Lockdown As A Retirement Test

Lockdown As A Retirement Test

The immediate lockdown that we experienced is actually a test on whether we have the available resources to retire. This should be treated as a wake up call to check how we can do better in handling our finances. Remember, you have two choices at retirement: (1) enjoy your retirement, or (2) retire your enjoyment. The choice is always yours.

Time is everything

I would always go on to ask the participants in my trainings to tell me what they think is the difference between the dead and the living. This would puzzle most but when I start talking about what time does for us, it then dawns on them that the biggest difference between the dead and the living is time. Yes, time is everything. For the dead, their time is up. For us living, we still have time. With time we can still work to achieve our dreams and work on improving ourselves to discover our best version. 

Financial Security Is In

The pandemic in more ways than one showed us things we never would have paid attention to because of our busy lives. In an ironic way, it has slowed down our pace, made us look deeper into our lives and prioritize what matters most.

We realized that we can do without the luxuries that we were used to — spa treatments, dining out, travel, facials, massages and the like. As we looked at the luxury items in our closet, we even probably felt regret that we spent so much on these things which we now do not use. In fact, I believe that whenever we heard the words “new normal”  we were ready to scream. 

The reality of suddenly losing one’s income or assets due to the pandemic’s economic fallout made us rethink how we live and how we handle our finances.

Indeed, we need to change the way we spend our money. If you can’t sustain your family’s financial health during the five or six months of economic hardship, what will thirty years of retirement look like?

Stick to a plan

Having that saving mindset is like a muscle that you need to build over time. It’s like you learning to walk all over again. When you were a child, the more you practiced walking, the longer you could walk unassisted. The longer you walked, the easier it was to climb. 

The very first thing that we need to do about changing our mindset about saving is to stick to a life insurance plan. Why? A life insurance plan makes you pay for something that will give you savings in the end. It also adds up as a risk transfer tool for all that may happen to you. Interested in learning the secret of this? Set an online meeting via zoom.

31 Envelope Challenge

In the book of Rory Vaden entitled, Take the Stairs, he explained that taking the stairs is a mindset focused on making more disciplined choices day in and day out.

You see mindset matters. Back in 1999, I was someone who like you, looks forward to paydays. I will never forget that time when my husband and I walked around the university belt in Manila trying to sell the ink of the printer we had sold a few months ago just to have money for food that day.

We weren’t able to sell the ink that day. We passed by restaurants swallowing our saliva and along with it our appetite. We resolved, never again. 

My husband came home the following day giving me 31 envelopes. We filled it with 100 pesos and committed to spend only that amount everyday and to deposit whatever was left in the envelopes at the end of the month. It was not easy but it turns out, that was the breakthrough of our financial life.

How about you? What is your 31 envelope challenge?

Build A Sustainable Business

Build A Sustainable Business

Description

Start your own business alongside accomplished business leaders in a company that is positioned to make its mark in the insurance industry.

THRIVING INDUSTRY

Inspira is a Pru Life UK general agency promoting financial literacy among Filipinos through education and life insurance. It seeks to cultivate the habit of saving into the Philippine population through its well rounded and competent financial advisors.

  • We offer a proven business plan
  • Exciting travels and rewards
  • Coaching and mentoring from experienced agency leaders

AWESOME ENTREPRENEURS

We are looking for driven and self motivated individuals with entrepreneurial mindset to be part of our elite financial advisors whether on a full time or part time basis.

AMAZING PERKS

  • Excellent growth and advancement opportunities
  • Top benefits such as HMO, Savings Plan and Life Insurance
  • Top caliber trainings to give you the edge on your market
  • Travel incentives

Start Building A Pandemic-Proof Career Now

Discover why this career will put you on the road to financial independence.

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The Purpose Driven Close

The Purpose Driven Close

Today, in the first virtual life insurance congress and MDRT day 2020, I share the stage with some of the people I look up to in the industry: Regina Bedoya, Bryan Heckert, Mark Hanna, Robert Young, colleagues in Pru Life UK Joan Chua and our President Jumbing De Rosas, famous basketball coach, Tim Cone and very esteemed colleagues in the industry. This is one of my bucket list. More importantly, this is an affirmation that indeed dreams do come true. Since the very first time I have attended my Annual MDRT Meeting in Philadelphia, I have dreamed of getting on that stage where the best of the best occupy. I believe that this is the first step in that journey.

My topic,  Purpose Driven Close is the catalyst of my career. They said that to be successful in sales you need to know how to sell. I believed otherwise. Before entering life insurance, I always felt a selling career was not for me. There was one thing my husband said that made me reconsider. It was that sales is never about selling, it is about educating people about what they want.

I believe that we can achieve whatever we want if we have the courage to believe that we can. What struck me about life insurance was the guarantee that your risks are managed. So my sales process made sure that I get to the purpose of financial planning: having the choice, control and dignity at any point in your life. That to me is financial freedom.

Read: Wealth Management Services

There are four standards of living that we know about: the highest is luxurious and in contrast to that is poverty. In the middle, which is why we call it middle class are two types of middle class: those living on necessity and those living a comfortable life. Understand that whatever standard of living you are in, you will need financial planning. The problem is we think that our breadwinner (man at work) will always be there and will be able to fulfil our dreams. The word positivity has become our philosophy to the point that we deny that anything bad can happen if we just maintain a positive outlook. The bad news is that untimely death, illness and disability can easily blow away our dreams. Think about this: why would a boat carry a lifeboat when all the crew will work towards making sure it reaches its destination safely? It is for the just in case scenarios. We would not want to be caught empty handed now, would we? This is why we need to build a partner for man at work. We call this partner money at work. We all have financial building blocks to develop so we can achieve financial independence and build a legacy. The most basic of financial planning is risk management. This is why we all start with life insurance. The good news is that life insurance policies now have the unit link feature which allows you to invest while building up your protection. What I do is to put together a plan that will help you achieve what you want to happen in your life. Thus, the purpose driven close. If this is something you would like to explore, I would love to hear from you.

