Why I Found The Lata Ipon Challenge Surprising

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I don't know about you, but is it just me who found the lata ipon challenge surprising? It became famous in an instant. Last Sunday, I watched Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho as they introduced a mom who earned from selling lata that has the challenge from Peso Sense. It is like any other money-saving challenge nowadays but it has these circles on where you'll shade it whenever you'll drop money into it. And no doubt that this actually looks familiar from the test papers we had to answer from our schools because this was thought by a teacher.

Don't get me wrong on this, (in fact I am helping my cousin sell her Lata Ipon Challenge online) but I just thought about why Filipinos love to save and still, they don't have any savings at all? I tried to post online offering the Lata Ipon Challenge to my friends and had a disclaimer that it is not enough that you only have savings and that they can talk to me about their financial goals (I am currently undergoing training on becoming a Sunlife Financial Advisor).

And yeah I got a lot of messages about the Lata Ipon Challenge and asked me how much was it. It is not cheap I tell you. It will only be affordable if you buy in bulk and if you are a re-seller. And what surprised me is that when you tried to ask these people what are their financial goals are, they can't even decide why they are saving. And frankly speaking, most of their goals are for their wants not needs.

I am not saying that don't buy it. What I am trying to say is, whatever the money-saving challenges you are in,  you have to set your goals. Don't save for the short term, be it long term. And may lata man o wala, it should be included in our lifestyle that we need to save. It is a necessity not just because it's uso.

One lata might cost someone much but there are a lot of means by which you can save without even buying or shelling out money. You can recycle plastics as your coin bank like plastic bottles, plastic cups from coffee shops, or in our case pvc pipes that the hubby made into a coin bank. Create your own challenge, if you don't have a printer, write it on paper and tape it on your coin banks.

The money that you'll buy for those lata's can be included in your savings. Depende na lang if you really want to make this your business then go ahead. 

But really saving is just the first step. If I am to ask? I'll recommend learning how to invest and grow your money. Yes, those challenges and savings can help but with the value of money being depleted in the coming years, why not maximize it now.