Friday, August 18, 2006
Money and happiness...
are they related? For me? Of course they do.
Let's try to be realistic. Are you worried on being able to pay your monthly bills? Paying off your credit cards? Going to your well-deserved vacation? Or even spending gifts to your loved ones? Or giving your child the best education that he/she could possibly have? Or if you're a student, aren't you studying to be able to earn money and fulfill your ambitions or goals?
You will not be happy if you can't afford to pay your bills. Neither be happy if you can't give a gift to your love one without thinking if you can afford it. Neither be happy not giving your child what is best for him/her. Well, maybe happy for a short-time treating your friends with a round of shot or two in a bar. Maybe happy for a short-time having a vacation using your credit card (which btw, should not be treated as an additional income, ok?). But when reality sinks in, or when the party's over, you stop and think, can I afford to pay all these?
We are now working to earn money. Why? To live? To buy what we like, want, need, or probably, to have that feeling of accomplishment? To have that feeling of satisfaction that we bought this car, house or wedding with our hard-owned money?
I've read so many articles of people (even myself) living paycheck to paycheck (and I hope I won't be in that situation again). I remember, graphically, while we were going down the stairs of the LRT's Vito Cruz station to DLSU, during the first enrollment day of my college, my mom was telling me, 'Live within your means'. She knew that I'll be surrounded with wealthy students and there'll be temptations or tendencies for me to get jealous of them having all these material things they own or could afford. These words guided me through these years. What's better than that saying is, Bankrate.com or Rich dad's, 'Live BELOW your means', which means having money for what's important to you and the freedom to do the things you want to do.
There are a lot of very interesting articles on the internet on money matters. One of my favorites is
Suze Orman's. She'll tell you practically every advice and tips from how to save and manage money, investing, relationships or love and money, to planning your retirement.
Rich dad tells us to 'Pay yourself first', which means, setting up an automatic withdrawal from your account or paycheck and put in your savings.
No matter who's advice we choose to take, we should realize the value of money and we'll definitely go a long way, even farther to pass it to our love ones who'll we be leaving behind. It's definitely ok to spend once in a while to treat yourself to shopping, parties and other luxuries. Yes, we know that when we work hard, we also party harder. And we should live life to it's fullest, every day. Life is too short to worry about money. But we should also learn how to balance our pleasures and sacrifices. Could we honestly say that if we die today, will our loved ones be happy with all the debts we are leaving them behind?
posted @ 10:57 PM
----------------------------------------------------------
Friday, August 18, 2006
Money and happiness...
are they related? For me? Of course they do.
Let's try to be realistic. Are you worried on being able to pay your monthly bills? Paying off your credit cards? Going to your well-deserved vacation? Or even spending gifts to your loved ones? Or giving your child the best education that he/she could possibly have? Or if you're a student, aren't you studying to be able to earn money and fulfill your ambitions or goals?
You will not be happy if you can't afford to pay your bills. Neither be happy if you can't give a gift to your love one without thinking if you can afford it. Neither be happy not giving your child what is best for him/her. Well, maybe happy for a short-time treating your friends with a round of shot or two in a bar. Maybe happy for a short-time having a vacation using your credit card (which btw, should not be treated as an additional income, ok?). But when reality sinks in, or when the party's over, you stop and think, can I afford to pay all these?
We are now working to earn money. Why? To live? To buy what we like, want, need, or probably, to have that feeling of accomplishment? To have that feeling of satisfaction that we bought this car, house or wedding with our hard-owned money?
I've read so many articles of people (even myself) living paycheck to paycheck (and I hope I won't be in that situation again). I remember, graphically, while we were going down the stairs of the LRT's Vito Cruz station to DLSU, during the first enrollment day of my college, my mom was telling me, 'Live within your means'. She knew that I'll be surrounded with wealthy students and there'll be temptations or tendencies for me to get jealous of them having all these material things they own or could afford. These words guided me through these years. What's better than that saying is, Bankrate.com or Rich dad's, 'Live BELOW your means', which means having money for what's important to you and the freedom to do the things you want to do.
There are a lot of very interesting articles on the internet on money matters. One of my favorites is
Suze Orman's. She'll tell you practically every advice and tips from how to save and manage money, investing, relationships or love and money, to planning your retirement.
Rich dad tells us to 'Pay yourself first', which means, setting up an automatic withdrawal from your account or paycheck and put in your savings.
No matter who's advice we choose to take, we should realize the value of money and we'll definitely go a long way, even farther to pass it to our love ones who'll we be leaving behind. It's definitely ok to spend once in a while to treat yourself to shopping, parties and other luxuries. Yes, we know that when we work hard, we also party harder. And we should live life to it's fullest, every day. Life is too short to worry about money. But we should also learn how to balance our pleasures and sacrifices. Could we honestly say that if we die today, will our loved ones be happy with all the debts we are leaving them behind?
posted @ 10:57 PM
----------------------------------------------------------
