how financially healthy are we?

i was hoping that i could blog about iñigo and his fascination with the jollibee character and the jollibee parties we're attending every month.... yes, it's as often as my monthly period. hahaha! but i need to delay it a little more because am still waiting for the pix of iñigo during his kuya charles' 7th birthday last sunday, the last jollibee party we've attended so far.

so let me blog a more important concern, which jude and i are taking seriously since we found out that we're already pregnant with iñigo--only 5 weeks after we got married. so soon noh? we had no savings to speak of then aside from the cash gifts we received in our wedding. jude was still paying for the lot and the car loaned thru his company and what's left in his salary was enough to augment my not-so-big income. of course we were thrilled that our union is already blessed with a baby but i would be dishonest if i tell you that anxieties and fears were not part of that "mixed feelings" of parenthood. we had no idea of raising a child and the more of the costs attached to it. fortunately for us, almost all of my monthly check-ups, lab exams, prenatal vitamins, and ultrasound procedures were shouldered by jude's company. and when i delivered iñigo, it was also jude's company who paid for the bills in makati medical center. hence, we were able to save a little money in the bank since we were financially unscathed.

fast forward to october 2007...

we still have some money left in our bank accounts, invested in some mutual funds and bought some stocks shares... yes, everything is "some" because it's really not that significant so i cannot claim that we are already financially stable.

it also doesn't help that we are in the midst of financing the construction of our house and my soon-to-open business. the next resort for us is to loan again from jude's company. well, it's better to have the money from them because their lending rate is the lowest and the terms they offer are shorter than the banks or other financial institutions.

so how good are we now in terms of financial health?

we're on a passing grade i guess because am confident that our net worth is still positive. but let me share you our financial health scorecard which i created after reading some very good books on financial matters. i'm not going to fill it out yet as we have just entered our third year of marriage but i hope after ten years or sooner, everything is checked with "achieved". =D

	target amount	status
1. emergency fund equivalent to
six months' expenses
2. life insurance for us which is
equivalent to a year's expenses
3. retirement fund for us which
can sustain us until we're 70, or
probably 75 years old! =)
4. college fund for iñigo and future
sibling/s.
5. extra savings for other emergencies
including grave sickness of other loved
ones
6. extra savings for travels and other
leisures

say good luck to us! =D