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5 Important Things I Would Tell My Younger Self About Money

What would you say to your younger self about money?

This was the same question I have asked in my social media account and instead of sharing what I love to tell myself, I would share the responses that came from my lovely audience and I have expanded it with my own interpretation.

Let’s start:

1. Be clear on your ‘why’ when being generous to others with your money. You don’t need to give money away to receive love and connection, especially from those who take your generosity for granted.

This blew me away. It takes a lot of vulnerability to know this and ask this to yourself. But I know a lot of people who really spend money to be loved or as a way to happiness.

In the coaching arena, we call this compensatory love. We spend on something to compensate for a feeling. And it is usually the need to feel loved or being important.

We think we are only as good or “valuable” as the money we make or the money we give or what we own. We forget that true worth begins in ourselves and no amount of money can help us realise our worth because self-worth starts with you.

It is how you see yourself. Knowing what you value about yourself, what you consider to be successful, and what makes you happy is the first step to having a positive view of your self-worth and positive self-perception.

What you say and feel about yourself is your self-worth and not how others define it for you.

2. Never answer that credit card offer call.

I love this statement. Not because it sounds sarcastic or funny but it’s true.

I coached a client who shared with me that there was a credit card company stationed in their university encouraging students to have one.

She was persuaded and she applied for one and took it. Unfortunately, she never had any damn idea about late payment fees, interest rates or finance charges.

She had trouble paying on time and she felt really ignorant after knowing that she had missed a lot of payments as the due date was something she never heard about.

And this reminds me of this statement, the essence for me in this statement is: Never use something you don’t fully understand.

If you know that you are not yet prepared, delay. Especially when it comes to financial decisions.

It also means knowing yourself and being honest about how you spend. If you know that you are the impulsive type, then say no right away and never answer that credit card offer call is the way to go.

3. Start building passive income in your 20’s

You can either work for money or make your money work for you. Making money work for you is what we call passive income. With active income, you have to deliver a service, use your skills to get paid. With passive income, even if you are just home, you still earn money because you have acquired assets that appreciate and earns for you.

You can either be an investor or a business owner to create passive income. I am a fan of both but I would want to be an investor for the long term.

In the cash flow quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki, being investors have the highest financial education of anyone in the CASHFLOW Quadrant.

They are adept at finding assets that provide a steady income in the form of cash flow and they often use other people’s money (OPM) to attain those assets.

They then use the income from those assets to acquire even more assets, growing their wealth through this velocity of money.

Ask yourself, what asset are you building?

Although investing in yourself can be your biggest asset, you can get sick, you cannot be sure if you can always work, that is why the risk of being business owner is greater than being an investor.

Aside from building your own human capital, start building assets that will work for you.

To date, I have my own stock market account in the Philippines that gives me passive income. I have also bought a property in the Philippines for my own rental business.

One step at a time.

The earlier you start saving, the earlier you can have more money, the earlier you can have more money, the earlier you can invest and buy income-producing assets.

So start earning money without sweating more.

4. Do not give money from your 401K or any other source to adult children. You will end up with zero savings in your elder years.

In the book of Dr. Thomas Stanley, The Millionaire Next Door, one of the things that separate a true millionaire from the rest is this: Most millionaire next door didn’t receive much financial help from their parents, they aren’t likely to give any assistance to their adult kids, either.

Many millionaires in this category understand the importance of healthy financial accountability, and so do their kids. That means not paying for everything their kids need, but rather forcing their adult children to provide for themselves and make their mark on the world.

I couldn’t agree more. Being an adult means being independent and also teaching other people including your own children to stand on their feet.

Lastly, if you don’t provide for your own retirement or protect your retirement fund you may end up living in poverty.

5. Start putting aside money regularly where you can’t see it!

Pay yourself first. We heard this quite a thousand of times but why is it hard?

Because we don’t make it automatic and we don’t put it somewhere that we can’t see!

If you want to pay yourself first, start putting aside your money in a bank account you have no access to and forget it!

