Live within your means? Live below your means!

One of the best seminars I attended when I was still working with Smart Communications was Financial Stewardship. For me, the best advice given by the speaker was “Don’t live within your means. Live below your means”.  He went on to illustrate why this has to be so. Before this very enlightening advice, I was a believer of living within your means. I believed living within your means is a smart financial principle.

True enough, when you live within your means you end up with no savings and no extra cash in cases of emergency. You may not be borrowing for your wants but you have nothing left also when the need arises. But if you live below your means, you always set aside for savings AND emergency. These two items are not there as a result of your extra money after spending for the budgeted ones.

Backed up with a stable job from one of the most stable companies in the Philippines, I also went through the habit of spending like a careless shopper. I paid in cash but mostly by credit card.  Good thing I didn’t have to go through credit counselling as I snapped back to reality fast. That’s why, I will forever be grateful to that afternoon of what I thought would have been a boring seminar on financial matters. The “Live below your means“ lesson stuck. I’m glad it did.