The Financial Blueprint

Most of the time, we lack time.

We work. We get busy. All for the purpose of providing for ourselves and our family.

But we forget about sitting down and strategically planning for our Finances.

Please find time and plan for your future. And by planning, i mean start thinking about how you can make sure your family will live comfortably when you're gone.

Life insurance is not scary.
Life insurance is not complicated.

It's all just MONEY
💰 Money to fulfill your dreams
💰 Money to make sure you fulfill that dream

Would you rather become financially protected or just let the universe decide your fate and your family's? Or as the say "Bahala na" 😔

We all have dreams. Big or Small. They are all things we want to achieve in our lives. Be it for ourselves, for our family or for our loved ones.

That's why we have jobs and work hard for them. But it's ironic that people forget the value of Saving.

In achieving our dreams, working and earning a decent income is only one part of the equation. A big part of that is Disciplined Savings and Investing a portion of it for the future. Investing is one way to make your money work for instead of just letting it sit in a bank.

When you start dreaming, you should also start saving. You'll never get passed 1% if you don't START it.

Advice of the day: Start Saving, Start Investing

Life is full of the unknown. In just one snap of our fingers, we can be diagnosed with a critical illness, suffer from a stroke, or be involved in an accident. There's a reason why it's called Life's uncertainties, because you'll never know when they'll get to you.

Making money is fun. Losing it all with a critical illness is the worst.

Protecting your income with Life Insurance means protecting your dreams and the future of your family.

Have a great weekend!

💔 This is such a heartbreaking story 💔

A 32 year old male, works as a Senior Web Developer for a Digital Marketing agency in BGC.

From the moment he started his first job and all throughout his career, he always wanted to drive his own car. Unfortunately, he came from an unprivileged family and was a breadwinner providing for his family, sending his younger sister to college.

From the moment he started earning, 60% of his income was given to his family. 30% is for his personal necessities. And he made it a point that the remaining 10% is saved for his dream car.

He had a stable and decent-paying job and was able to manage his funds well, but most of his salary was provided for his parents and younger sister. He was very particular with his cash-flow and always made a point to save up for his own dreams and wants, in his case, a car.

February of 2017, he had a terrible cough going on for several weeks. Due to a tight budget, heavy financial obligations and his demanding job, he had no time and enough money to consult a physician regarding his worsening condition.

Few weeks later, while at work, he suddenly collapsed in his cubicle and his officemates rushed him to the nearest hospital. After several tests, he was diagnosed with Stage 2 Lung Cancer. He couldn't believe it himself because he never smoked or touched a cigarette in his life.

He was advised to proceed with the treatment immediately and undergo chemotherapy. Luckily, he was able to receive his health benefits from his company as an aid, but was barely enough to cover the ongoing medical expenses and administered chemo drugs. He then had to pull out his hard-earned savings from his bank account. He already saved 640,000 pesos in his account. What was supposedly the money to buy his car, all of it vanished in a snap. His little savings that he patiently funded every month were gone together with his dreams of driving his very own car. All because of one life-changing event.

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It's just unimaginable..

The thought of him giving up his hard-earned savings just to pay for Hospital and Medical bills shatters my heart.

No one wants to save up just to pay our Doctors and Hospitals, right?

But here's the thing. No one is talking about Life after Cancer.

Will he still be able to work?
Will his company employ him again?
If not, how will his family survive?
How will his sister continue her studies?
How will he fulfill his dreams?
What now?

ONE Critical Illness can wipe out TEN years worth of Savings

ONE Critical Illness can wipe away ALL your Dreams

Please be adequately protected... 😞

Do you know how crucial it is to plan ahead for your Retirement?

Most of us don't understand the value of Retirement planning. In fact, statistics show that 90% of Filipinos are unprepared for their retirement.

What is Retirement?
Our Lifetime is divided into 4 Quarters.

Think about this:
📚 0-20 Student, no income
👨🏻‍💻 21-40 Young professional, earning income
👨🏼‍💼 41-60 Pre-Retired, stable income
👴🏻 60-80 Retired, no income

Did you notice that half of our lives (from 0-20 and 60-80) we won't be earning any income?