There’s a very good saying that goes: You don’t miss money you don’t get.

Here’s a classic example, John is a professional working from 8to5. He signed up for an automatic savings plan when he was just new as he was encouraged to do so.

He actually forgot about this and knew about this when he resigned from the company.

The money he accumulated was not that large but even so, because he was not aware of it, he was able to accumulate money better.

You don’t miss money you don’t get is really a good reminder you can tell yourself so you can start saving more.

Your turn, is there anything else you would like to add to this list? Share your comments below. I would like to hear from you.

Wishing you wealth and abundance,

Jennifer

P.S. If you are currently experiencing financial stress, worry and having difficulty in dealing with your spending habits, saving and even paying off your debts, you can book a free 45-minutes financial freedom breakthrough session here. Talk to you soon!

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Investing 101: What You Should Know Before Investing

You might be reading this because you finally want to invest but you don’t really know where to start. I created this Investing 101 to explain to you the basics.

I remember how I opened my first BPI Trade account (an online trading platform in the Philippines) and closing it just after 3 months because I just did not know back then what to buy and how to trade and I had no purpose.

But I am not here to talk about techniques regarding trade. I am here to explain to educate you about the things you need to understand first before investing.

1. Saving and Investing

When you save money, we don’t usually expect that money to really earn something. When we save we usually use that money for emergency funds or something that we could easily “liquidate” or something that would be easily accessible if the need arises.

The most common example of this is saving your money in a piggy bank or in a transactional savings account. Although transactional savings account offers interest rates. The real rate of return which is the inflation rate subtracted from the interest rate is not really great.

Most banks offer interest rates at around .80% or below per annum. The inflation rate would always be higher than this at around 2-4%. So looking at the real rate of return, your money in real life is losing its value.

When we speak about investing, on the other hand, it involves purchasing a financial asset that would give us a return or an income. We are buying an investment that we expect to have a return greater than the current inflation rate in the country we are in.

The other difference is returns from an investment is not guaranteed. An individual investor is faced with the risk of losing money since most of the value of investments are determined by fluctuations in the market (demand and supply).

2. When is the Best Time to Invest?

People would always ask, when should I start investing? Am eligible to invest now? Investing nowadays is easier than investing before with the introduction of free seminars given by banks as well as other brokerage company to get us started.

But here’s my take.

Before you invest make sure you’ve covered these first:

a. You don’t have any debts. – It would be hard to invest your money if you have an existing obligation to pay something. Start investing when you don’t have any liabilities especially if its credit card bills where the interest or finance charge you might be paying is even greater than what you are earning from your investment. Unless your return would really cover the interest charges of your debts (but as a beginner, I wouldn’t really risk that because higher investment returns involve higher risk investment assets too).

b. You have an emergency fund – Tally and compute for your monthly household and personal expenses and multiply it by 6-7 months. That should be your emergency funds.

Emergency funds should be your first line of defence if something happened to you- if you resigned; if you were laid off; if you were injured and was hospitalised or not able to work. Because if you will get your emergency cash from your investment since investment is not guaranteed, either two things will happen: 1. You lose your investment especially if the value of it has not appreciated 2. You will short live your wins just in case your investment’s value is already appreciating.

If you think that you have covered both, then I think the best time to start investing is NOW.

3. Investment Asset Classes

There are different asset classes. Each investment asset class involves a different risk, different return, different volatility, cost, liquidity. You have to know these first to give you options and to help you in your decision making.

Each investment asset class has a different risk-return. It is said that the lower the risk is the lower the return, while the higher the risk is, the higher the return.

