Some [Financial] Safety & Security, Please (1)

One of the most interesting - and sometimes controversial - financial instruments happens to be the one thing that most Filipinos do not have. Forget about how much money you have in the bank. Forget about the money you keep under the bed or on your piggy bank. Forget about your mutual funds, the money you invest in the stock market, and other instruments that help you make money work for you.

Sure, these things are such valuable financial assets for you and your family. I mean, they help much in achieving the goals you have and realizing your lifelong dreams. But what if you are just starting out with your job and little has been invested on these assets, and then something happens to you, that you get knocked six feet under with your most treasured people in the world - your family - looking down on you as you go ahead and meet your Creator?

If you have any of those financial instruments stated above (and I'm pretty sure you have, or else!), do you think the money you have right now is enough to give back to your loved ones? Do you think the money you have right now can give them the assurance that everything is going to be fine, financial wise when you are gone?

What am I really talking about here? Here's an example.

PYF: Hard to Do? Here's A Story

This series of blogs will talk to you about the importance of paying yourself first - the most powerful money management system I have ever known. Introduced to me in a seminar by a success coach last year, then tested and proven by the best selling personal finance authors I have come across in my self-education, this simple-yet-effective wealth management is the best thing that I've ever known about money and this can help me and you keep track of on the road to financial prosperity and freedom. And I wouldn't preach about this if I don't walk the talk.

If you got here by accident, I advise you go back to the introductory post about paying yourself first here so you could go along with the ride smoothly.



Honestly, in my experience, paying myself first was not as easy as it started. During the times when I received allowance from my parents, I always end up on two situations at the end of the day - one is that I would still have money because I learned to "save" for some useless thing. Another is that I end up with enough money just to get home.


Imagine if I had learned about paying myself first during my younger years when I was still studying. Think about how broke I have been in high school in college. Very little to no savings to say the least. If you had told me to pay myself first during that time, I would never hesitate to shake my head and not talk about it.


"So I'm not good at my money. It drains out of me almost every day. Then you expect me to save? Or pay myself first just as you said?"


I was sort of a loser at saving. At money. At finance. Nothing.


As I grew a little older - and wiser - I realized that things like these had to stop. All I ever thought of was that while you have money, you might want to spend it because it only comes to you once in a blue moon.


I was wrong.


I later realized that money had an immense value in each and every one of us. And the only way to harness its true value is to manage and take care of it before it leaves our hands and wallets.

PYF, then Make It Grow

This series of blogs will talk to you about the importance of paying yourself first - the most powerful money management system I have ever known. Introduced to me in a seminar by a success coach last year, then tested and proven by the best selling personal finance authors I have come across in my self-education, this simple-yet-effective wealth management is the best thing that I've ever known about money and this can help me and you keep track of on the road to financial prosperity and freedom. And I wouldn't preach about this if I don't walk the talk.

If you got here by accident, I advise you go back to the introductory post about paying yourself first here so you could go along with the ride smoothly.

By far if you have been following this series of fortunate, and extremely basic, method to get your finances on the right track, just as you wanted, it might as well be very obvious as to what the last piece of the puzzle is going to be in this "pay yourself first" practice.


If you have gone through giving back and preparing for the unexpected, then this one right here can most likely be the key to unlocking the door to financial freedom. Of course, it takes a lot of discipline, patience, and faith to get it done.


Growing up as a kid, I always thought that money can simply be placed in what we call piggy banks, where you drop coins regularly or as needed to and make it act as your "savings account". Actually, that technique did not mean much to me for reasons I don't have to uncover.

As I matured up to the point when I finished college, I thought money can just come and go and while you have it, you ought to spend it, rather than lose it all (take it from someone who used to gamble and spend till the last centavo in college).


Then a seminar on money management, coupled with self-education on personal finance and trainings had me realize a number of things that have to be considered in relation to this post:

PYF, so in Case of...

This series of blogs will talk to you about the importance of paying yourself first - the most powerful money management system I have ever known. Introduced to me in a seminar by a success coach last year, then tested and proven by the best selling personal finance authors I have come across in my self-education, this simple-yet-effective wealth management is the best thing that I've ever known about money and this can help me and you keep track of on the road to financial prosperity and freedom. And I wouldn't preach about this if I don't walk the talk.

If you got here by accident, I advise you go back to the introductory post about paying yourself first here so you could go along with the ride smoothly.

After reading the previous post about your regular and faithful offering to Him, which is the most important aspect of paying yourself first, I'm sure you have finally realized how happy and healthy it is for you to actually give back a portion to the Provider of wealth.

Normally, the "pay yourself first" is a certain percentage of how much you have to set aside as savings and investments before you actually use what is left for spending and cost of living. How much you are going to set as savings is really up to you, but if you have to start changing your financial beliefs and creating a wealth mindset in preparing and securing your future, doing this faithfully can be a remedy to your worries.


One vital part of your wealth management system is having an emergency fund.

PYF, then Give Back to Him

This series of blogs will talk to you about the importance of paying yourself first - the most powerful money management system I have ever known. Introduced to me in a seminar by a success coach last year, then tested and proven by the best selling personal finance authors I have come across in my self-education, this simple-yet-effective wealth management is the best thing that I've ever known about money and this can help me and you keep track of on the road to financial prosperity and freedom. And I wouldn't preach about this if I don't walk the talk.

If you got here by accident, I advise you go back to the introductory post about paying yourself first here so you could go along with the ride smoothly.

To recap the concept of "pay yourself first", it is about prioritizing savings before expenses. It is about setting money for yourself before you actually start using it for daily expenses or paying debts. While paying yourself first is the wisest thing to do in achieving financial freedom, there comes a twist in this principle.

When I first learned about the first part of paying yourself first last year, I realized that I have not been doing it faithfully all my life. But as a regular attendee - and servant - of our weekly Catholic fellowship known as The Feast since January of this year, I have come to understand its value like no other. And I am here to make that known to you.

WARNING: Doing this faithfully will actually bless you a thousand - or even a million - times more!