What’s your excuse for not saving?
Don’t wait for the “right time” to save because you could run out of time waiting.
IT is in the best interest of consumers to save as much as they can, when they can. Spending all of your money is not maximizing your purchasing power, but wasting your funds, especially if you are buying things you don’t really need. Assuming that low-interest regular savings accounts are the only instruments available for keeping and growing your money, you can’t make it an excuse for not saving. Filipinos have a saying for this attitude:
“Kung gusto may paraan; kung ayaw maraming dahilan.”
More than 90 percent of Filipinos have too little or no savings at all, and this number includes people who have the capacity to save. This inability to save can be attributed to certain obstacles. Although these obstacles are formidable, you should strive to overcome them and stop using them as an excuse for not saving. Here are four barriers to saving that you need to acknowledge and understand and the steps you can take to hurdle them.
1. Lack of income. Ask people why they can’t save and this is the most common reason they will offer. A huge number of Filipino families are very near the poverty line, which means they can barely provide for their basic needs and there is simply not enough money to save.
Instead of resigning yourself to a lifetime of low wages that’s barely sufficient, use it as a challenge. Stop complaining and start finding ways to boost your earnings. Do something to rise above your present predicament.
2. Poor spending habits. People who earn a sizable income and suppose to have more than enough to cover their needs are unable to save because of very poor spending habits. They waste their money on a lot of things that they can live without. Many have become “professional spenders,” making it a point to spend all the money that gets into their hands even if they don’t have to. Worse, some people “spend” their money even before they’ve earned it (courtesy of your plastic friend).
The ability to save is not just about how much you earn, but, more important, how much you keep. Make a habit instead of living within your means; you cannot build savings by spending all your money. Gradually cut back on your unnecessary expenses and remember to spend your money wisely at all times.
3. Procrastination. Give a Pinoy an assignment way ahead of time and he will likely start working on it when the deadline is just around the corner. Filipinos are notorious for this tsaka na habit and it shows in almost everything we do, even when it comes to saving. Many put off saving for another day, reasoning out that there are way too many things to enjoy right now.
Don’t wait for the “right time” to save because you could run out of time waiting. Start to save now!
Think of how you are going to enjoy your life in the future if all you think about is instant gratification. Think of how you can survive a financial crisis if you don’t have any savings.
4. Low financial IQ. There are people who are capable of saving, but still fail to do so because they do not know how and nobody bothered to teach them. In short, they are financially illiterate. People who are lacking in financial intelligence will not be able to use strategies for effective saving or identify investment opportunities, which can greatly boost their savings. Those who do not have adequate understanding about personal finance can also fall victim to investment scams that can wreak havoc on their finances or wipe out their lifetime savings.
At every opportunity, educate yourself about personal finance. Read books and attend seminars to learn more about saving, money management and investment strategies. Don’t hesitate to spend a few hundred pesos for a book or a couple thousand pesos for a seminar on personal finance because these will help you build millions in savings; something that a daily dose of high-priced coffee or an expensive pair of shoes can’t give you.
If you have other “elegant” excuses for not saving, it will do you a lot of good if you just forget about them and simply start saving. It cannot be stressed enough that to achieve financial security, you have to save consistently and tirelessly regardless of how much you earn. Again, don’t wait for the right time to save because the right time is now!
Alvin Tabañag is a Registered Financial Planner of RFP Philippines. He is personal money management coach and founder of Pinoy Smart Savers Learning Center. He is the Best-Selling book author of “12 Steps to Build Wealth on Any Income”.
Source: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/whats-your-excuse-for-not-saving/
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