The major asset classes include the following:

a. Cash

b. Fixed Interest

c. Property

d. Equity (shares)

The difference between the four asset classes are the following:

	Cash	Fixed Interest	Property	Shares
Examples	bank accounts, short-term deposits, treasury bills	bonds (corporate and government), term deposits greater than 1 year	residential, commercial, industrial direct property, real estate investment trusts (REIT)	shares in a listed company (stock market)
Return	interest	interest	rent or distribution (REIT)	dividends or capital appreciation
Risk	low	medium to low	medium to high	medium to high
Volatility	low	low	low except for rent (where there would be a hard time to find tenants )	high (share values are subjected to daily market valuations)
Liquidity	high	high	low (properties are hard to disposed right away)	high (as long as there’s a buyer that will match the seller’s price)
Cost	low	low	high	low (only brokerage fee or other small fees)

*this is just a simple representation, there are other products that could still be included to each asset

4. Investment Time Horizon

As a future investor, you have to know as to which asset would you like to focused with.

For example, for cash asset classes, it would be better to put your emergency funds here because the liquidity is high which means it is easily accessible and the risk is very low too.

For your two to three years investing need like education, travel or home improvements, you might want to choose fixed interest asset that is usually in a form of bonds which would also give you a return that could be higher than just putting it in a cash

For shares on the other hand, since it has a high volatility, it’s better to put your money here for a longer term horizon around 5 years and above to manage the risk of volatility.

5. Diversification

You don’t have to put all your eggs or money in one basket. This is the very essence of diversifying your investment.

Here are the two most common ways to diversify an investment to reduce risks:

a. Across asset classes – you can have cash, fixed interest products, shares and properties with you. One way or the other, the performances of these products would differ from one another and you could greatly benefit from the differences if you have all of it.

b. Within an asset class – this is very common when you invest in shares. Shares that are listed in the stock market are from different sectors. One could be a bank, a consumer good, a construction, a property, a holding company etcetera.

Diversification is great so that the return of a single investment from one asset class would not greatly affect the overall return of your total portfolio. If you are able to diversify well, a negative return from your shares could be compensated by a positive return from your fixed interest rate.

The benefit of diversification is that it reduces the impact of a loss of one particular asset.

Now that you know these, the best way to start is to ask yourself:

What type of risk are you willing to accept and what are your financial goals?

Once you answer those questions, you’ll know what type of asset class or investment diversification you would choose for yourself.

Remember that investing should be done wisely. You have to conduct your OWN research or perhaps join free basic seminars, especially for stocks/equities before you invest your hard-earned money. Like what they always say, investing is not a magic or an instant win. It takes time. So start slowly, enjoy the experience and start making your money work for you!

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts or questions.

I would love to hear from YOU!

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10 Money Saving Hacks for your Next Travel!

Well, well, well, sa dami ng mga kaibigan natin na pumapasyal sa maraming dako ng mundo, isa rin sa mga pangarap natin kahit papaano ay ang puntahan ang mga bansang hindi pa natin napupuntahan o malibot ang Pilipinas at ang kaakit akit na tanawin nito. Ngunit, siyempre, gusto rin natin makasulit di ba? Hindi naman tayo nabubuhay sa pamamasyal lamang at may mga bagay pa na kailangang din gastusan.

Kaya naman ito, basahin niyo ang aking 10 Money Saving Hacks for your Next Travel:

Sundan ang mga social media accounts like facebook accounts or facebook pages ng iyong paboritong airlines at buksan ang “notifications” sa mga airlines na ito.

Kapag naka turn-on ang notifications, ito ay mag pprompt agad sa notification tool bar mo tulad ng pag-prompt kapag may nag comment sa iyong post at may sneak peak ka na sa mensahe ng notifications. Dahil dyan, hindi mo na kailangang buksan pa ang page nila palagi.

Well, napansin ko lang, bawat airlines ay may kanya kanyang promotion na mas sulit kaysa iba. Tulad ng mga ito:

Philippine Airlines – lower international flights promotions
Cebu Pacific – lower international and local flights promotions
Jetstar – lower flights to anywhere in Japan
Air Asia – lower flights to Taipei
SkyJet – lower flights to Basco, Batanes

At dahil nga naka turn on ang mga notifications ko sa mga airlines na yan, heto ang isang ebidensya na aking na-book na murang tiket papuntang Taipei, Taiwan. Sa halagang Php 2588.00 (Php 5176 divided by two), may roundtrip ticket ka na! Hindi yan magik! Diskarte lang yan!

