I AM OTAY

What do you usually do when you get your salary? When it comes to money, there are certainly no shortage of ways to spend it. After we receive our salary, we tend to pay our bills and expenses first and whatever is left goes to savings. That is the most popular practice of Filipinos but it should be the other way around. Pay yourself first then the rest follows. We have to save enough and divide our income according to priority. In my case, I only got to fill 3 funds in this list excluding the charity and travel fund (for now). But if you earn more than I do, these should be the funds you got to fill every payday:


1. INVESTMENT FUND
Pay yourself first. This should be for your long term plans. This should be 20% of your income. You have the option to put this on a mutual fund, variable unit linked (VUL), unit investment trust fund (UITF) or stock market. The goal is to beat inflation (which happens to be ~5% yearly in the PH), so you have to find an investment that yields more than 5% rate of return yearly.

2. OPERATING EXPENSES FUND
This is often called the fixed costs. Bills and expenses that needs to be payed. However, this should not exceed 50% of your income. Just as businesses have operating expenses, so should you. This involves necessary costs for your upkeep. Things like rent, transportation, education and food. Whether to include your everyday coffee or your gym membership is your own call.


3. TRAVEL OR VACATION FUND
This one is a must for every person. I mean, we all work so hard and we should reward ourselves with at least one or two travels per year. I put all my extra money in this fund but this is not my priority right now.

4.EMERGENCY FUND
This fund is for emergencies only and should not be touched unless very important. Experts says that you should have at least 6 months of your operating expenses in this fund. This is an account used to set aside funds needed in the event of a personal financial dilemma, such as the loss of a job, a debilitating illness or a major expense. It should be kept in an easy accessible place such as savings account.

And last but not the least,

5. CHARITY FUND
This fund is giving back a portion of our earnings to the Lord. Tithes as we usually call it. Whether you give it to your parish church or to the charity of your choice, it doesn't matter as long as it is used for helping others.

So there you go guys. Till my next post..

Money won’t save itself if you keep telling yourself to start saving it tomorrow. Let’s begin today!

Being a newbie in personal finance is hard. More so, maintaining a wealthy mindset is a struggle. It's a continuous journey of self learning and motivation to keep us in focus. Financial literacy is not just about mindset but a habit of putting our thoughts into action.

Following financial experts and reading their blogs is the easiest way to learn. Learning from people who is "in the know" is a good place to start, and the good news is they are free. Being ignorant is a sin especially in this generation where internet is very accessible.

I'm not related to these blogs or anything guys. This is only based on my personal experience. Here we go: the top 5 blogs that could change your lives....

Again, as I said before in my previous blog posts, Investing in ourselves is the best investment ever! Do not limit yourself to learning. Read books and blogs to uplift your financial consciousness. Start now and be financially literate!

I'm a hardworking person. I have a day job and still working on part-time jobs (sideline ba). I pay my bills on time, I have no utang and I have a budget but I don't save. Whatever is left from my paycheck goes to "walang kwentang bagay". But that is history now.

Not so long ago, I enjoyed spending money on things that are not necessary, things that I don't really need. Every time I walk into SM department store, I would head for the cosmetic and beauty section to check their new items. From clothes to nail polishes to makeup and accessories. I always end up buying something that's worth my days' salary or more. This is a bad habit that I got from watching YouTube videos and stalking lifestyle of celebrities. It came to a point where the money allotted for groceries and other necessities were spent on cosmetics. My addiction with nail polishes went overboard way back 2014. I spent almost P50,000 on polishes alone. Now they are stacked in one corner and some of them have dried already. Total waste of money.

The negative effect set by social media. Sigh...

I love to post selfies on facebook and instagram, so I need to at least look good on pictures. Through wearing makeup, I began to base my value and self confidence on the number of “likes” and followers I have. Most of us do, right? Sad reality. And yes, a lot of money was spent here and there when I should be putting it to better use like SAVING and INVESTING.




1. HAVE A VISION
List down your long-term goals, wherein you plan ahead as to where to put your finances for, let’s say five, ten, or fifteen years from now. Will you invest it? Save for emergencies? Buy your own house? You will never be able start anything if you only think of the present. You must have a vision of what you want for the future.

I'm a licensed Insurance Agent from PRULIFE UK and the product that I offer to my clients is VUL. Saving and investing while being insured, this is how VUL works. Hitting 3 birds in one stone. Life insurance has evolved to address the needs of dying too young and living too long. Because we need money in both cases right?

One thing that a Financial Advisor should do is to educate clients about types of investments that are available in the market. One of which is the UITF.

A Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF) is an open-ended pooled trust fund denominated in pesos or any acceptable currency, which is operated and administered by a trust entity and made available by participation. Each UITF product is governed by a Declaration of Trust (or Plan Rules) which contains the investment objectives of the UITF as well as the mechanics for investing, operating and administering the fund.

Most UITFs are considered medium to long term investments. Clients considering to invest in UITFs must have the financial resources to stay invested in them for a reasonable period of time in order to maximize earnings potentials. If the funds to be invested will be needed by the client in the immediate future, the UITFs may not be a suitable investment vehicle for such client. - SOURCE:http://www.uitf.com.ph

In tagalog, ang UITF ay kagaya din ng mutual fund na pinagsama samang pera ng mga investors at mina manage ng fund managers. Ito ay karaniwang ino-offer ng mga bangko. Maaari kang mag invest sa UITF ng P10,000 or P1,000 thru EIP or easy investment plan.

In a UITF, the value of each participating unit or Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU) is a reflection of the current market prices of the instruments that make up the UITF.

Pwedeng mag invest sa UITF ang sinuman basta nasa legal age. Any person, association, corporation, entity or firm who/which has the legal capacity to contract or establish a trust may invest in a UITF product. It works basically like mutual funds.

One important thing to remember though when investing in UITF is that there will be fees, documentary stamps, taxes and specific bank terms and conditions that we have to consider.

I have invested in BDO's Equity Fund. So far, the fund is performing quite well. Daily NAVpu is available on their website.

I have listed down some ways to make money while doing your 9-5 grind:

1. SELL STUFF ONLINE - My facebook page EVE CO is my main supplemental income for over 5 years now. And I've been earning some extra cash from it while I'm still employed. There are so many stuff you can sell like clothes shoes and bags, all you have to do is find a reliable supplier or you can just resell items from trusted sellers online.

Being a financial consultant has many challenges and rewards at the same time. I have been connected to Prulife UK since April 2016. We, as financial consultant aims to educate people and make you fully informed on how to be FINANCIALLY FREE!