Red works full time in one of the largest BPO companies in the Philippines as an Associate Director. He trades in the Local Market and maintains a small vegetable garden at home.
Danda is a full-time mom and a supportive wife.
They have been part of the working class of the Philippines and have been employed right after graduation. At that time, the BPO industry was just starting to grow and they took advantage of the opportunities it presented. They got hired as agents. Red continued working his way up the ladder, getting promoted to a Subject Matter Expert, Supervisor, Assistant Operations Manager, Operations Manager, Senior Operations Manager, Delivery Process Executive and now an Associate Director. As for Danda, she took on a more important role in their household; taking care of everything that Red and their two daughters might need, from their breakfast down to their socks.
This blog is about their journey to financial wellness.
The chart above details their Savings Journey from the time they met to present. Their Investing Journey will be detailed in length in the next article. The focus of this post will be around some pivotal events between the year 2005 to 2017 that changed the way they view money.
Red and Danda met in 2005 in a BPO company living a lifestyle that matches their ability to earn. At the end of each year until 2008, the money they made together less the money they spent equaled to zero. In 2008, Danda got sick while she was pregnant with their youngest daughter. This happened a day before the pay day. Because they lived day-to-day before then, they had only enough money to survive that day. Red had to borrow PHP 1,500.00 from a friend just to get Danda to a hospital. 2008 is one pivotal year that got them to have a sense of having an Emergency Fund. While you do not see savings in 2008 shown in the chart, they had emergency funds set aside that can sustain their lifestyle for the next three months. Understanding how much money they can set aside per month while putting up that emergency fund, they started saving month on month that shows in 2009.
They both realized how saving enough over time from 2010 can lead to financial freedom, at which point they would not have to exchange their time for money anymore. They have since lived pretty much the same lifestyle with only minimal upgrade while working hard to significantly increase their ability to earn. You would see that from 2011 to present, the % saved moved upward as their income increased.
The video below published in 2015 really inspired them both to set a target of retiring in 10 years. This is with very less understanding of investing and passive income. With better knowledge today about the Power of Compounding they now have actions tied to that plan.
They both wish to thank you for reading this article, and wish to hear from you through the comment section below.
Credit to http://VideoSchoolOnline.com for the video