Living The Mantra Of Paying Yourself First

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I don't know if I should be writing this post but ever since I have decided to go on freelance, financial freedom has always been my goal even if  being a single mother makes it hard for me to fold my earnings to spend for paying the bills and also set aside for my daughter's needs. I am crossing my fingers though and I will be attempting a 10-year discipline while following this mantra.So here it goes. 

Money is just like water and if you don’t have concrete financial goals, all of your hard-earned money will end up the drain and you will find yourself broke before you even reach retirement. In my case, I hate the thought of growing old without anything in my savings account to fall back on. And with the rise of the cost of basic necessities plus the cost of education of my daughter, I believe that now is the time for me to live the mantra of paying myself first.

If you have read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, then you must have read the line about paying yourself first. Although this has already turned into a cliché, paying yourself first is the reason why successful people become more successful still. Paying yourself first means that you have to allocate money for your retirement or for yourself before you even pay your credit card debts or your bills.

  

To start living this mantra, you need to commit to a particular amount of money that you will save and keep in your savings account. In my case, one of my online jobs allow me to earn 10,000PhP monthly so I commit 50% of that amount on my savings. For my other online jobs (I have three), I save about 20% on each which then directly goes to my retirement fund (which is invested in mutual funds), insurances and emergency fund (which is invested as 30-day time deposit). There are times when I only get 500PhP as an extra money which I then put in my emergency fund just in case.  However, there are times when I find that I have a lot of deficit on my money especially if one of my online jobs are not paying me too much. 

Since I have embraced the mantra of paying myself first, my mind then automatically thinks of ways on how I can earn better for the next month when I am  short of money. When it comes to thinking ways on earning money, I meant looking for legal jobs online. If you put yourself in this situation, your mind as well as your body will adapt to the stress and this turns on an internal light bulb that will help you find ways on how to earn more to set aside more for yourself.

Paying yourself first is hard since there are lots of things that will tempt you to spend. In my case, I find it difficult to give up on my perks for the sake of financial freedom. No more constant food trips and the situation is also made more challenging because my daughter is growing up. Although I have given up some of life luxuries, I make sure that I still save enough to give my daughter the best education she deserves.