Tada!

Pro-Tip: It pays to go directly to the website of your airline of choice than to rely on third party providers because most of the time, they have additional charges too.

Tignan ang iyong 2018 na kalendaryo para sa mga long weekends o holidays!

Bakit? Simple lang, mas maikling vacation leave mas okay at mas sulit! Pangalawa, mas magandang planado na rin agad kung saan ka pupunta sa mga long weekends na ito kaysa book ka lang ng book at tina-try mo ipagkasya ang pamamasyal sa napakaikling panahon lamang. Hindi ka mag e-enjoy pag BITIN!

Isa pa, madalas ang mga airline companies na ito ay nagpapa-promo o seat sale tuwing may holiday na importante, tulad na lang ng Bagong Taon o Araw ng Kalayaan kaya maging mapag mapagmatiyag sa mga holiday dates. Pero tandaan, tignan din ang travel period, asahan mo na pag may seat sale, medyo malayo pa ang travel dates nito lalo na pag PISO sale.

Pro-Tip: I-file ang vacation leave in advance para hindi masyado mapansin ng iyong boss. O i-file mo ito pag may nagawa kang maganda sa trabaho mo. Pag good mood si boss mas mabilis ang approval!

Magsama ng kaibigan, kahit isa o dalawa lang.

Uso naman ang solo traveling lalo na kung broken-hearted ka o kailangang mag soul searching o mag muni muni sa mga bagay tungkol sa iyong buhay.

Pero pero pero, mas mainam na may kasama ka. Hindi lang dahil para sa iyong kaligtasan kung hindi mas makakatipid ka rin kung may kahati ka sa hotel/hostel o apartment na iyong tutuluyan. At of course! Mahirap din kumuha ng litrato na puro selfie unless vlogger ka na may nakahandang camera stand para sa mga litrato mo. Iba pa rin pag may kasama, mas hindi sayang ang view at mas mabilis ang gumawa ng pose!

Pro-Tip: Isama mo yung hindi maarte mamasyal at marunong din magtipid! Nagsama ka nga ng kaibigan, magastos naman at madalas agad mapagod sa kaunting lakad lang. Hahaha!

Sumali sa Loyalty Reward Points ng mga airlines.

Anung ibig sabihin ko? Bawat airlines ay may loyalty rewards na tinatawag sa tuwing ikaw ay mag b-book ng flight o sa tuwing ikaw gagamit ng credit card na naka partner sa kanila. Halimbawa:

GetGo Membership Card – para sa Cebu Pacific Flight at lahat ng credit cards na naka tie-up sa Cebu Pacific.

*Ibig sabihin, sa tuwing gagamitin mo ang credit card mo na naka tie-up sa Cebu Pacific, kumikita ito ng puntos na pwede mo i-convert sa GetGo Points na magagamit mo rin pambili ng flights!

Mabuhay Miles Card – para sa Philippine Airlines Flights at lahat ng credit cards na naka tie-up sa Philippine Airlines.

At iba pa! Magiwan ng komento kung may nakaligtaan ako. Makakatulong ka sa iba nating readers!

Nung nakaraang taon lamang lang ay nag promo ang GetGo, 10 GetGo Points Anniversary Sale. Sa 10 points lamang, pwede ka ng makapunta kung saan saan. Nag try ako mag book at heto kapatid ang katibayan. Isn’t it amazing?

Sa 20 GetGo points lamang at Php 2200.00, may roundtrip ticket ka na sa Bangkok! Saan ka pa? Ayan kitang kita naman diyan ang aking pangalan.

Pro-Tip: Mag focus sa isang klaseng reward card lamang para sulit. Parang kape lang yan: kung Starbucks stickers, yun lang dapat para mas mabilis makapag claim ng gift.

Mag-book pag off-season

Siyempre, pag mas matumal ang negosyo mas mababa ang demand, mas hindi rin tataasan ng airline company ang tickets mo sa mga araw na hindi naman kaakit akit mamasyal. Usually ito ay weekdays o pwede rin naman na rainy days at mga araw na chill lang.

