Many people feel that financial planning remains constant throughout one’s life. Every stage has its own set of economic techniques for maximizing finances and optimally allocating investments while taking all dangers into account.
Here are some of the results of a recent survey we conducted among Filipinos. Approximately 75.8% of those polled do not have an emergency reserve of more than PHP 50,000 (roughly three months’ worth of income based on a monthly income of PHP 30,000).
When it comes to emergency funds, more than half of the respondents said they don’t have a cash emergency fund in a bank. Only 31.3 percent claimed to be using the stock market, real estate, mutual funds, and other local financial instruments to invest.
A shocking 54.3 percent of those polled said they only have one bank account or have yet to get one. With so much information available, concerns like “Should I have a retirement fund by 40?” and “Do I need to start purchasing life insurance while I’m still in my 20s?” may arise.
Your early 20s to 25
It’s the best time to start developing good financial habits in your early twenties. Time is on your side, so take use of it!
- Attempt to save as much money as possible each month in order to save sufficient funds for unexpected expenses or significant purchases.
- Set up automated deposits so you don’t have to remember to do it. You could, for example, set aside 5 to 10% of your gross monthly pay. Increase the amount you can ‘tolerate’ if you can.
- Learn about investing and which instruments can help you earn a higher rate of compound interest over time.
- If you have debts, you should work on a repayment plan before investing in your early twenties.
- You can divide your savings into different goals. You can set aside a certain percentage of your pay for other things like travel, books, presents, or even networking and personal growth events and seminars.
Set yourself up for success today by practicing healthy saving habits; they’ll pay out tenfold later!
Between the ages of 30 and 40,
At this age, adulting is probably the only thing on your mind. You may have already secured a career with good (and consistent) compensation as you enter your thirties.
It’s also a time when you might have taken out loans for large expenditures as you prepare for marriage, starting a family, or moving to a new home. Here are a few winning tactics you can use to assist you achieve financial stability.
- Making and sticking to a budget may be more difficult than it appears, but it is well worth the effort. If you don’t create and stick to a budget now, it will be far more difficult to unlearn financially reckless behavior later in life. When you budget, you are putting your money to work for you.
Not only will this offer you peace of mind about paying your bills on time, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing that you have some money set aside in case something unexpected happens (i.e., an emergency). Saving FIRST is the most efficient way to accomplish this. Create an “emergency fund” by setting aside money each month, even if it’s only PHP 500. This way, you’ll always have money on hand.
- If you’ve been covered by your parents’ health insurance, it’s time to acquire your own when you turn 30. If money is short at this time in life, talk to an agent about an affordable plan and look into alternative choices. It’s simple to find insurance that suit within your budget on the internet, but delving a little further may open up more doors than you imagined were possible.
- If you want to buy a house, set up 10-20% of the purchase price as a down payment. While it is possible to grow equity and avoid mortgage redemption insurance with less money saved up, having more puts you in a position to do so (MRI).
- Are you pursuing a doctoral or master’s degree? Set aside a portion of your income for tuition so that it does not deplete your savings.
- If you have a family, save aside money for your children’s education. Start thinking about college funding before your children are seniors and looking at institutions. Make a plan to be realistic about how much money you can afford when they arrive.
- It’s a wonderful objective to save twice your annual salary in retirement funds. When most people retire, they only have half of their annual salary, so having adequate money can make you feel more secure when you reach this stage of your life. This percentage fluctuates depending on an individual’s annual income and where they live; nevertheless, most experts advocate putting aside approximately half of one’s annual income or even less until closer to retirement age.
50’s
Now that you are almost in your fifth decade, now is the time to make sure you’re financially secure for life.
Use this period to reach all of these milestones before heading into retirement!
Now that you’re approaching your forties, it’s time to make sure you’re financially secure for the rest of your life.
Take advantage of this time to complete all of these goals before retiring!
- Make annual appointments with a financial advisor to discuss your short-, medium-, and long-term objectives. Now is the time to start meeting on a regular basis if you haven’t already. When you’re in your 50s, it’s time to get serious about completing your savings objectives so you can retire as comfortably as possible.
- You may have accumulated assets and investments by this point. It’s critical for you and your family to be safe and well-cared for after you pass away. For minor children, an executor or guardian may be required (depending on the situation).
- You should have roughly 4 times your annual income saved for retirement by the age of 50. This is also a good opportunity to increase your alternative investments, such as real estate companies or trusts (REITs).
60’s
By this age, you’re on the verge of retiring. You should be finalizing your plans for the next phase of your life by now.
Before you turn 60, here are some things to learn and benchmarks to achieve:
- With interest compounding for 20-30 years, you should be accumulating significant gains in your retirement account.
- Look for strategies to make your investing portfolio less risky. As you get closer to retirement, start looking into income mutual funds, bonds, and real estate as safer assets that can help secure the cash you’ve worked so hard to accumulate over a lifetime.
- As retirement approaches, it’s time to meet with a financial advisor again and discuss the measures you’ll need to take to reach your retirement goals. If downsizing is an option for where or how you’d like to spend your post-work life, plan ahead by creating a roadmap that provides you enough room/time frame so everything comes into place as planned.
Retirement strategy.
When you think about attaining these milestones, it’s easy to get disheartened, but don’t let it get the best of you. Make a strategy and deliberate financial decisions to set yourself up for success!
The idea is to not only have a plan, but also to be aware of each milestone so that you can position yourself to meet it.
