Funny they say, charity begins at home or be a product of your product. Bago ko turuan ang ibang tao, turuan ko muna ang pamilya at kamag-anak ko. But for some reason, that’s not the case for my aunt, especially in life insurance.

Ever since, my aunt has been a non-believer of life insurance. Over the years, she’s been dealing with her finances using other financial tools. I don’t mind if she has a different approach or theory but I keep telling her why she needs to get one since her children (my cousins) are still very dependent on her. Other tools may not be accessible immediately just in case of any emergencies.

I felt that she’s a very close-minded person as far as life insurance so i stopped for the time being and hoping she can realized it by herself. Then the big turning point happened! Last Sunday, when I was out having dinner, my aunt suddenly called me and told me that she saw the It’s Time! TVC featuring Piolo Pascual. Her exact words were: “Ini-endorse pala ni Piolo ang Sun Life!” to which I replied “Matagal na!” I even explained to her the exact message of the ad – - – Why Binondo? Ano yung role ng motorcycle (uncertainty), protecting your dreams etc.

The ad says it all! According to her, for 15-30 seconds, you can already tell the very essence of the ad.

In the end, my aunt requested me to set her up with one of the advisors. Maybe she realized that it’s about time. I contacted one CDO advisor who used to be her former college professor.

Knowing where to invest your savings is another matter. The thing to remember is that the various financial products are all designed with different types of saver in mind. To help which one suits best – read on financial materials, harness the power of web or better yet, consult a financial advisor. Listen to your counsel before you begin to spread your resources.

Let’s be reminded that we save for stewardship and this will lead to delayed gratification. In that way, a provident fund will be readily available when emergency arises, when a future time when we won’t be as prosperous as now and when someone is in dire need.

It’s Time!-made me realized that even for myself, i have not secured anything for a comfortable retirement. All that i have been doing is going out of town, enjoying the scenery, going to the malls with my family and not making any plans for my own future and worst no plans for a secured future for my family.

It’s Time!- for me now to take action. Initially i have secured a memorial plan for me so that my family will not worry anymore in case i suddenly depart from this world. But i would like to have more..i want something to leave behind for my children, i want to live comfortably when i retire and not rely on my children.

It’s Time! -for me and my spouse to sit down and seriously talked about this.

And the adage that the more you earn the more you save was completely untrue for me. In my case and I’m sure as well as most of yours, the more I earned, the more I spent, the more I wanted. Bigger paychecks didn’t help and I realized I actually saved more when I had a smaller paycheck. And now, almost 7 years into my career, I realized I’m no closer to the getting the things I wanted than when I had just graduated from college. To make matters worse, we have bills, credit card debts and other obligations to pay, leaving us with less and less to save for our future.

Time flies everyone, believe me. And unless we take a step back and realize that we need to make changes NOW, we’ll wake up one day and realize it’s too late.

Yes, it’s time. Time to recheck our finances, pay off our debts, start spending wisely, start investing for the future, start realizing the value of money we are wasting on things that we don’t really need. We’re very fortunate to have so many options available for investments. With mutual funds, VULs, short and long term time deposits and so many other financial products out in the market, there’s really no excuse to not invest. The earlier we start, the bigger the returns, and it takes so little to start, we just need to have the will to do it.

As for me, I started out small, first I left all my credit cards at home, and only use my cash on hand. If I can’t pay for it in cash, it means I probably can’t afford it. I consolidated my credit card debt, used a balance transfer facility to make payments lighter and planned out my expenses for the next 6 months. I started paying for an affordable life insurance and investment policy. And after checking my finances, I realized I still have enough to spend on the little ‘luxuries’ I know I can’t give up, like going out with friends or traveling. See, it’s really not about giving up all your wants, it’s about reaching a compromise between current and future expenses and realizing where to draw the line on spending. And it feels so good to know that at least, as of right now, I’m finally on the right track.