Mommy Ginger
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How to Manage Finances As a Couple

We recently shared this video on how we, Team Arbo, manage our Finances as a couple.

Sharing the transcript of the video:

Hi everyone! I’m Ginger and I’m the vlogger behind this channel. Today, I pulled in my husband to help me answer a question that I’ve always been asked: how do we handle our finances as a couple? 

Just to put things into perspective, we have been married for 12 years, we both just turned 41, and we have two young daughters, both under 10 years old. One is actually still a baby. We also both founded a tech startup business with 2 other people. We were not born rich and what we have now all came from working in the corporate world, from running a business, and also from a LOT of side hustles. We’re a middle income family trying to make everything work so that we can enjoy retirement later on.

So let’s get to it: how DO we handle our finances as a couple?

QUESTION #1: So what’s our money system?

Ginger: We have 2 joint accounts: one passbook and another with an atm card. The passbook one we use for our savings and the inconvenience of moving money out of that account is a feature. The atm card is more for our “operating expenses.” I also have 1 checking account for my business. We also have 1 “in trust account” for our eldest daughter. I have 2 non-joint accounts in Unionbank (an EON Cyber account) and an ING account. EJ also has the same with ING and Unionbank.

So moving on to our system, I guess we should share our different sources of income.

So we both have our salary from our business which individually goes to our UnionBank accounts. Then I have my earnings from blogging and from her events business. EJ also has some speaking engagements and consulting gigs that he earns from, those go to his personal account as well. For everything that we earn or spend, we log everything into a shared google sheets that we turned into a Google Form. We used to have apps where we track income and expenses, but ended up using Google forms since the pandemic started because the flexibility of a spreadsheet is just unmatched.

EJ: So when it comes to expenses, Ginger and I have assigned expense items. This setup just works for us. As for savings and investment, we have what we call sinking funds for these. A sinking fund is basically a way of setting aside a little bit of money each month for bigger expenses or balloon payments later. In our case, we use it for big expenses like our daughter’s tuition fee – it’s due twice a year so we set aside a certain amount every month so when the due date comes, we have the cash. We also do it visually, with simple boxes which we color each month so it’s encouraging and empowering to see that we’re building up funds slowly for that.

QUESTION #2: Do we fight about finances? 

EJ: I don’t recall any time when we fought about money. Not to say that we don’t worry about it though – instead what happens is that, somehow, we’ve never worried about finances at the same time. Usually one of us gets stressed and the non-stressed person tries to pacify the worried person. And then other times, that role reverses.

Ginger: We are always transparent though and we always talk to each other about our finances. We share not only our concerns or worries but we also share new things that we have discovered like investment strategies, or new ways of handling money. We’re both open to learning new things when it comes to handling our finances.

EJ: I have to say that before getting married, we did talk about money and how we both view finances. Like if Ginger starts bringing in more money than me, how will that impact our relationship? (hint: it doesn’t) Big questions like that. We made sure to talk about these things as part of this pre-wedding Discovery Weekend that we attended. If you’re getting married – we highly recommend attending that.

QUESTION #3: What are your investments?

Ginger: As of December 2022: 70% of our investments are in mutual funds and VULs (Variable universal life insurance), 14.70% are in Stocks, and 6.30% are in Cryptocurrencies and NFTs. We set aside money for investment after we‘ve placed money into our sinking funds.

QUESTION #4: Advice that you can give other couples?

EJ: You should be aligned on how you both view money. What is money to you? How important is it to your relationship? When you’re all out, are you willing to get from family? How do you both think about that? Big questions like that. If there are any other couples out there what other big money question should you both answer? Share those questions in the comments!

On a more regular basis, Ginger and I also have family planning sessions every year to align what our financial priorities are for the year. That way, we’re on the same page on our goals and if there are any new realizations, we also share them with each other so we help each other get better as well when it comes to handling money.

Ginger: Know your partner intimately when it comes to handling money. As you’ve noticed, we are in sync when it comes to planning but we both maintain our own separate accounts. We found that this kind of system works for us since we both know that each one is responsible when it comes to handling our own money. You have to be open to talking to your partner about your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to handling money.

