Living below your means.

Are you in that situation where your income is just enough to support your daily expenses? Making it so difficult to save, and even forces you to be in debt at times when some problems arises. You know exactly that your trying to live just within your means, but still this kind of situation happens. Maybe its time for you to adjust that "belt a little tighter" and actually live below your means.

We always hear the advice to live within your means, but to make significant improvements in your financial situation it maybe better to live below your means.

Living within your means is understanding what to spend for but in a society where the media, government and technological advancements teaching us to spend more makes it very difficult to do so. We tend to spend more and more money instead of learning how to save.

One way to find out if you’re living above your means is too check your savings account balance. Is it somehow going up every month or your always below its maintaining balance? Or do you find yourself asking a friend for money to help you get through the month? These are just some indications that your living over your means and probably overspending.

In order to live below your means you need to know the areas where you’re overspending. The best method to find these areas is to track your spending. It might be difficult to do so, but knowing exactly why and where you’re spending too much is the only solution.

Remember that the key to living below your means is to defer unnecessary expenses. You should be able to identify what are the nonessential things that you buy or spend your money. By then you will know where to cut your expenses and develop a budget plan. This will be difficult because your spending can change from month to month, therefore it can take several months of tracking your spending before you have an accurate budget and actually start saving. But it doesn't mean you need to formulate a perfect budget plan before cutting your expenses. 

Start with unnecessary expenses
-eating out a lot
-night outs
-shopping or buying expensive gadgets
-vices like cigarette smoking, gambling, drinking

This expenses can be very tempting at times especially for those with credit cards, but this are actually unnecessary.  Remember that if you can't afford to buy things and pay it in cash, you really  cant afford it so you better save for it first and buy it by the time you have cash.

If you have done all this and still cant save, maybe you need to consider ways how to earn more money. But Sometimes asking for a pay raise, or applying for a higher position in your company is not an option. If this is your situation, then it may be time to consider either looking for a new job or another source of income.


#next post EARNING EXTRA INCOME

This i will discuss on my next post.. thank you for reading.. if you would like to share some experiences on how you actually solve the problem on this post or if you would like to share some ideas where i failed to mention, feel free to do so and comment below :))

Working abroad

Some of us think that working overseas is the answer to our financial problems or a dream fulfilled. But where do you think this idea came from? Why do some of us think that we have a better chance of improving our lives in a foreign country? I'm pretty sure that many of  us can think a lot of reasons..

It could be the high unemployment rate which had been a chronic problem in our country that produces almost a million college graduates on courses that are deemed popular but whose demand is on decline. Yearly we produces fresh graduates that joins the labor force, thereby increasing the competition for jobs available.

It could also be the unstable economic situation in our country showing the government's lack of initiative to secure a better future for its citizens that may have driven many of us to seek employment overseas. Not to mention the corruption, involvement of politics in a lot of businesses, relatively high tax rate, etc.

Or it could be the low salary offered by local companies. A Study shows that the average income of a typical Filipino worker in a month is about 10,000 pesos or (200usd) only.

It is hard to imagine how a typical Filipino especially those with a family to support could survive a month having only this, with all the bills to pay, food and school expenses and a lot more! This alone could be a reason why some of us think of working overseas. But in reality, not everyone will have the chance. Some are lucky enough to qualify and practice their profession abroad, but many will not, so they just end up accepting lower positions offered to them. Some are even willing to change careers just for them to have an opportunity to work abroad.                                                                        

What you need to consider is the fact that the higher your skill sets are and the higher your position is the more protected you are when you go abroad because you are in that status where you can dictate or you can negotiate from a point of competitiveness.                                         

Applying for a lower position or changing careers might open an opportunity for you to work abroad but it might also be a problem for you afterwards. So as much as possible, you need to consider an opportunity that not only can solve your financial problems but can also improve all the other aspects of your life, like your career, family, and even health aspects as well.  You should also be cautious when applying in some agencies for them not to take advantage of you.

Applying for a job overseas is a transaction between you and your employer and not a favor given by a recruiter. If u analyze it, the reality is that both parties will benefit from this transaction. So both parties should be fair and know all the legalities involved in this transaction so no problems will arise in the future.

I hope someday our government will reach a certain economic point where we wont be needing to search for a job abroad because of the opportunities that will open for us in our country.

How to Set Goals.

Have you ever come to the point where you wonder if what you are doing can really help you reach your goals? Or maybe you have forgotten about it and not certain of what you really want to achieve in life.. Many of us are at that point where we think that surviving our everyday life is enough.. Some of us are afraid that if we change something on what we do, we might not survive the coming days or we might encounter problems. Many of us got stuck on our comfort zone that made us stop dreaming and finding ways to achieve our goals. But how long can you live like this? I know there is still a desire on you to achieve those goals and make those dreams come true.

We have to admit that there are other people who are doing better than us, people who decided to get out of their comfort zone, take risk, and find a way to reach their goals. These are the people that are more likely to achieve their dreams. Simply put, some people are doing better than others because they do things differently and they do the right things right. They have decided long before of what they really want to achieve in life and they decided to act on it. They learned how to set goals.

Goals tell you where you are going, how you are going to get there, and what you will do when you get there. 

The first step in setting goals is to consider what you really want to achieve in life. This goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all the other aspects of your decision making.
Most of us concentrate our goals to these 4 major areas of our life
Career, Finances. Family & Health

Once you are certain of what you want to achieve in this areas, the next thing you need to do is to write it down. Remember that putting your goal down on paper actually confirms your willingness to do it. A written list of goals is an effective reminder of what you need to do.

