If I am to compare my current self from who I was exactly a year ago, I can say that I have changed a lot. Socially, Mentally, Spiritually, Physically, and Financially. In this ulog, I just want to focus on how I managed to develop my financial wisdom.

I grew up in a middle-class family. We are living a simple life until I set foot on a university in pursuit of getting a professional degree. My family’s financial status screwed up that having enough school allowance is a daily struggle. To aid my financial needs, I tried looking for other income streams without compromising my focus in my studies. I became a Math tutor, a commissioned portrait artist, and an amateur entrepreneur. Thankfully, I managed to reach the finish line as a licensed civil engineer last November 2016.

Through years of struggling financially, I have learned to appreciate the value of money down to the very last cent. I have carried such outlook upon entering the corporate world where having a stable source of income becomes very overwhelming. The dream of fulfilling my financial goals far outweighs the temptation of giving into my splurges. Over time, I managed to build the habit of saving through delaying my personal gratifications.

It continued for the first four months until I learned about the importance of having a passive investment. Since then, I started looking for investments and it was then when a co-worker invited me to join an online investment called Paluwagan. Paluwagan is the term for facebook groups offering investment schemes for cryptocurrency trading. That is the first time that I came to know bitcoin. I haven’t fully understood the whole investment thing but all I know was I just have to Invest, Wait, and Earn. Who wouldn’t be enticed with that kind of investment wherein you could gain up to a hundred percent return on investment in just a week?

With a starting investment of 4,000 pesos (80 USD), I already pre-calculated that my investment could go up to a million pesos at the end of the year 2017 after constant reinvesting. I already listed all the things that I wanted to buy when I become a millionaire. Days have turned into weeks, and weeks turned have turned to months, yet I haven’t received a single payout from such investment. According to the admin, there are bank technicalities that should be settled first since millions of payouts are transacted daily. To keep it short, that was the first scam I encountered.

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However, I haven’t learned my lesson so I tried the other Palugawans, about 5 of them since I was thinking of diversifying my investment capital. There are times when I received something, but most of the time, all I received are promises, excuses, and reasons until all of them turned out to be mere scams.

My savings? It was all gone. I became depressed. The frustrations of the stupidity that I have done slapped my face a multiple times. I believe it was the greatest downfall I encountered last year but at the same time, it is a blessing in disguise. In my determination to make things right, I tried to learn more about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency through reading articles, watching youtube videos, and joining different online discussions. Over time, I learned that Cryptocurrency isn’t bad after all. It is the people taking advantage of this new investment trend which makes it a scam.

I learned trading cryptocurrencies on my own, and eventually, I found myself in this platform, and the rest is history. I gained my financial wisdom the hard way, and that’s the very reason why I am very passionate about this Financial Literacy advocacy. Friends, you don’t have to get scammed just to become financially literate. Take advantage of the internet and the available resources around you, because the greatest risk comes from not knowing what you are doing – just like what I did before.

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• A Summary of My Financial Activities for the First Quarter of the Year

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• Main Reasons Why You Are Unable to Save All-Year Round

• Should Your Long-term Savings be in Banks?

• Important Points to Consider Before Taking a Loan

• My Credit Story: How I Managed to Pay-Off Someone Else’s Debt

• Four Common Financial Mistakes a Millennial should avoid

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