How To Save Ten Thousand Pesos

SAVING MONEY IS EASY when pursued with the right motivation. We consider building an investment fund among the more important goals we need to prioritize even at an early age.

Marginal Saver identifies with the type of investors Morton Shulman mentioned in his book Anyone Can Make a Million -- who seek profits from securities for more fulfilling purposes. We may desire profit from our investments to make life a little bit easier for our families, to partake of the pleasures of travel, to surround ourselves with beautiful things, to feel the satisfaction of being able to help others.

What marginal
The word "marginal" in our website title is based on the definition from the Lexipedia.com as meaning "of a bare living gained by great labor." This word is also synonymous to "hardscrabble" defined by Merriam Webster Online Dictionary as "marked by poverty."

Philippine poverty
"There are less poor people in 2003 compared to 2000 as poverty incidence among population dropped from 33 percent in 2000 to 30.4 percent in 2003," says the Philippine Senate Planning Economic Office in the May 2005 issue of its publication Philippine Poverty at a Glance. Reduction in poverty incidence is a positive development. But having 3 out of 10 Filipinos still being considered poor is not very comforting at all .

Marginal saver
In terms of annual per capita poverty threshold, a person needs a yearly income of 12,267 pesos in 2003 to meet the minimum basic needs. And a family of five would therefore need an annual income of 61,335 pesos or a monthly income of 5,111.25 pesos, the report continued.

Marginal Saver shall use as benchmark the annual family income of 60,000 pesos or a monthly family income of 5,000 pesos with respect to the concept of being marginal for purposes of this website. We believe that if there is anyone who should put saving money on top of the list of priorities, it should include those below the poverty threshold.

Marginal Saver himself is clearly in the same predicament as that of Tarkad when he met Dabasir, the two principal characters in the chapter entitled "The Camel Trader of Babylon" of the book The Richest Man in Babylon.

Principle of saving
If there is one thing that Marginal Saver can take out from the book The Richest Man in Babylon that would be this principle:

"A part of all you earn is yours to keep."

This quote maybe considered the starting point to our goal of financial freedom and prosperity.

Our Lady of Atonement Cathedral, better known as Baguio Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral located at Cathedral Loop, adjacent to Session Road in Baguio City in the Philippines. Among the features of the cathedral is that it is accessible to pedestrians from Session Road through a 100-step stone staircase.

Now, consider accumulating one million pesos like a climb to the top of one-hundred-step staircase. Hence, the first step to our first one million savings account is to work hard and save 1% of this amount equal to saving our first ten thousand pesos.

Saving the first ten thousand pesos
Marginal Saver started his savings program on October 1, 2007 and saved the amount of 10,000 pesos on July 11, 2009 -- after 1 year, 9 months, 11 days including the end date.

Period:	01-Oct-07 to 31-Dec-08	01-Jan-09 to 11-Jul-09	01-Oct-07 to 11-Jul-09
Days	458	192	650
Weeks	65	27	92
Months	15	6	21
Years	1.25	0.50	1.75
Amount of savings in pesos:	2,445	7,555	10,000
Average savings in pesos:
Daily	5	39	15
Weekly	38	280	109
Monthly	163	1,190	476
Yearly	1,956	15,110	5,714
Growth in savings monthly:	20%	20%	22%
Monthly savings as percent of monthly income:
12,500 pesos	1.3%	9.5%	3.8%
5,000 pesos	3.3%	23.8%	9.5%

Definiteness of purpose coupled with persistence are among the essential elements of our savings program. Anyone, even those living below poverty and considered poor should be able to accumulate ten thousand pesos in less than two years.

Salaried people with about 12,500 pesos take home pay may save 3% to 4% of that amount. Those with marginal livelihood and living below the poverty line may need to sacrifice more by saving about 9% to 10% of their monthly income.

Marginal Saver Savings Program
Marginal Saver is suggesting the following savings program based on experience:

One year is equal to:		Number			Average Savings in Pesos
Days		250			22
Weeks		50			110
Months		12			450

Our savings program will only include 50 out of possible 52 weeks. At 5 days a week, we shall have 250 days to save out of 365 days. Therefore, following the the suggested schedule presented, we shall have in our possession ten thousand pesos at about the last quarter near the second anniversary of our Marginal Saver Savings Program.