That’s it for today. We hope that this has helped couples who are watching this in managing their own money. We actually enjoyed recording this episode, so we hope you enjoyed watching it! We’ll be doing some more of these kinds of topics that can help couples with their journey to financial freedom.

If you would like more videos like this one, please hit like, share and click on the notification bell to be notified when we release another video like this. Feel free to let us know in the comment section what other topics you’d want us to talk about!

My Love for Personal Finance

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Since I posted that I’ve been buying and trading US Stocks via Gotrade, my friends and my daughter have been asking me about trading. Zeeka (my daughter) came up to me one night and asked me why I constantly check weird lines that go up and down on my phone. I said, “Honey, I’m checking the market”. Then she asked me what’s the “market”. So I gave her a simplified version of how purchasing stocks work, in a version where she put up a hotdog stand.

This led me to think about writing this article. Growing up, I wasn’t really exposed to how money works. I just knew that I needed to make lots of it, because that’s what people do. People around me were always saying they wanted more money, my parents were encouraging me to save, etc. And, having a lot meant I get to buy all of the toys, gadgets and clothes that I wanted.

I knew about savings and my parents taught me to save money in the bank under time deposits. But they never really taught me about index funds, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, etc. I was around 27 years old when I made my first personal purchase of an investment + insurance plan from one of the big insurance companies in the Philippines. Every month I would deposit a minimal into this plan (with no fail), and thankfully, today, I can use it for anything in the future, like my retirement or my kid’s education.

This started my love for personal finance. All of these seemed so interesting! I found friends who I got to learn from and who shared the same interest. Learning about growing money excites me. LOL! I know it’s a weird thing to say, but to me, it’s a game. It’s a game where you’re competing with a lot of different factors, testing out different moves and strategies.

Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t always fun. There was time when I found myself close to a million pesos in credit card debt. It may be small to a few people reading this, but I’ve never had debt that huge in my entire life. I managed to wipe off that debt in one year, and I’m super proud of this.

I don’t have dreams of becoming a billionaire. I’ve never been that kind of person. My dreams are more for my children (if you’re a parent, you’d understand this) and for the world. I really, honestly-to-goodness want to help in making this world a better place, and I chose my niche. My heart goes out to MSMEs and freelancers out there because I have been where you are at a certain point in time. I understand the struggle, the hustle, the pain and the triumphs that these people go through.

So in terms of personal finance, I’d like to share with you some of the things that I’ve done that has helped me grow my money and not stress about finances in the recent years:

Be Honest with yourself

If you’re in pain because you’re bleeding out money and talking about personal finance gets you down, face the problem and understand why you’re in this situation. What helped me a lot is tracking my inflows and outflows. If you are married or live with your parents or siblings, it’s best to have track household budget and expenses, too. My husband and I track our own expenses using a Google Form. Here is a template that you can use: TRACKER It’s easy to make a tracker like this. Just go to Google Drive then create a Google Form. Once you have created the form, share it with the person who you want to track the household budget with.

A huge part of our revenue goes to mortgage (but that’s a given). What I realized from doing this is that I spend a lot on food. LOL! So from knowing this behaviour, I’ve become more intentional about splurging on food. We only splurge when their’s a celebration and only try to order food when it’s the weekend.

Never compare your life with others

I love looking through Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube and there are times when I honestly compare myself and what I have with others. It’s so tempting, right? When someone else has that new iPhone model, or a bigger house or when someone else has a stock portfolio of a $1,000,000, you can’t help but wish, when is it going to be my turn. But what I have learned is that our lives are different. Whenever I’m tempted to buy, I ask myself, will this be something that I really need in my life (channeling in Marie Kondo). Sure, a few thousands of pesos will definitely bring more comfort. But if you stress yourself out in the journey getting there, is it really worth it?

Rules I Follow when I invest Money

We all know that cash in a savings account is obviously safe, but that’s it. Nothing happens to your money, because interest is so small that you don’t really feel it grow. Plus, over time, money really depreciates in value. So the trick is really to place it in a vehicle that earns more than the yearly inflation rate at least. This is why I have learned to be more open to risks.

My first rule in investing is to know how much risk are your are willing to take. Don’t invest in something that you haven’t researched or read about. Also, don’t invest money in high risk vehicles because you can lose all of this in an instant.

