Financial Freedom

Philippines
May 19, 2012 7:14am CST
Here's a note I've read from one of my friend's Facebook profile and while I was reading it, I was totally struck by how much I have to go to attain financial freedom. Here's what it is: Are you financially fit? 1.Do you have enough savings to last you 6 months if you stop working today? 2.Do you have any form of insurance (disability, life, accident, medical)? 3.Do you have a pension plan aside from SSS or GSIS? 4. Are you saving or investing money regularly from your salary? 5.Do you know your self-worth? (assets-liabilities; monthly net cashflow) 6.Do you budget your spending and monitor monthly expenses? 7.Have you attended any seminar/read any book on improving personal finances? 8.Is your monthly debt payment less than 20% of your monthly income? 9.Do you have a personal plan with specific goals based on specific timetable? Answering yes to 5 out of 9 questions means you are on your way to financial freedom. Okay, so after reading these, I have to say I'm not even close to having fulfilled any of these in my 5 years of earning money. Maybe, I got to do one of these which is read a book on improving financial finances, or in my case, reading loads of articles about it. It's such a shame I know, and now, I vowed to myself to be able to answer all of these questions with a confident YES hopefully in a few years time. So how about you my dear mylotters? Were you able to answer a few of these questions with a YES? Which one? It would be nice to hear your thoughts.
3 people like this
10 responses
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
19 May 12
Since I'm married, I'd have to refer to our combined financial status in answering those questions. If I'm only to assess my self, then I'm a zero. But, if I have to account both our values, I could give an absolute Yes to only 4 out of the 9 questions. We have insurance and pension plan, savings, and we keep track of our assets and liabilities. It's still a long way to go, even with those 4 points covered. But, we just have to keep track of things to reach our goals. I'm glad I have a very goal oriented husband and I am an effective accountant and bookkeeper...lol
• Philippines
20 May 12
I see. That's a good one. I really wish I could learn how to do that, you know, do an excel file or something to track my expenses at least once a month, but the problem is, I am always too tired when I get home from work and even too busy during the weekends. But, I will try to do that and hope it will help me and get me back on track.
• Philippines
20 May 12
It's truly an advantage being an accountant and at times I envy some of my accountant friends who can just calculate all expenses and do some auditing in their heads. It's good that you have a very goal oriented husband too. That's quite a good match especially when it comes to your finances. Good luck and I hope you'd both get to your goals very soon.
• Philippines
20 May 12
No, I'm not an accountant by profession, but I refer myself as that when it comes to our family's finances. I am the one who's more in to details, to the extent that I have all our cash ins and outs on an excel file that I update 2-3 times a month. Yes, its great to have a husband like him. He keeps me on track and most of the time, we are able to achieve our goals in a given year.
@annavi23 (6522)
• Philippines
19 May 12
Too bad, I am not able to answer yes to any of the following. if there is, it is like you have said yes, which is to read a book or something to improve financial problems...but reading is not enough when action is missing. sometimes, it is the action that is hard to be done when it comes to such problems. Well, recently i have read some sites that pay online just staying at home. it was an online business and i think i might consider hearing more of it and study first before i'll jump to joining the said business.
@annavi23 (6522)
• Philippines
20 May 12
Of course, there's a saying "action speaks louder than words" so reading is not just enough to fulfill all you wanted to do in your life. there can also be problems like having debts which you find it hard to pay and you feel like drowning because of it...sometimes you don't know what to do but then we have to act to have money... I am just in a "study mode" for the site...really am not sure about how this works.. I'll tell you in the later days...
• Philippines
19 May 12
Yes, it's so true that action is more important than just reading some stuff that gives you advice on handling your finances. That's one of the things that I used to lack but now, I have started plotting my goals and trying my best to stay in a tight budget so that I could at least get out of debt first and start my way to financial freedom. Good luck! By the way, what sites were you talking about where it pays you to stay online at home? I hope you could share. Thanks
• Philippines
21 May 12
That would be great! I'll be waiting for your comment soon or just send me a message or something. It would really be a big help if the site is good. Thanks! And as they say, making goals is just not just about planning them. You have to do something every single day to get closer to your goals. It's my motivation right now, or sort of.
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
20 May 12
I have only SSS and don't know how beneficial was that. I buy pension plan in any private insurance before but it useless to say they forfeit my membership since I have not paid one month. I really disappointed into those insurance
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
21 May 12
It maybe good if the government create a law that safeguard the client. The things was there is no clearance whether the benefits still rewarded if the insurance company is close or we can't even refund what we paid if when we are not able to continue the said premium
• Philippines
21 May 12
I see. Actually I do have few doubts when it comes to insurance plans here in our country. I don't want to be scammed and I'm still afraid to invest that much especially if the terms are so good. I guess you have to really look for something that is going to be convenient and reliable for you and your family.