So you're only given 40 years to earn and save up to survive the 20-30 years of Retirement age.

What happens if you delay and start saving by 30? Or worse, by 40? Then it's only logical that it will require you twice the effort and twice the amount of savings before you reach Retirement.

Assuming you retire by 55 and live til 85 years old, how long do you think your SSS or PAGIBIG pensions and/or Company retirement plans (if you qualify for it) will provide for your retirement stage? How will an SSS Pension worth 6-8K survive you for the whole month?

Studies also show that a big chunk of retirees have little to no retirement savings and heavily rely on their children for financial support. Your kids should not become your retirement fund. Think about the self-respect and the dignity you will provide yourself once you grow old and have a fat retirement fund.

RETIREMENT IS THE LONGEST VACATION IN OUR LIFETIME

I'm sure we all have daydreamed about when we're old and retired, chilling on an island, or playing golf, or traveling and experiencing the world, or taking your grandchildren to the movies and buying them their favorite toys.

My point is: You should enjoy your retirement, not retire your enjoyment. After 40 years of hardwork, we all deserve the best retirement and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Saving in a bank with 0.3% interest just won't cut it. As early as now, start stacking up those savings and set up your long-term investments.

MONEY MANAGEMENT 101

✅ Step 1: IMPROVE CASH FLOW
First step is always the hardest. Somehow, learn to manage your income, tally your expenses. Understand the importance of Saving and not everything in this world is Spending Spending Spending.

✅ Step 2: GET OUT OF BAD DEBT

Bad Debt - Let's you buy things you don't necessarily need

Good Debt - Helps you manage cash better. Acquiring ASSETS. (Assets that you purchase or invest in which generate you more money or appreciate in value over time, e.g. A business, an investment, a laptop for work productivity)

Always think "ROI (return on investment)" on your next purchase.

✅ Step 3: SET UP EMERGENCY FUND
These are LIQUID assets that are readily available when you need them. Usually, another separate savings account that you won't touch until an emergency emerges or you really need the money.

✅ Step 4: PROTECT YOUR INCOME
Purchase a Health card (HMO) and Invest in Life Insurance. You will never know when an illness or an accident will strike you. Best thing to do right now is PREPARE for it. Only a smart man will understand that it's better to set aside 3,000 pesos than shelling out 3,000,000 pesos when an uncertainty happens.

✅ Step 5: INVEST FOR THE FUTURE
Hedge off against inflation. Make your money work for you by investing it. Don't just invest and withdraw it after 3 years. You should also be thinking about long-term investing.

Notice the chronological order. You have to satisfy the 4 prior steps before you can safely invest. Sure, you have stocks, cars, businesses, condos. But who do you think will suffer more when you're out of the picture and you have outstanding mortgages, payables, and debts?

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For a Free Financial Consult
Send a Personal Message

Tomorrow's the First Work Week of the this Month

Fast forward 10-15 days from now and your hard-earned Salary will arrive again

Before anything else, please remember this wonderful Formula that has been proven helpful in building that bank account successfully over the years

INCOME - SAVINGS = EXPENSES

1) Income goes in
2) Throw 30-10% in another account
3) In that 2nd account, Diversify your savings by Investing at least 50% of it
3) Spend what's left of your income on necessities
4) Rinse and Repeat

Earning Money doesn't make you Rich. Regular and Disciplined Savings is how you build Wealth.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR PAPER ASSETS

Investing doesn’t have to be intimidating. You just have to know what you're getting into. Here are some one the most common investment vehicles out there.

📈 STOCKS 📈
This is basically owning shares in company. Stocks, sometimes referred to as equity or equities, are issued by companies to raise capital in order to grow the business or undertake new projects.

📜 BONDS 📜
Buying government and corporate debts. Yes, these are debts. Utang. Think of it as a loan from a bank. But in this scenario, you are the bank and the government or a corporation is borrowing money from you, in exchange for a regular and agreed interest rate.

