#PlsSaveMe – YOLO (You Only Love Once)

Being in love is a wonderful feeling. It’s not everyday that it happens to you that’s why you’d do everything just to make your partner happy, even if at times you don’t really feel comfortable about doing it. You’d even wholeheartedly spend money on him/her.

But sometimes things don’t always turn out the way we want. We’ve done our best to make it work but there are some unexpected circumstances that happen beyond our control and make everything fall apart.

Faith, a 60-year old corporate secretary in an agro industry company in Bacolod City shares her story and how her YOLO attitude, or more appropriately, her “You Only Love Once” mind frame, affected her life and her relationship with her family.

“My misfortune happened in 2010 when I was 52 years old. I’ve never been married and don’t have any kids but I’ve tried meeting men via an online dating site. This is where I met Matthew, an American who works as a General Sales Manager in an automotive company (or so he says). We chatted everyday through Yahoo Messenger and emailed each other until we got close and fell in love, or so I thought. It even got to the point when we’d show pictures of our family members. This went on for about 5 months. According to him, he’s separated and has 2 sons.

The problem started when he told me that he sent jewelries, laptop, and other stuff for my family. I got really excited. After a few days, he said that when the items reached Singapore, some problems arose and they can’t be released and sent to the Philippines because there’s a fee that still needs to be paid. He said it got held up in customs.

I didn’t want to believe him at first but he was so good at convincing me that I finally gave in and sent him money so that the items will be released. I sent him around Php 50,000 and even borrowed from my sisters because I didn’t have that amount of money.

A few days later and I haven’t heard anything from him. I tried contacting him but never got a single reply. I felt something was wrong but I couldn’t admit to myself that I got scammed. I was in denial. I still sent him messages everyday, hoping that he’ll answer but he never did.

I finally accepted that I indeed got scammed. I got depressed and cried everyday. I was so ashamed of myself for borrowing money from my sisters. I never thought that this would happen to me. I got afraid of using a computer and going online after what happened.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons from this experience. I learned never to trust a stranger especially when it comes to financial matters. I regret that I was weak, easily swayed, and was so gullible. I told myself that this sort of thing will never happen again.

I also learned that it’s not right to borrow money for things that you’re unsure of. It’s so important to have some savings so as not to bother your loved ones when something arises financially.”

Financial planning should be practiced diligently even if we have just started earning. Parents should teach their children to save some of their allowances. Financial planning must be present in our lives from the get go. Let’s not reach a point when we don’t have money accountable even if we’ve worked almost all our lives. We sometimes have the “You Only Live Once” attitude but let this not be a hindrance to our saving money for our future, especially if we can’t rely on anybody but ourselves.