My Financial Background and History

Hello again, I'm L and this is my story.

I've been working since 2001, shortly after I graduated from college. I had the privilege to work for 3 different government institutions and 1 private company. When I got married in March 2007 and became pregnant 4 months later, I was already working 2 jobs - an 8-to-5 and a night shift online job. And then I decided working from home is what I really wanted. It suits my lifestyle, I can be with my family all the time and I never have to miss special occasions ever again. 

7 years of being employed, and you would think that I was able to save at least a small part of my earnings during that time. But nope, I only had my first savings account in 2009.

Where did my earnings go? When I was still single, I gave half of my salary to my parents every pay day and the other half was spent on entertainment - movies, dining out and shopping with my siblings and friends.  I liked dressing up for work, and shopping for new clothes and accessories every month. I never thought about saving or investing during those days.

By 2008 I already had my first child, D, but I was still living paycheck to paycheck with no savings at all.

A WAKE UP CALL

In January 2011 my father was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer. That was when I started to evaluate our financial status. It was a sudden wake up call. I wanted to help my parents but I only had about 30 thousand in my bank account so I ended up getting a loan from my American employer for $2000. My parents' only source of income was from our 1 hectare agricultural land planted with rice but we had to have it mortgaged as well for Php 200,000. Family and friends extended financial help, we even received money from the government thru PCSO for hospital and chemotherapy expenses, but my father still succumbed to the illness in October 2011.

All in all, when my mother and I summed up all expenses for my father's surgeries, chemotherapy sessions and 5-month long hospital stay including 2 weeks in the ICU, the amount almost reached 1.5 Million. Until now, we still have no idea how we were able to come up with that amount of money and how our family survived and thrived after the tragedy of losing a great and beloved head of the family.

THE NEED TO ELIMINATE DEBT

I felt the pressing need to evaluate our financial situation and do something about it in order to eliminate our huge debt.

My father had a life insurance of Php 200,000, a Php 50,000 group insurance and a dividend income of about Php 20,000 from Knights of Columbus. He also had a memorial service package of Php 50,000 from St. Peter Life Plans. Add to that member contributions from his PGBI group, and financial assistance from the local government he served for 3 years as a barangay secretary.

We used every peso from above to pay for all our outstanding debts in the hospital, funeral home and individual lenders.

My employer's mother paid for half of my loan and the other half was covered by the company. Meaning, I didn't have to pay for even a cent for my $2,000 salary loan. An undeniable proof that good and compassionate people still exist in this world and I am glad I get to know some of them.

By 2012, our only remaining debt is Php 120,000 for our mortgaged agricultural land. By then I was able to save Php 80,000 from my salary and from other side hustles I had. I never liked getting loans but I took a leap of faith and secured a personal loan from a friend for Php 40,000 with 5% interest per month so I can get our little rice farm back.

DEBT-FREE AT LAST

With my full-time work, income from our rice farm and occasional side hustles, I was finally debt-free in 2013.

I felt a sense of relief, but I couldn't relax knowing that I don't have any savings still.

After all, being debt-free is not the end of the journey. It is just the beginning.