Happy independence day! This is a day to remember those who fought and gave up their lives for the country’s freedom. For Indonesians, this holiday can mean a lot of things, from decorating one’s neighborhood with the Indonesian flag colors of red and white, participating in fun games (like the popular slippery pole climbing game Panjat Pinang) to enjoying special discounts offered by big and small retail stores and family restaurants.
But after the festivities are over, maybe take a moment to think about what independence really means to you and your family. In this life, do you feel like you are really free? If you have debts or mortgages that are making you financially stressed, you might want to start thinking about how you are going to break free once and for all. Here are some tips to get you started:
Avoid Debts
Consumer debts can easily get in the way of financial independence. The first step towards financial freedom is to free yourself of high interest debts, such as credit card debts. This is not to say that you should get rid of all your credit cards right away; you can still hold on to your credit cards if you are sure they are beneficial to your financial goals, just use them wisely.
Spend Less Than You Earn or Earn More Than You Spend
You can either stick with your current sources of income and be frugal, cut back on unnecessary spending, or look for ways to earn more so you can afford your current lifestyle and still have extra money to go to your savings account or an investment.
Plan For The Future
The key to financial freedom is to always look ahead to the future. There are many ways to prepare for the future, for example, by making sure you have a retirement account, or buying insurances (health, auto or homeowner’s) to protect your assets, or setting aside some of your money and build an emergency fund to be used in case of events that may hurt your financial situation, such as a job loss or a failed business venture.
Another way to prepare for the future is by investing, and keep in mind that it is important to keep investing over the long term. One investment product that is gaining popularity today in Indonesia is peer-to-peer lending. A number of emerging startups are offering this type of investment, one of them is Mekar (PT Sampoerna Wirausaha).
Mekar’s peer-to-peer lending platform, lets you invest in small business loans and earn a solid return (an average of 10% a year). Mekar’s platform makes investing easy, affordable and pain-free. To invest, you just need to register on the platform. Then, you can choose from a list of loans to fund; there are more than a hundred loans to choose from every day, all of them are productive loans – those used to finance the growth and expansion of Indonesia’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME).
If you are a first-time investor and worry that you might not have a lot of money to start investing, in Mekar you can always start small. Loan sizes in Mekar vary, starting from as little as Rp 1 million, quite affordable for any new investor. Worry about losing your money? When you invest in small business loans through Mekar’s peer-to-peer lending platform, you enjoy a 100% capital protection guarantee to protect your initial investment. This guarantee is provided by Mekar’s lending partners, financial services institutions with years of experience in the lending industry. In addition, the platform is easily accessible from a computer or mobile phone and provides detailed information about your investments so you can monitor and manage them in real time. That’s an easy-breezy, worry-free investment.
So, as you celebrate Independence Day, take a minute or two to think about freedom and how you are planning to break free from your financial worries and live a peaceful life. For a better future ahead, start investing today, visit Mekar to learn more about safe and profitable investment in peer-to-peer lending.