Christmas Bonus Coming: Here's Why You Should Build an Emergency Fund First

It's that time of the year again folks and yes, it's the 13th Month Pay season. That goes without saying that Christmas is just around the corner, and I'm sure you've already been thinking how to spend that hard earned money you got for your bonus. Gifts for family or friends, or the most special one on earth, YOU. Not to burst your bubble, but I'm here to suggest something different, why not give yourself something more important, some peace of mind! 

If you're new to the saving game, that just feels so boring to put some of it in an emergency fund.  I'm not saying you should put off thinking of that new phone you've been saving up all year or that trip you want to go to, think of it as a gift to your future self when the most unexpected things happen. Remember that Metrobank financial education program called Earnest? That teaches you that emergency funds are for those that are unexpected and urgent. When you suddenly get hospitalized or perhaps lose your ability to work, you will be safe because of it. 

How do you start one?

It's all about planning. Since you're quite eager to give gifts this season, take that same knowledge and apply it to other things like lessening the expenses. Don't be that person who just received his Christmas bonus and so eager to burn it all up in shopping and merrymaking. Take the step to saving a portion of it, it doesn't have to be huge, a small amount would do. At the end of the day, you should at least have left something for the rainy days. 

Constantly reevaluate your relationships, yes a very generous friend like you must be popular during this season, but that doesn't mean you would need to become the spitting image of Santa Claus right? The essentials are okay, but you don't have to spend on that friend who's been putting you off all year, or that grumpy geezer who's never been nice to you anyway. Make it all about food, transportation, rent and paying your bills. It doesn't need to be done the whole year but just a place to start. If you've got a lot of people who depend on you, try to adjust your savings into bigger amounts, like one or two years worth, and of course something sensible and achievable. You need to veto a lot of things especially identifying your wants from your needs. Save where you can even while shopping, use those coupons while you're at it, but don't scrimp on where you shouldn't because you need investment outfits, a break when you need too. 

The way to do it is by doing it regularly. Make it a habit to put aside a percentage of your salary every cut off and have it separate from your main egg basket. Open a Metrobank eSavings so you can still access it online but generally away from you and your subtle temptations. 

Of course you can still enjoy the season and the magic it brings, but don't forget to put yourself on your Christmas list every year. You deserve to be pampered, a massage every once in a while, go open one with your valid ID in Metrobank today! 

GCash Futurecast 2021: Unlocking Innovations

Just got off the GCASH event called Futurecast 2021 and they pronounced some really good news about their financial app.

So really, what's next?

The goal is to bring you better solutions and better lives. Martha Sazon the CEO of GCash says "We all know the past year has been a struggle, we are still coping. We want you to know that GCash is your buddy through all of this, since the lockdown, I too haven't had the chance to meet my whole team but we focused on hwo to make Filipinos lives better. We can be there in times of need, for paying bills, for donating, everyday transactions, our user base now doubled. Currently we have 38 million Filipinos use our app. We are the number one financial app in the country and we strive to further improve our services. Not only to consumers, merchants, even the government. We empowered people through our cashless payments, we have registered social sellers, even sari sari stores and tricycle drivers now accept GCash. This amounts 16B to almost 2 Million Filipinos. The government saved a lot through GCash and now, we are collecting typhoon and COVID drives because we are secure and seamless. We know Titas of Manila need to learn how to use it, teaching them is an easy task. Families, people from far flung areas have no access to finances, but all Filipinos deserve to save, invest and grow their money. We believe GCash everyday will be possible, lifestyle, entrepreneurship.

GLife is where users can now transact with their favorite brands. Buy, transact and subscribe without downloading other apps, because it's all in on the GLife section of your GCash app. We give you deals, the best ones in the market. 

Social sellers can use their personal QR to make transactions easy, to send money and pay bills with it. Wanting to not leave anyone behind, you can do paytime and playtime with it. You can have several companies (35 of them!) providing entertainment, shopping, food, without downloading their individual app and costing space on your phone because it is accessible through GLife. I've tried purchasing chicken when it came out, it was such a deal!

Financial Services

Equal chance for a brighter future. Doesn't that sound promising? In a nutshell, they've got these services running inside the GCash app. They're still developing the platform and promise to bring more services in the future, here's what they currently have:

GSave has the highest interest rate in the country, insured by PDIC, you can also be assured with what you deposit.

GCredit can give you access to cash when you need it

GInvest can get you to invest with as low as 50 pesos.

GInsure can also get you insurance including coverage of COVID.

GForest gets you the chance to also plant trees while doing several things in the app.


Their goal is to make Filipinos live better, and I think that is achievable. PureGo for groceries, Lazada for Shopping, Gawin for household help, Fully Booked for your favorite titles, Goama Games for your gaming needs, Gadgets at Datablitz, Bo's Coffe, Gong Cha, Mc Donalds, Tapa King, tons of them are listed and you can set favorites when you feel the need to. Oh and if you see the deals, it's unbelievable especially for the 50% OFF I've experienced a couple of times.

Entrepreneurship

Local farmer, fishermen, tricycle, medium sized companies, no matter what we do and what we are, they want to help every Filipino entrepreneur do cashless and safe transactions through GCash. Fe Mir the GCash Marketing Head says "People are looking for new opportunities to keep their business afloat. The business of every enterprise in the country is a personal one, we want to help you in the new normal. GCash Pro can give easy payment solutions, it's secure and we want to help entrepreneurs improve their business. Platforms have their eCommerce activity exploding, we made QR on demand so you can receive money accurately. We have so many business solutions and businesses can go to our GCash Merchant Portal so you can submit requirements online and hassle free. We will be adding credit and other options soon. We want you to have Finance for All. We want to have a GCash option in every convenience store, sari sari store and Tricycle soon."

