Building good financial habits at an early age is the focus of the webinar “Building Brighter Habits for your Future” hosted by Sun Life Asia Service Centre-Philippines (ASCP), a company that provides business processing, information technology, and investment research shared services to Sun Life’s global businesses.

Students from SOS Children’s Village and House Foundation attended the virtual event. Certified wealth planner Teresa Joy Panganiban and Sun Life ASCP head of Finance and Operations Dennis Bocoy served as resource speakers.

According to Panganiban, the benefit of building good financial habits at a young age is that people will have more time to save, plan their future, and expand their finances. Contrary to the belief of Filipinos, she shared that working for a company is not the only way to earn money at a young age. 

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“Money is everywhere and we also need to find ways to get it. Right where you are, using your resources, using your talents, you can earn money because you have access to information now,” said Panganiban. 

She advised everyone to use the internet wisely because it presents unlimited ways to make money. For example, people can take jobs as social media managers or online entrepreneurs. What they do with their earnings speaks a lot of their views of financial security.

Panganiban shared that setting a goal for oneself is important in establishing good money habits. Doing so gives meaning and direction to the upcoming financial decisions that someone will take during their lifetime. 

Additionally, putting effort into managing finances ensures that there will always have enough contingency funds as well as savings for long-term financial goals.

Investments

Bocoy, for his part, believes that investing in advancing skills through self-learning or training can lead to better financial situations — being able to save more, plan for retirement, and do other long-term investments. 

When starting earning extra money, Bocoy recommended buying assets that appreciate in value instead of putting expenses on liabilities. Some examples of assets include cash, savings, properties, investments like bonds, the cash value of life insurance policies, mutual funds, stocks.

Bocoy advised the attendees that expanding sources of income also builds up financial security. One can utilize skills and talents to service customers while working an 8-5 job.

While managing your finances could be overwhelming for a young individual, it is strongly advised to learn to plan ahead and start even with small steps towards financial freedom.