Personal Finance: Sunshine After the Rain!

Recently, I was interviewed by a student who was tasked to make a write up for her journalism class and an HR Practitioner, who is making a research on money habits of high maintenance executives in the country today. The interview happened on two different occasions and both set of questions touch on saving, investing and risk management or may I say personal finance.

During the Q & A, it reminded me about my journey in personal finance. In 2003, Just like a typical fresh graduate, I landed a career in one of a well-known engineering company in Quezon City and as a fresh graduate no one taught me about the habit of saving. All I know is to receive my salary, help my family pay bills, eat and save whatever is left – in my wallet. Yes, not even save in a bank.

Investing to the stock market, mutual funds, UITF, VUL or risk management through insurance is an unfamiliar ground to me. Fast forward 2011, I found myself, on my 4^th employer with at least a VUL (Variable Unit Linked) in place, with very little savings, with 2 credit cards – which I thought  were  extra cash for me and unhappy with career. One thing is the same since 2003, I have not developed a habit of saving and investing. Why?

No one taught me about personal finance. No one even approached me and told me that managing your money can determine a successful retirement or an achievement to unlock dreams such as travel goals, business goals and many others. Imagine, that has been 8 years, by the 8^th year who knows I might have achieved bigger monetary dreams and goals.

But as what Bro. Bo Sanchez said in one of his books; your past does not define your future. Hence, in 2012 I joined one of the top life insurers in the country and I got exposed to risk management and get to know a lot of financial experts in all areas of financial management – not only insurance - whom I gained ideas on personal finance.

Invest in Yourself

Since joining the life insurance industry in 2012, I realized how our culture as Filipinos differ from other countries. The habit of saving, investing and security is not inherent to us. Also, as what Mr. Efren Cruz, RFP wrote in his book, Taming the Rebellious You, our brains are designed to be loss averse. Thus, humans are not really into spending for something to save because the brain is trained to see that as something at a losing end.

What I did, the moment I realized there is something wrong on how I handle my finances (gosh! I was still single at that time but no savings at all!!) – I started to invest in myself by reading books on finance such as books by Mr. Chinkee Tan, Bro. Bo Sanchez, Mr. Efren Cruz, Mr. Ardy Roberto and many others. I started to attend seminars such as iCon of Mr. Randell Tiongson, RFP, the Financial Fitness Forum and Financial Advisors Congress of RFP Institute and learned even more about programs to enroll with when I attended another iCon event in 2015 that leads me to attend a course on Personal Finance which is the Registered Financial Planner (RFP) course in August of 2016.

Execute

Since the certification process as RFP, I began to love to beauty of Personal Finance and how the different areas of financial planning matters in a household. Now that I am married with an 18month old daughter, I realized that execution is crucial to calibrate our goals based on the resources we have.

Areas on Financial Planning

In financial planning, the areas to consider are Cash flow management, Insurance Planning, Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Educational Planning and Estate/Wealth Management. With these areas to consider, it is important to match the current resources available for you and your family to achieve a certain goal.

The common question of a pinoy, “Ano ang pinaka best na investment?”, the answer is always, it depends. You match a certain investment vehicle according your goal (Retirement, Education or Major future purchases). Considering the inflation rate of the country that averages at 4% over the last 20-30 years, your money in the bank may lose its value by the time you retire after 20 or 30 years. Planning is important.

Financial planning may seem simple looking through its technical aspect but our day to day money decisions are influenced by our behavior or emotions. For the past few years of my exposure in this industry, determination and discipline are key attitude to financial freedom.

Regardless of how much time you spent on reading and attending seminars, without determination to calibrate your money decisions and discipline to implement your plan, after a year or another 5 years, a financial planner will lecture you about this all over again.

Personal finance in a nutshell is both technical and emotional indeed. At the end of the day, what matters most is that you are able to put everything in order. There is always a sunshine after the rain anyway.

Jendee S. De Guzman, RFP

Associate Financial Planner – (AFP)

Chartered Trust and Estate Planner - Graduate

Life Insurance Advocate
jendeesapo@gmail.com

                                  image from: http://blog.instavest.com/top-5-personal-finance-podcasters