keep it for now so Miggy can learn how to drive (important in case of emergencies). In time, we plan to sell both our cars and get a new one. 

All is well, just need to prioritize our expenses. It just means our home will still be messy. As Tita Dine told me, it more important to be happy and live in love than have a tidy house. I totally agree with that, haha. I'm also back to being cheerful since the nasty infection seems to be gone. Yaaas! God is good! 

#BeKind #StayHome #VoteWisely

How Managing My Money Better Made Me Happier

When my Kuya gave me advise on how to manage my money better I realized I wasn't enjoying my hard earned money. Whenever making a purchase I would debate with myself if it was a need. It prevented me from growing and being happy. 

I was that way because I was fearful about saddling my family with medical expenses. I was leading my life in fear and that was wrong. It showed I had very little faith. It also showed that I wasn't truly living. I just followed a routine and it was a huge disservice to my family. We could've made more happy memories.

Managing your money better helped in my healing journey. Changing how I budgeted helped me grow and be happier. I find reasons to celebrate and reward this with good food. My quilting skills have improved because I invested in learning new things. I worried less because I worked on my investments. I've been able to focus on recovering. Here's the breakdown my Kuya gave me - 

I'm now transitioning to a new phase in my life. With faith and a lot of prayer I hope I've made the right decisions to be financially free. It's also a good thing that I stuck to the same spending habits I had when I had before moving to SG. I missed out on a lot of experiences, but at least I won't have a hard time adjusting again to life back home. 

CB///*Yr2/156 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/179 #NewG291 #Home49 #Xmas102 #StayHome #BeKind 

How I Started on My Quest to Be Financially Free

It was my Ate who taught me to be organized. When we spent summers at her bunkhouse in Batangas she'd leave us a lot of things to do. She was big on making lists and that somehow rubbed off me. She's a chemical engineer and that meant she's very process oriented too. I remember peering in her notebook when she was still studying and it was full of process flow charts. 

I learned the adulthood ropes by myself. Ate and Kuya had their own families already before I became a teenager. I was in my late 20s when I read a quote that said something like "You're an adult if you pay your bills on time". I was still living with my parents, but I had monthly bills and Miggy bills. I also learned from a friend to always pay your credit card in full every month. 

Eventually I had to manage two households, my home in Manila and Singapore. That meant two sets of monthly bills. To stay on top of it I created a spreadsheet to track the bills. It's already a template that I copy monthly. This makes sure I pay all the bills. It also helps me stay on budget. Early this year I made a review of my basic monthly and annual expenses and that's how I developed my target to be financially free. 

Here's how I broke down my future expenses:

Ideally you should already be free from mortgages and any bank financing payments by the time you become financially free. After computing my basic expenses I now have an idea how much monthly passive income I should develop. As my favorite finance vloggers always say, develop a diversified portfolio. I've been working on it little by little for some time now.

I've had to adjust my initial target to cover health expenses. When I first started working on this quest I didn't have any maintenance meds. My doctor told me this morning she's appreciative that I have very good understanding of my condition. I told her it's important for me to know because I need to think about my future. 

Hope this post was helpful for you to start thinking about your future. It will probably take me time to write about investments since I'm still studying it for now. 

CB///349 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/12 #StayHome #BeKind 

The Quest for Financial Freedom

Many years ago Kuya gave me a challenge. He said I should be financially free by age of 50. And everytime we meet up for Japanese buffet he'd check on my progress. To be honest I only started thinking about it seriously two years ago. 

I'll tell you a secret, I did not like my finance classes. I seem to have done well though because I was offered to teach finance after graduation! I turned it down because it wasn't my cup of tea. That inspired me though to do better during grad school. I tried my best to understand what my professors taught. All I remember now is I had good marks when we were tasked to create a stock portfolio. 

That was the last time I really thought about managing money. Kuya kept reminding me though. The last time we had Japanese buffet he taught me how to properly manage my monthly salary. Here's the breakdown:

The breakdown totally changed how I budget my money. I had been on paranoid saving mode since I had heart surgery in 2013. That meant I was saving over enjoying and rewarding myself. It was a great guide for me to get me going to meet my financial freedom deadline.  

So as much as finance/investments isn't my cup of tea, I swallowed the bitter pill and started working on my future. I started with computing how much monthly expenses I have if I lived in Manila. After that I started assessing what I can invest on. They did teach most of it in grad school. There's stocks, mutual funds, real estate, UITFs, dividen pay funds, bonds and many others. 

The options are dizzying, but the first thing you need to determine is what kind of risk you are willing to take. From how I've been behaving I'm a low risk person. So I've been studying. I've been binge watching vlogs of Chinkee Tan, the Truly Rich Club, Fitz' Ready to Be Rich, Marvin Germo and many others. They all have one common advise, "Know and understand what you are getting into". Aside from watching videos I also do a lot of reading. 

I think I may meet the deadline earlier hrhrhr. 

P.S. Was this post useful for you? Comment down below if you want me to share more about how I'm working towards financial freedom. 

CB///348 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/11 #StayHome #BeKind