Why my salary is never enough?

Did you wonder why your salary is never enough? The feeling of frustration every payday when you just received your salary and all were already spent to bills, necessities and you can’t even buy a piece of shirt. To the point you end up questioning yourself why my life suck and why do you always settle for less. Here's the reason why.

1. Underpaid

 

This is the common whim of an ordinary employee, we are underpaid! Well, let's just accept it, nothing is fair in this world. Instead of sulking and giving so much time whining about your boss’s favoritism attitude why not study how to make money outside your workplace. And I’m not just telling you to get a side job but have you ever considered creating a side business. Or try negotiating your boss for a raise if you still want to stay in the corporate ladder.

2. Lifestyle inflation

 

What do you do every time you get a raise? Do you buy that long day-dreamed shoes? The brand new sweater? The nicest gadget in trend? That my friend is a big example of lifestyle inflation.

Every time we get an extra income, our lifestyle tends to upgrade instead of our savings. And after every mindless spending, we tend to complain we always fall short in everything.  Examine yourself, do you tend to buy more wants than getting settled with what you actually need? 

You can actually avoid this, once you get that salary increase, increase your automated savings so you’ll actually get the same amount of money to spend for your necessities.

3. Budget 

 

Budget serves as financial guidelines. No matter how small or big our salary is, if we don’t know how to budget, you’ll always end up with to almost nothing. Without any guideline to follow, we tend to spend more than we can actually afford with our current salary mindlessly.

4. Excessive spending 

 

Money unspent is money saved. Budget and spending always stick together. Without knowing how much is you can afford with your current income, you tend to overspend on unnecessary things, wants instead of your actual necessities. Last thing you know, you haven't paid the bills after you bought a concert ticket, some junk.

Steps to Financial Freedom

I’ve been working hard for five years already but it seems I don't get any far from where I started. I am above the minimum-wage employee but I’m scrambling to my feet how to get out from my piles of debt. I know I was unsuccessful with my pursuit to wealth. 

It takes maturity to face your life's giant. You see, as we grow older, we are bombarded with daily pressure such as identity crisis, peer pressure, family expectations and etc. But actually, success is very relative. Some say, you can be successful but broke but there is no such thing as successful entrepreneur and broke at the same. And what does that even mean? 

I searched for answers and I had concluded, yes, you can be a school achiever but broke, a famous actress but broke, a famous athlete but broke... Success is only determined by you. What do you really want in life? Do you want to be wealthy? Then are you doing what the rich are doing? 

What do successful and wealthy people have in common?

1. Goals

Everyone has dreams but not everyone make these dreams their goal. I was younger, I used to read articles about 25 things before 25 and I thought, goals must be written like this. I started one new year's eve, instead of making a new year's resolution, I wrote ten goals in the four aspect of my life that I want to improve. It was my finances, travel, health and education. At the end of the year, I managed to complete some but some I didn't. I was frustrated about the incomplete list. If you are quite a perfectionist, you do not need to punish yourself for any failures instead, accept, forgive and encourage yourself to be better year after year.

So the following year, I only wrote 5 goals but it seems impossible for me to achieve at that time for I was so desperate of any help. I was drowning in debt and feel I don't have any grip of my life. But one thing encourage me, it's a post on the internet "BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEARS!" 

So I focused on two aspects of my life which is my education and finances. My goal was to be frugal, pay off my debts, save money, read at least 20 self-help books and articles about success and wealth and to refrain myself from excessive traveling. And so I did. Day by day I keep reminding myself about this goal and it worked. I was able to complete 4 out of 5 goals. 

I was happy of the little achievement. I realized I was getting somewhere and much better than my previous year. Then I realized, goals could be 10 words, 5 sentences or 2 phrases but it must be definite and measurable. No matter how big or small, you should not forget to put a timeline to it and remind yourself daily, weekly or monthly until you accomplish it.

Pro-tip: I write each goal on a sheet of paper and post it on the wall opposite the position I sleep so every time I wake up I’m being reminded I had a daily mission to accomplish.

2. Commitment

I best describe commitment with these words: "WALK THE TALK!"

Words are empty if you are not committed to make it happen. If you want to win this, you got to do this. Stay focus and committed to doing it everyday. Just like in love, if two people will not stay committed to each other, ultimate direction is always pointless. Your financial goals needs utmost commitment. It’s like your battlefield.

3. Budget

Ever since I started earning, I dedicate a day in the first week of each year to plan my savings and putting certain amount to my debts. But for some reason, for the past four years, I mismanaged and miscalculated my ability to be persuade by my wants. Yeah, I did save money but every time a friend invite me to join a travel spree, I lost to the temptation around me. Every time a relative ask me to sponsor, I give money freely and unconsciously without counting. 

