Hello Rica! What a perfect time to talk about personal finance! You have your goals set already, that is to buy a home and open a business, what's next is to figure out a way to achieve them.
It's very good of you to mention your age and your current earnings. With this information, I can tailor fit some suggestions to suit your needs. And oh! I understand how it feels to be loaded with information. It feels so overwhelming and sometimes, it gives us confusion instead of enlightenment. With this, I list some few tips on how to get started. Here we go:
♣ Set proper expectations.
This is one of the first lessons a newbie needs to get acquainted with. Building wealth takes time. Pretty much like a college degree, we need to invest not only money, but self-discipline, and a whole lot of effort to get to the pot of gold. You'll experience some setbacks but don't let that stop you. Make it your passport to success!
♣ Build your emergency funds first.
Very important. It's never good to invest your money (specially in stock market) without a buffer fund. How to compute for your emergency fund? General rule is this: Compute your monthly expenses and multiply it by 3. So, if your monthly cash-outflow is Php 5,000. It's best to save for Php 15,000 in the bank first. Only after that should you think about investing.
♣ Answer these necessary questions.
You need to know yourself before you invest. Sounds weird? Trust me, even banks require you to answer questionnaires before they receive your investment money. It's a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) requirement. Sample questions below:
- How many years do you intend to invest your money? (Time Horizon)
- How would you feel if a portion of your money loses its value (say, from Php 10,000 the value decreased to Php 8,000)? (Risk Tolerance)
- Do you have any other investments, to date? (Diversification)
♣ Choose a product, then START investing.
I suggest that you visit your prospect bank or financial institution and ask the experts personally. I'm sure they are more than willing to answer your question real time. You can also ask for brochures to help you decide. After that, wait no more and START! And that should not be the end of it, it's best if you'll set aside a portion of your income to maximize your long term gain.
♣ Pick a few, but trusted, references.
Reading so many books and sites might lead to confusion. To address that, pick a number of trusted references and follow them closely. I recommend watching ANC On The Money, reading Sun Life's Brighter Life Blog, and some few financial books HERE. Lastly, I thought this post will come handy: Start Young. Enjoy Early.
I hope this helps. Happy New Year! Cheers to a wonderful 2014! -CMK
I hope this helps. Happy New Year! Cheers to a wonderful 2014! -CMK
I agree :) it's very good for us, as young as we are, to have investments like this and start now. It will greatly reward us when we old :)
ReplyDeleteHi Gers! I agree! 100% Happy New Year Love! ♥
DeleteA very helpful post! Happy investing Rica! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see people start investing at a young age. Time is your best ally when it comes to investing. I completely agree with everything you mentioned in this post. I just like to inform Rica that their are trust or mutual fund products which make investing easier. BDO and BPI have easy investment plans which allow you to alot a small amount each month for your investment. It is also good if your read articles about investing strategies. Goodluck on your first investment Rica. Excellent post Kristine.
ReplyDeleteMoney and Opportunity
This is a good example specially for new graduates. Most of the time young graduates dream of having that dream world tour or that dream car, or that dream gadget. As young as you are it is important to look ahead, save up, and create an investment that grows overtime. I am not saying that you deprive yourself of some of the good things but rather better prepared than sorry later on in life.
ReplyDelete