Finance for All

38 Million Filipinos have financial potential and GCash through GInvest can be accessible to all. You can get your money to work with you. GSave is fully digital and hassle free, only needs one ID for it to be verified. GSave also doesn't need any maintaining balance, interest rates are competitive (4% per year) and saving regularly would be a good thing. If you need an emergency fund or vacation funds, a lot of people have already opened a GSave account (over 3M actually). GInvest on the other hand allows you to invest in local or international funds. It need not to be complicated, and GInvest allows you to do that even for 50 pesos. Fund managers from reputable companies allow you to invest in 5 different types of corporations. It's also easy to monitor because it shows graphs on the GCash app itself. In just a few taps, you can now access these services without going through the agonizing paperwork needed for investments.

GInsure makes Insurance easy to purchase, manage and become affordable. This is their partnership with Singlife, with less than 50 pesos a month, you get covered from Dengue and now, cover Covid 19 as well. You can insure your self or your family for this. In the app, you can buy in a simple and straight forward way, soon to have vehicle, travel and property (which will be rolled out soon).

GCredit is cash that can be borrowed. With your GCash transactions, you can use it to build small businesses (like a micro loan) and earn from it during a pandemic. They've shown proof that it is possible during the event when a woman borrowed money and used it for a food business. She grew the amount and had her husband help her make it become a sustainable business today which now provides for their everyday needs and the needs of their children.

GForest is a small little game inside the GCash app that will help reforest places in the country. To date, their goal is to have 500K trees to be planted, and there will be more no matter what season. They are partnering with environmental groups and organizations so they too can get help with this digital bayanihan method.

GLife provides things you need at a click of a button. These services are available now on the GCash app, so if you haven't downloaded it yet, maybe the time is now.

Sharing Should Be Stress Free with Electrolux!

Hi guys! It's that time once again to tell you about the Electrolux Save and Share Blog Series. It's part of a big campaign to teach Moms and their families out there to save money and time of which we know is very important. Here, we get to interview their awesome endorsers Cheska Garcia - Kramer, my favorite Chef Bruce Lim, the pretty Chef Rosebud Benitez and Mommy Mundo's Janice Villanueva so they can tell us their secrets about how to use your time effectively, save a ton on electricity, utilities when at home. 

You see, I have a couple of relatives who have this habit of pooling their old clothes together and donating them to charity on a regular basis. Though I know a lot of organizations who would gladly find this useful, a couple of the items they had on hand were outgrown baby clothes. They got some pretty new ones because it was only used a few weeks since babies grew big over time, so they didn't know where to put it. I had the urge of asking Electrolux ambassadors Chef Rosebud Benitez and Cheska Diaz - Kramer about clothes segregation because they've probably done a lot. Here's what they have to say about it.

We asked Chef Rosebud and Cheska about their hardships in maintaining the process of donating organized. What are their challenges and do they see it as a great way to declutter?

Chef Rosebud says "I guess one thing that we have to think of when we donate clothes is if the clothes we'll be donating would be appropriate for other people to wear. For example, we shouldn't give away old gowns, trench coats, heavy sweaters just so we can remove them from our cabinets because obviously, they're not appropriate for other people to wear daily". I guess she's got a point there, we can't give away those fancy ones to the needy. Think about the people wearing it, keep it basic and functional so that when they do receive it they'll use it appropriately.

Cheska on the other hand pushes for the importance of knowing where your donation will go and implies the use of social media to at least get a glimpse of the situation. She says "At the time of social media where everybody is into it, you are able to see naman that there’s a list of people need. There are already the do’s and don’ts of donating. For a people who have lots of show clothes or party dresses what they do, because they know they can’t donate that, they have a garage sale. The money they make out of it they donate. They look for the proper avenue to donate that money. For those people who have emotional attachment to the things they give, I guess during calamity you are able to detach yourself from that emotional attachment to your things, right? And really look at what it can do to help out other people, that should be enough."

Then we asked them about segregating the clothes, Chef Rosebud simply said "It's important so that it'll be easier to give it to people we'll be donating to." Cheska reiterated "Just like what I said earlier, not everything in your closet can be donated. So for one, try to find out what are the things that are needed. Usually kasi, I’ve done kasi a lot of donations already even with my kids. So when I would set aside their clothes, I may sure they are not the costumes or the party clothes. Instead I make sure that it is what really needed, let’s say mga pantulog, blankets for babies because a lot of babies kasi usually, they only donate for children and adults. So what I would do is I would set aside one kit or like clothes for infants. Para to find out kasi usually they come up with things that could be donated. So know first know what they need and then from there, you can segregate what you can give from your closet. So number one thing is to be informed." With that alone, you can go a long way in making your sharing experience less toxic, easy and stress free.

If you want to know more about more ways and tips on saving and sharing, you may check out more of the Electrolux Save and Share Blog Series by visiting their Facebook page www.facebook.com/thelittlewhitebook or follow @ElectroluxPH on Twitter and Instagram. Thank you Chef Rosebud Benitez and Ms. Cheska Garcia - Kramer for sharing your views and I hope this would really get to help a lot of people.

Love,

KUMAGCOW.COM

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