Mag-experiment ng mga araw

Matalino ang mga airlines na ito, minsan sasabihin nila na may seat sale pero pag tinignan mo na, wala ka ng makikita na promo rates.

Huwag mangamba, kalma lang. I-check ang iba pang mga buwan at araw at malamang, yung mas malalayong buwan at araw ang may mas mababang airline ticket costs.

Abangan ang mga Travel Fairs!

Yes! Last last year, 2016, ako ay nakapag book ng tiket papuntang Batanes dahil sa Travel Fair na ginanap sa SMX Mall of Asia. Ito ang katibayan. Alam ko hindi ito sobrang mura sapagkat ako ay bumista ng ikatlong araw na. Pero kung titignan mo, mura pa rin yan lalo na at round trip ticket na!

Magbasa ng Travel Blogs

Ito ay ang mga travel blogs na sinusundan ko. Marami silang tip at magagandang itinerary na pwede mo ring sundín para hindi ka na mapagastos pa sa mga tour services.

May mga Facebook group din na nauuso ngayon kung saan pwede ka sumama sa mga local tours na group tours sa napakamurang halaga lamang. Tulad ng sumusunod:

https://web.facebook.com/groups/246217182134367/ – Backpackers of the Philippines
https://web.facebook.com/trailmadness/ – Trailmadness
https://web.facebook.com/groups/1553927408215737/- Angel Kaladkarin

Planuhin ang Paglakbay at Kaakibat na Gastusin nito

Huwag daw travel now, pulubi later. Or swipe now, baon sa utang later. Tsk.

Yes! Maganda if pinaplano rin ang pag-alis at pinag-IIPUNAN. Kasi pag ang isang gastusin ay nakaplano, hindi nakaka-guilty at masaya di ba?

So kung plano mong pumunta sa Japan sa December, mag allot ka na ng travel fund mo para doon ngayon pa lang. Huwag pabigla bigla. Kung may mga kasama ka, sabihan na rin sila. At tandaan, kung lahat naman kayo ay nagtratrabaho na, nararapat lang na KKB kayo.

Maganda ring planuhin na ng mas maaga ang pag-alis. Better to plan it at least 3 months or more in advance para makatipid sa hotel accommodations at mapag aralan ng mabuti ang pupuntahan.

Pro-Tip: I-set aside mo rin ang budget na kailangan at huwag magdala ng sobra sobrang pera. Kung magdadala ka ng credit card siguraduhing lagyan ito ng limit for purchases abroad o di naman kaya, dalhin mo na lang ay isang prepaid credit card para sigurado kang monitored ang iyong pag gastos.

10. Be a Traveler not a Tourist

Anu ang ibig ko sabihin? Pag may pinuntahan ka na bansa, mas maigi na pag-aralan mo ang kultura ng bansa na iyon, kumain ng kanilang tradisyonal na pagkain at pag-aralan kung paano mamuhay ang mga lokal doon.

Hindi ka pumunta sa Japan, HongKong o Bangkok para mag-shopping lamang o pumunta sa France o Europe para bumili ng branded bag. You travel to experience the place and the culture not for shopping therapy.

Ayan! Sana may natutunan ka sa tips ko! Hanggang sa muli! =)

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

I would love to hear from YOU. =)

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9 Smart Money Moves Before You Reach 30

Below are my 9 smart money moves that I think each one us should start doing before we reach 30.

1. Set up an Emergency Fund

You were 21 years old or maybe 22 years old when you received your first paycheck. Fast forward 9 years from now, you should have already set aside at least 3-6 times your monthly expenses. Emergency happens that’s why you need emergency funds. Problem is we don’t anticipate things that could eventually let us lose our job or lose our ability to work- sickness, loss of a family member, accidents.

TIP: Start building your emergency fund as soon as you received your first paycheck and be consistent.

2. Get a Life Insurance

In other countries, life insurance is compulsory. Here in our country, we wait for financial advisers to convince us before we’ll avail for one.

