‘Sana tumataas din sweldo natin’: Alden Richards shares 6 smart ways to manage income

MANILA, Philippines — As his family’s breadwinner, actor Alden Richards also feels the crunch of rising fuel costs and prices of commodities.

“Sana kung tumataas ang bilihin, tumataas din ang sweldo natin,” he ranted at his recent launch as new WalterMart supermarket chain brand ambassador.

“Especially ngayon, grabe sobrang mahal ng gas, I don’t know, as you see, there’s an economic crisis in a way... Especially du’n sa mga working families, napakaimportante ng budgeting and pagiging wais especially sa pagsustain ng livelihood.”

Seven to eight years into his showbiz career, Alden used to go home to his family in Laguna. But during the pandemic, he started living alone because he had to report to work physically and he didn’t want to compromise the safety of his grandparents.

Now on his third year, going on fourth year of living alone, Alden shared valuable life and financial lessons he learned from going solo. 

“Medyo liberating s’ya kasi for the longest time lagi akong may kasama. And now, living alone, parang mas nagkaro’n ako ng extra drive to take care of myself. Iba pa rin ‘yung lumabas ka sa comfort zone mo and you discover things on your own.” 

From starring in the Philippine version of hit Korean series “Start-Up,” Alden learned a lot about finances, too.

“’Start-Up,’ this soap is very technical. May sinunod kasi tayong structure and mga jargons sa tech world – pag-formulate ng pagbuo ng mga companies, profit-sharing, hierarchy. Ang maganda po kasi, nangyari na s’ya sa’kin bago ko pa nagawa ‘yung ‘Start-Up,’ so parang nagkaro’n na ko ng sarili kong start-up in real life. Nakakatuwang balikan na while you’re reading the script… May mga ganu’ng moments na ang sarap n’yang i-arte kasi na-experience ko na s’ya.”

Likewise, for him, it is important that his future wife would be good at handling money, not only their household. Having a family, he described in his gamer term, would be is “endgame.”

For people to be financially capable in preparation for their own “endgame,” Alden shared what he dubbed as “wais tips”: 

Start young

“Even sa mga younger ages, kailangan we start young. It’s always sound to start now, always sound to start preparing for the future now,” he advocated.

Stay humble especially in spending

According to Alden, even if his income augments, his lifestyle does not change. In fact, according to him, he has stayed the same, has not splurged and has not lived the high-life even after becoming a celebrity.

Instead of luxury cars or dream houses, he treats himself with simple joys. A chocolate cake from WalterMart’s cakes carousel, he said, is enough to make him feel like he’s always in a celebratory mood. He also loves instant noodles when coming home starving from a workout, and he devours on these to pacify hunger pangs in between computer games.

Don’t just save – invest!

Like anyone, Alden’s impulse upon receiving his first salary was to keep it in a bank, which he learned to be insufficient.

“Ako kasi, nu’ng nagkaro’n ako ng chance na magkaro’n ng unang sweldo sa GMA, binabangko ko kasi s’ya lahat. As in hundred percent of my earnings goes to the bank. Feeling ko, kapag nilalagay ko lang s’ya sa bank, okay ‘yun kasi considered ipon ‘yun. Kapag nagkakaro’n ng certain gastos, d’un lang ako kumukuha,” he recalled.

Alden then realized that when his money just sleeps in the bank, he would not reach his financial goals.

“Ngayon kasi, because of everything I learned so far because of budgeting and taking care of your own money, hard-earned money, hindi lang kasi ‘yung pag-iipon ang importante. You make your money work for you. Hindi mo lang s’ya itatabi sa bangko because your money will be beaten by inflation eventually ‘pag ‘di s’ya gumagalaw.”

What he does, he said, is he automatically allocates money for investment no matter how much he makes.

“It doesn’t really matter how much money goes into the bank, how much it earns as long as it earns. Kasi ‘yung inflation tumataas eh. So kung and’un lang s’ya sa bangko, mawawalan s’ya ng value over time,” he said.

“Your salary, consider it as the whole of the pie, is a hundred percent. So you cut that into certain percentages and then you allot those certain percentages into expenses or savings,” he advised.

For example, if he has a thousand pesos to spare, he would spend it on first, necessities, then the rest for investments.

“I make it a point na kapag meron akong extra funds sa baon, savings, dadalhin ko s’ya sa investments – either money investments, kung ano mang investments… S’yempre tayong mga Pilipino, kailangan natin ng bigas… Then ‘yung iba, maybe canned goods? Then ‘yung iba, maybe iinvest mo. ‘Di ba? It doesn’t matter how much you have, as long as you know how to use it, spend it, invest it. Kahit P100 ‘yan, babalik at magiging P1,000 dapat s’ya ulit after ng one week. Ganu’n dapat ang mindset eh.”

Don’t stop learning — even about money

Alden has been known for his faith in God, but he does not believe that money is the root of all evil. To be able to use money for good, he vouched for spending it — wisely through continuous financial literacy.

“I think it really starts from within. If we really want to be financially independent, financially literate, we really have to make ways kung papano ka matututo and that is one thing na natutunan ko during the pandemic is to really work on that aspect. Kasi ‘di naman pwede na sige, okay ang career, okay ang income, pero ano? Pero going back, ano na nangyari? Ano na na-invest mo?” he pointed out.

“Having more knowledge is better than having a lot of money. Kasi kung marami kang pera pero wala kang alam, your money will go down the drain because naniniwala ka sa mga sinasabi ng mga tao sa paligid mo na mag-invest ka dito, mag-invest ka d’yan. As opposed to kahit wala kang pera pero you have the knowledge, money will follow you. Mas okay na mas marami kang alam.”

Be your own boss

Besides show business, Alden invests in another business because “sometimes we think that when we have jobs or work, it’s going to sustain us for the longest time, but the only way to achieve financial freedom is to be your own boss.”

“Hangga’t meron tayong boss at ‘yung boss natin ang nagpapasahod sa’tin, we will not really achieve freedom and financial freedom. So we have to be really smart with money,” he stressed.

Give back

“Sabi nga, ‘When you’re given more, you don’t raise your standard of living but you raise your standard of giving.’ So andu’n lang ako parati so walang nagbago pagdating sa mga expenditures,” shared Alden, who fans also idolize for philanthropy.

His family and the blessings that come to them give him more than enough reason to be thankful and to love and give more.

“The blessings that come to me despite of everything that’s been happening now, more than enough reason na ‘yun to really love yourself and to love the people around you kasi that’s the reason why you’re given more, so that you give back the most, parang that’s what keeps me going.”

When asked who among his celebrity friends would he like to share his “wais tips” with, he said: “Baka si Kristoffer Martin (laughs). Spender kasi ‘yun, baka kailangan kong turuan magtipid!”

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