Unlock Your Finances During the Lockdown

While being stuck at home can definitely be boring, it’s best to think of this quarantine as a fresh start, a chance to reset how we’ve built our lifestyles over the last few years. Whether that’s meditation, reading, or writing, now is the perfect opportunity to build on habits that you can use from now on.

One habit that we often forget about is the act of saving. It may not seem very important to you now, but learning how to manage your money now can help build the foundation for the rest of your adult life.

So after you’re done cancelling that order and clearing that cart, make sure to read these tips on how to make the most of your savings while in quarantine!

Learn about personal finance online

Personal finance is your ability to meet your financial goals by managing your money effectively. Whether you’re saving up for a laptop, looking to start investing, or just want an emergency fund, it’s important to learn how your income, expenses, and living costs affect whatever financial goal you have in mind. Sounds pretty important, right?

The problem is most schools don’t teach you the basics of personal finance, so if you’re unfamiliar with where to start, don’t worry! The Internet has more than enough information to help you upgrade your personal finance skills, with hundreds of free videos on YouTube, and blogs just a click away. Investopedia.com is one example of an online resource dedicated to making difficult financial information easy for everyone to understand, so that’s a great place to start!

Get a digital savings account

While you would normally need to go to a physical bank to open a savings account, the magic of the Internet means you no longer have to leave your home to start saving!

GCash allows you to open a digital savings account through its partner bank CIMB. GCash & CIMB remove all the stuff that’s intimidating about opening a bank account, such as those document requirements and the high minimum deposit amount. It’s really easy to start saving even if you’ve never opened a bank account before, because all you need to register is just 1 ID and 1 peso. You can open an account in 2 easy steps: tap the savings option in the GCash app, submit the necessary information, and voila, you’re one step closer to getting your finances in order!

While storing your money in a digital savings account seems a little scary, don’t fret, GCash has you covered. Their Customer Protect program monitors unauthorized transactions, and provides money-back guarantees as long as you provide detailed evidence of the issue you’re experiencing. To top it all off, GCash is PDIC insured, which is a fancy way of saying your money is covered up to Php500,000 pesos by the Philippine government. Talk about customer service!

Last but not least, GCash and CIMB offer a 4.1% interest rate on your savings! That’s the highest interest rate of any bank in the country, so if you want to start saving, creating a GCash mobile wallet is definitely a way to go!

Learn how to budget with these free apps

Part of learning how to save is learning how to track your spending as well. Budget apps such as

MoneyLover can help track your personal expenses in different categories, so you can see where you’re spending the most. It even allows you to organize and take photos of your receipts, so you can have a paper trail of all your expenses.

Fortunately, you won’t need to add the app as an expense because it’s free!

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While creating saving habits takes time and discipline, it’s important to get started as early as possible. Just like when it comes to staying fit or updated, doing a bit everyday can reap huge rewards in just a couple of months time.

Need more strategies on how to make the most out of your money? Then take a look at these articles from our Grown-up Guide to learn more!