My second rule is to diversify. We scattered our funds and have investments in PH and US stocks, mutual funds, high-yielding savings accounts and crypto.

And my last rule is to never invest in something that you don’t understand. Don’t get me wrong. You don’t have to be an expert on investing, but read up or watch videos online. There are a lot of resources online that will teach you about investment. Don’t get left behind, too, when it comes to knowing about what’s happening around you. There are a lot of fake and crazy news that you’ll eventually read — a lot of scams, too. So learn as much as you can, ask friends or people who have tried these investments out and practice caution (but not to the extent that you’d rather keep your money under the mattress).

I hope you liked my thoughts for today on personal finance. I am not a financial expert so these are really general tips and the things that I shared and will share with you are really based on my own experience. Having said that, for those who would love to learn about Crypto Trading, you can start by reading this article:

How to Buy Crypto Currencies on Binance

It’s about how to get started on Cryptocurrency trading using Binance. Binance is the main platform that I use.

Let me know if you have other topics (personal finance is so broad) that you want me to discuss, zoom in on, and talk about.I also talk about finance on my TikTok channel so you can follow me here: https://www.tiktok.com/@gingerarboledatv

‘Til next time! Happy investing!

What I Learned about Finances, Tax Planning and Myself

All about tracking, tax planning, effort and perseverance!

I am so motivated to fix my finances this 2021. I’ve learned so much from diligently tracking both my personal and business income and expenses. So for today, I’d love to share with you what I have learned and hopefully, these learnings can help you, too.

You can’t do away with LEARNING Finance Topics if you want to be Financially Independent

I have friends who turn a blind eye and a deaf ear when you start talking about finances, investment, taxes, accounting, etc. To be honest with you, years ago, I was like that, too. And when I was young, I abhorred Math. I never really understood why we were studying it.

I started enjoying finances when I worked for a bank, and I love it even more now that I’m running a startup. I started seeing why we need to learn how to compute (even just for the basic stuff) and why we need to “read and understand” numbers. The thing about these topics is that you can’t really do away with these if you plan to be financially independent later on.

Last 2020, I tried to learn as much as I can about all of these, and I got to learn more on how “money” can work for you. One of the things that I learned is that you need to look at each Peso or Dollar as something or someone who works for you. Is their task to pay a bill or pay for a particular expense, or is their task to grow themselves?

For most of us, it may take a while before you can send some of your funds to grow themselves. Most of your money will really be spent on paying bills, etc. but take your time and enjoy the process. That’s another thing that I learned.

Know what your Constraints are

I learned to make more informed decisions last year, and this stemmed from the fact that I learned to know and realize what my constraints are. I know myself really well and one of my personal challenges is saying NO to things that don’t really matter. The PROs of this weakness is that there are a lot of opportunities that come to me and I get to widen my circle, but the CONs are I have less time for myself and less time for the things that really should matter.

So last year, I made a conscious decision to prioritize. The pandemic really slowed down Manila Workshops’ business, but what I realized is that handling Manila Workshops, Taxumo and Blogging / Vlogging really is a lot to handle. Although the purpose of Manila Workshops is great, I realized that I can also fulfill that purpose when I do the other things on my plate (like grow our startup and enjoy vlogging and blogging).

As for blogging, vlogging and streaming, I plan to work on understanding and learning more this year. People also think that Blogging and Vlogging is easy. You just create content and people will come. Well, that’s not the case really. You need to treat it like a business, so you will need a little bit of capital and lots of effort and learning. Nowadays, the learning curve for being a content creator is steep IF you really want to earn from it. It’s easy to learn tools that simplify content creation, but there are a lot of things to learn if you plan to earn from it.

This year, I am also officially announcing that I will keep the Manila Workshops brand, but we will be keeping it as a community instead. I won’t be monetizing it again yet. I’ll still look at a more scalable business model. Oh, that’s another thing, too. Growing Taxumo has made me realize a lot of things about how I handled Manila Workshops, which was actually pretty cool. I think I have grown more when it came to handling a business.