The Role of Women in Shaping The Finances of a Household

The Role of Women in Shaping The Finances of a Household

In my recently concluded webinar on this topic, it was interesting to note that most women are the ones who budget the finances of the household. This may be because of women’s keen attention to details and ability to organize and multi task. Yes, the role of women has evolved throughout the years. The changes from a stay at home parent tending to the kids and the household to a working parent still finding time to balance between the responsibilities of work and the family are not a small laughing matter. Yet, let me just make it clear that gender plays no role in financial success. Truly, that is a function of financial literacy. In fact, in one of the surveys conducted on financial literacy, it appeared that men are 5% more financially literate than women.

Coming from my experience as a mother to three beautiful kids, I taught the lesson on needs and wants everytime we did grocery. I loved going to the grocery with them. At first, it was just to let them fill our cart with what was on my grocery list. If one saw a lollipop or anything else that they wanted, I would always ask if that is necessary. I made them imagine what it would be like eating it. (It was easy because they loved doing the imagine game as kids!) Then I would then make them compare that feeling with another thing they want. Then I would ask them which one they like better. It is then that that they decide which one to buy. When they got older, they took turns making the grocery list. We still went through the same exercise about needs and wants. The only difference this time was that they now had real experience on the things they want, garnered from tasting some food from the lunch boxes of their classmates or playing a gadget their classmates owned. It thrilled me every time they were able to come up with a decision, no matter that the decision may be petty for us adults.

Cash management is a very important aspect in our adult life but it has to be started early on. I started my kids on the concept of saving when they started grade school. I emphasized that saving is a habit that they had to do consistently and until they grow old. So, we opened a junior savings account for each one of them. Needless to say, they had their accounts since they were in first grade. They had their first US trip in 2019 and we made them use their ATMs for the first time. We wanted to test how effective were our lessons on budgeting was. Luckily, we all came home with their accounts still open. They had varied practices in terms of spending but one stark attitude I saw was they were always thinking about what they wanted to buy, comparing prices and looking for alternatives before settling for a buy. No one was an impulsive buyer. It was hilarious when my eldest daughter told us when we were done going around the outlets and eating dinner already that while she was at the outlets, she could almost hear me whispering to her asking whether it was really necessary to buy what she wanted. I was happy to find out that they had sound money habits. Those moments together that we had when they were young were very precious moments that I think has framed their money mindset.

Indeed, best practices start at home. Mothers are the go to for anything that their children need. This results in more interaction. More interaction means more influence. The households finances play a big role in the family’s dynamics. As mothers, I believe it is our role to bring the family’s finances to the forefront and shape the best future for the whole family, together with our husbands.

 

5 Reasons I Chose To Become A Financial Advisor

5 Reasons I Chose To Become A Financial Advisor

A lot of us spend a lifetime looking for the career that will fit us. I am blessed, it only took 15 years of my professional life before I found a purposeful career. It started with my husband being sold an insurance policy by his long time friend. He got interested in the opportunity but instead of him going into the business, he asked me to do it. Being the obedient wife, I just followed. Little did I know that it would be what I have been looking for.

1. We are not paid to enjoy our job because it ceases to become a job when we already enjoy doing it.

I was very apprehensive when my husband asked me to enter the life insurance industry. One, I did not know how to sell and second I am not fond of talking to people. I am an introvert. Truly, there is grace in obedience. Little did I know that I will be educating people on finance (which is my passion) and this is what will change their lives. What started out as a job now became my passion. Before I knew it, it became a part of me. Needless to say, I enjoy helping people reach their financial objectives to this day.

2. An important aspect of our life that serves to define who we become is our career.

Our careers serve as a manifestation of who we are and who we would like to become. Therefore, to do well in any career, it needs to be in alignment with our principles in life. This career challenged the best and the worst in me. Overtime, this made me acknowledge my limitations so I can go beyond them to live the kind of life we all preferred. Overall, this career brought out the best in me.

3. You will get all you want in life if you help others get what they want.

My prayer has always been to be in an industry that will empower other people. This is why my husband and I founded Saavedra Songalia and Associates and Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy. This is to empower businesses to reach their fullest potential. However, without a solution to their needs having known through our coaching, whatever we do will not be successful. Life insurance is overall a tool to transfer risks. Businesses and individuals need to transfer their risks so they can sustain the lifestyle that they have worked hard for. This is why I do what I do. I do not only sell life insurance. I sell programs using life insurance to help you achieve your dreams.

4. Financial literacy will sustain your standard of living.

Man at work needs a partner. We call this partner, money at work. Money at work needs to be big enough to let the family stay at their preferred standard of living. Nothing needs to change if something happens to man at work. After all, our dreams do not change with the demise of a loved one, right? We continue living. Protecting our life from risks, therefore, brings our priorities into perspective and our love for family to the forefront. It is as if we are saying: “Don’t worry I have you covered” and really mean it when the time comes. Having the choice, control and dignity at any point in our lives is financial freedom.

5. No amount of success will replace the failure of family.

A career that enables you to be present in the life of your kids is priceless. A career that gives you time to spend on what matters is God given. A career that provides for the needs of the family without taking you away from them is worth it. This is what I found in my career as a financial advisor. This is also why I am sharing this opportunity to everyone. As I grow my team, one step at a time, it is my fervent prayer that you who is reading this will be one of those who will be blessed with this opportunity. After all we are destined to be the best version of ourselves. Only the right mentor will bring you there. Join me. Together, let’s inspire one life at a time.