Hi everyone!
My schedule has been sweet to me lately that I have found a perfect time to put this out.
I’m so excited to blog about it and now that we’re here, I’d like to inform you all that I’m back on intentionally reading books, and one of those books that needed re-visiting is Chinkee Tan’s Diary ng Pulubi.
But let me first tell you something about the author of the book. Chinkee Tan is a ChiNoy wellness and life coach. He has done talks in our church and in seminars in my side job as Financial Advisor in Pru Life UK. You can search him on Google to find out more! 😉
While I was reading it, I can’t help but thank God for all the wrong mindsets He is replacing with good disciplines, especially, when it comes to finances. I didn’t even remember asking all of it but He did it anyway. Surely, our God knows us more than we do!
The biggest impartation that I can give to you while reading this is that money discipline, more than a skill/practice, is a mindset conditioning. Why did I say that? Let me share some of the experiences/failures I did when I earned good money but ended up bankrupt:
1. Before, I wanted to try everything. That meant trying out this restaurant, this clothing store, these pair of shoes, travel to this country and the list goes on.. please note that I’m definitely not against this though when I earned a little extra, instead of saving/investing it, I was hungry for not missing out on things (FOMO in millennial terms).
2. I thought of investments as scams, and agents, just trying to earn money through your money— while I could definitely be wrong on this, this has been a mindset that held me from investing in a period in my professional season where I earned good money. Looking back, it was a hard pill to swallow but I don’t linger to it anymore simply because, I won’t be able to take back those times anymore. Just correct the ones ahead. 🙂
3. I was lazy taking/afraid of sidejobs. I was also afraid to sell. Couldn’t tell you how self-absorbed I was before and I thought having a side-job is an open opportunity of an imbalanced life. I always believed that one job is enough, that I don’t need to open myself in other opportunities because earning extra is selfish. So instead of taking learning opportunities, I limited my avenues and prioritized my health more. Although the practice was good, the mindset was still wrong. In return, I splurged a lot in taking care of self that it went to too much self and no service of others.
4. I had 3 credit cards with ONLY one source of income! 🤦🏻♀️
This is the biggest bad decision I made as of today! I cringe everytime I think of it! There’s nothing wrong with having credit cards if and only if you have the discipline using it. At the time, I didn’t have that as well. It left me swiping and swiping on things that I impulsively liked. Leaving no room for careful thought whether or not to buy this or that. It was a toxic practice but getting out was the hardest because you’re so used to it that it was a mind game everytime you’re tempted to do it. There was even a time where my debts accumulated it left me bankrupt on my funds. That was really a grounding and traumatic lesson I had to endure that led me to be mindful of budgeting and other finance management practices I do now.
5. I only paid my credit cards before with the minimum amount — this is probably, one of my biggest mistakes ever, I always thought that paying it at least will reduce my debt, but in the long run, it just compounds it! When you pay your credit card debts with minimum amount, you are setting yourself up for great debt especially if you don’t make up for the remaining debt right away. The finance charges are usually computed based on the principal amount and not the remaining so if you are also not tracking your debts and expenses too well, avoid making this mistake by paying the full amount of your payable for the month because it is a slow, painful chain to break off. You will eventually be in the loop of debt you never wanted to be in the first place.
These are just the items which are on top of my head why I was a victim of financial stress. Although it is a looong hard discipline to practice, I would like to encourage everyone to practice mindful spending as early as now because the more you dwell and delay it, the more it will leave you regretting that you should have started right away. It is true that it is a bad habit to break but it will be rewarding in the end and the true meaning of financial freedom will be yours at hand!
Save, Invest and Tithe and all will be well for you!
Kissed by Fire 