Then you need to stop procrastinating and act on it. goals will remain as goals if you don't put it into actions. If you’re used to procrastination, find ways to overcome it. Plan your activities from daily, weekly and monthly. Set a schedule and a deadline then reward yourself each time you meet it.

Create a Habit. The most difficult thing is to do something new and make it a habit. Many people focus subconsciously on the things that they're used to do and enjoy doing, Things that in any way wont bring them closer to their goals. What you need to do is to create a habit that will make you stay on track in reaching your goals.

Don’t underestimate yourself, Motivate yourself. There is a fear of failure involved on this. Sometimes the fear of failure is to be blamed  for setting goals too low. At some point you may experience problems and distractions that can make you easily give up. What you need to do is to hold on to your dreams and think again, recall why you set this goals in the first place. Think of the things that you will gain and lose if you give up this early.

Finally, review your progress. After setting, writing it down, and taking action comes reviewing. It is the stage where you can evaluate yourself and determine your progress. Once your done reviewing, you will see which areas you preformed well and what areas need more attention...

How healthy is your home?

i would like to share this video that really caught my attention

The healthy home

The road to wealth is not easy!

Have you ever dreamed of becoming wealthy someday? Live in your dream house, drive your own sports car, travel, start a charity to help the less fortunate ones? This are the dreams that most of us hold on to. But have you ever ask yourself, can you really achieve this things on what you do right now?  Have you ever wonder and think about why some people achieve their dreams of becoming wealthy while most of us struggle just to get by? Many people say that what we do right now determines our future. Whatever your situation is, you have to admit that rich people know something or do something that the rest of us don't. Otherwise everyone would live in big houses, drive expensive cars or you would have erased your dream of starting a charity because no one will be needing it anymore.

If your at my age, i will give you an idea on what you might become in the future.

This is a study from life insurance and market research association.

Let me ask you now, Do you think you would be able to retire before the age of 60? Do you think you would save enough money to be financially independent someday? Do you think you would be lucky enough to find a way to live a wealthy life?

I can assure you that the road to wealth is not an easy one. If it were, more people would be wealthy not poor. The are some some books with theories on how to get rich, some people even write their stories on how they worked their way to riches and share it on their seminars and trainings. A lot of us read those books, attend those trainings and seminars. . But the question is? Did you learn something and act on it? I will tell you that there is a huge gap between what is written or what you heard and what you are actually doing. If you really want to get wealthy, you need to take actions, you need to start something, work on your ideas, set goals, make a plan and execute it!


I will include some tips on my next post on how you can start on your goals and overcome procrastination.

is lending to friends and family ever a good idea?

Have you ever considered a money lending business?

Many of us think that a money lending business is one of the most profitable and easy to manage business that we can start with.
but is this really true? is it really an easy to manage business or its just as difficult as any other business that we can start with especially when a friend or a family member is involved?

Well its neutral,  Lending to friends or family is a very special type of lending which requires people to overcome the intimacy of friends and family so that they can relate to each other like normal lenders and borrowers do. It would be difficult if you don't know the things to consider first before lending money to them as problems may arise especially in the collection part where they tend to forget their responsibility of paying you back because of this reason. On the other other hand, it could be easy to manage and be one of the consistently income generating business that you have if you do it just right.

So what are the things that we need to consider first?
Remember that you are doing this as a business and not a charity, so we need to look for the signs that we are likely to be paid back by those who borrowed from us.

here are the signs that you will likely to be paid back
-he/she pay previous creditors?
-he/she have a steady source of income?
-he/she is negotiating a better terms of payment
-he/she tells you whats he is going to do with the money
-he/she shows a payment plan (including dates)
If the borrowers show this signs, then you are likely to be paid back regardless of him/her being your friend or  family member.

Then you need to write down the terms (create a promissory note signed by both parties) and this includes:
name of the borrower
amount of loan
due date
date of transaction
interest rate
penalty if the borrower fails to pay

Remember to give only what you can afford to lose. You don't want to be chasing a borrower or a friend because his payment will be a part of your monthly budget. This will just give you another problem on your money lending business.

Teach yourself how to save now!

Ever wonder why is it so hard to save now a days?

A recent banko central report show that 8 out of 10 Filipinos have no bank account.
so unless 80% of the Filipinos still hide their cash on what we call "baul"(chest), this only means that most of us have no savings.

Most of us find it so difficult to save because of our personal reasons,
 some of us may say:
-my income is not enough
-i have to support a big family
-i pay so many bills
-taxes are very high

most of us find ourselves saying i just cant save now!  Don't worry, there's still hope for us. we can still change this and learn how to save now!

If you say your income is not enough, why is the youngest member of your family who is not generating an income can save on his/her piggy bank and you having your job and not supporting a big family or paying any bills cant save at all?

The truth is, anyone of us can save! its just a matter of lifestyle, discipline, mindset and changing the equation from income-expenses=savings to income-savings=Expenses

lets start from cutting unnecessary expenses like your monthly shopping, friday nightouts, cigarettes, alcohol and any other vices so you can "pay yourself first". because your the one working after all, you deserve to be paid first before your bills!

"Pay yourself  first" by saving money on your bank account. Do this and watch your savings go up and you will feel better and very much satisfied than buying new gadgets, new set of clothes, bags, shoes that you want but you don't really need. Focus your expenses only to your daily needs and you will be surprised on how much money you will save..