If I were to give just one advice…

I’ve been tagged by MoneySmarts! I’m supposed to answer this question: “If I were asked to give just one — just one personal finance advice — what would it be?”

Apparently, this meme was started by a blog called Moolanomy, and it has a round up of all the one-finance-advice’s so far.

Now, I’m not sure I’m the best person to give financial advice – this blog being, so far, an account of my struggling to get out of credit card debt and putting my finances in order – but as the saying goes, experience is the best teacher.

And so, based on my experience, here is my little nugget of wisdom: Good financial management is not concerned with the amount written on your paycheck.

Allow me to explain. People often think that if they earned a little bit more, they would be better off financially. Not true. In my first job right out of college, I was paid just a little over minimum wage, and I stayed with that job for about two and a half years. I lived from paycheck to paycheck, constantly borrowed money from my mom, and often had my cellphone or credit card suspended because of late payments.

In my next job, my salary almost tripled. You’d think, being single and all, that I would have been able to save tons. Unfortunately not. I moved out of my mom’s place and rented a condo near my new office. I applied for new credit cards, left and right. I took up my master’s degree in an expensive school. I went out more often and ate in more expensive restaurants, I shopped more, and I went on expensive vacations. And so despite my drastically increased income, I was still living from paycheck to paycheck, and racking up even more debt.

The point is, financial management is about how you spend, not how much you earn.  This is something I wish I knew way back when I was still earning close to minimum wage. If I did, I would probably be a millionaire now.

Now, for the three people I have to tag:

Ismangil -  an ardent advice-giver in this blog
Twoyearstops – a now debt-free friend who used to be in the same boat I am now
Jinoe – who thinks he’ll be working on his finances for life

Guidelines on Credit Cards Paranoia

Here’s a very useful website for people with severe credit card problems. It’s by Rene Uy from Davao, and acccording to his profile, he:

Graduated from a Chinese High School, became green in college and turned to a blue masteral studies. After finishing college in three years, worked with a bank for P10/day no-work- no-pay basis and has been w/ loans and credit until the end. FRUSTRATION IN LIFE: Just when I had the answers, they changed the question. MY ADVOCACY: Just because you are a past due account does not mean we cannot remain as friends; and that it already gives me a license to humiliate you! MY TEACHINGS: Repayment should be based on cash flow and not on threats. It is like availing a loan based on collateral and not on the purpose.

Basically, the site provides advice to people who have defaulted in credit card payments, and are now being harassed by card companies and collecting agencies. (Harassment includes those phone calls at ungodly hours from rude agents threatening to haul all your possessions.) We’ve all heard stories like that, and I know people who have been subject to that harassment.

His site doesn’t apply to me (at least not yet), but I’m sure it’s helpful for many others. Dear God, I hope I do get to pay off all of my debts before (God, forbid) I run out of work or something.

Thanks to Dave Q for the tip!

I know I shouldn’t be happy, but…

…can you really blame me if I can’t help it?

Peso weakens further to 46.43 to $1 

MANILA, Philippines — The peso weakened further against the dollar Thursday as snowballing jitters relating to the problematic US housing market prompted global investors to scramble out of emerging markets.

Intervention by the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), tempered the peso’s freefall, currency traders said, but the peso still fell to 46.43 to the dollar from Wednesday’s finish of 46.23.

The peso hit an intra-day low of 46.70 to the dollar amid continued weakness in regional markets but closed nearer the day’s high of 46.41 as the BSP sold dollars to curb the currency’s sharp fall, traders said.

Quick Cash Trick: Garage Sale

Money Smarts has an interesting post today on how to find cash in a flash, with a crazy story of a guy selling a smudge of driveway sealant on ebay. I read that somebody made $1 million in ebay by selling a complete Transformers collection.

My family and relatives’ favorite quick cash go-to trick is a garage sale — de-clutter your house and make money off trash!

Here’s a quick rundown of things we usually sell:

1. Furniture and appliances we no longer use – these are either old furniture we’ve replaced, or appliances you get two or more of during weddings (which reminds me, we still have an unused panini grill and a two-year old ref to sell)
2. Old clothes, shoes and bags – we’d sell them for P10 to P80, depending on the condition and the brand.
3. Books and CDs – CDs are particularly easy to sell, especially computer games. Books aren’t fast movers. We still have a couple of boxes of books left by relatives who went abroad to dispose of. Sigh. Nobody reads anymore.

In one garage sale we held in my boyfriend’s garage, we earned about P6,000. When my sister and her family moved out of the city, they earned about P15,000 from things they’re not bringing with them. Garage sales are common too among retiring ADB expats who are leaving the country, and I save a lot of money by going to these (once got a P2,000 21″ TV set from a Japanese expat).

We’re also trying to dispose of some antique collections my late grandfather left – vintage cameras, video recorders, and knives. We’re cleaning them up one by one and will sell them in antique stores or ebay.

Cash or Card?

“Either way at no extra charge,” says the flyer from the Credit Card Association of the Philippines that came in together with my card bill. They say that:

• Surcharging or additional charges when paying using a credit card is PROHIBITED
• Each product or service being sold must display only ONE price tag
• The price indicated on the price tag should be VAT INCLUSIVE

Yeah, right.

One credit card down…

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Exhibit A:

Woohoo! One down, three to go… Haha! This one had the lowest credit limit of my four credit cards, and I “lost” it last December and never activated the replacement card. So I haven’t used it in seven months. I guess that’s what it takes to really zero out credit card debt.

From the total credit card debt I had when I started this personal finance blog a few months ago, I’ve already managed to pay off about 40%. A second credit card is due for
zeroing out this month