Until I was drowning in debt and started educating myself  that I realize all my mistakes. So now, I still on the process of redoing my mess and daily I was happy with my little progress. I am now religious with my budget. 

Budget is very important. Personally, I define it as my monthly guideline that once I overstep on a certain amount, it entails I am not going any closer to my goals. This takes quite a lot of discipline. No one is perfect but as much as possible, if you want to succeed with your finances, be dedicated to your budget.

4. Expenses

Budget and expenses come hand in hand. Almost all famous finance authors would say, your finances not on how much you save but on how much you spend. When I was younger, I don’t know want to do something about it but as I get serious with my finances, I now understand that how you spend determine your financial direction. Every wealthy individual living on the planet knows about it. Thus is one of the secrets of the rich. No matter how big your business if you don’t know where you spend, you’re eventually lose it. That's why some of the rich ends up bankrupt.

Every peso unspent is a peso saved. Some would say, I will save once I get a raise because I have lots of expenses. But actually, if you don't know how to save when your income is small, you will never ever learn to save. 

Starts small. Practice with your home expenses so you’ll get an overview where your money is really going and where you can cut cost to add your debt payment or add it to investment.

5. Act of Gratitude

Be grateful of what you have. A positive outlook will always give you a positive outcome. No matter how small you win each day, be thankful. 

If you’re reading this,I think you’re already looking for answers on how to get out of that quicksand. And I tell you, there’s no easy ticket to do it. It takes so many discipline and patience but guaranteed it will all be worth it. Face it and crush it!

How to Waste Your Money?

Actually, there are lot of factors which led me to this state, BROKE. 

I was born poor. My father is a minimum-wage earner while my mother was a housewife. I was 2^nd to the last of six siblings. As you can imagine, life growing up is quite a struggle and was quite deprived of too many opportunities. My family barely had enough money to keep up with the expenses daily. But with perseverance and discipline, my parents managed to get all of us finish school with degrees.

After my studies, just like most young professionals, I have big dreams of amassing wealth after graduation. I was telling myself that once I get to work and earn, I’ll save and start my own business. And yes, I did get the job. I managed to save a little but as time went by as my earning went up a little so did my lifestyle.

1. TRAVEL

I am a firm believer that travel is good for the soul. It opens you to a whole new perspective about the world we live in. But because of my poor choice and lack of outright goals, I played the norms that you can see in social media. The typical millennial you see under the scorching sun in Boracay, Maldives or Palawan. I was happy with friends but every time, I went home crying myself to sleep after realizing how would I pay my travel debts?

You see, to keep up with this lifestyle, I took out loan after loans from my salary, savings and pay high interest rates on those debts. I was running the circle of debt and end up withdrawing all my savings to pay them all. I never regret traveling but I regret not goal setting, planning and saving.

Plan and save before you travel. This is the best way to reward yourself. Peace of mind is the best gift you can offer yourself. Don't feel oblige to join the norms of social media. Run on your own pace.

2. GADGETS

I was not only referring to cellular phones. You see, since I love too travel a lot, I also buy things a lot like tents, walking sticks, sleeping bags, traveling bags, cook sets, sports gadgets and the likes whatever find cool and handy at online stores. These add to reasons why traveling is expensive despite the cheap air tickets.

You can’t totally zero out this category in life but when buying things, think of its added value before any purchase. Will it help with your goals to be rich? If no then buy only the essentials. Smart buys are expensive but is quality-guaranteed. It will last you for a long time. Say you buy a new phone this year because it’s a good tool that will help you but it’s not smart to buy two phones just because the other phone is outdated. As long as it’s usable, make use of your money’s worth.

But if you looking ways how to get rid of your other gadgets, sell it if you no longer need it. It does not necessarily help to just shove it unto your closet. Try minimalist approach.

3. UNNECESSARY RTWs

Early twenties is a stage for lots of insecurities and uncertainties that were too huge for someone to digest. I was looking for too many answers and I end up reading articles to on things you need to do by this age and that without realizing I was feeding myself with wrong information. Lot of blogs would tell you to invest on these material things. You'll be lured to believe we need to buy branded and expensive clothes, shoes, accessories and the likes to be in the circle. Stuffs you accumulate just add to your clutter that keep on organizing. Try de-cluttering and let's see which is way better.

Things I mentioned are just some of the reasons I went broke. I buy and hoard too much experience and things that really don't give me value. See the young millionaires of our time how they live frugal and simple lives. Clothes or branded things does not define you as a person but self-confidence and attitude will.