Getting a life insurance at your 20s is definitely cheaper. It is also more practical since you are still healthy, young and able to work.

TIP: While you do not have dependents yet, you could tell your financial adviser to allocate your insurance premiums to investment than to your life insurance coverage protection. If you’ll be getting married soon, you could ask them to re-allocate it for a bigger life insurance protection coverage. This is applicable for life insurance products that are investment-linked called Variable Unit Linked (VUL) Insurance.

3. Establish a Great Credit Score

As you will start your family soon, you’ll realize that establishing a good credit score is beneficial especially if you’ll be buying a real estate soon or will be needing leverage for a business.

If you have an existing loan today, make sure you pay on time. The same goes with your credit cards.

Don’t mess with your payments. Banks have their way to verify.

TIP: Don’t run away with your debts, it could leave a negative record with the bank. Try to ask for a loan restructuring program or a flexible payment method if needed. Always pay on time and do not borrow what you cannot pay.

4. Learn to Invest

By this time, your money in the bank should not stay there. You must have already learned to use the extra money outside of your emergency funds for income generating assets. It could be having an investment in the stock market or pooled funds or a small business that will help you multiply your income.

TIP: Automate your investment by applying for a regular investment subscription plan where you could set aside an amount as affordable as P1000 pesos every payday that will be directly invested to your chosen fund. Local banks offer this. Don’t be afraid to inquire and take pride in being part of the very few Filipinos who knows how to make money work for them.

5. Aim for Promotion

If you are an employee like most of us are, you should have been promoted already by this time. Stop being mediocre. Resign and apply for another job if you think your abilities deserves a better employer. As young as you are, you deserve to explore every possibility that will make you earn more.

TIP: Get a masters degree, apply for a scholarship to study abroad, get certification courses or be fluent in another language. These things will help you climb up the ladder faster. Creating a LinkedIn profile and keeping it up to date is also important.

6. Eliminate your Debts

Debts are stressful. Do not let yourself be drowned with never ending payments that have interest rates that triples and compounds through time.

TIP: Apply the snowball effect. Start eliminating small debts first. Once you get a momentum, pay the next one until you are left with one. Small winnings will motivate you to go on until you are already debt and stress-free.

7. Learn to Track your Expense and to Make your Own Financial Statement

Tell me where your money is going and I’ll tell you what your priorities are. It’s a cliché but it is true.

By this time, you should have already mastered the discipline of tracking your expenses and sticking to a budget plan that will help you support your short, medium and long term financial goals.

If you can’t track your expenses or create your own financial statement every year, you will never KNOW if you have an increasing or decreasing net worth regardless of the many incentives, promotions or bonuses that you had.

TIP: Make your birthday your financial checkup and assessment day! Be happy with numbers because those numbers will be your best friend soon. They will give you lessons and realizations year after year. And you will never know until you let them.

8. Build your Retirement Fund

Start setting aside at least 10% of your income your retirement after you have finished setting up your emergency funds. Actually, you might also try to allocate this 10% to an aggressive unit investment trust fund (UITF) while you are still young and waiting to retire.

If you will ask me, I treat my stock market portfolio as my retirement fund. And since it is for retirement, all of my stocks there are blue chip companies and most are dividend paying. On the other hand, I treat my investments in UITFs and our cooperative fund my medium term funds.

It really depends on you on how you would allocate your income for each of your needs.

TIP: What is that one thing you wish to do after working for so many years? Traveling the world? Being able to bless other people? Exploring another passion? Being charitable? Whatever it is, that should motivate you in achieving your dream retirement fund.

9. 1 Million Pesos

Yes! By this time, you should have a net worth of a million pesos already. Is that possible? Yes, it is possible! How? Start early, be consistent and achieve saving milestones. Start with P50,000… P100,000… P300,000 and so forth. The hardest part will always be the beginning but once you’re able to warm up your financial engine, mastering the road to financial freedom will be easier along the way. Soon you’ll see yourself climbing mountains over a mountain.

