This is a guest post by Grace
Do you know that 8 out of 10 retirees will be dependent on their children for financial support? This statement was released from the Philippine National Statistics Office in 2003.
We are already in 2015, and yet I still see a lot of families who have their parents living with their children. It is happening and I am not even surprised because it has been in the culture of many Filipinos. I have been a Financial Advisor for almost 5 years now and witnessed many single young professionals stayed single for a long time without saving a penny because they spend quickly on gadgets; travel a lot, big purchases or constantly providing for their family (Mom, Dad and nephews). I have nothing against the latter but I still believe that making them financially secure through total dependency on you makes you a greedy person rather than a generous person. Why? Because you are holding them of their talents to earn a living by providing for themselves, In short, passing the legacy to them, so that even when you are not around they know what to do.
There are only 3 easy steps that I want to share to young people who do not yet know how to save for their future:
Step 1:
The moment that we start working, we can already set aside 10% of our salary. What is the 10% for? The 10% goes directly to God’s hand. How do we give to God? The head of the church is Jesus Christ and we are the parts of the body, the church should allow you to practice this willingly. We are in God-believing country and yes, it is a command in the book of Deuteronomy 14:22. The Bible talks about tithe which means a tenth of your first crop. 2 Corinthians 9:7 gives us an insight of the attitude of our hearts when we give to God. And how do we do this? We start a relationship with him through believing in Him. What is 10%, when what we all have is His. The gospel truly changes our values inside out which are truly critical in managing our finances.
Step 2:
This may vary on your needs and salary: at least 20% goes to savings and investments. Let’s say you have a P15,000 salary. What you can do is send 10% of 15,000 to your retirement fund and another 10% in your savings account. In this way you will have the discipline of making your money work for you and another for emergency funds.
Step 3:
What about the 70%? Our favorite part of our work is when we finally enjoy the fruits of our labor. This is the part where we spend for our basic needs and take a vacation. This is when we work around with the 10,500 or 70% of the 15,000. We budget around with this because we still need to be disciplined when it comes to our expenses.
In summary, this is the classic example of putting your money in order:
Salary = Tithe + Savings & Investments & Protection + Expenses
How we see our future is how we save for it. Are we among those 8% of the retirees who will be asking their children for money because of sickness and old age that we cannot work anymore? I know some parents who felt ashamed already because they knew that their children wanted to provide for their own family. Or are we among those 2% who are financially secured?
A grandmother who planned her retirement 40 years ago, have been living an abundant retirement now. Because the time she spent with her family is when they visited her in her house while having a sumptuous meals together or even travelling abroad. She’s now 80 years old and never did I see her ask for financial support except when playing with her grandchildren.
We too can experience this kind of retirement in the future if we start now while we are still healthy and earning a living. Let us increase the 2% of the retired population and make more people aware of their discipline. The way we can do this is to start with ourselves and pass it on.
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. – 2 Corinthians 9:6
Grace Panugayan is a Registered Financial Planner and working with one of the leading Insurance Company in the Philippines, Pru Life UK for 5 years.
Photo Credits to the following
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