Learn how to Track literally EVERYTHING and do Tax Planning

People, I have realized that the first step to financial success is really knowing where you stand. You need to know your numbers — your personal income and expenses, your household income and expenses and your business revenue and expenses. Making decisions base on gut feeling (at least for me) isn’t the way to go.

Hard decisions are “hard” to make (like getting married, shifting careers, starting a business, etc.) because you obviously haven’t been to the FUTURE. Any path you take will be hard, unless you intentionally decide to take a one year break from making any life decisions, and just “Eat. Pray. Love.” your way through life that one year. In any case, you need money to sustain you that whole year.

So if you want to get on track to fixing your finances, start the habit of tracking it. You will realize that this simple habit will help you discover things that you haven’t discovered before about yourself, your spending, your behaviours, etc.

This is how I track my personal finances

For business, it’s really the same thing. I remember having this conversation with Nicole Alba, a young finance vlogger, and I mentioned that in order for people to run sustainable businesses and freelancing careers, they also need to know how to handle their personal finances.

For my business, I use Taxumo to track both my revenue and expenses.

It super easy and not at all complicated to learn how to use the system. Taxumo has FREE onboarding sessions here just in case you want to learn how to use it: http://txmo.co/onboarding.

What I have learned also by consistently tracking my business revenue and expenses, I can do tax planning. I can easily identify how much I should set aside for taxes early on. I have all of my information in Taxumo, so it makes it easier for me to know the amount of taxes that I need to pay. I also get a feel of what I have spent on significantly on the previous month.

As a self-employed individual, tax planning for me begins with just tracking really. How can you plan if you have no idea on where your funds are going or how much are you earning.

As for the tax rate that you can choose at the start of every year, before your first filing for the year, Taxumo has this notification bell that recommends what tax rate is best for you based on your cashflow entries.

Tax planning recommendation tool in Taxumo!
Machine learning tax planning tool of Taxumo
Sample of what is seen in the recommendations tab

You can check this out after inputting cash flow entries.

I have so many things going on in my life right now, but what I can say really is that I know where I am heading this 2021. It’s clear to me where I want to go and I am happy with the things that are happening to me and my loved ones.

I wish you all the same feeling. I wish that you find enough motivation and will power. I wish you find clarity. I hope that the path to being financially free will be clearer and I hope that you find your life’s purpose.

Cheers to a great 2021!

How Financial Tools Can Keep You Out of Trouble

Money is a difficult subject to talk about. But with the right financial tools, anyone can learn to manage their expenses and stay away from financial troubles later on.

Those who know me would know that I like automation. And, I also like looking for financial tools that can make my life easier and my business run smoothly.

Today, I’d like to share three financial tools that can help freelancers manage their finances better. I’ve personally used these, and I can attest that they definitely work.

Financial Tool #1 – Wally for Expense Tracking

I’ve been a fan of Wally for almost two years now and I’ve been using it to tracking and managing finances.

What I love about it is that it lets me compare my income versus expenses. It also gives me insights on my spending habits.

One of my guilty pleasures is online shopping. I just can’t help it! I get curious about a lot of stuff, especially when it comes to beauty products and Zeeka’s things. I’m also into checking out local brands. Just check out my Instagram and you’d know what I mean.

And sometimes, I can’t help but be a bit impulsive.

But with Wally, I get to see the expenses I’ve made and categorize them according to their purpose. It lets you create your own budget, add tags and categories, and even the location of your purchase.

It also lets you add reminders for recurring payments, attach images and pictures of receipts, and even keep track of all financial accounts in one place. You also even set goals for savings and investments.

Wally also has a feature where you can track the loans you’ve made and strategize on payments to avoid incurring penalties.

The most awesome thing about the app? It’s absolutely FREE!

You can get yours today by visiting the App Store or Google Play.

Financial Tool #2 – Paypal

I have used PayPal ever since I started writing for a living. And being a recognisable brand all over the world, Paypal made it easier for local and international clients to trust me with their business.

What I love about Paypal is its flexibility. I can send and receive funds from my clients without the fuss. I can also integrate other apps and automate processes like recurring payments with ease.

I have always prioritized automation in running my projects and businesses. As an entrepreneur, it’s important for me to free my time so I could focus on the tasks I need to do. And Paypal has given me the option to do just that.

