It saddens me that I don't write for this blog as frequent as I used to. The culprit is yoga.
I used to block off my Saturday mornings for developing and writing blogposts, thus, I was able to churn out a least two posts a month. But now Saturday mornings are for yoga and I honestly don't know where to sneak in writing for my blog. I must reassess my schedule though since I really don't want to give up this blog and I have so many half-composed posts milling around in my head.
Another thing that bothers me is the repeated questions on Manila Bankers Life Insurance, questions that can be answered just by reading the post. I have half a mind to just post a nasty "Hindi ka ba nagbabasa?!" reply but then I think twice and remind myself that they were already victimized and that I should be more empathetic to their predicament. It's really a good thing that I only go through comments when I'm in a good mood, otherwise, meet Mother Dragon.
Third thing on my list is the realization that while I'm a conscientious payer of bills and debts, I'm not as diligent when it comes to saving. It's so easy to pay off bills because they're scheduled and already factored into my budget, but it's not the same with savings and investments.
Debt and bill payments are usually on top of my financial priorities because the repercussions of not settling them do not sit well with me. But now that I've almost paid off all my personal loans, I now have the good problem of deciding what to do with my extra cash.
The financial rockstar way would be to pour all of that cash towards one of our mortgage and then once one is fully paid off, to work towards decimating the second mortgage. In that way, both mortgages (which are now below Php1,000,000) will be gone in less than 2 years.
But our 11-year old starter car is starting to show its age, hence the need to save up money for a downpayment for a new or new-to-us car and then make room in our budget for a year's worth of car payments. The grand plan is to get an Avanza or Ertiga at 50% downpayment and then pay off the balance in 12 months.
Because I am no financial rockstar, just a groupie at best, I have decided to do both. Make extra payments towards one mortgage while saving for a car downpayment. Of course, since I'll be traversing the middle ground, I won't be able to do any one of those as quickly as I would like. But I'm ok with that.
Setting up a PERA account, reviving my COL Financial account and opening up a TD Ameritrade account to buy US mutual funds are also on my list. But that's still for the future, because our present goal is mortgage reduction and saving up for a car downpayment.
But before you get all impressed with my financial discipline and fortitude, I would like to inform everyone that my boys and I will be going to Tokyo tomorrow and will be there for 7 days. In short, we'll be spending money that could have been used for extra mortgage payments and/or car downpayment. But I have no regrets because I saved up for this trip while also paying down debt and running a household.
I know myself well enough to know that going all out with debt reduction will only make me miserable since I'm all about finding the right balance between enjoying the present and saving money for the future. Of course, enjoying the present does not always entail spending money, but you have to admit that having some money will add to the enjoyment.
And with that, I end my ramblings because I have to get ready to vote and do my part in securing a Philippines that will be worthy of my kids and grandkids.
