Money lessons I learned from my poor parents

I love my parents; they gave us the best that they can, with what they have. If given the chance, I will still choose them to be my parents in the next life.

My mother would always remind us to study well because that’s the only thing that they can pass on to us, a good education.

Study hard, find a good job, save money, they always say. Looking back, here are some financial lessons I have learned from them both good and bad.

Allow your children to budget their allowance weekly

My mother would give me my allowance for the week on a Monday. At times, I make wrong decisions and I end up walking and not eating because I spent all my allowance before Friday. My mother will not give me anything extra so I learned how to spend my money wisely. I made a few mistakes early on when it comes to budgeting but because of it, I have also ventured to buy and sell early on. Buying candies and chocolates that I can sell to my classmates and friends. I became a businesswoman.

Saving money alone is not enough

They have encouraged us to save money but I now know that it is not enough. Save to invest so you can grow your money. Saving money is good but think of ways to grow that money.

Life Insurance is a must

Now, this part I have learned the hard way. Both my parents were uninsured. My mother died from cancer and a year after, my father died from a heart disease after a bypass operation. We have spent everything we had to pay for their medication and still they both died and I was left with so much debt. It came to a point that I was already thinking of ending my life. I was 32 then, single, orphaned, grieving and in so much debt. I stopped praying for a year, blaming myself why I couldn’t afford to give them the best medical options. I was dreaming of bringing my mother abroad to get treatment but sadly, we couldn’t afford it. Now that I am already a mother, I made sure I am insured to protect my children from such burden. This sad experience is also one of the reasons why I became an insurance agent. I try to share what I know, what insurance can do to a family and what happened to my family when my parents both got sick and have no medical and life insurance.

It’s been 9 years since my parents died but there are times when I explain the value of life insurance to clients that I still find myself crying. Maybe right now, you think you don’t need it but how about in the future? How will you know when you will need one? You’ll never know, so it is wise and best to get one now since you can only buy life insurance if you are still healthy. There are term life insurance that you can buy for a little as 34 pesos a day for 2 Million coverage.