I saw this post on Facebook on a peaceful Sunday morning. I thought to myself, do I feel this way too? I tried to ponder where am I now at 26?
As I scroll, I saw people from high school starting their families or getting married, others getting their promotions, and also saw random influencers living their best lives flexing their new luxury handbag.
However, I recalled that their definition of success is different from mine. I don’t want what they have… what I want is to make sure that I’m setting up myself for the greater good during my 20’s and I can enjoy my 30’s living the life that I want.
Define success on your own terms not into what society is telling you.
GCash is the leading fintech company in the Philippines. There are 60 million users of GCash in the Philippines who are now using it in their daily transactions from sending payments, cashless transactions, receiving remittances from overseas, buying load, banker transfer, paying bills, digital banking with GSave, purchasing insurance with GInsure, investing with GInvest and even credit line GCredit. GCash has a lot to offer to make the lives of Filipinos more convenient and cost-efficient.
Is there a way to cash in for free with Gcash?
Last 2020, Gcash updated their cash in the policy and there are now charges and transaction fees depending on what service you are going to use. But hey, we got you! We have found a workaround so you can still cash in for FREE.
You have to link your BPI account to your GCash:
Go to the GCash app
Choose Cash In
Select Manage from My Linked Accounts
Tap on BPI and provide your Bank Account details
Once your BPI account is successfully linked, you can experience free real-time cash-in at any time.
To Cash In from BPI to GCash
Go to the GCash app
2. Select Cash In and select BPI
Enter the amount and tap confirm the amount
4. You will receive an OTP that you need to enter and after it is successful you will receive a message from GCash about your updated balance.
To Cash In from Unionbank to GCash
Go to the GCash app
2. Select Cash In and select Unionbank
3. Enter the amount and tap confirm the amount
4. You will receive an OTP that you need to enter and after it is successful you will receive a message from GCash about your updated balance.
Fees are subject to change at the discretion of GCash. For more questions and information, you may visit their website GCash, call their hotline via 2882, or you may also submit a ticket to the help center via the GCash app.
Have you heard that you can automate your bank transfer?
There are two banks in the Philippines that are offering automated transfers but they usually call them as scheduled transfers. We tried and test it with BPI and Unionbank. It’s only P10 with BPI and free with Unionbank with PesoNet.
This feature is a lifesaver so you won’t need to redo this every payday to make sure you are putting money into your savings account and emergency fund. Automating this task so you can do this once and it can save you time in the future.
Here are the steps:
BPI Scheduled Transaction
1. Log in to your BPI account
2. On the left side select other services.
3. Under transactions, choose managed scheduled transactions and create scheduled transactions: transfer money.
4. You will be shown three (6) fields that you need to fill out:
Transfer from: (select the account)
Transfer amount
Transfer to: (transfer to own or 3rd party)
Frequency: (one time, monthly, quarterly)
Start date:
Number of transfer
NOTE: This is a real time fund transfer.
Unionbank Scheduled Transfer
Log in to your Unionbank account
2. On your dashboard tap to send money.
3. Choose the type of bank and send money via PesoNet (cut off):
4. You need to fill out:
Bank Name (choose from the list of banks available)
Bank Account Number (type-in your account number *not the card number*
Bank Account Name
Amount
Date
Repeat and Frequency: (daily, weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually)
End date: (never or select a particular date)
Purpose
5. Tap on transfer
NOTE: Unionbank offers free fund transfers and same day crediting before 3PM on banking days with Pesonet. Transactions done after 3PM or on weekends or holidays will be processed on the next banking day.
You may plan ahead for the year but one sudden event may change everything. It’s not that everything is canceled but it’s just put on hold for the meantime. From career growth, travel, family gathering, and the like. It seems everything is affected but hey you should be grateful to be alive and well.
2. If you want it so badly go get it and don’t wait.
I’ve been hunting for an oversized blazer for almost a year now but I can’t find the perfect fit for my petite body and frugal pocket but after one scroll on Instagram, I was able to score a Calvin Klein blazer that is at par with what my favorite influencers are wearing that would for sure elevate my outfit. It wasn’t my first choice yet I keep thinking that I waited for so long already and I don’t want to prolong the agony of hunting for a blazer across different shopping and social platforms.
3.Connect with yourself.
Check on yourself first. Is there something bothering you? Do you consider yourself toxic? Do you want to heal from your past traumas? Being in isolation makes you even dwell on your problems more since your usual coping mechanism is no longer working in this time of quarantine. You just result facing it and apply all things your therapist told you.
4. Time to reconnect.
Get in touch with friends and ask them how they are coping. This situation is quite harsh to everyone’s mental health and we’re all trying our best to get through.
5. Work on something.
I’m not advocating being productive all the time because I know it’s not realistic even though I am having problems with getting it together. But you can start small like doing again the hobbies that you lost track of, start a business that is essential to the community, or you can even work on your dream body.
6.Be open to growth and possibilities.
In this uncertain time, try to explore the world in your bed or couch whether it’s learning new from online courses, TED talks, a simple catching up session with family and friends, or even meeting someone special. The possibilities are endless, it’s for you to explore the world.
7.Allocate resources wisely.
Use what you have at home before making an impulsive purchase that would just bring in clutter. Set a budget in every category since you can minimize your expenses by staying at home, you can also sell the things you don’t use, barter them within the community, donate it to the ones who are in need, and have fundraising to help the marginalized sector
8.Glow up and grow up.
This is the perfect time to glow up and grow up. We’ve all been thinking, maybe if I have time, I can do this or that… and now the universe gave it to us. Just imagine the time you spend getting ready for work and commuting, now we’re just in the comfort of our own homes. It’s in our hands if we’re going to use this time to better ourselves.
9.Life is not on pause.
You can use this time to do many things. Fixing and strengthening relationships with family, friends, and the love of your life. Heal yourself from all the traumas you’ve had. Finding your life purpose. Tick off the things you haven’t done for a long time on your to-do list. Set new goals for the new normal. Do the things you’ve been putting off for so long.
10.We can still be normal during the new times.
As we wear masks every time we go out, social distancing wherever we go, contactless transactions and our lives go to 360. We can still work from home, see our friends using video conferences and work on ourselves to be better.
Most online bank transactions have convenience fees now. Sometimes you need to be mindful of how you spend your money. There are times that a small amount could accumulate into a big expense. Lucky for us there are still free bank transfers in the Philippines.
Example:
You have 6 online transfers every week for your grocery, deliveries, and others paying a convenience fee of P10 per transaction depending on your bank’s Instapay and Pesonet fees.
Here’s a way how you can skip the bank fees every time you transfer money.
1. Banks
As of June 2022, here are the list of banks with waived INSTAPAY and PESONET fees
INSTAPAY
Equicom Savings Bank (retail clients)
Rural Bank of Guinobatan
ING Bank, N.V.
PESONET
Equicom Savings Bank (retail clients)
Rural Bank of Guinobatan
Bank of China
CIMB Bank Philippines
East West Bank
HSBC (retail clients)
ING Bank, N.V.
Philippine Business Bank, Inc.
Tonik Digital Bank, Inc.
Union Bank (retail clients)
2. Shopeepay
Shopee is now offering bank transfers in their Shopeepay via PESONET for free. Usually, it takes 1 or 2 working days for the amount to be credited to the nominated bank account.
