Financial Literacy

Hmmm I attended a workshop titled, "Working with Low-Income Families on Financial Literacy" by a group of finanical consultants from the threesixty consulting group as part of my grassroots work last Sunday. It was a rather last min decision as I have missed the registration deadline. It was timely as I wanted to learn more about saving money. And the course approach is kinda "helping yourself before helping others". Well it's really true. How to go about teaching them cutting budget and saving money when one dunno how to do himself/herself? So everything just fall in place - this workshop must be one of the most enriching ones that I have attended. And the deal with the group and NACLI is that they cannot sell any products during the class, so it's purely "teachings and advices". Well how often that you have a group of finanical consultants talking to you without trying to make profits.

I wouldn't say that I have become a financial "guru" overnight. I am just doing what I didn't do in the past. No one plans to fail but I have failed to plan - I didn't plan my budget, I didn't monitor my expenses, I didn't really have a saving plan in place, be it long term or short term. Thus I have the tendency to spend beyond my means. But it has not reached an alarming level because the only good point of my present planning is that I have a good level of emergency funds around. So a little bit of over-spending didn't hurt but it just cannot goes on.

And thus I started to plan and put everything on an excel sheet. And I got really shocked by the amount of money that I am pouring into bills. Hmmm partly it's due to the fact I am paying cash for my HDB rental flat. Haha. Which prompts me to make adjustments to my other bills, I have cut away certain channels on Starhub TV that I have not been watching regularly. No more HBO, VV Drama, Kids programmes. And I just took away Sports group. That's just unlike me. Hahaha. And I am taking actions to terminate the phone line that I have not used for two years.

I have set up a short term saving plan. But not the long term yet. I am monitoring my expenses religiously over the next few months and study my spending habit before making the decision. But I will definitely make a decision before I go Taiwan. Besides, I am awaiting the development of my rental flat status. Well I did what I possibly can to present a strong case that I should be allowed to buy a flat directly from HDB due to my special circumstances. I am now resigned to wait to see what they have to offer me. If they allow me to stay on in the current rental flat, rather high chance the rental will go up, that means that my expenses will go up and I would need to make adjustments either to the short term saving plan or the amount that I can put into the long term saving plan. That requries careful planning and thus I am not rushing into things. And I really need to establish my spending first.

But one thing is for sure, I have ruled myself out on getting a room on my own. I do not think I can balance the accounts. And thus how if HDB's replies is going to be negative? Haha everything happens for a reason, I cannot tell you exactly what is/would be my plan. Just like what I said, no one plans to fail. I dun plan for HDB to say NO. Hahaha. But I would definitely find a way out if it really happens. Given the amount of rough patches life has for me, this is definitely not the end, it is just another beginning.