Author Topic: Help with Financial Planning at 23 (Read 1114 times)

janclaudette · « **on:** Oct 11, 2008, 09:36 PM »

hello fellow PMTers,

i am 23 years old and am very interested in money management and financial planning. my husband works abroad as an OFW, he's 25, while i work from home as a freelance web content writer. the thing here is that we want to plan our retirement as early as now and we need a rundown on the various products in the market that can assist us with this. i am continuously searching the net, this forum, and bank websites for products that can make money work for us instead of the other way around. my husband and i believe that as early as now we should strive for financial independence and that is the main reason why he left the country to jump start our plan. So if any of you guys have advice for newbies like us, I would gladly welcome them. Thanks in advance.

mlangseth · « **Reply #1 on:** Oct 11, 2008, 10:16 PM »

Congratulations and kudos to you for thinking like this at this young age. Yes, it is best to think of retirement while you're young and able to save and create more money.
Scoop your funds first by budgeting - have funds for emergency purposes.
Do not buy wants, rather needs - food. clothing, shelter.
Save at least 20% or more of your income.
When you have more - you can take on more savings in banks ie TD's, CD's and the like, buy income- generating assets. ie. apartment, rental houses.
Diversification is the key to amassing wealth, have solid and liquid assets working hard for you. This is one way to stive for financial independence/ freedom.
Stay humble - Do not keep up with the Joneses. you will be on your way to financial freedom without even knowing it. ( Voice of experience)
Good luck!

janclaudette · « **Reply #2 on:** Oct 12, 2008, 07:15 PM »

Hi mlangseth! thanks for your reply. other PMTers, I welcome all your tips and suggestions into achieving financial freedom for my family.

DongViktor · « **Reply #3 on:** Oct 13, 2008, 02:42 PM »

mlangseth is correct. diversification is the key.

if you want i can set an appointment with you to discuss financial planning concepts first before implementation. that way you'll understand why financial freedom is important and why it is not achieved by most.

please PM me if you're interested.

best regards,
Dong
Financial Planning Representative

poorguy · « **Reply #4 on:** Oct 13, 2008, 05:00 PM »

hello =] i am not of an expert but i want to suggest what i did so far, i work abroad also and i enjoy 400%more of my salary than before i was in the philippines, sad thing is i just started 2 years ago =[ hope its not too late, anyway
1. i started out to add all my monthly expenses, food,rent,transpo,emergency fund/month
2. if ever i get a chance to save some from my previous month, i add it to my next month's allowance to make my savings more bigger,and so on...
3. i diversify my savings, at first i just put it in a savings account and a time deposit, need to have an imediate money just incase that there will be some good business opportunity.
4. it is good that you are working freelance, what you can do is find somebody who have the same vision as you do, or partners... so your market may widen its range, remember that sometimes skills alone is not enough to make you successful, you need more contact, the more people you know the more opportunities you can get,
5. continue to invest yourself on learning about investment, tip be-friends with some bankers =] they may tip you on some good investments...
6. you are still young, invest in long term investment, maybe by the time you get to 30 what you sow will reap during the harvest season...
7.if your husband can take advantage of the stability of the currency he is earning, it is better that he also opens and save some, currency is like stocks also, when the exchange rate is high then, he can take advantage of sending more to you, sometimes other country have higher interst rate in banks so be aware of it also
8. dont bet on lotto =] just kidding

hope some of these help =] also take care of your health,

ellamaed0228 · « **Reply #5 on:** Oct 13, 2008, 06:49 PM »

janclaudette · « **Reply #6 on:** Oct 15, 2008, 02:03 PM »

Thanks to all of you guys. It's good to know that a lot of people are willing to help me out in this. Hope more PMTers can add their input to this thread so that it will serve as a guide for those wanting to plan their financial freedom as soon as they realize the need to.

DongViktor · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 16, 2008, 04:36 PM »

@janclaudette, your inbox is full. i can't reply to your msg.

basically the concept to financial freedom is:

* MMM (Make More Money) : Work & Business
* Save Money : Discipline, Planning, Purpose
* Grow Money : Know how money works. Let your money work for you.

credit.ph · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 16, 2008, 05:02 PM »

(1) You can create and write for your own website, and put google ads on it. It pays quite good if you know how to optimize your site well. For as little as Php 3,000, you can have your own domain name and hosting on a year. Remember to focus on a particular subject that has good traffic to attract the appropriate audience who would click at your ads.
(2) Put your money in trust...like RCBC's Molave Fund
(3) If you have many online contacts, why not engage in a small buy and sell business, like the ones who post their ads at multiply, selling unique shoes and bags.
(: