(Originally posted on April 5, 2014 in my Facebook page)
One morning, as I hurried out to catch the early bus ride that usually beats the traffic in the Cubao area, my cellular phone sounded its usual text tone. A message appeared from an unknown source when I opened it. It said: "It is hard to come up with a wage just to pay off the debt that is left over."
Perhaps a wrong sent item, but such is an enlightening message. It connotes that one wage-earner must not be overconfident of his / her regular pay, no matter how huge it would seem. As an earning individual, we have this tendency to avail of debt / loan, or buy stuffs especially cellphones on credit, or pawn our ATM card to afford some things at once.
I was once doing the same until I learned financial discipline. Yes I now have reasonably huge monthly earnings. I can afford to buy 40 ”TV in one month, then iPhone 5, iPad or Samsung Galaxy tab in another. But I don't ... I can't ... I won't. I have my priorities.
Financial management is a sacrifice, an organized priority, and must consider the hierarchy of needs. For working individuals like me, we should program the spending in such a way that the first chunk of the money must be savings, say P150 / week, then for transportation and meals costs (to afford uninterrupted working days), then utilities (who would want to live without light and water, sans cable TV), then the extra, if any, will be for luxurious items. If one cannot even satisfy his / her primary needs, then luxury has no value yet. If one needs instead the luxury before subsistence, then he / she must redefine his / her priorities and start defining financial discipline.
Just saying. (I thought of sending this to that number as a reply but think better of it. Besides, it's a long reply that sounds like a sermon.)
One morning, as I hurried out to catch the early bus ride that usually beats the traffic in the Cubao area, my cellular phone sounded its usual text tone. A message appeared from an unknown source when I opened it. It said: "It is hard to come up with a wage just to pay off the debt that is left over."
Perhaps a wrong sent item, but such is an enlightening message. It connotes that one wage-earner must not be overconfident of his / her regular pay, no matter how huge it would seem. As an earning individual, we have this tendency to avail of debt / loan, or buy stuffs especially cellphones on credit, or pawn our ATM card to afford some things at once.
I was once doing the same until I learned financial discipline. Yes I now have reasonably huge monthly earnings. I can afford to buy 40 ”TV in one month, then iPhone 5, iPad or Samsung Galaxy tab in another. But I don't ... I can't ... I won't. I have my priorities.
Financial management is a sacrifice, an organized priority, and must consider the hierarchy of needs. For working individuals like me, we should program the spending in such a way that the first chunk of the money must be savings, say P150 / week, then for transportation and meals costs (to afford uninterrupted working days), then utilities (who would want to live without light and water, sans cable TV), then the extra, if any, will be for luxurious items. If one cannot even satisfy his / her primary needs, then luxury has no value yet. If one needs instead the luxury before subsistence, then he / she must redefine his / her priorities and start defining financial discipline.
Just saying. (I thought of sending this to that number as a reply but think better of it. Besides, it's a long reply that sounds like a sermon.)
