THIS pandemic, we all experienced disruptions in our businesses. And some our countrymen lost their jobs; some had salary cuts. We are also seeing the rise of cases, especially of the Delta variant. Lockdown measures have affected finances, savings are being depleted because of lesser income and health-related expenses.
The question now for all of us is how we can re-build or maintain our emergency funds.
Setting up an emergency fund is an essential way to protect our family members from unforeseen events. We have seen that as Filipinos, our resiliency and spirit of “bayanihan” can make us thrive even in the midst of this financial and health crisis.
Here are some tips on how you can grow your funds.
1. Reduce unnecessary expenses.
Before the pandemic, majority of us are spending on non-essential consumption because that’s how our lifestyle is moving at that point in time. Dining out with friend, colleagues and family members are the usual routine of every Filipino during payday or holidays, which can be around 20 percent to 30 percent of average household income per month.
Eating out is a good bonding together but then this pandemic gave us another perspective of home-cooked food and how it can help us reduce expenses.
We are not saying that we should deprive ourselves from enjoying our income but then if we will really analyse where our money is going, we can see that we can still prevent a leak from the boat by keeping an eye on small holes.
2. Set aside 10 percent of your income regularly.
Saving a portion of your income can be difficult at times if it is not your habit. But then once you developed a consistent allocation of savings in your income, you will see the power of starting small in building your emergency fund.
We also call this principle by “paying yourself first.” Imagine if you can set aside P100 per day, which is P3,000 per month or P36,000 a year.
3. Invest in yourself.
When I graduated from college, I am always curious on how the rich people grew their income over time. I learned from successful business owners that increasing your knowledge, developing your skills and executing business principles can help us create more value.
The value that we can give will multiply also our earning capacity may it be in employment or in business. The question for us right now is: Are we investing in ourselves?
Attending online seminars, certifications or even listening in value giving channels in social media are just some of the ways on how we can improve our craft. This information age can be an advantage to us if we will learn to maximize our time and translate it to something productive.
4. Monetizing your skills.
Have you tried doing a “side-line” job aside from your full time job? Or maybe you have a certain business but you discovered another way to earn through your inherent skill?
This season, freelancing has been a norm because of the various opportunities to earn through the internet. It could be servicing other people as an accountant, copy writer, social media brand manager, online tutorial for dancing, singing, and many more.
Many of us realized that we can really earn from our hobbies as long as we can create a system and process on how we can market our services online.
5. Ask for help.
Many of us tried our best to earn a decent income after losing a job but then because of the quarantine measures, we still experienced a lot of drastic changes that aren’t in accordance with our plans. While it is good to monetize our skills, reduce spending, save a portion of our income and invest in ourselves, sometimes it is really impossible to do it.
Asking for help from people can help us to navigate our season. In life, there will be storms but one thing is for sure, we can all surpass the storms with the grace of our Lord and the help of our community. If you have relatives or family members who can extend help for you to rebuild your savings, it will be a good approach because it will give us time to recharge our recalibrate business strategies or maybe if you’re an employee, while waiting for your new job, you have someone who can at least help you with your basic needs.
Our government has a lot of initiatives also to help small-scale and medium enterprises by providing financial aids to heavily affected individuals specially the daily-wage earners.
Having said the five tips, always remember that in every crisis, there’s an opportunity. We need to go back to our creator who will give us the ability to produce wealth. I hope this article can give you hope in this challenging times.
Karlo Biglang-Awa is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal-financial planning, attend the 92nd RFP program this October 2021. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text at 0917-6248110.