On Being Wais with Your Business and Personal Finances

Managing finances is a must these days, whether it is one’s personal money or business venture, good financial acumen would go a long way and can be the key to success.

But how exactly can one be wais with one’s personal or business finances? Mastering the art of managing finances requires more than tracking expenses and sales. It means, staying committed to learning and improving your business and finance management skills for the long term.

Creating good habits can make financial management tasks feel less like chores but a second nature or a mindset – even a lifestyle -- to go by. There are foundational practices you can start doing or further hone, and the sooner the better.

Digitalize records

Make use of spreadsheets and other digital records keeper to monitor all financial transactions and important records. More than saving paper and time, this enables you to track your finances, both outgoing and incoming, at a glance, set budgets, compare expenses over a period of time, do an internal audit and even project savings.

Having an organized and systematic record also rids of instances of lost receipts and other important documents that can potentially mess up auditing later. Centralizing all your financial data from income to bills to loans into a single, easy-to-use document or app makes bookkeeping a lot easier. Not only does it consolidate all the information you need and help you oversee finances on a monthly basis. This also helps you keep track of all your financial needs over time seamlessly and hassle-free without having to rummage through a bag of old receipts. Furthermore, it allows you to plan for future purchases or business plans.

Many of our daily activities can now be done digitally. It will definitely be an easy pivot to a digital financial record keeping. It can be a simple worksheet or if you're more tech-savvy, go with an app, and there are many free apps for this nowadays.

Automate payments

Manually paying bills can be a lot of hassle. Waiting in line and commuting to and from eats up time that can otherwise be dedicated to other more urgent or significant tasks.

With the slew of online payment options from online banking to payment wallets, and as more establishments and businesses offer these options, it is now easier to switch to automated payments.

Besides the convenience of not having to go outside and queue for each bill, paying through your phone or any device means you can do so anytime, anywhere, which reduces the risks of late fees. The electronic trail also provides accurate data on payments.

But with many apps for electronic payments nowadays, it is best to evaluate and choose the one that you think works best for you. Consider going with a reliable program that can manage not only bill payments but also loans and online and in-store purchases.

Separate business from personal finances

This is a common mistake among business owners. Many overlook their own contribution to their company and forget to pay themselves. Some use their business as their personal wallet, not wanting to create their own personal budget and rationalizing that the business is the ultimate budget source anyway.

But separating personal and business finances will save you from a lot of headaches later. It enables you to manage your finances better and more proactively. Having a separate business account makes keeping track of business expenses easier and more consolidated. It also saves you from any liability should the business fail or incur debts. Your personal finances will remain intact as it is separate from the business finances.

When managing finances for your business, it's best to have a reliable payment partner that can be flexible to meet your needs.  It is important to establish a good credit score as this will help you with loans to grow your business. Take note, however, that loans should be viewed as an opportunity to expand your business and not just a way to have access to more funding for just about any business idea.

Invest in necessary tools and gadgets

E-commerce and marketing software, accounting apps and gadgets are investments that have long-term and sustainable benefits for individuals and business owners. Traditional spreadsheets are helpful but may have limited capabilities. Hardware and software that can be customized to your personal or business needs will empower you to meet specific goals. These may come with extra costs, but the benefits can outweigh the initial expenditure.

Paying in installments when buying such gadgets or applications or programs put less strain on the wallet, especially if you’re just starting out. Home Credit Philippines (HCPH), the country’s leading consumer finance provider and digital financial service provider, offers installment terms for 6, 9 and 18 months with minimal down payment and monthly fees to help ease financial burdens on customers.

Home Credit recently launched its “Para sa Life” campaign, opening up more opportunities to small business owners across the country. Starting entrepreneurs can avail gadget insurance that protects your HCPH-financed gadgets all year-round with Home Credit Protect, Home Credit’s latest device protection initiative. Payments are secure and easy through Home Credit’s website, stores and kiosks, as well as the My Home Credit app. Customers can also enjoy a minimal down payment rate of 30 percent and 6 percent interest rate – that’s a flexible and low monthly installment fee that can even go as low as P36 daily!

To provide more payment options to its customers, HCPH also launched Qwarta. This new Home Credit service lets you pay bills, purchase groceries and earn rewards for up to PHP10,000 worth to pay for utilities and more.

Starting any business is a risk. Starting one in the middle of a pandemic and rising inflation rates is an even greater one that requires extra patience, perseverance and courage. Striving to develop smart financial management skills and maximizing available technology are advantageous to any business owner to survive and succeed in the current business landscape.

Home Credit Philippines is a financing company duly licensed and supervised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). To know more about Home Credit, visit its official website www.homecredit.ph and follow its official Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts.

This is a paid advertisement by Home Credit.

About Home Credit Philippines

Home Credit Philippines (“HCPH”) is a consumer finance provider that promotes the principles of financial inclusion and safe lending, providing world-class financing services to qualified customers, often first-time borrowers. Home Credit arrived in the Philippines back in 2013 and within 8 years, has helped more than 8 million customers buy the things they need through fast, convenient, and affordable financing in thousands of stores around the country. In 2019, HCPH was also granted the license to operate as a credit card issuer by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), making it the first and only non-bank institution in the country to issue credit cards. HCPH continues to expand its digital and online presence, and now has over 8 million users of its My Home Credit App. HCPH is part of the Home Credit Group, an international consumer finance provider. More information on HCPH is available at www.homecredit.ph.