A Students Road for Financial Wellness

By Paola Paladio

When I was in high school I remembered the first time I begged my dad to give me my whole week’s allowance. He was hesitant at first but he did give me the money. I did this because we were so used of asking money on a daily basis that sometimes he would forget giving me or I would forget asking. When I started asking my friends If they had the same style with their parents, they said that sometimes it was given to them good for a week, 15 days or for whole month. This got me curious. So when my dad finally decided to give me money, with the overwhelming high I got, I spent it all in one day. I felt like I was worth a million bucks that time and decided to treat my closest friends. When the day was over, that’s where regret finally set in. I did not have money for the week anymore.

I did not want to disappoint my dad. I wanted to prove him that I could handle a big amount of money without overspending. So I kept it a secret (which I assume he secretly knew,LOL!) Little did I know that this was where I started to learn how to budget, save and spend wisely? I got snacks and water from the house to last me the week so that I would survive and not starve to death. I borrowed lunch money from my classmates and if I’m not mistaken that was only 100 pesos for the week including transportation. Luckily, I did survive and lost about 5 pounds. Haha! After that week, my dad gave me the whole amount again and I paid my classmates, did a lot of budgeting and saved what I could. I became really thrift from that point on and saved as much as I could. I learned my lesson the hard way but I did not give up.

The reason for sharing this story is because in a few weeks, school will start again. No matter how young or old you are, you can start saving today. Young students ask me how they could possibly save when their allowance is only really good for one day. My answer would be, savings is savings. No matter how small it is. Even if you only save twenty to fifty pesos a day, it can make a big difference by the end of the year but if you want to save bigger amounts without the temptation of having to see that you have your money laying around the house or just inside your wallet, open a bank account. Let me tell you one more story, when I was in third year college, I opened, on my own, my very first bank account with my own money. The feeling that I was starting to have control over my finances was there. It was empowering for me as student to have my own bank account and with this experience, I want to introduce to students that they can save and have their own account too.

There’s BPI Jumpstart. From their website it says, BPI came up with a unique savings account that can help you save your baon and spend your savings wisely-all at the same time. It is an ATM card, savings account, discount card and cellphone reloading card rolled into one. It has a “Guaranteed Savings” feature that can serve as your savings fund. It will help you set aside the amount you wish to keep automatically. It also has an automatic-transfer facility that allows your parents using their BPI account to send your baon regularly into your Jumpstart account. This one-stop teen saving solution will help you avoid those tragic instances such as misplacing your wallet and losing an entire week (or month’s) allowance and can be used for shopping in more than 9,000 stores nationwide. Log on to www.mybpimag.com for more details.

There’s METROBANK Funsavers. This was my very first account given to me by my parents when I was around 11 years old. Metrobank’s Fun Savers Club shows how to save in simple terms that excite young financial minds. Exclusively for kids and teens under 18, it is a special savings account that is all about promoting good money sense among kids today. As posted in their site, for a minimum initial deposit of 500 pesos with a maintaining average daily balance of 500 pesos, you can already have your Funsavers account. You’ll get to enjoy a welcome gift upon account opening, minimum average daily balance to earn interest is 4,000php. Free educational trust benefit worth 50,000 for accounts reaching minimum average daily balance if something tragic happened to the parent/s .There is also Free personal accident insurance worth twice the average daily balance, not to exceed P1 million (with minimum ADB requirement) and exclusive discounts and privileges from partner establishments. Log on to www.metrobank.com.ph for more details.

Before I end this article I want to tell you guys that there will be challenges along the way. When you save money and see your savings grow, you can’t help but imagine what you could do with the money you have. I myself struggled a great deal but just keep on saving and think long term. Saving money is addictive especially if you keep track of it all the time. Just push yourself and try not to give in to temptations too much. Let me share a quirky quote by Sophia Amaruso, “Money looks better in the bank than on your feet.”