Reading Kiplinger's CA-Simply Money, I am reminded of the wealth course programs I've been a part of in 2009. At that time, the group was still young, vibrant, and growing. After about three years of active participation, I began to sense that something was off. I shut down my account, only to hear later that after my departure, many did the same thing. And then in 2014, the leader was wanted for estafa and fraud.

Regardless of what happened to the community, I am still grateful for the financial education I received. It was my involvement in that community that prepared me to explore the Philippine stock market in 2015 and, six years later, cryptocurrency.

As I browsed the book, I decided to start reading the first chapter, which is about getting yourself organized. The chapter covered six topics:

• financial goals

• balancing your finances

• tracking your expenses

• net worth

• objectives, and

• the next step

The creators of the book claim that CA-Simply Money is a "powerful tool for recording and monitoring your personal and business finances" (p. 1). This tool provides a complete system to manage your personal finances and, above all, helps you achieve your financial goals.

The book has been buried in the business office for so long. It was first published in 1993. While arranging my files, I stumbled upon it, and so I decided to bring it home and check its contents.

So far, I am satisfied with what I found, just reading the first ten pages.

Financial Goals

Despite my training in financial literacy, maintaining the discipline of managing my finances these past few months has never been easy. It seems that my expenses keep growing. If this continues, I think my retirement goal will be delayed. Among the many financial goals mentioned in the book, retirement is the one I could relate to. Moreover, another financial goal is saving a certain percentage of my paycheck to set aside for capital to grow my Hive account.

Balancing Your Finances

And then I stumble upon a new word—fudging! I didn't know what it meant. Checking the web, the word refers to a financial practice described as dishonest. It is like you are fooling yourself into thinking that you earn more money than what you really earn. The way to financial freedom starts by identifying that such a practice won't help achieve your financial goals.

To balance your finances, you need to record and monitor your income, expenses, and cash flow.

The only income I have now is from my job. I still do not count the yield I receive from my Hive accounts as income. Nevertheless, I must record it.

One income that I could add is by buying a dividend-paying stock. Since I only have a small buying power left in my trading account, I selected Century Property Groups, Inc. (GPG). I bought 2,000 shares. I am glad to read that the Philippine Social Security System (SSS) bought Php500 million worth of shares of CPG. Such an acquisition represents 6.39% ownership in CPG with a total of 740,740,741 common shares (Source: Col Financial Press Release as of 18 July 2025). I plan to increase my CPG shares in months and years to come.

When it comes to expenses, I failed to record my life plan in St. Peter. I also realized that I need to keep a logbook for all my expenses. I started with Php200.00 which I gave to my second son for his food allowance.

As for cash flow, I am reminded of negative and positive cash flows. For several months now, my cash flow has been negative. The goal is to make it positive. To achieve this, I need to track and monitor my income and expenses.

Tracking Your Expenses

Knowing how much you are spending is just the starting point. Identifying where you spend that money is more important. With this in mind, you need to categorize your expenses. It is at this point that I was reminded of the "wealth jars" we had been introducing to those who attended our Wealth Course.

The given percentages are just for example. You can adjust the percentage depending on your personal situation.

Net Worth

Net worth is simply defined as assets minus liabilities. It doesn't mean that if someone has a higher salary, their net worth is automatically higher than that of someone who received a lower salary. There is this possibility that those who earn will also borrow big or even bigger. As such, his net worth could be lower than that of someone who earns little but acquires no debt.

Tracking someone's net worth, one must know the relationship between assets and liabilities. This is where the role of the balance sheet comes into the picture. The goal is to grow one's assets and reduce liabilities. Only then can you grow your net worth and achieve your financial goals sooner.

Objectives

The role of the budget is very important in achieving your financial goals. By developing a budget, you can decide where to keep spending and where to stop.

As for expenses, there are two kinds: the fixed and the variable. Fixed expenses are difficult to cut because they are the regular monthly bills you have to pay, such as water and electricity. And so if you plan to cut expenses, you can do it with variables like groceries and eating outside.

The next objective is to come up with a financial plan. Your goals and budget will help you create such a plan. Among the three suggested actions in this chapter, what I find most relevant is the idea of investing to make more money. This is what we call in the wealth course as money working for you.

The last objective is to change your bad financial habits into good ones. It takes time to break bad habits. However, if you want to experience that feeling of satisfaction, seeing your money grow slowly, that would be a very encouraging motivation for you to persevere in keeping good financial habits.

The Next Step

The next step for me is to read the second chapter and learn how to install CA-Simply Money.

Grace and peace!

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