Tita Raketera

Remember this 𝐀𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭? 😅

I originally made this as a simple post to help you check where you are financially.

And since this turned out to be one of my most useful posts, I thought... why not turn it into something you can actually sit down and work through?

So I did. 🧡

I made a 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝟏𝟓-𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 (𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤.

We go through your:
□ financial goals
□ money system
□ emergency fund
□ healthcare coverage
□ critical illness protection
□ life and income protection
□ short-, medium-, and long-term money goals

But hindi ito another checklist of things you need to accomplish para masabing financially responsible adult ka.

The point is to help you see:
𝑨𝒏𝒐 𝒏𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?
𝑨𝒏𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒌𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒂 𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏?
𝑨𝒏𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊 𝒌𝒐 𝒑𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆?

And after going through everything, you'll choose just ONE MONEY MOVE to work on next.

Because you don't need to fix your entire financial life today.

Sometimes, financial clarity is simply being able to say...
“𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚. 𝑰𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒂.” 🧡

The workbook is completely free.

Download here:
Adulting Checklist (Finance Edition)⁠
https://happylifemap.gumroad.com/l/adulting-checklist

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘... 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒚.

Maybe it's because July is a quiet reminder that we're already halfway through the year.

As much as I'd love to fully embrace the soft life and chill lang, I don't think I'll ever completely escape this habit of checking in with myself. And it's probably not helping na may calendar reminder ako to "review life goals and ***** business model." (Haha! Why am I like this??)

Then I'd naturally start reviewing my goals, asking myself what's working, what isn't, what still matters, and what areas to focus on.

It's a strange mix of emotions, honestly.

Part of me gets excited because there's still half a year left. There's still time to build, to learn, to change direction if I need to.

But an unfortunately larger part of me feels this quiet pressure. The kind that whispers, "𝐵𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑦𝑎𝑦𝑎𝑟𝑖?"

There's the uncertainty. The frustration of watching some things move so quickly that you can barely keep up, while other things you've been praying and working for seem to move painfully slow.

Oh, I don't know. Maybe that's what building a life actually looks like.

Not everything grows at the same pace. Some seasons are for planting. Others are for waiting. And every now and then, we get a season that simply asks us to trust the process a little longer.

So instead of treating July as a reminder of everything I haven't accomplished yet, I'm trying to see it differently.

Maybe it's not a deadline. It's just a checkpoint.

A chance to pause, celebrate the progress I've overlooked, make a few adjustments, and keep moving forward, one intentional step at a time.

If you're also feeling a little weird about July, know that you're probably not alone.

Maybe this week, instead of asking, "Am I on track?" we can ask a gentler question:

"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓?" 💛

Maybe it's updating your budget. Maybe it's finally booking that long-overdue check-up. Maybe it's saying yes to an opportunity... or letting go of something that's no longer serving you.

Whatever it is, I hope we both give ourselves permission to begin again.

Well.... Hello, July!

One small habit I restarted recently: 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚.

Part of my 75 Soft challenge is daily journaling, and one of the things I do is write at least 10 things I’m grateful for.

Some days, it’s big things.
Some days, it’s simple ones like good coffee, a beautiful day, or a random kind message from a friend.

Nakakatuwa lang because the more I look for things to be grateful for, the more I notice them.

And somehow the day just feels… lighter.

“𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒, 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑙𝑦, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙.”
— Lissa Rankin

Do you keep a gratitude journal?
It's a good daily practice to remind yourself of the gifts, grace, benefits, and good things you get to enjoy. 🤍

This photo was taken in my early 20s... Nasa barko, on my way home from Cebu. Taking a quick break from my first job. Feeling like I had my whole life ahead of me. 😌

This girl enjoyed working and making money. I also liked spending money. 😅 But I also wanted to be financially stable someday... You know, have passive income, and maybe have money coming in even if I wasn’t working as much.

So whenever there was an opportunity to invest, I would take it. Kumbaga, "invest now, figure it out later," because after all, time is on my side. Hehe

What I didn’t realize then was that 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏.

For context, this was roughly my timeline:
👉 First corporate job at 21 years old
👉 Started freelancing at 25
👉 Started investing in stocks (stock market and mutual funds) at 27
👉 Got my first insurance policy at 28
👉 Applied for my first home loan at 30
👉 Built my emergency fund at 32-ish
👉 Finally got health insurance at 36

See the problem? 😅

My 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕. Baliktad pala.

Now that I’m in my 40s (and a little wiser), I realized something:

If I had started my health insurance as soon as I started working, I could have finished paying for it by now. Instead, because I started later, I’ll still be paying until my mid-50s.

Swipe the graphic to see how much earlier I could’ve finished paying if I started younger.
Timing really matters.

If I could redo the order, it would be:
1️⃣ Emergency fund
2️⃣ Health insurance + HMO
3️⃣ Life insurance
4️⃣ Investments

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.

Anyway… sharing this in case someone here is still in their 20s or early 30s and figuring things out.

𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.

Next time kwento ko naman how I got scammed as a newbie freelancer. 😂

Sharing again these 5 money reminders that helped me stop feeling guilty, overwhelmed, or “behind” with my finances.

No pressure. No perfect formulas.

Just a few mindset shifts that honestly changed how I approach money (and adulting in general).

👉 Swipe through. Baka may isang line na tatama sa’yo today.

Save it, share it, or come back to it when you need a little reminder. 🙂

Curious though: Which reminder hits you the most?

Apparently, adulting includes disappearing from your own content calendar. 😅

My last post here was February 4 pa. Which means yes… your resident Tita Raketera also ghosts her own page sometimes.

Life happened; work happened; and honestly… a bit of overthinking and perfectionism also happened. Call it birthday blues or whatever...

But the same advice I always give when it comes to money, goals, or life in general:
𝐻𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖 𝑘𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑡.

Sometimes you just… 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.

So *𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑚* hello ulit. 👋

Back to sharing things about:
✔ money
✔ adulting
✔ side hustles
✔ systems that make life slightly less cluttered

If you're also in your “trying to get my life together” era, welcome. Same. 😅

P.S. Yes, this is not a very recent travel photo. I’m still awkward taking solo pictures. Hehe Baby steps in content creation. 😂

Also… kumusta kayo? May phase din ba kayo this year na nawawala sa social media? 😅

𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 ✨
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 ✨

Hindi man ako palaging nagpo-post about financial literacy lately… but I never stopped serving. 🫶

Yes po, opo. Sun Life insurance advisor pa rin po — quietly doing the work.

Grateful to God, to my clients for the trust, and to my fellow advisors for the support and shared purpose. 🙏🙏

A little more fired up now to share stories, lessons, and personal finance real talk again. Hehe

And just like that, February na! 😮 Our trial period for 2026 is done. The "𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘦" officially begins. Haha!

So ayun. I have reflected and set new goals, I did the math, and I'm ready to thrive in 2026. Time to do the work!

---
👉 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀:
https://lovettejam.com/how-to-set-smarter-financial-goals/

👉 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿:
https://happylifemap.gumroad.com/

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄

I’ve used a “word of the year” since 2018 as a simple anchor for my decisions and habits.
For 2026, that word is 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄.

After a year of 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃, this year is about 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔.

Not hustling harder.
Not adding more goals.
But becoming more consistent, grounded, and intentional.

Becoming the kind of person who:
🧡 finishes what she starts
🧡 follows through even when it’s boring
🧡 builds habits, not just big plans

2025 stretched me.
2026 is about making things stick.

Simple. Quiet. Sustainable.

Curious ako. What’s your word for the year?