Dear Millennials, Let's Use Technology To Save Our Future

Dear Fellow Millennials,

We are lucky to live in this time when digital and technology are shaping our lives. From sending snail mails that take weeks or months to arrive, it now takes less than a second to send a message online. From searching through the alleys of the library, it only takes a button to do a research on any topic imaginable.

We are the generation that experienced the advent of technology as we moved up in the ladder of the educational system. Some of us already had mobile phones when we were in elementary. We learned to embrace social media and smartphones later on. This generation is the living witness of how awesome Nokia 3310 was! We had also seen the rise of iPhone's popularity. Google and Facebook have become the two websites we use almost every day, right?

We are the generation that made traveling fun and proved to everyone that we can do it even on a budget! We are travel superheroes, thanks to bloggers who made it easy for us. We made selfies the way we communicate with our friends wherever they are. We post our pictures on Instagram, Facebook, and send them to friends on Messenger. Our life updates are on social media to inform our friends, including those we haven't met personally yet!

Unfortunately, the rest of the world is also doubting our capabilities, my fellow millennials.

We are the generation that spends way too much money without realizing it isn't easy to earn it. We ask our parents to finance our social life. We spend hundreds of pesos to study in a cafe. We take weekend breaks to a nearby beach or camp on the mountain. Have you been guilty of any of these?

We are also the generation that doesn't focus on saving for the future. We don't have emergency funds, but we have travel funds. We have the YOLO (You Only Live Once) mantra! We live in the present and are usually surprised by what's ahead of us. Oftentimes, we regret our decisions in the past when we're already experiencing financial problems.

We can make a more financially-secured future, my fellow millennials. We can do it starting today! One step at a time, my fellow millennials.

USING TECHNOLOGY

Let me ask you a few questions, my fellow millennials: How often do you check your Facebook account? Do you exert effort to make your Instagram visually appealing? Is Messenger your daily driver when it comes to communicating with friends? Do you feel disappointed in realizing that you can't seamlessly view your Youtube video because of the buffering state of the country's internet connection?

We use technology in our day-to-day lives, and it will be futile if we don't maximize its potential in helping us create a better future, my fellow millennials. Yes, I'm talking about the internet and our smartphones. We millennials are more likely to use their mobile phones than our personal laptop.

The internet is a giant library wherein we can read any books without wasting too much time finding which alley we can find a good resource with the help of Google. Youtube has become a personalized TV wherein we can leisurely spend minutes to check some instant tips to save money. In fact, depending on the pages and friends that you follow, Facebook is a great avenue to learn regular financial advice.

While the internet is a haven of good financial resources, it has also become the home of a lot of multi-level marketing ideas that may not work for a majority of us. Recently, Pluggle became a viral business idea that lured many millennials into thinking it's a great source of income. It ended up to become an unregistered business and eventually a scam. Have you paid P1,000 to Pluggle to start your business with them? Did you (l)earn from that experience?


READ: 10 Tips For A Better Life Ahead: The Millennial Way

TECH TIPS TO SAVE

Just like you, my fellow millennials, I'm still continuously studying and checking out both online and offline resources available to me to discover ways to build a more financially-secured future. At 25, here are the lessons I learned that I can share with you:

1. I use an app to track my daily expenses. It's called MoneyLover but there other expenses-tracking apps out there that you can check on the PlayStore or App Store. It's free on both Android and iOS phones!

2. Joining financial groups on Facebook has helped me discover some financial tips and marketing ideas from mentors. These are some of the groups that I joined:

Financial Literacy Advocates
Filipino Financial Freedom Forum
Filipino Financial Advocates
Making Money from Blogging
Market Like A Nerd
Marketing Solved

3. Having the right network is important to stay updated with the news. Here are some mentors who I follow:

Fritz Villafuerte
Chinkee Tan
Bo Sanchez

4. I understood how the stock market and cryptocurrencies work just by watching videos on Youtube. Just in case you're interested, start with these videos (more of them on the platform):

5. When deciding on any financial advice that best suits me, I post on Facebook asking recommendations from my friends. Guess what? Earlier this month, I posted about my interest to get an insurance and that post allowed me to speak about 10 financial advisors. Each meeting became a learning activity for me to understand how insurance policies work.


READ: How Can Social Media Change the Financial Literacy Mindset of Millennials?

SAVING OUR FUTURE

It's never too late to start doing something good for our future, my fellow millennials. We can still save for our future medical expenses and retirement. This allows us to save our future starting today! We have to be prepared or life will teach us lessons during emergency situations. You don't want that to happen, right?

What do we need to do? A change of mindset. Have the right mindset! Understand that it is not enough to save in the bank. That there is inflation and this devalues our money we have on our hands each year. All these lessons on financial literacy are futile if we haven't learned that it is important to build a better future today. That we can save our future by starting to save the right way!

My fellow millennials, often times we only learn to value money when we don't have any at the time when we need it the most That can change if we start to believe that even with a meager income today, saving for a better future is still possible. We have to think that these expenses for health and life insurance are investments to become more prepared in life.

If you have questions, let me know and I'll be happy to talk about the things I know. If that's something new, we can surely learn it together. There's always that giant library of information that is just a search away.

My fellow millennials, the sun will continue to rise each day but it will be a brighter day if we know we are ready to face any challenges ahead of this road. No rain can stop us from having a better life.

Best of luck to us all!


Learning to save our generation,
Your Fellow Millennial