Rule of Thumb: Depending on your investment appetite, this can be an upside or downside. Bondholders have minimal risks and minimal returns as well, while Shareholders can enjoy returns generated by increasing profits, theoretically to infinity and are also susceptible to high losses, depending on the market performance.

📊 MUTUAL FUNDS 📊
Pooling your assets with investors in a managed portfolio. Mutual Fund are pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.

In retrospect, picture you and your 9 other friends (the investors) collecting money from each other, 1000 pesos each, and you've come up with 10,000 pesos. You now give it to a dude who knows a lot about investing (a professional fund manager). This dude, with his expertise in investing, decides where to invest your 10,000php, so you and your friends won't bother doing it on your own and let the expert handle it. Services aren't free of course and comes with a little charge.

🔏 UITF 🔏
Unit Investment Trust Fund. Very similar to Mutual Funds. Usually offered by banks.

Breaking it Down: The main difference between these two is that UITFs are offered by banks, while mutual funds are their own companies. By buying into a UITF, you own units of this fund. By buying into a mutual fund, you own shares and become a shareholder in the mutual fund company.

📝 VUL Insurance 📝
In simple terms, Insurance + Investment. It's like a 2-in-1 version. Probably the most popular product in the insurance market right now. Gone are the days of traditional standalone insurances but some still find this handy.

Why is it so popular? Because of the investment feature. It simply works like a Mutual Fund, your money is still invested in either/both stocks and bonds, but with the added Insurance Protection benefits.

What's the Life Insurance for? Unlike any investment, VUL will guarantee you and your family an immediate amount of money if something uncertain (sickness, accidents, disability, death) happens to your Life.

If nothing happens? Like any investment, your money grows through long-term investing and is withdrawable for various uses like wedding, children's education, travel, car, house, retirement, or what have you.

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Investing isn't supposed to be scary, or taboo, or a lost cause, or a farfetched idea. It's just a matter of being proactive and start ASKING.

Talk to a Financial Advisor and learn how to determine your Financial Needs and pattern in with the right Investment option.

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FOR A FREE FINANCIAL CONSULT
Send a personal message at this page
or through the following:
📧: [email protected]
📱: 09778344455

5 Simple "HABITS" To Achieve Financial Freedom

"We don’t make our habits. Our habits make us"

Bad Habits
Good Habits
They’re simply strings of money decisions added together and repeated.

"Financial Freedom" is such a big word and sometimes seem unachievable. We often think that to achieve Financial Freedom is to be uber rich and lay on a bed of cash. But in reality, it's not.

Here are some practical ways to achieve Financial Freedom:

1️⃣ EARN MORE, SPEND LESS 1️⃣
It's the oldest trick in the book. We've all heard about this, usually from our parents. But it's the most practical, number 1 way to achieve financial wellness. But it should be proportional.

If you're earning 20,000php, don't spend more than 10,000php.

If you're earning 50,000php, don't spend more than 25,000php.

If you're earning 100,000php, don't spend more than 50,000php.

Your friends may call you frugal, cheap, or killjoy.. but who cares, really?

It's not really how much you earn. It's how much you save. Real simple.

2️⃣ DON'T WAIT TO INVEST 2️⃣
Investing has no age requirement. Don't wait til your hair is all grey. Invest while you're young and able. You have your entire life ahead of you. Even if you fail, you'll have the most important asset which is TIME. Leverage it.

Investments involves risk. Not investing when you're young is riskier.
The younger you are, the more time your money has to make up any early losses.

Also, INVEST FOR THE LONG TERM
Don't be fancy and pull out your money after 3 years when your money grows 5 or 10%, you will lose.

If you're 50, 60, 70 years old, it's never too late. You also have an asset. You have actual business and market EXPERIENCE. Use this to your advantage. By now, you have your family behind you. It's all the more reason to invest.

3️⃣ LOVE YOUR CAREER 3️⃣
If you're employed..
Self-Employed..
Small Business Owner..
Serial Entrepreneur..
CEO, CFO, COO of a company
or just a regular rank and file guy..

