If I can still make a wishlist for Santa Claus this Christmas, one of them would be money for my son’s college education. All of us moms have this worry and fear of how we will send our children (no matter how young they are now) to a good university 10-15 years from now.
My baby boy will be in college 11 years from now!
Just recently, I met one of the financial advisors that I see on TV. His name is Mark Fernandez and I summoned all my courage to approach him just to take this selfie!
Syempre, hindi ko na pinalagpas ang magtanong. I asked what products can he recommend for mothers like myself who dream of their child’s education among many others. Mark said, he always tells his clients to follow a pyramid and it goes like this:
1. Managing savings & expenses – start by listing them down or using an app
2. Protection – examples are life and health insurance to protect yourself especially if you are the breadwinner
3. Growing your money by investing in the stock market or in your own business
4. Estate planning
This is actually a very good road map to follow for all of our financial goals. Before we buy any financial product, it’s important to start from the very basic concept of saving and managing expenses. For my goal of preparing for my son’s college education – I will follow this pyramid and start again by monitoring my expenses. Baka may makita pa tayong pwedeng paghugutan ng savings!
Mark was speaking for an event by Insular Life that day and one of the speakers showed this app called Insular Life Finance Manager. I downloaded it that afternoon and today, started to input my budget and today’s expenses.
A screenshot of my app today
I’ve used similar apps before but for a change – I will use this Finance Manager App to meet my target savings. Maybe in a few weeks or months, I have enough savings to approach a financial advisor about my son’s college education.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I wish that come 2017, I can start investing into an educational college plan for my son.
Stay tuned for part 2 of saving for your child’s college education!
