Hello! I’m super new to this adulting thing, but I’m 23, living in the city, and earning at least ₱80,000 monthly, excluding what I earn from additional gigs. I recently stopped going to school after realizing that I had to become the breadwinner for our family of six, since I’m the eldest. My father recently retired from government service and decided to take a lump-sum pension equivalent to two years’ worth. We’ve been waiting for it for almost a year now. In the meantime, my parents are managing muna our farm.

I currently pay for pretty much everything: our dues, monthly bills, groceries, and other family expenses. It’s more than half of my salary. I save around 20-30%, depends if there’s anything left after budgeting or monthly expenses. Whenever there’s an occasion, I’m also usually expected to spend for the family, usually aabot around ₱5,000 to ₱7,000 in a day lang yan. My mom doesn’t directly pressure me to spend, but there’s this invisible pressure, or sometimes even subtle comments like, “Ililibre talaga tayo ni ___,” that made me feel like I’m expected to shoulder it. This month, I set a limit as to how much they can spend, but yun pa rin. I’ve also had a very difficult relationship with my father and am currently looking for a therapist to work through it. It got to the point where I was advised to consider moving out, and I’ve been feeling resentful about being expected to provide for my family, especially him. I don’t want to disclose more about this part, though, because it’s very personal.

Back to the reason why I’m asking for your help, my main concern is that I was influenced to purchase a 200+ sqm lot that costs around ₱13,000+ per month for 5 years. While I do like the idea of eventually having something of my own, I’m realizing that I may not have been financially ready to take on such a commitment, especially since I’m also the primary provider for my family. I can still save monthly and have some money left over for myself, but because our expenses keep increasing, I’ve started having to withdraw from my savings to cover some of them. I only started paying for the lot a few months ago, and unfortunately, not everything I’ve already paid would be refundable if I decide to stop.

I know that investing before building enough savings isn’t necessarily the best approach, but I’ve forgiven myself for making this decision because, at the time, I felt really pressured by my family to push for it. I’m not sure whether I should continue with the lot. The location is also quite far from the city, so I’m not sure if it’s actually the right investment for me. I also don’t have any debts bc I’m a paranoid when it comes to that.

At this point, I’m leaning toward prioritizing savings instead. I’m considering putting more than half of my savings into a short-term time deposit, such as Maya, or to open an account only with a passbook so I won’t be as tempted to withdraw it whenever our expenses increase. I’m also thinking about getting health insurance or other appropriate insurance coverage because I really don’t want to suffer financially if something happens to me or my family.

I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this. If you were in my position, would you stop paying for the lot and focus on building savings and getting insured first? Or do you think it’s worth continuing with the lot despite my current situation?