When I went to London in December 2004 for an Internal Audit job with Ernst & Young LLP, the PH Peso to British Pound (GBP) exchange rate was a staggering 100:1! Computing was a lot easier back then. So, for example if I have an annual salary of £35,000, this is equivalent to P3.5 million pesos...
As most all know, the cost of living in London was and up until now expensive....To save up, I have to stay in a tiny studio flat...it was so small that my clothes would smell like fried eggs or fried chicken everytime I cook. Good thing I did not cook bloody "tuyo" that time....Aside from rent, my expenses back then include: travel pass for my daily underground train commute to work, taxes like council tax (this is like municipal tax), tv license (yes, you have to pay an annual license if you want to watch tv!), food (groceries at Tesco's was my favorite especially if I have discount coupons), clothing (siempre dun iba ang outfit pag winter at pag summer)....
But my priority expense back then was to send money home for my family in Manila....I made it a point that every pay day (well, most of the time), I would send money for their household expenses...I was still single back then...in our family I was the eldest of 3 kings..Mom was the only one working as my Dad was already retired...my younger brother had 2 kids that time....with a struggling business to take care too....anyway, ok lang...basta I want them to be happy and have comfortable lives....
The exciting part was every December...as part of our Filipino custom, siempre dapat may "balikbayan box"...so I would splurge on "pasalubong" ....toys for my nephew, niece, inaanaks....bags or dresses for the ladies....shirts and shoes for the boys....perfumes for other friends....cans of chocolates/biscuits for the group pasalubong....never mind the cost....for me that time, what mattered was the fulfillment of making them happy during the festive seasons....
I would also save up all of my vacation leaves and go home every December....kase pag December, birthday ko at pasko.....so I would stay in Manila for a month....siempre, gastos ulit....lots of outings, reunions, gatherings....frequent trips to malls...more shopping.....karaoke, kainan, inuman with friends...lahat happy...
Ooops...this blog is about savings pala....thinking back, how I wish have read Money Sense before, probably I have known about savings and investments...how I wish I've met the likes Randell Tiongson, Efren Cruz, Henry Ong, Heinz Bulos and the Registered Financial Planners of the Philippines sana I did budgeting, and investing..sana I've met up with my agent before sa Pru Life para naginvest na lang ako sa variable/unit-linked insurance.....sana I did stocks with Citiseconline back then or mutual funds or real estate....imagine how big should be my investment portfolio now!!....well, that's the catch....as John Lennon said...Imagine!!!...
Well I'm now back to earth...back to my beloved country....I just want to say I salute our fellow OFWs/OCWs/Pinoy expats who sacrifice themselves, who left their families behind to earn the big bucks abroad....sharing and supporting once family is all good...kaya lang...sana they pay themselves first....save up for their own and their families future....remember the equation Income less Savings equals Expenses and not the other way around....study and practice financial planning...learn how to have passive income.....para everybody happy!!! =)
Hope this helps,
G.
Great post, Ge. You've just gained a fan.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot! =)
ReplyDelete