Being a stay-at-home mom gave me lots of extra time in between preparing meals, house chores, and baby-sitting. Before, those extra hours are mostly spent on lying down tinkering on my mobile, Facebook, Instagram, or watching TV.
This week, I was able to spend my extra time to catch up on my reading. I love reading but when I moved here in PNG, I have no access to books as cheap as those ones in Book Sale. All I have were the free e-books I downloaded before (can someone send me links on more free e-books?)
Some time last week, I stumbled upon this blog while searching for Trust Fund investments which, by the way, I always see on BPI’s wall and just chose to ignore. I just learned about it through the mommy forum I am a member of. Let me share to you some of my favorite posts from Ready to be Rich. I’m sharing you the things that I have learned so far. Just click on the links and happy reading.
Disclaimer: the ideas written here are just based on my understanding of the articles that I have read. If you have questions, please consult the author of the blog or any financial gurus out there.
photo credits: http://www.wealthwithin.com.au
Being rich isn’t just about the amount of money that you have; it’s all about mind-setting. First, you have to start with how to change your mindset regarding money and spending. Yes I know we all work very hard for that monthly paycheck just to pay our bills, credit card debts, and our expenses and then give ourselves a well-deserved reward like traveling and buying stuff that we want (oh, that new iPhone 5!) and then save the remaining, if there’s anything left, which is most of time, nothing. But have you thought about saving up for your retirement, or your children’s college education? I would be happy if you are, but if not, when will you start to think about and plan for your future? What are you going to do to achieve that financial security?
Before you start with your financial journey, you have to first start to analyze your spending habits, track your expenses, know your enemies and your allies toward financial success, learn to pay yourself first, live below your means and reward yourself later. Also try to practice frugality. Being frugal doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of life’s pleasures but rather taking time to analyze before you spend your hard-earned money to buy something. You can also find a lot of money-saving tips on this blog that can help you boost your savings.
Most of the finance blog I read has one generic advice: free yourself from debts before or while you start building up your savings and start building your emergency fund first before you start your investments. Once you establish your SWAN (Sleep Well At Night) Fund, you can now start doing your research on where to put or invest your money – you have the options – cash deposits (TD, SDA, etc.), bonds, UITF and mutual funds, insurance or business ventures, depending on your risk profile. If you are the risky type of person, you can go as high as the Real Estate and Stock Market, or a bigger business.
Possible nosebleed for those who have no idea of what I just wrote. Well, I must say I went through the same nosebleed-and-headache stage every time I come across those terms. The solution? Read some more. At this point in time, information is just everywhere – you just simply have to look for it. It is very important that we invest in financial literacy first before we jump into the investment vehicle. Read, ask around, actively join forums and comment on blogs, or if you can afford it, attend talks and seminars. Remember that “our best investment is our mind” (Robert Kiyosaki)
So now that you have started researching and reading and asking, you can now assess yourself if you are ready for this investment thing. I found tips for beginning investors on where and how much to invest and how you generate passive income from your investments.
These are just some posts that I read again and again for the past few days. It’s like a whole new world has opened up for me, and surprisingly, I got hooked and kept on looking for articles to read. Most of us think investment is just for old people or the rich people who have a lot of extra money they can risk. I was one of those “most people”. After reading, I finally understood Robert Kiyosaki when he said “don’t work for money, let your money work for you”, or “work smarter and make money work for you“
Yup, I’m reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” again and this time I fully understood the meaning of this book. I can now say that I have more financial knowledge than before and I will continue to learn and apply the lessons in the way I manage our finances so we won’t be “poor” anymore.
I should have found out about this a long time ago…
