Catriona Gray
Her calendar is crammed with appointments related to the performance of her duties as the reigning Miss Universe, but Catriona Gray is never too busy to build her knowledge of personal finance.
The 25-year-old Filipina-Aussie believes taking good care of her money is a crucial life skill, thus has been expanding her vocabulary to include interest rates, taxes, mutual funds, equities, dividends, consumer loans, high-interest time deposits, bonds and government securities.
Gray told the Inquirer in an interview during a recent short visit to the Philippines that it was quite easy for her to expand her knowledge beyond a simple savings account as she had always been careful with her money and quite stingy by nature.
She said she was not materialistic nor did she spend on a whim. If she indulges herself, she is more likely to spend on experiences like travel and activities with her family and close friends.
“I did not even have a credit card until I was 22,” Gray said, “Whenever I got money, it went straight to a savings account.”
But given the nature of her profession, marked by periods of feast and famine where there is a lot of work for one month but not so much the next, Gray knows she has to know more about making her money work as hard for her as she does to earn it.
Gray, who started earning her own money at 18 when she was tapped to be a commercial model in the Philippines, shared she learned early painful lessons when it came to money and she was not about to repeat them.
There was a time early in her career when she trusted her elders to take care of her money for her, but it did not work out. At one point, she did not even have enough money left in her savings account to pay for the month’s rent.
“That was scary. I was blessed at the very last minute with work. I felt that God was looking after me,” said Gray, who cut her teeth doing television commercials and ramp modeling.
It was then she decided to take responsibility for the money she earned and make the final decision as to where it should go to secure for herself a bright financial future.
“There is something very empowering about being very involved in making financial decisions,” Gray said. “Today, I even have an Excel spreadsheet. I keep all of my receipts and I am on top of my spending.”
Helping her along in her personal finance journey are her advisors from BDO, the country’s largest universal bank under the Sy group of companies that has tapped Gray to be its latest brand ambassador under the “Find Your Way” campaign.
“They are helping me make educated decisions,” Gray said.
She said in a statement that working on “Find Your Way” with BDO was a special experience for her.
“No other brand has done something like this where they looked at my story and used it to tell a bigger, more important message that needs to be said. They really took time to know who I am and what’s important to me, so they really get me,” Gray said.
“I love that BDO is talking about finding your own way because it’s very unexpected. Everyone has a unique path and you have to find your own way and I feel like that is such a universal concept especially in my age group, where we are young and we are ambitious, and we always get caught up in the comparison trap, where you find people around you and organizations around you such as BDO that can really help you map out your own way to create the life that you love,” she added.
Gray said she was getting help looking at housing loans, noting she planned to secure a house for her parents, who had always loved and supported her.
“It will be my first time to get a housing loan so I want to secure myself and make the right decision,” said Gray, who also planned to have more detailed discussions about investing in equities and mutual funds. She also plans to get herself her own condominium unit with the help of BDO.
“BDO finds ways for me and everyone else, and that’s the kind of brand I need around me, to be partners with,” Gray said. “I’m proud to have BDO by my side to help me find my way to creating the life I desire.”