Die Too Soon or Live Too Long?

Hi Again :)

I am supposed to write this last night but I have no enough time to do it. So now will be the time to write this. Based on the title of this post, it' quite intriguing or a question that will make u think on what would be the answer, right? That question has been on my mind for couple of months now when I started attending IMG Wealth Academy lectures. That question had struck my heart directly when I heard it. What will be my answer to the question??? Of course I want to live too long! Who wouldn't like that? No one I think want to die too soon especially if that person has still many dreams in life that he/she wants to accomplish or go through.

But my answer that I want to live too long would need a very big DISCIPLINE on my part as a person. I remember a line from a movie "Spiderman" that says "Great Power comes Great Responsibility". So if I want to live too long, I should discipline myself starting now not later but now. Even though I have a big responsibility with my family I should not also forget about myself. Every payday I should "Pay Myself First" before anything else.

I am wondering those average earner employees who has a take home pay of PHP 6,000 every month has a huge savings or still they can save even little amount of their pay. Compare to those who has a take home pay of about PHP 10,000 above that has no savings even a single centavo on their bank account. It is really how you manage your money wisely plus the discipline on yourself. We should "Live within our means".

Evaluate our wants and needs. Needs is more important than wants. For example, if you really want to buy a new phone like iPhone 5 but you already have your phone which is not a latest phone. Then ask yourself if you really want to buy a new one or is it a need? I have read a blog a days ago that says "Allow a month for that want to lasts and get back again to that want if you still want that".

We should also "Increase our Cashflow". How? Do have some business, like sell your old stuff to ebay or sulit.com. In IMG we have the solution for this, if you want to know more, just contact me and I will be willing to help you.

Start to have a health or life insurance that will protect you and help you in case of emergencies. Right now, PhilHealth has a minimum for about PHP450 for quarter that you will pay for self-employed, for employed it was cheaper I think. IMG has a become a partner of a health insurance company which is Kaiser also that you can have.

Then, we should eliminate our debts. So if you have a debt, start to slowly paying them. Pay those who have high interest first and down to the lowest interests. Debt makes a person not secure on his financial standing. Debt will eat you out in full if you will not stop or eliminate it.

Start to create your Emergency Fund. I have a post about this explaining how much you need for your emergency fund. Emergencies can happen anytime so we must be ready if that will come.

Last is investments. Start to create your portfolio and diversify it. We can invest our money to mutual fund or stocks. Stocks is more risky than mutual fund. It is better that you will finish creating your emergency fund before you invest in stocks. I have still no plan right now to invest in stocks. I am investing right now on mutual fund.

So what I've mentioned above is needed if we want to live too long :)

Till my next post. See yah :)

Jing-Jing