Saving has always been a way of life for Margaret Ramos, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank branch manager. While still single, Marj saved at least 30 percent of her salary. Even her choice of mate seems to reflect her conservative personality. Her husband Hedctor works in the insurance industry.
“I’ve always believed in the power of saving because otherwise, what are you working so hard for?” she says.
Marj sets short-and long-term saving strategies. For the short term, she calculates how much she can save from her earnings every year and stick to it. For the long term, she seeks ways to make her money grow.
Marj advises first-time savers to place their money in savings accounts. As they build their savings, they can move on to time deposits and then move on to time deposits and then to mutual funds. While Marj used to play the stock market, she is more conservative now that she has a family. Her advice: “ If you want to go to stock market, you have to have the time to monitor things. And you have to be willing to lose sometimes.”
Marj’s saving strategy has enabled her family to achieve their money goals. They now have their own home and they even provided a little something for their daughter. But Marj has more dreams in mind. “I want to travel Europe, but I really want is retire while I’m still young so I can enjoy the fruits of my labor with my loved ones”.