TIP: Do not have small goals, make your goals bigger. Do not play the minor leagues, be in the major league. Play to win. 1 million pesos is an amount that is too small nowadays. Aim for higher things in life. And you’ll see yourself not just surviving but really living and not just living but really enjoying life.

Adulting is really hard especially if we have been used to being sheltered at home and being dependent on our parents. But it is a reality we all have to face. Our parents will not be always there. Soon, we will have a family of our own.

Let us start managing our own money the right way to help raise generations that our financially independent and empowered.

I hope by this time you have already covered all 9 areas in your financial life. Cheers!

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

I would love to hear from YOU. =)

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6 Important Things to Discuss before Getting Married

I want to share with you the things that I and my fiance are talking about before we said I do. This is really very important. As marrying couples, money talks and other important areas of marriage should be something that must be discussed on the very onset.

1. Talk about your WEDDING

Weddings nowadays are costly. I know some people who spend almost 200,000 pesos just for their photo and video coverage. That same amount could already be invested for a new business or could be used as an initial fund in opening a mutual fund for your long term goals like education fund or retirement fund.

But of course, I do not mean to say that you’ll sacrifice the quality of your wedding. But just make sure that it will not greatly affect your cash flow for your future plans and that you don’t end up getting more debts after your wedding.

It is good also to talk about the expenses of your wedding as a couple to know how will you both fund your wedding costs. Some soon to be brides are fortunate to have their soon to be husbands fund their wedding. For some, sometimes their parents are the ones that pay for it.

We have different circumstances in life but in the end, make sure that ALL is WELL and BETTER at the end of the day.

2. Talk about your FAMILY

One of the most critical things to consider is building your family.

The question of having a child now, next year or the next two years is very important.

Marrying couples, make sure to talk about this very well because building a family is not that easy. With the rising costs of expenses and tuition fees, it pays to plan well and to decide how many child or children do you want to have. If you have a health card, enrolling your child as a dependent has also a cost for it for most HMO.

3. Talk about your HOUSEHOLD

When I say household, it means three things:

a. House

After marriage, will you buy a house? Will you rent a house or will you stay with your parents?

Each decision has pros and cons.

I believe that as MATURE individuals, you must really learn to separate yourself from your parents to understand what FAMILY life really is.

Second, will you rent or will you buy a house? Here in Metro Manila, it is hard nowadays to find a house and lot that is situated in prime areas and location that are near the Central Business Districts like Makati/Ortigas/Taguig. Most are condominiums which are priced higher and are less spacious.

As husbands and wives, discuss whether you will live in a condominium or in a house.

As a tip for home financing, ALWAYS scout for banks that gives LOWER rates. A difference of 1% could affect your monthly amortization big time!

b. Sharing of Expenses

So now that you are living together, decide who will be in charge of the household expenses. This includes utility bills, groceries, child allowances, the salary of the maid, internet fees, cable television subscription fees and all other things.

Here in the Philippines, we have a culture wherein husbands agree to surrender their payroll account ATM card to their wives and the wives are just the one who manages the money. It really depends on your agreement as companions and married couples.

Be also sure that somehow, you have the same money behaviors. Because it might also affect your finances. If you know that your soon to be wife or wife is a shopaholic or impulsive buyer, better deal with it. If your husband likes to go to casinos, well, deal with it. Or if your spouse likes traveling and you, on the other hand, do not want to travel, it will also be an issue. You have to set clearly your priorities and financial goals.

In choosing a partner it not just about compatability, it is understanding not just your likes or dislikes but also the behavior of your spouse not just about dealing with other people or about his/her work but also his/her behavior with regards to finances.

c. In-Laws

Well, for those who will still live with their parents, this is another story. We love our parents but understand that nowadays, it is far more different than before.

If you live with your parents understand that your mom or dad cannot help but spoil their grandchildren. If they have their own money, that’s good but if not, of course, more or less they will get it from you.

