Banking and Pinoys

  In my previous post, I’ve mentioned about how we can start saving with the use of makeshift (or even real) piggy banks. For today’s post I’ll introduce banking. Don’t worry I won’t bore you with accountancy topics. So please do not type “facebook” in your address bar. You’re going to love this post.

 Why do we open accounts in banks? Banking actually is a process of “Lending” your money, the bank on the other hand generates a profit by channeling the deposit thru various lending activities generating interests for their profit. Of course your money gets an interest but would depend on the type of the account you’ve registered with the bank. If you’re going to open a savings account interest will be from .3750- 2.00% ( statistic provided by BDO) depending on the amount you’ll save. Why do I discuss this anyway? Well, according to a recent survey by BSP last 04/18/2012,8 out of 10 Filipino’s have nobank accounts and MOST do not have enough cash for emergencies. Also, the survey added that based on the respondents their families does not foresee a need for a savings account because they DO NOT have enough money to deposit or the deposit requirements are too high. Lastly the average cash on hand of Filipino families that they can use for emergencies would stands at 1,681 pesos.

 This [ alarming] fact can be attributed to the insufficient income, lack of access to banks, and the high tendency to SPEND than SAVE greatly influence the survey as per BSP.  

 This habit is NOT a way to walk like a MILLIONAIRE, specially the last reason cited by BSP which is the tendency to spend more above their means. As a reader of this blog you avoid poverty and WALK LIKE A MILLIONAIRE. It pays to “lend” your money in a bank. In my next post I’ll be discussing the types  of banking services you can take advantage of and their corresponding interest. But of course, you can always consult the bank nearest you. Always remember Kin Hubbard’s gem:

“ The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket.”

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( photo from statadaily.wordpress.com)

The Bank nearest you: PIGGY

Most of us had their childhood experience of storing coins in their fragile piggy banks, when I was a kid my piggy bank is made of makeshift potato chips can. My dad made a small cut that would fit coins or neatly folded bills, my family was lenient in the concept of saving and  I was taught at an early age to save for the future. Because of this I was elated that I always put my 5 peso allowance in it. Until one fateful day mom took me a fast-food restaurant for a feast full of chicken, only to see my coin bank destroyed and all the contents drained out and all proceeds went to the owner of the fast-food. ( talk about deceit on a very young age)

  Setting aside my “wonderful” experience, the “piggy bank” is a great first step in teaching us how to save money. Take this scenario in an instance, let’s say that you rode a jeepney to work every day and have a 20 peso back and forth [assuming that the fare is 8 pesos while your reading this]  budget for this. On this scenario you have an extra 4 peso every day, so instead of buying candies you can store this in your “Piggy bank”, do you know how much that give you?

      In a week you get 20 Pesos

     In a month you have 80 pesos

      In a year you have 960 pesos

Instead of buying candies, the simple act saves you 960 in a year, it might not be big enough but it’s a great start!  For fun you can “enact” your own set of strict rules, in my part I make it to the point of putting extra 20 pesos in my own piggy bank ( it is FINALLY a pig shape), or you can just forget about computing the money you put in it and just be surprised at . The concept of “piggy bank” has been with us ever since, you don’t actually need a Pig shape “piggy bank”( I just can’t find an English translation for alkansya) ,way before the 18^th century when piggy banks took its first pig shape our Filipino ancestors save extra money on modified dried coconut shell. Even our great grandfather’s made their own specially when people are still reluctant to open account in banks ( actually people today are still reluctant)If our ancestors did it why shouldn’t we? This simple behavior modification would do you a lot good in the near future. Start your own piggy bank today.

“ Lack of money is the root of all evil.” – George Bernard Shaw

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( Photo from findyourcashcow.com)

Investing: never selfless

 As the title of the blog implies, investment is never selfless. You have to put yourself first before anything else. How to do that? Start by saving a portion of your salary. In every cut off automatically remove a portion of your money, store it somewhere safe such us your piggy bank or you can “lend” it by opening an account to a bank storing your money there.

    Why do we have to save? Let us look at the ants, although they don’t plant and harvest they forage food and store it as much as they can so when rainy day comes they won’t starve. We no longer starve during rainy days however we still experience unexpected turn of events such as sickness, house repairs, childbirth, and marriage. If we don’t save what can we use during those days? We might end up on a loan with debilitating interest. We do not want to be in debt. That is NOT Walking like a millionaire. 

  Therefore we have to start saving. We never know when our rainy days would strike. To start saving, we have to learn to live frugally, not that cheap, but frugal. Let’s look at this scenario:

  Three employees are currently dozing off: John, Jim, and Joey are all sleepy. However since their company prohibits them in sleeping at their job ( and I don’t know a company that wouldn’t), therefore they  went on with their own strategy to stay awake.

John, went to a premium coffee shop and ordered a macchiato. Jim went to a convenience store and bought an espresso. Joey went to the pantry and got a jar of free coffee.

If we look at the three it is easy to spot the frugality[ and  greediness] of Joey. Going instead for a free one instead of getting a shot of espresso elsewhere.  It is hard to [at first] to perform this act, maybe we got used to buying things that we feel we want but not necessarily need. But by practice we can definitely do it. For example, Instead of buying a 39er from a fast-food chain you can bring pack lunch. You would notice how much you would save by altering behaviors like this.

So in a nutshell. Be frugal, spend lower than what you worth and learn to save. Take the advice of Warren Buffet:

“If you buy things that you don’t need, you would end up selling things that you need.”

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( Photo from bibby-sterilin.com)

The Path to Millions

    According to the great philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietsche, “ He would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk”, by the way you don’t have to worry about flying because it’s not part of my blog go take that avian ambition someplace else.  In order for us to “Walk like Millionaires” we have to conceptualize how are we going to take the path, what path shall we take? Shall we walk backwards? By the way walking backward, especially in Ayala left me a nasty gash, I did fail to notice a crack on one of the islands and lost my balance.( Enough clue to tell you never to walk back)

 Of course we won’t literally walk endlessly, I believe most of my readers are less dolt than donkeys. We have to believe that a known path to success exist, that no matter how hard life strikes you, you believe it comes to reality.  Another well known author Napoleon Hill mentioned that “ What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”  Napoleon mentioned in his book that this should be taught to students for them to be successful. What does this tells us?

 If we go back to famous men in history such as Theodore Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, and even Bill Gates( the only living example in the group), they all have the vision in their minds, they don’t care if poverty, duel or other form of hardship gets in their way. They BELIEVE they can achieve and they believe it will Happen at the state of NOW.

 So, for us to become  a millionaire, we first learn to believe we are now Millionaires, and not see ourselves millionaires in the future.  Because if we follow the mindset, it would always be in the future( go figure)

 What is your actual goal? Your first million? Get Straight A’s in class? Whatever it is believe it will happen TODAY and keep on working. If you believe the possibility of your effort no matter how tired your body is it will follow your mind.

( Photo from favim.com)

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