Well, when you’ve got the motivation and the general idea on how to create wealth, you start thinking of practical ways to do it. First stab would be to look at current finances and identify which expense areas could be trimmed down. Eventually, savings can be your initial investment money.
Fortunately (for Pinoys) the lifestyle here in Manila isn’t expensive. A starting employee would probably get around P10,000-P15,000 ($200-$300) monthly salary. It’s not much compared to US-based labor, but food, lodging and transportation is also comparatively cheaper. An apartment here could go as low as P5000 ($100) and a full meal could be eaten for P35 ($0.75). A knowledge-based worker, such as IT consultants or System Admins, would probably get around P20,000- P30,000 ($400-$600) monthly here.
Most of the tech-based workers are in Ortigas or Makati, Philippines. So if a person lived somewhere in Marikina or Antipolo we can make some basic computations. Let’s assume a hypothetical single, professional employee earning 20 thousand pesos (US$400) monthly.
INCOME:
Salary - P20,0000
EXPENSES:
Tranportation - P2000 (P100 a day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks)
Food - P3000 (P150 a day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks)
Entertainment - P2000 ( Movies, TV, Dinner Outs)
Communication: P1000 (Cell Phone, Landline)
Apartment Rental: P5000 (Average rate, decent place, mid-low range housing)
Clothing: P1000 (Shoe shopping, Clothes)
Groceries: P2000 (Supermarket Shopping)
Utilities: P1000 (Electricity, Water)
Based on the numbers above, a single professional worker could theoretically live with a P20,000 ($400) salary. He/she could probably save a few thousand pesos monthly, as well. Practically speaking, however, Filipinos/Filipinas tend to still be living at home (with parents/family). Cultural habits dictate that a budget would be donated to the family. It is not uncommon for family breadwinners to donate 20%-50% of their salary to parents/siblings. I know this from experience. 
So how can we trim down expenses? I’ll tell you what I did. First, I told my family that there is something important that I need to save up for. 
Luckily, except for my little brother, my other sibilings are all working now. They also gave me a break since I’ve been significantly giving money to the family for over 10 years now. Then, I leveraged on whatever I could leverage on.
What do I mean? Well, when I took on an office job, one of the things I requested for was a place to stay and food to eat. These are provided for by my company and saved me a lot. My other friends work on home-based, consultation projects. They stay at home and go out only on meetings. Since they stay with their parents, food and lodging is free. They also save a lot on expenses. I’m sure you can think of other ways to leverage on what you have to save on expenses now.
If my expenses were similar to that of our hypothetical office worker above, then I’d have already saved on Apartment rental and Food expenses. That’s already P8000 ($160) savings!
This is a practical way of starting out. Save up! With whatever you can save up on, use it as capital for whatever next great business opportunity that comes along.
August 21st, 2006 at 1:39 pm
waah! ako nga walang naiipon. may budget organizer pa akong nalalaman tapos hindi ko din naman namomonitor.. huhuhu.. nakakainis!!
August 21st, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Continuing the saga of savings …. just how much in your personal opinion can a savings equate to wealth? Does having a one million pesos a basis for being wealthy? Of course the answer to this question is always subjective but somehow a baseline could be established.
August 21st, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Hi Ayel! Add physical financial restrictions to yourself. It works… and you really need to be MOTIVATED.
Abet, about wealth… You must be getting regular monthly Passive income greater than your expenses. This means, even if you do nothing (don’t work), you’ve got revenue from businesses that generate money for you. I don’t think it’s a specific numerical number. It’s a regular financial figure greater than your expenses.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:25 am
“It?s a regular financial figure greater than your expenses.”
I’ll never get rich, then.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:48 am
Aww come on Alfa! Just figure out how to get assets for yourself!
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Great post! But include the impact of tax too. If a person’s salary is P20,000 the take-home pay is definitely lower, probably around P17k-18k. Damn taxes!
November 11th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
I have thought about the saved money between home-based and office based type of job. In my case, they are the same that’s I’m planning to focus on home based job. I setup an internet cafe in our house while working on my blogs/websites for contents.
November 14th, 2006 at 8:14 am
Good luck on your work Mark! PnoyMoneyTalk, I was considering 20 thousand pesos as income minus the taxes. Yes, taxes can definitely be hard on finances.
November 15th, 2006 at 7:07 am
No prob really paying tax as long as you see this translated into concrete projects that benefit the public. Anyway I think an alternative way to be wealthy is to stop being an employee and to start your own business. Of yourse it has risks but the payoff is big too. What do you think?
January 31st, 2007 at 8:59 am
kuya, what business po kya ang pede kong umpisahan with a capital of 20 thousand?
February 13th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Hi Julie, sorry I missed your comment. Anong business? Well, I’d suggest something very simple like an eLoad business or a small retail store. You can also try going into online businesses.. but that can be quite tricky.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
well ok naman mga figures, kaya lang marami pang unexpected expenses ang hindi naisama…
usually kc yung mga yun ang biggest factor kung bakit hindi nakakaipon ang isang tao.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Just don’t spend more than your income and you’re safe. That’s base on my professor in economics. I guess he’s right.