Top Four Money Mistakes You're Making

 

1. We prioritize spending over saving—leaving nothing. Fitz Villafuerte sees this far too often with people who share their experiences with him—“Whenever they get their paycheck, they usually just spend first, and whatever’s left, that’s what they save,” he says. “Most of the time, there’s nothing left at the end of the month.” 

Solution: Turn it upside down. Set aside a portion of your paycheck for savings first, then feel free to spend the rest. Villafuerte also recommends asking your company’s H.R. department for help: “You can actually make saving money automatic—ask your H.R. to automatically set aside part of your salary into another savings account at the same bank as your payroll.” Such proactive methods make saving far less painful than it should be. “That way, you don’t feel that you’re saving,” says Villafuerte. “You’re guilt-free to spend what’s left. Saving feels lighter and more rewarding.”

 2. We invest before we’ve built an emergency fund. Villafuerte observes that the second mistake a lot of Pinoys make when they come into extra money is to invest it before even setting some aside for an emergency fund. “They don’t really use it to build their emergency fund first,” he says. An emergency fund is a basic building block of any personal portfolio: a cash amount worth six times your monthly household expenses, stored away for emergency use 

Solution: Villafuerte recommends having one in place before investing your funds. Not that he downplays the importance of making one’s money grow—far from it—but like the previous problem, the issue here is one of priorities. “Hospital expenses, emergency car or home repairs—those are expenses that you can’t put off.” Without an emergency fund, you’ll either need to get in debt or liquidate your investment immediately.

3. We avoid the stock exchange. Villafuerte thinks the stock market is mostly misunderstood by Filipinos. “When you talk about the stock market, Pinoys think about stock trading, and they get cold feet, because they think it’s like gambling,” he explains. “That’s the reason why it’s underutilized as an investment vehicle.”

Keep in mind: But stock trading is only the short-term aspect of the stock market. “There’s also stock market investing, which is more long term,” explains Villafuerte. “If Pinoys get more educated about investing—about buying stock or holding it for five to seven years—you’ll see that you’ll earn a lot more compared to just saving your money in a time deposit.” Villafuerte avoids giving stock market advice, preferring instead to refer friends to his broker: “They offer free stock market investing seminars.” There’s quality advice on the stock market out there—but you need to look hard for it. Which leads to the last problem. 

4. We get financial advice from the wrong people. Villafuerte has seen this far too often—fledgling entrepreneurs who ask their friends for free business advice and get what they pay for. “We Filipinos love shortcuts,” he observes.. “They don’t read up on the business side of things; they don’t ask people who are entrepreneurs, ‘how do you run a business?’ so that increases their risk of failure.”

Keep in mind: There’s a reason certain information is free and easily gotten, says Villafuerte: “because it’s not really the best quality advice that you can get.” Valuable business info is harder to get to. He remembers a friend who was putting up a laundry shop and wanted his advice. “I told her about a laundry shop operations seminar at Negoskwela: ‘Why don’t you enroll there? You can get advice from people who really know the business.’” The friend passed on the offer—“Fortunately her business didn’t go under, but it took three years before it stabilized.” Compare that to another entrepreneur friend, who also set up her own laundry shop. “It turns out she attended the laundry shop seminar—the shop’s been open only three months, but it’s already stable,” recalls Villafuerte. “That’s where you can see the difference: asking money advice, business or investment, from people who you just happen to know, against getting it from somebody who is an expert in that field.” 

 

Facts about Metabolism

When it comes to nutrition, every dieter dreads the elusive workings of the ‘M’ word.

Metabolism has had every diet freak in a tizzy, with its unpredictable ups and downs. While the world goes on to ponder the mysterious workings of one’s metabolic rate, this article shall provide some food for thought.

Constant Burning

Did you know that you tend to burn calories even when you’re not working out? The body converts fat into energy, to fuel its functions and the calories stored in the body provide us with this energy. The level of fat-burning depends upon the type of activity being done. You burn more calories running around than just working at a desk. Nonetheless, the body is like a machine which needs an inexhaustible source of energy to run. So even when you’re at rest, you’re still burning calories.

Consumption

We are constantly berated by nutritionists to maintain a healthy diet and exercise. Why? Because the rule of thumb to losing weight is burning more calories than you can consume. This, in turn, helps maintain a high metabolic rate.

Ratio

For every 3,500 calories burnt, our weight drops by 50 grams. To that end, 20 minute walk burns 100 calories; a half hour swim burns 500 calories. The increase in physical activity is, thus, directly proportional to the metabolic rate and amount of calories that you burn.

Physical Activity

People with fitter physiques are proven to have a higher metabolism because they burn a lot of calories not only during their workouts, but also when they are resting. Since the body gets used to the physical exertion, it becomes programmed to constantly burn calories. It is said that with every 100 calories burnt during a physical activity; the body continue to burn an additional 15 more when it rests.

Digestion

The process of digestion is itself conducive to high metabolic rates. As mentioned earlier, body functions constantly require energy to keep them going. Thus constantly eating will keep the body in constant digestion mode. This will help in maintaining a high metabolic rate. In this regard, skipping meals is detrimental. Not only will it slow down the digestive rate, but will retard the metabolic rate to conserve energy. This is why nutritionists stress on the value of small meals at regular intervals, instead of three heavy meals in the course of the day.

Brain Inactivity

The body in zero neural activity experiences a sudden drop in metabolic rates. In his regard watching television is the worst thing that you could do to lower metabolism. Studies show that lowered brain activity with almost negligible physical activity while watching television leads to a significant drop in metabolism by 14% The brighter side of this situation is that once the brain activity resumes, the metabolic cycles is revved up.
A good metabolic rate is essential to the process of maintaining good physical health. With these facts, one can surely take charge of their consumption and activity and steer clear of health problems.