Managing your income: What’s next after you’ve paid off your debt?

After more than a year of living through a pandemic, we’ve all had to learn how to adjust to the new normal. From quarantine restrictions to social distancing, a lot of things have changed so fundamentally that we’ve had to pick up some new habits to get by.

Though we’ve all coped as best as we could these past months, it can’t be denied that a lot of people have turned to different ways to keep themselves occupied while they stay at home, ranging from learning a new skill, picking up a new hobby, or even succumbing to the lure of online shopping!

In the fifth episode of #SurvivingWithMissy, a collaboration between Metrobank and The Philippine STAR, Missy grapples with her budget and takes steps toward financial security. After finally paying off her debts, what is the smart thing to do with her money?

Paying it off

We start off this part of her financial journey seeing the sheer volume of deliveries Missy received from online shopping. Like Missy, a lot of people turned to online shopping during the pandemic to get their necessities and other goods. But beyond getting the essentials, for some, the allure of online shopping was too much and they ended up spending a lot more than they should have on stuff that they might not really need.

We follow Missy as she reaches the realization that now that she has more cash to spend after paying off her debts, she should make smarter decisions on what she should do with her extra income. A lot of us are motivated to earn so we can pay off our debts, but it may be difficult for some to plan for what happens after that. What do we do with the extra money we have on our hands? What’s the smartest move now?

Beyond learning to not let herself get carried away with online shopping and being more moderate in her spending, Missy understands that there should be balance in her financial life as well—knowing when to be frugal with her expenses while also rewarding herself when she reaches financial stability.

So you’re financially stable now, what’s next?

At this stage in Missy’s financial journey, she’s now considered to be in a financially stable point of her life because she’s finally paid off her debts or utang, secured her emergency funds, and she still has some disposable money. Now she wants to be smarter with her money so she asked for the advice of someone with more experience in the field.

So what can she do with her extra money? She can start by investing it. Or she can choose to take out a home loan. Along the same vein, she can opt for a car loan instead. But the most prudent for her situation and what is recommended is to get herself a health insurance.

Health is wealth after all. And after more than a year of COVID-19, taking care of our health and taking precautions to safeguard our future financial situation is paramount to peace of mind. A misconception with getting health insurance is that there’s a “too young” point of time, but that’s not exactly true.

No matter what our age is, our health is one of our most important assets and with how expensive medical bills can get, we should definitely plan ahead so that any unexpected illness won’t deal huge financial blows to our savings.

Health insurance also has several benefits that you may not have been aware of before, like free or discounted annual checkups and consultations that can help you prevent lifestyle diseases. What if you already have other health insurance benefits from your employer, you ask? You can definitely still choose to get your own health insurance to cover as those employment packages are likely limited in scope and amount.

Taking steps to plan out our financial journey isn’t as daunting a task with the proper guidance. And thanks to Metrobank teaming up with The Philippine STAR to create the financial literacy miniseries #SurvivingWithMissy, more and more people will get the nudge they need to be smarter with their money and take steps to learn more.

Check out future episodes of #SurvivingWithMissy, or look back on previous episodes on The Philippine STAR’s Facebook page for fun and easy to understand financial tips!

For more articles on financial education, visit https://metrobank.com.ph/learn.

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Editor’s Note: BrandedUp is designed to provide you with insightful, inspiring and educational content created by PhilSTAR L!fe in collaboration with brands like Metrobank.