Now that you are also building your family, remember that you must also take note of the expenses not just of your future kids but also of your mom and dad once they get sick. Especially if they are living with you. Once you are married, usually your medical card would no longer accept your parents as supplementary dependents or card holders. It will now be automatically your husband and your child/children. This is also something you need to look into.

Sad to say, nowadays, only a few people enjoy their retirement. This means that only a few people could still keep up with their lifestyle even though they are already retired.

We are still in a sandwich generation where the son/daughter of a family is confused whether to focus on saving for his/her family or to help his/her mom or dad. You must really talk about this seriously and be open and honest with your husband and wife.

We do not want at the end of the day to burn bridges. After all, family is family.\

d. Roles

Before marrying, you have to identify the role that each of you will play in your marriage. Who is the breadwinner? Will your husband allow you to work or will the wife stay at home? If you already have kids, who will be the one to discipline them or fetch them from the house to the school and vice-versa? Will you allow your parents to take care of your kids? Who will be the one responsible in budgeting your money? Is it the wife? Is it the husband or both of you?

4. Talk about your MONEY

A. Salary

As general as it may seem, yes! Talk about your money! How much does he earn? How much do you earn? Be transparent with each other. I have joined a wedding group in Facebook, and one soon to be bride there shared her story that his soon to be husband does not want her name to be included in a lot title that he bought for them.

Well, this is just one property or money issue that you and your soon to be spouse might argue about or discuss.

There are FAR more IMPORTANT things that will arise soon. The question is are you ready?

If your husband tells you to pay for something that you feel you are not obliged to then say it. Speak up and vice versa.

Never let money destroy your relationship with each other.

As a sharing, I openly say to my fiance, the things that I do not want to spend with and the things I am willing to share my expenses with to him. Better for him/her to understand that you have a STAND.

My fiance, openly tells me that he doesn’t want me to pay for our electricity bills already at our house once we migrate to another country because it is not my obligation anymore. Things like this are important.

B. Accounts

Aside from that, discuss whether you’ll have a joint account and a separate account to keep for yourselves or just a joint account. Your husband or wife should also respect your decision regarding the money you have earned while you are still single. Let them know where you stand and why.

C. Needs and Wants

Discuss also how will you use your money in buying the simple pleasures that life has to offer. A large TV might be desirable thing to have for the husband but if the wife looks at it as something that is not needed, then you might get into an argument. Identify the things you consider as needs or wants as individuals and as a couple.

D. Other Matters

This includes the gifts you give to your friends or even the donation or money you give to your relatives as a form of help. Your husband might be very generous to help his relatives. On the other hand, you maybe more picky when it comes to helping. Decide how much are you willing to give as a form of help may it be to your relatives, friends or other events that will require you to give money.

Remember to be open, be clear, be honest and be comfortable. TRUST each other.

Let your wedding date be your anniversary date too in updating your financial statement as well as financial goals as husbands and wives.

5. Talk about your RETIREMENT

This is something that I would like to emphasize. You must never ever rely on your children for your retirement. Make sure that as you retire, you get to enjoy life because you prepared for it.

Remember that your child/children will soon build their families too just like what you were before.

Being financially secure and independent will help us STOP the sandwich generation most Filipinos are into today.

6. Talk about getting COVERED

Yes! As young as you are, better secure yourself earlier for your children and for yourselves too in case you live longer. I have no dad anymore, he died a few years ago. He died with no insurance left for us. Good to know that my mom is a wonder woman. Else, what will happen to us?

Today at 29 years old, I have a life insurance with critical illness and accident riders, in case something will happen, I know that my child/children will have something as their “pabaon.” I also believe that we should not burden our children to pay for our medical expenses when we get old. Let us all be responsible parents from the start.

Insurance is REQUIRED in other countries, I just cannot understand why here in the Philippines, people could not really understand its importance.

Remember that life is uncertain. Even strong buildings have fire insurance. Your car has motor insurance. Your house has acts of nature insurance as well as fire insurance. How about your LIFE? Your LIFE which is your greatest asset and capital? Think about it.

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

I would love to hear from YOU. =)

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