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Five Practical Money Skills of Jose Rizal
Five Practical Money Skills of Jose Rizal
independent:
It would be beneficial to examine how they managed to survive and work their way towards financial
freedom.
One of the most documented national heroes we have is Dr. Jose Rizal. He grew up in a privileged life,
being born to one of the wealthiest families in Calamba, and yet he was never careless with money. Rizal
was always conscious about his spending even though he knew that his parents can back him up for any
financial need.
What was Rizal’s attitude towards money? How did Rizal manage his limited finances while he was living
overseas? What are the personal finance lessons we can learn from Rizal’s experience? Here are the five
practical money skills of Jose Rizal that everyone should master to become financially independent:
One way to save money for the future is to budget your expenses. There are two types of expenses that
you need to monitor. One is fixed expenses, which you can hardly lower because they are necessary
living expenses such as rental, loan amortization or insurance. The other is variable expenses which vary
every month depending on your consumption. These are electricity, food or gasoline.
The opportunity for saving as a result of monitoring your expense budget comes with the lowering of your
discretionary expenses. Expenses on movies, books, dining out and other leisure can be minimized to
generate savings.
Although Rizal knew how to budget properly, according to historian Ambeth Ocampo, a significant part of
Rizal’s recurring and most consistent expense was for books and reading materials, while food was not
given the same attention. To save for books, Rizal would scrimp on bathing that he even once bragged to
his sisters that he had not taken a bath in weeks!
3. Learn how to have the discipline to repay your borrowings and become debt-free.
Rizal had difficulty publishing his first novel, Noli Me Tangere, due to financial constraints. He had to
borrow Php 300 from his good friend Maximo Viola to print the first 2,000 copies of Noli. Rizal was
thankful for Viola’s help that when he received his funds from his brother Paciano several months after,
he did not delay any minute to pay off his loan immediately.
When you are in debt, there is always the anxiety of owing money and you find yourself in the debt trap.
By paying down your debt, you will feel the feeling of freedom and security because you don’t have to
worry about paying your debt when your income becomes limited.
Sudden wealth can leave you broke when you don’t plan it properly. Windfall income makes you suddenly
adjust your spending lifestyle thinking there are no more limits in spending without realizing that there is
still limit. When there is excess income, find ways to invest in assets that will appreciate rather than
depreciate.
Entrepreneurship is all about risk management. There is no assurance that you will always succeed.
Preparing for risk and challenges in starting up a business is one of the key factors of success. If you
know how to manage your risk, you will be able to handle your investment and profits too. Our heroes,
like Rizal, are some of the greatest risk takers we know. May we apply their wisdom in our entrepreneurial
endeavors.