Living in a third world country, I have understood how important money is. Each piece makes the world go round, without it, your nothing. That is how life goes with people who were not born with a golden spoon, I belong to that group. And being one gives me some lessons which I wanted to share with you.

Before I start let me give you a glimpse of my history. I was born in a typical Filipino family, not as lucky as those who live in luxury. Being the eldest of five siblings, I have experienced all the struggle of my family. My parents have no means of income when I was on my mother's womb. They just harvest fruits from wild fruit trees and vines in the mountains of Antipolo city. That may explain why I look odd. When I was born, I relied on my mother's milk for nutrition. However, since she doesn't have enough milk, I was fed with water from nearly cooked rice (am). We are really poor back then. We've gone through the days where we only have rice and salt for dinner. We even have to tear down our fence made of edible plants (Malunggay) so we'll have something to eat.

I grew up experiencing life's up and down. We have managed to survive because of my parents' effort, planting vegetables and fruits, then having a little canteen with those cooked veggies. Suddenly, the canteen was closed. Even so, we still manage to survive with the help of other people. My father worked as a church janitor and eventually became a pastor. Being a pastor, he manages to make me finished my elementary and high school on a public school.

Then he told me that he will not be able to support me for college. So what I did is to apply for scholarship grants that are available. By God's grace, I became a scholar with Php10,000 (230USD) allowance per semester. I have enrolled myself to a local university whose tuition is around Php3,000 (70USD) per semester, so I'll still have extra money to support my other siblings' schooling. I have managed to be graduate from a four year - Bachelor Degree course by maintaining my grades and being an active student. Now, I am the one working to finance our family's daily needs.

Those experiences shed me a lot of tears but teach me tons of lessons. One thing I learned that greatly affects my way of living is wise spending of money. It is about realizing which are assets and which are liabilities and understanding those terms better than an accountant do.

Back in my College days, my teacher in accounting defines Asset as anything owned by an individual or a business, which has commercial or exchange value and Liability as a loan, expense, or any other form of claim on the assets of an entity that must be paid or otherwise honored by that entity. Therefore, many people believe that the more asset you have, the richer you are. That belief drives people to buy every gadget, or any property available, or any new trends that are out on the market.

I define these terms differently based on Robert Kiyosaki's Book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Robert stated in his book that Asset is anything that PUTS money in your pocket and Liabilities is anything that Takes AWAY money in your pocket. I have agreed with that statement and have been living with it. I've tried to think of it, whenever I spend my scholarship allowance, "Will this stuff give back my money or will be just an expense?", "Is my purpose of purchasing this thing will make it an asset or a liability?"

Try to reflect, is a smart phone an asset or liability? If it will be used in business and connection, maybe yes. However, if it will be used just to brag around, then it is not.

That way, I have minimized spending for my gain and have focus on things, which will give me more money. Back in college, I've used my extra allowance to buy candies, pad papers, ball pens and other school supplies and resell them in the classroom rather than buying myself a brand new phone. That way, I have my money back even greater than before. I have taken the risk and reap the fruits.

The same still applies today, even I am earning well now. I choose to walk than taking a taxi, and I saved almost half of my daily fare expense. I also choose to buy things which I can use for business rather than getting fancy with all new stuffs. One example is when I spend Php 1,000 to create button pins instead of buying myself branded clothes. I earned Php500 by selling those buttons pins which makes me able to buy clothes :)

This may not be as big as you think. Even so, huge things start from tiny ones. I don't know about you, but I do believe that no one will be poor if he knows how to manage his own expense. I hope to be successful by this practice and looking forward to having my own business. Be a wise spender, that makes the difference.