When I was still
pregnant, a lot of family members, friends, even strangers shared their
parenting tips to me. They shared stories about their parenting
challenges and life-changing experiences. They gave advice on how to
deal with the difficulties and adjustments of being a first time mom.
Some of them warned us about the additional expenses that are born with
the child.
After waiting for 7
years, Don and I thought we are well-prepared for raising Julia. We had a
birth plan, we read a lot of references on parenting, child development and
raising a family. Little did we know that one of the greatest challenges
we will face as parents is managing our finances properly.
Don and I work as
full-time employees so we thought money will not be an issue. So, we
continued with our no-child-yet lifestyle. After 15 months of being
parents, we realized that one aspect of parenting that we neglected to prepare
was a financial plan for our family. Yes, good parenting includes
effective management of finances. So with a depleting savings account and
an increasing credit card bill, Don and I sat down and talked about our income,
expenses and how we can save ourselves from falling into the trap of
mismanaging our resources.
We decided to have a major lifestyle change (read as: no shopping for me), a travel ban for 15 months and an expense budget to follow. However, managing expenses is only one aspect of financial security and stability. Saving and investing are equally important especially when raising a child. The money we save and set aside now will affect two things:
- The future of our children - As parents, it is our
responsibility to provide food, clothing and shelter to our
children. More importantly, it is our responsibility to provide
them opportunities to learn and be educated. Sending them to a good
school is not cheap.
- Our future without our children - Our children will
eventually leave us to live their own lives or start their own family.
One of the things I learned from my dad is saving
for retirement. His story of would haves and could haves is an
inspiration to set aside money for old age.
So, last month I met
with our ninong, Mr. Hector De Leon, Executive Vice President of First MetroAsset Management, Inc. Aside from discussing a possible wealth
management program for the employees of the company I work for, I took the opportunity
to ask him about my role as a mom in saving and investing for the family.
I mean, moms like us are expected to manage household expenses.
But, we can also contribute to saving and investing not only for our
child's future but for our retirement as well.
I am excited to let you
know that every week, for the month of May and June, I will be sharing with you
the things I learned from Mr. De Leon about saving and investing:
- Lesson 1: Basic principles of Saving and
Investing
- Lesson 2: Three Important Requirements of Saving
and Investing
- Lesson 3: Short Term Goal - Manage Daily
Household Expenses
- Lesson 4: Medium Term Goal - Saving for
Education
- Lesson 5: Long Term Goal - Saving for Retirement
It is never too late to
start saving AND investing. Yes, a cliché, I know. But, it’s true.
Did you experience any
difficulty in managing your finances? What did you do to overcome it?
Subscribe to my email
updates so you won’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about saving and
investing. Go to my sidebar and click the subscribe via email icon at
“Let’s Connect”.
Photo from Flickr.
Photo from Flickr.
