I’ve just recently discovered the awesomeness of personal investing. Yes, I’ve known there are riches to be digged in the stock market, but it’s just now that I’m really appreciating it. It all first started with my desire to pay off all credit card debts and so, I twisted my arms and legs last year just to get me started. I had these feelings of panic and nausea back then every time I think of my total monthly balance and it made me cringe. And so I read all personal finance blogs, Yahoo’s Finance section and any other resource I could find to educate me on how to go about really paying off debt. It was a very unsettling feeling- when I thought I can never get up from the shithole that I was in. Luckily, I had a very POSITIVE influence that I really, really stopped swiping my way to the end of each month while I delivered my salary to the payment centre the day I received it. How did I do it?
- · I lumped my purchases in my Metrobank Card then called HSBC for a balance transfer. Between the two, HSBC had the better rate for Balance Transfer at that time. Then, when it was done, I cut my Metrobank Card so that I can focus on paying for the monthly due on my HSBC card.
- · Of course, there will always be temptations to use that card again for a new shirt or an awesome pair of shoes, but I resisted it by drawing a budget for myself. I added all my expenses in a month, then subtracted it to my total net income. After that, I set a daily allowance for myself. In order to stick to it, I also modified my lifestyle of eating out whenever it is salary day. Well, this will not be a walk in the park I thought but I tried the first month, second month and so on. Although there were times I gave in to temptations, I just regarded it as a setback and then stuck to my budget again.
- · After that, it was going smoothly. However, I actually had budget for spare expenses such as when I really, really need to it out or when I just can’t resist to buy new stuff. This has worked for me because if I get to spend it, then no harm done because I’m still in line with my budget. And if I didn’t get to spend it, I saved it.
- · Now, for saving. I allocated 1K each month to my savings envelope and I never defaulted because I already made it a habit to stick to my daily allowance. In fact, it was not that a big sacrifice actually. I found out that 1K is not a huge deal so I forget about it the moment it was dropped inside the envelope.
- · Finally, when January came this year, I was already looking for other ways to earn or let my little savings earn for itself. With reading various financial articles, I learned that you can actually earn more when you put some moolah into stocks or mutual funds. And so the plethora of research came and I decided to try my first ever investing experience with FAMI- the investing arm of Metrobank. Since their office is near ours, it is convenient for me to transact with them.
- Finally now, I’m just waiting for next year to reap the rewards of my investment. With all things bright in the Philippine economy, I’m confident that I will be able to profit from my fund of choice. Although it may not be that lucrative, but still, the earnings of my standby money will be more when compared to just leaving it in a savings bank account.
More posts about investment and personal finance are to come at AT. These are exciting times!
