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The Best Money Saving Tips We’ve Received

The Best Money Saving Tips We’ve Received

As told by the self-made and cash-savvy

 

 

Before my sister moved to the other side of the globe, there were days when she would drive me halfway to work. As we crossed the 200-peso border from province to city every morning, she would play a podcast called Bad With Money on her car speakers. Each episode dealt with money concerns I imagine every teen, twenty- or thirty-something experiences, from taking out loans and dealing with debt to countering bad spending habits that may have been ingrained in us since our little hands first held loose change. I admit in the beginning, I found it lukewarm at best. In fact I may have even been a little offended at my sister’s enthusiasm about how the podcast was perfect for me. Was I bad with money?

 

In hindsight, it’s likely that I was.

 

In my first year of work, I hardly saved any money. I blew a lot of what I had made in my first few months on Christmas shopping (because I could finally afford nice gifts) and found that the number of “small” purchases I made every time sale season rolled around… didn’t add up to a small amount at all. I’d like to think that I have a better grip on my finances now, though. I make sure to put away most of my bi-monthly salary. I use my credit card to build up points, but only if I know I can pay for the item in cash on the spot. I understand that some items are better left in my wishlist than in my digital shopping cart. Baby steps, but there’s still lots to learn.

 

And who better to learn from than the self-made and financially-savvy? In the spirit of grabbing adulthood by the balls, we reached out to business-minded creatives, established professionals and finance, economics and real estate buffs to ask for the best money advice they’ve ever received.

 

RELATED: I Tried This Time-Saving App That Gave Me My Weekends Back

 

Tin Advincula

Tin is a Digital Content Creative, which she offhandedly admits is just a fancy name for a content creator. She creates content for her personal blog and Instagram, as well as for other brands' online platform.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf8NJPhFRdd/?taken-by=cofficehunter

 

What is the best advice you've received on earning or growing your money?

My mom is a single parent who raised all 5 of us on her own. She always told me to have multiple sources of income, so even in my first 9 to 5 job out of college I was already “moonlighting” for people, companies and brands, I sold stuff I don't use (I still do this until now), and even assisted during weddings or debuts as extra manpower. As long the schedules don't clash, I'm down.

 

How has this advice helped you achieve your financial and professional goals?

Aside from that extra cushion of security, having multiple sources of income means I can also fund my freelance business. I don't just use my income to pay the bills and buy a fancy cup of coffee, I use it to make my business better, meaning I buy tools/software, hire extra help, collaborate with other freelancers, buy more books and enroll in classes to learn how I can improve my craft, etc. This helps my business a lot because on this side of workforce, all I have is myself. In a sense, I'm my biggest investment.

 

Rousselle Pantua

Rousselle leads a career in media and digital advertising. Despite no longer practicing, she is a licensed real estate broker.

 

What is the best advice you've received on earning or growing your money?

It's not how much you earn, but how much you keep. It's also important to know having money gives you the power to help those in need.

 

How has this advice helped you achieve your financial and professional goals?

You can earn as much as you can dream possible, but if you spend twice as much, you still will be at a loss. Employing a job with a high salary is empowering, but if you're spending just as much to keep you sane and it inevitably takes a toll on your health then your job may not be an investment. [I realize that] while it's important to love what you're doing, it's also important that it is also contributing to your financial freedom and not the other way around.

 

Anton Patdu

Anton is a 28-year-old professional makeup artist and the founder and president of New Monarq Group, which is composed of New Monarq Management, New Monarq Creativx, and the Creativx Studio which is set to be launched this month.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdsOZz7nF2j/?taken-by=antonpatdu

 

What is the best advice you've received on earning or growing your money?

I had to make ends meet to send myself to school when I was studying in UST. This experience taught me the value of money, so when I started earning from my freelance job as a makeup artist, I started saving and planning ahead. My job as a makeup artist turned out to be a very good way of earning money. The thing is, there will be a tendency to think, “It’s okay, I will spend my cash today. I can earn it again next week.” This idea should be erased if you want to have a good amount of savings.

 

How has this advice helped you achieve your financial and professional goals?

[I realized] you have to know what industry you would like to venture into, as well as your strengths in this industry. After which, you can analyze if you would like to invest your money into a business. For me, it is always a good idea to invest your money into something that earns because if you work hard for the proper marketing and set company goals, then it is impossible that your business will fail. At the same time, do not be afraid to fail.

 

Adie Pieraz

Adie is an editor and content writer for Wonder. She has an undergraduate degree in Applied Economics worked as an insurance broker for almost three years after college.

 

What is the best advice you've received on earning or growing your money?

An officer from my old company told me to never feel content with just a salary because it will never be enough. There are other ways to make money and he advised me to explore them, whether that meant investing in small ventures, playing around with stocks or even getting in some extra work outside of my 9 to 5. On my own, I learned that credit cards are the devil (especially if the limit is higher than your bi-monthly payout). It's money you don't have and should therefore not play with. The interest will kill you every time.

 

How has this advice helped you achieve your financial and professional goals?

I tried a small food venture with my cousin some months back, but we realized quickly how much profit we'd have to earn to make our efforts worth it. So while that isn't up and running anymore, it was a good experience for the both of us.

 

What I do instead is take on extra work when I have the time for it. This way lets me earn extra money in exchange for time and effort that I'm willing to put into a certain project for a certain amount of time. I think it's a more fair exchange this way and I'm risking way less. Also, I've learned not to use my credit card until absolutely necessary.

 

https://giphy.com/gifs/glitch-money-shopping-d3mmdNnW5hkoUxTG

 

Tara Cabullo

Tara works in the field of digital marketing. She was previously in financial services and has taken courses in personal finance planning. With her parents having backgrounds in the stock market and FinTech, she admits, “Yes, our family talks about compounded interest and derivatives over breakfast.”

 

What is the best advice you've received on earning or growing your money?

Make compounded interest work for you and start as early as possible. Time is your biggest strength. When I look at the progress of the investments I made when I was younger, I wish I added more so I add more now whenever I have extra. I learned this from my dad. In the same way that credit card companies make money off of its customers, we have the option to make money work for us by investing long term to get the interest that helps our money beat inflation. Some get intimidated when starting with something, but a small investment done regularly over a long period of time will compound eventually.

 

Separately, my favorite tip from my partner is that time is money. Most of the time, we think that we are saving money by doing things ourselves when in fact, our time could sometimes be more valuable by delegating tasks instead.

 

How has this advice helped you achieve your financial and professional goals?

I'm still far from my goals, but starting early made me prepared for retirement. I've always been afraid of depending on anybody when I retire but getting that head start has set a foundation for my net worth and funding for future needs.

 

RELATED: The Freelancer’s Guide to BIR Tax Forms

 

 

Art Alexandra Lara.

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