Read now so you know if you are actually sabotaging your finances:
1. Always paying yourself first -- Yet this might be familiar to you since this was the advice given by your financial advisor, this conventional thinking does not work all of the time. This works best only if you do not carry any huge consumer debt because chances are, the gains you receive from your deposit or investment is paltry compared to the interest the bank charges you. Being disciplined in saving is your cornerstone for financial success. You have been working hard and you deserve to be rewarded once somebody pays you for it.
2. You think enough is really enough -- Sadly, most of the time, enough is not really enough. Here is the tough question: Can your family subsist on P200 a day? P200 is less than half of the minimum wage in Metro Manila, and this is the interest income your family will receive when they put that in a time deposit earning a meager 4% a year. So, do not just settle for enough. Overshoot your target so that even if you come up short, at least you have “enough.”
3. You work harder than your money; and not the other way around -- All of us work hard to earn money. Some even have to work harder. And some of the richest men today work the hardest. That is why there is absolutely no reason why your money should slack off and take it easy. Your money should work twice as hard, or at the very least, work as hard as you do. We all wish we could turn back time, and rectify our mistakes. Things do not work that way though. We live with the memories of our blunders; but these mistakes, however painful, allow us to become savvier and better in managing our finances. If you are actively increasing your income by 10% to 20% a year, then your money should be earning the same or even greater than that. Anything less than that is unacceptable. In fact, it is considered lazy!
So, make money work harder than you. This is the key in attaining financial freedom.
