Jagoans, are you part of the sandwich generation? For those who don't know, the sandwich generation is the generation that is trapped in the middle because they have to meet the needs of many people at the same time, usually parents above and children below.
Being the sandwich generation can be troublesome. You have to save money for children's education, buy electricity tokens for your mother's house, not to mention meet your own needs. There's a lot to pay for. What to do?
The Sandwich Generation Becomes One Step Better at Managing Finances
1. Communicate openly with your spouse
Communication and openness are important factors to be one step better at managing finances. Find time to sit down with your spouse and discuss how much money to set aside for your parents, when to set aside and transfer the money and where the money comes from.
Keep in mind, maybe parents from both sides (wife and husband) need help. If so, then more money should be set aside to cover their expenses.
2. Be firm, prioritize what's important
Because there are many needs, of course not all of them can be met. Therefore, you need to be firm. Wants are not the same as needs. You need to prioritize what is important, namely needs.
If your parents' lifestyle is quite consumptive in your opinion, then you can talk to your parents and emphasize that you can only meet their needs, not their wants.
In an interview with Bank Jago, certified financial planner Annisa Steviani also emphasized the importance of communicating with parents.
"Communication with parents is the main key. And, don't assume just yet. For example, assume that your parents can't understand or there will be conflicts. Ask them what the main needs are. Also explain to them that your money is limited, not all wants can be fulfilled. However, if the monthly income is deemed insufficient, the sandwich generation can look for additional income," Annisa suggested.
Not only parents, you also have to be firm with yourself. Given that there are a lot of expenses, you can reduce or even stop anything that is considered a non-priority.
For example, you always go to the cinema every week. But, now you need to plan your child's education fund. This is where you need to decide which is the priority, whether it is planning your child's education fund or going to the cinema. To be able to save, you need to reduce the frequency of going to the cinema.
3. Make a budget consistently
Budgeting can help you control your expenses. Through budgeting, you can manage how much money is used to meet various needs and how much money is put into savings.
Emergency savings, for example, is important to have. If you as the sandwich generation are responsible to meet some of your parents’ needs, it would be nice to have an emergency fund that is also intended for parents, in addition to your own family.
"Because the sandwich generation fulfills the needs of not only the nuclear family, when building an emergency fund it is also necessary to take into account dependents outside the nuclear family," said Annisa.
The sandwich generation that has to meet many needs can start budgeting consistently. Discipline is also needed when sticking to the budget. This is to prevent improper use of money.
For convenience and practicality in budgeting, you can do it digitally using the Jago Pocket. How many needs must be met? You can create 1 Pocket for 1 need. It's perfect for the sandwich generation who has a lot of needs.
Each Pocket made has its own Pocket number (account number). This will make it easier for you when you have to pay for this and that. In this way, you don't have to bother moving money to the Main Pocket, which is usually the main source of funds.
4. Record and analyze expenses
No less important, to be able to manage finances well you need to record expenses before analyzing them. When all expenses are neatly recorded, you will clearly know what the money is used for.
After recording expenses, it will be easier for you to analyze expenses. After seeing the amount of money spent on online shopping, for example, you can consider whether you really need such a big budget? Is it possible if the online shopping budget is reduced by half so that it can be used for other needs such as renovating the ceiling of your mother's house, which is more urgent?
Managing finances with Jago, you don't need to record expenses manually. Every transaction made through Jago will be automatically recorded in the Jago application. You can view the transaction history of each Pocket at any time.
Analyzing expenses is also easy to do because you can use the Spend Analysis feature. This feature presents data related to monthly expenses in total and the percentage of expenses per category. You don't need to calculate manually anymore.
5. Look for extra income
If you feel that your income is still not enough to cover various expenses, you can look for additional income.
There are many sources of additional income, such as online selling and freelance work. Of course, you need to sacrifice your energy and time. But, from getting additional income, needs can be met properly.
It's time for the sandwich generation to be one step better at managing finances and meeting your personal, family and parents’ needs. Jago will be with you every step of the way.
The Jago application can be downloaded here for those who don't have it yet. After that, you can continue to register for a Jago conventional account or a Jago Syariah account according to your preferences.