Paypal has come in handy for online payment options, especially for Manila Workshops and Taxumo.

Those who avail of our workshops find it easier to make seat reservations through our website. It also gives them easier access to ongoing promotions and deals with just a click of a button. Taxumo users also get to enjoy seamless payments when they use their Paypal to pay for our services.

This service from Paypal is an awesome tool you can use for your freelance business. You can use it to get direct payments from anywhere in the world transferred to your local bank account.

You can also add it to your website and other profiles for clients to make payments any time.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how you can also add a Paypal button to your website:

Financial Tool #3 – GCash

I’m such a fan of GCash because it’s so convenient. Ever since I started using it, I didn’t have to carry as much cash anymore.

GCash is perfect for freelancers, especially those who don’t have time for long queues just to pay their bills. With just a tap of a button, you can get your phone bills, credit card bills, and other utilities paid at your convenience.

Here’s a cool feature from GCash. Did you know that you can just scan your electricity bill to pay it on your GCash app?

Yep, I used to type in the reference numbers when I started paying our electricity bill through the app. This process is a bit tedious and is prone to errors, but it definitely beats standing in line at the payment centers or banks.

Thankfully, GCash now added a feature where you can scan the code at the bottom of the bill and saves you from all the effort.

GCash also has other features that freelancers can take advantage of. There’s GCredit, where you can use it as a credit card for online payments. And there’s also GInvest, where you can start investing your hard earned cash and get access to various investment funds.

You can check out my post for more information about GCredit here.

If you’re interested in investing, you can learn more about GInvest here.

Freelancing can be difficult, especially if you’re starting out or if you don’t have a steady stream of clients. That’s why it’s important for every freelancer to learn how to manage their finances well.

Good thing that there are financial tools available today that can help you stay out of debt and financial troubles.

What tools do you use to manage your finances? Share your finance-related tips with us below.

Preparing your Finances for Pregnancy and Your Baby

Mommy Ginger was a guest speaker at the Setting up Mommy’s FB (Finances for Baby) Event at Mothercare Active Fun. I was invited by Insular Life to speak. It was actually my first time to have a talk which was not either about mompreneurship, business or digital marketing. Normally, I would get invited to speak for those topics. I was really excited because I really wanted to talk about this topic.

Setting up Mommy's FB

Setting up Mommy's FB (Finances for Baby)

Left to Right: Ms. Phoebe of Stemcord, Mommy Ginger from MommyGinger.com, Chay from Insular, Mariel from Mothercare and Anna from Insular

I know that one of the things that hinders a couple from having a baby is their finances. They always think that their money is not enough. A lot of my friends, who have stable jobs and great marriages, don’t have a child yet because a lot of them are still ‘saving up’ for a kid. In my blog, I get a lot of messages through my Mommy Ginger Facebook Page on how much do you actually need for the following:

1. Preparing for conception: How much would doctor’s fees, shots and vaccines (HPV, Flu shots, etc.), medicines cost for if you and your husband are still preparing for a child?

2. How much would you need to set aside for shopping for your baby’s things?

3. How much would you need for Ultrasounds, OB check-ups, etc.

4. How much would you need for labor and delivery

5. How much would you need for baptism, the child’s first birthday party, etc.?

6. How much would you need for education?

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Mommy Ginger speaking at the Setting up Mommy’s Finances for Baby

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Chay from Insular Life discussing their product called Gift of Dreams

For those who want a copy of my presentation, all you need to do is like my page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mommyginger) and send me a message there with your email address! 🙂 I will definitely get back to you and email you back the copy of the presentation.

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Baby Zeeka was playing while Mommy was Speaking 🙂 hehe!

For those who want to learn more about finances, my friend, Fitz Villafuerte is having a Family Finances workshop on Nov. 9, 2013. I would love to meet all of you there. You can register HERE: http://manilaworkshops.com/2013/10/family-finances-oct-2013.html

The organizers will also give Php 200 off from the rates if you place MOMMYGINGER in the Blogger Referral Code field in the form.

Thank you to all those who attended the talk. I hope that you learned a lot from me. Thank you very much, Insular Life and Mothercare Philippines! ‘Til the next event 🙂