FALL INLOVE WITH YOUR JOB!
If you haven't fallen in love with your job, find another, a side hustle perhaps.

When you're in love with your career, you take your job seriously, face no work pressure, and won't complain about being neck-deep in work.

4️⃣ BUDGET AND MANAGE 4️⃣
Saving money is a prerequisite to financial freedom, yes.

PAY YOURSELF FIRST
Make savings automatic in this wonderful way called "Auto-Debit" (ask a Financial Advisor on how to set up disciplined and automatic savings)

You also have simple methods like 50/30/20 (as opposed to 70/30/10)
50% Budget
30% Bank Savings
20% Investments

This method financially prepares you for Short, Medium, and Long Term.
IMPLEMENT THIS

5️⃣ AVOID DEBTS AND SPENDING MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE 5️⃣

This doesn't mean giving up your credit card. This means you should Manage your credit properly. Maybe practice spending only 45% of your Credit Limit

If you're given 60,000 Limit
Don't spend more than 27,000

I personally use credit cards for 12 or 24months 0% interest installments on gadgets and appliances.

You avoid shelling out big money one time
You also break down your expenses in a small monthly portions. It's a Win-Win.

But ultimately, just avoid Debts
These are Expenses with fangs that sucks out all your income.

These 5 Ways are some practical ways you can implement today.

It's a process. Start doing at least 1 or 2 of these and work your way up to Financial Freedom.

❗️Worst Money Spending Habits of Pinoys ❗️

1️⃣ THE MAÑANA HABIT
Even if we know the importance of Saving, we procrastinate because of Lack of Discipline. It's a leach. It's a disease. It's a recurring habit.

Cure? This little thing called "Discplined Savings" and/or pattern it with the famous formula "INCOME - SAVINGS = EXPENSES"

2️⃣ LIVING THE LIFE TO THE FULLEST
This advise has blinded many people to enioy short term pleasures not seeing it's effect in the future.

Cure? Live within your means! Don't spend money that you don't have, like maxing out your a 50K credit limit every month when you only make 35K, going into debts you can even pay off in the next three months.

E.g. If you can't afford 4pcs of iPhone 7+, you can't afford to buy one.

3️⃣ BAHALA NA SI BATMAN
People who have no Financial planning or budget planning. Only you can save yourself, not Batman, not your parents, not your kids.

Cure? Know that you're the only person accountable when you swipe that credit card and at the end of the month it's your address they're gonna send the credit bill to, not Batman's.

4️⃣ PAKIKISAMA OR PA-LIBRE
Our never ending value of "utang na loob" which sometimes negatively affects our financial balance just because we are entitled to contribute. Birthdays, Fiestas, the famous line "Painom Ka Naman" Its making people broke.

Cure? Not saying that we burn bridges or ditch parties. I'm saying everything should be planned accordingly. Don't spend spontaneously or impulsively.

What is "The Financial Blueprint"?

Your guide to achieving a solid Financial Plan. This page produces practical content about financial planning which includes, but are not limited to:

💡GENERAL FINANCIAL PRINCIPLES like Cash-Flow management, Finance and Budgeting, Financial Institutions, Economic Trends and News

💰 SAVINGS and practical tips on how to achieve your goals and dreams through proper saving and investing

📈 INVESTMENTS and the latest news in both local and international financial markets, Mutual Funds, Bank UITFs, Stock markets, Government and Corporate Bonds, VULs or investment-linked Life Insurance

📚 EDUCATION PLANNING and newest trends of educational institutions and it's corresponding tuition rates, and how to properly plan for your children's education

🏖 RETIREMENT PLANNING and how to properly plan for the "longest vacation" in our lfe through long-term savings and investments.

🔒 INCOME PROTECTION through Life Insurance. Because life is not just about making money. It's also about making sure you'll keep it when the uncertain happens

The Financial Blueprint provides Free Daily and Weekly content on practical advice in achieving a proper plan for your money.