@irene66 (1669)
• Philippines
19 May 12
We are on the same boat! I mean not even a third of the mentioned lists is applicable to me. This means, I am so far away in freeing myself financially. I just wonder when will I reach that point and I am not getting any younger !
• Philippines
19 May 12
I'm not getting any younger myself, that's why I really need to do something about this. We need to do something about this and even though it maybe a little while before we get to be financially free, then maybe we must do a lot of changes in the way we handle our finances. Good luck to us. It's good if you start planning and visualizing the time when you will be financially free. They said it's always best to take out the debt first and start saving as much or as little as you can until you have enough funds to invest. I know you can do this as well. At least now, we have these guidelines we can use when it comes to our financial status.
@hestylim (1210)
• Indonesia
19 May 12
Hi! I am in the same boat, too! I wish I could free myself from at least my debt, first! Thanks for the guidelines anyway. Good luck for all of us!
• Philippines
20 May 12
Good luck hestylim!
• India
20 May 12
oh my god . i have only life insurance .this type of savings means monthly thousands of dollars should be earned , so right now it is so difficult to me i cannot save this much kind of things. while reading your paragraph i am little bit feared and now i have opened my eyes , and in the future i will surely save at least 5 of the above sentences but i am very much interested your post today i have never seen this kind of post any where i felt very happy for this try to post this kind of things when ever possible
• Philippines
20 May 12
I was also excited when I saw this on one of my friend's notes who is actually an accountant by profession and this got me so interested too. That's why I posted it here because I was just too excited to share it with the rest of mylotters whom I know are really financially driven and goal-oriented, like I am as I would like to think. Don't worry, even the littlest amount that you can save makes a big deal. Good luck!
• United States
20 May 12
One name : Dave Ramsey. He is all about the little steps to get from nothing to financial freedom. He's got a radio show you can stream online that after listening to it just a couple times will give you an idea of where you need to begin. I don't have any of these done yet but i do have an established $1000 dollar emergency fund and only my student loans as current debt (no credit cards or anything else)! Which I am rather happy with myself about being as I have never made more than 15,000 in a year.
• Philippines
20 May 12
Wow! That's great! I would definitely check out Dave Ramsey and listen to him. I've also heard about this emergency fund that you can use only when a huge crisis in your life happens. It was said that this emergency fund should at least amount to the money you would need for at least 6 months when things get worse like when you get laid off or something. Thanks for sharing that name and I hope some mylotters can get a hold of his radio show as well so that we can learn more about handling and keeping our money, and not just making money.
@flagella08 (5065)
• Philippines
20 May 12
i am not sure if im lucky but based on the list im on the 50-50. i had friends who have bigger salaries yet they don't have discipline and just purchase anything that they love and want to. they don't even mind the prices. they can't still feel that now but when their children reach college, everybody can predict what they will be going through. im just careful now because i see those situations as early as now.
• Philippines
20 May 12
It's a good thing to be able to learn from others' experiences. Based on my experience, college was tough because of our family's finances and that's one thing I don't want my future kids to experience. I do have friends who spend like tons of money once they get their paychecks on clothes and shopping and going out all the time that they just don't have any savings at all and to think that they still live with their parents and have huge salaries.
@hestylim (1210)
• Indonesia
19 May 12
Ahhh.. honestly, I am not on my way to financial free as well. :( but I really wanna free myself from financial thing. First of all, I wanna free myself from debts I have, then start saving. I know I can do it. Maybe it might need few years time I guess. But I know it is possible. Good luck for us! :)
• Philippines
20 May 12
Yeah, debts are also one of my major problems. Back when I was just starting the job, all I can think of is buy all these stuff that I want and I resorted to using credit cards which kind of made me go into debts, which I truly regret. But, I think it's also good to save a portion of your money for your savings while at the same time paying your debts.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
19 May 12
Well, some items in there is not applicable to me like the debt payments. I just hope that this one is correct as I got more than 5 yes. So I do hope I'm into financial freedom. But I am still young and those questions should fit well for the young ones who are still single and don't have a family yet. I think that the questions would be far challenging for those with families to feed already. One thing, is insurance really a necessity to be financially free?
• Philippines
19 May 12
I'm not that sure with insurance as well, but medical insurance is also good, or any medical plans that we can enroll into. As others say, once you or one of your family members get hospitalized for a long time, almost all savings could just be gone in an instant so I think it serves more as a form of security financially. Now, it's good that as young as you are, you're not facing any financial problems and got to say 5 Yes's on these questions. You're in luck.
@rony018 (109)
• Bangladesh
20 May 12
Earning is topics that maintain our life but it is not fevourable to us at all