Recently, we were reminded that we need to instill stricter discipline in the area of savings for our children. In a recent business trip in Hong Kong, my wife chanced upon some nice piggy banks and she bought 2 to be brought back home. I was under the impression that my wife bought it for our young children but I was surprised when she told me that it was for us, not for the boys. She reminded me that our children must see us being faithful in filling up the piggy banks so that they too will follow suit. I thought that I was doing a good job in reminding my small children to save but apparently I was wrong. When my boys saw that their mom were faithfully adding coins and bills in or piggy bank, they became more conscious in adding to theirs. I saw my young boys more passionate in filling up their piggy banks now, more than ever. To my surprise, I also saw my 2 teen-aged daughters start their own piggy banks a few days ago. While we always remind them to start their storehouses earlier, we sometimes feel that it falls on deaf ears. My daughters’ participation to the Blue Chip, a financial literacy program for the youth also encouraged them – a program we suggested they attend. If we see that our children learn how to save, we can be confident that they will have a bright future ahead of them.

Why are so many of us finding ourselves wanting? Why is it that we find ourselves trapped in life’s maze? Why are so many of us lost? This is true not just in the psychological aspect; it is also true for our financial situation, as well. Why are we always lacking? Why are we buried in debt? Why are we unsure of the future? These are common questions we often wonder about, me included.

Here’s a thought: If we were guided and taught properly as children, would we become better adults? What if someone instructed us patiently in the area of money management in our youth, would our financial standing be better today? What if we were raised as a disciple of Christ in our formative years, would we have avoided a lot of the mistakes we foolishly found ourselves into? I don’t know about the others, but I can definitely answer YES!

We need to be deliberate in teaching the next generation—help mold values that will be critical for their future. How? Teach them, remind them and let them experience the learning by assimilating how we live our lives.

“Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”— Joel 1:3, NIV.

… con’t.

Let me try to quantify the 25 year cost of my subtle addiction on diet sodas. Let us assume that the cost of a can of soda today is P25.00 and on an average and I consume 2 cans a day (I go more than that). Let us also assume that the price of soda goes up by an average of 6% and the cost of money will be also at 6%. For 25 years, my addiction to diet soda will look like this:

Year	Unit Price	Annual Cost	Accumulated Cost
1	25.00	18,250.00	18,250.00
2	26.50	19,345.00	39,850.70
3	28.09	20,505.70	63,977.78
4	29.78	21,736.04	90,856.66
5	31.56	23,040.20	120,730.67
6	33.46	24,422.62	153,862.49
7	35.46	25,887.97	190,535.49
8	37.59	27,441.25	231,055.34
9	39.85	29,087.73	275,751.66
10	42.24	30,832.99	324,979.73
11	44.77	32,682.97	379,122.46
12	47.46	34,643.95	438,592.39
13	50.30	36,722.59	503,833.87
14	53.32	38,925.94	575,325.40
15	56.52	41,261.50	653,582.12
16	59.91	43,737.19	739,158.46
17	63.51	46,361.42	832,651.07
18	67.32	49,143.10	934,701.83
19	71.36	52,091.69	1,046,001.13
20	75.64	55,217.19	1,167,291.42
21	80.18	58,530.22	1,299,370.94
22	84.99	62,042.04	1,443,097.75
23	90.09	65,764.56	1,599,394.05
24	95.49	69,710.43	1,769,250.75
25	101.22	73,893.06	1,953,732.43

What seems to be just a liking to soda will have a huge monetary impact to me. Not to mention the medical ailments associated to my ‘innocent’ addiction. No one will think that drinking 2 cans of soda a day will amount to almost 2 Million bucks in 25 years. Here’s the kicker, I’ve been drinking sodas far longer than 25 years and far more than 2 cans a day!

The same principle can be applied to other ‘innocent’ addictions too like coffee, iced tea, snacks, shopping, etc. While there is nothing really wrong about these addictions per se, the question that one should ask is if it is really a wise thing to do? When we experience some financial constrictions in our lives or when we are faced with financial emergencies, we can think back about our ‘innocent’ addictions and reassess if they were indeed ‘innocent’.

Indulging isn’t really wrong as we all need to enjoy life. The question we need to ponder on is the cost of our enjoyment – if it’s not going to hurt your family, health, wallet and your relationship with God, go for it. If it will, think about it and apply wisdom.

Here are 2 verses from the Bible I want to leave you with, read it and think about it hard:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; – 1 Corinthians 6:19

“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. – 1 Corinthians 10:23

“In medical terminology, an addiction is a chronic neurobiologic disorder that has genetic, psychosocial, and environmental dimensions and is characterized by one of the following: the continued use of a substance despite its detrimental effects…”. – Wikipedia. Addiction is often attributed to dangerous abuses such as alcohol, drugs, gambling… even shopping.

Allow me to make a confession of my addiction – diet soda. While some people will not look at drinking soda as an addiction, I still need to get off this stuff for 3 major reasons:

1) My kids – I am not setting a good example for them. We often teach our kids not to drink soft drinks because it’s not good for them. When I drink my diet soda, I am telling them that it’s ok to drink soft drinks. Fathers who smoke cigarettes have a horrible record in preventing their children from smoking. Whether we admit it or not, many of our children’s wrong behaviors were because of us parents and especially us fathers.

2) My health – diet soda or soft drinks are very unhealthy. Caffeine, sugar and sugar substitutes, etc. are clinically proven to be bad for us. Aspartame, the sugar substitute being used in diet sodas can do so much damage to our body. Imagine drinking diet soda for 20 years; it definitely will have some adverse effect on us one way or another. I am 42 now, imagine how many liters of soda I have gulped in my life.

3) My wallet – while a can of soda typically costs us about P20.00 or so (depending on where you take it), the accumulated value of this addiction can be very costly.

Let me try to quantify the 25 year cost of my subtle addiction on diet sodas. Let us assume that the cost of a can of soda today is P25.00 …

Catch part 2 soon!