The Philippine economy declined by -4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2021 and it looks like there’s no end in sight yet for the pandemic. We can expect that recession will not be over soon so we need to rethink our priorities in life. After one year of the pandemic, these are five important lessons that my family and I learned.
1. Our home is the safest place to be during this pandemic
We already do our work, studies, and entertainment activities at home. It only makes sense then that we should make it more livable and safer for our family. So, does this mean that we should buy a home instead of renting one? If depends on your circumstances. But the worst case to be in the middle of the pandemic is to find yourself without a home because you failed to pay your rent or mortgage. Make sure that you are updated in your payments.
If you are still planning to buy a house, this may be the best time due to more relaxed terms and lower interest rates. If you want to even save more, look for bank foreclosed properties or PAG-IBIG Fund ‘acquired assets. As they say, there’s opportunity in crisis. But of course, it doesn’t mean you have to blindly purchase a house without considering your capacity to pay. First of all, consider how much you can afford to pay for a house. By industry practice, it should not be more than 30% of your take home pay. So, if your take home pay is P60,000, then you should not be paying more than P20,000 for your home mortgage monthly.
There is a useful online tool for computing home mortgage so that you’ll know how much you are expected to pay monthly for a certain property. You just need to input the total price of the house, down payment, interest rate, and terms in years.
After determining your budget for a house, you can now start hunting for a property. If you are applying with the PAG-IBIG Fund, we often advise future homeowners to avail of the maximum terms so that you will get a lower monthly mortgage payment. This will be in preparation for economic uncertainties such as this pandemic. It is easier to pay the lower monthly mortgage. You can always pay in advance the principal so that you will not pay higher interests. PAG-IBIG will automatically recompute your loan so you pay a lower mortgage.
2. Family is everything so get protection for your family
“As every housewife knows, the first check you write is for the mortgage, but the second is for the insurance”. – Leigh Anne Tuohy, The Blind Side
This is never been truer than during this pandemic. Aside from keeping ourselves safe by following health safety protocols, and get vaccinated, we should also protect ourselves and our family from unexpected sickness and costly healthcare. People spend as much as millions in for Covid19 hospitalization and this is an Get a health insurance for added protection. If you have GCash, you can get insurance through GInsure for as low P300 a year for Dengue and Covid19 for up to P140,500 coverage.
3. We don’t need a lot of stuff
Now that we stay at home most of the time, we get to see the amount of stuff we have accumulated over the years. More often than not, we don’t even use them, so why not get rid of them? Give them away to people who will actually use them, sell them or barter them to other stuff you need. Search for barter groups in your area and you’d be surprised at the quality and quantity of stuff that people barter.
4. Side hustle helps pay the bills
Most of us have been affected financially by the pandemic especially our livelihood. A side hustle, or raket as we Filipinos call it, will help in augmenting the family income. Since most of us have a lot of extra time in our hands, this will be the best time to take on a side job or a business for additional income. There’s a lot of opportunities especially for online jobs that are opening up or even in your neighborhood, you might have some skill that somebody needs.
5. It’s important to take care of our mental health
Talk to family and friends, exercise, learn a new skill, do whatever it is that can keep your mental health healthy. It’s been very challenging for all of us and if you have kids, the more that we need to pull ourselves together. Go get professional help if you need one. And while we’re taking care of ourselves, let’s not forget to take case of others as well.