I conducted a Financial Literacy Forum in Malabon and the audiences were parents and children. I taught them the value of savings. They were delighted the way I presented it but there was one lady who asked that how can they save if they don’t have enough money. Well, she has a point, I don’t know if she doesn’t have any work or does she have any sources of income. But, I always believe that we can all save no matter what is our situation in our life. There are times in our life that we cannot save but we will not stay forever like that. If you have a growth mindset, you will aspire to improve and don’t accept that you will no longer grow as a person whether be it in financial, emotional, social, physical and spiritual. I don’t believe that you cannot grow anymore.
There are a lot of people think that it’s hard to save and I agree. It will be hard if you focus on wrong priorities which is spending than saving.
Don’t use this formula: Income – Expenses = Savings
Use this formula: Income – Savings = Expenses
This is what I usually teach that every time that we earn, we have to decide if how much we should save from that money. If you find it hard to save 20%, start with 10% and if it is still hard, you can start with 5%. You have to understand that you are creating a habit in saving because you have to break your habit of spending first before saving. Whatever is left after saving should be your budget that you will use until your next salary. Here,you can think of creative ways how you can use to stretch your budget until the next payday. I’m sure you have a lot of expenses that you can think that you can put off for the sake of saving. If you drink Starbucks coffee every day, you can drink 2 times a week. If you always eat lunch outside, you can do packed lunch like 3 times a week instead. There are so many things that you can think of how to manage your budget.
We all have reasons not to save but we have greater reasons to save for our future. We are not going to work for the rest of our lives because we will grow old, what if we get sick? what if death comes? Are we prepared for this? So, that’s why we have to change our mindset to be a saver.
W. Clement Stone once said,”If you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you.”
To learn more about Financial Planning.
You may reach me at 0923-4941362
Archie M. Yuki
Associate Unit Manager
The Insular Life Assurance Ltd., Co.
Archie Yuki 