About The Practical Saver

My family has been financially independent for a couple of years now. We’ve saved more than enough that we no longer worry if we can pay our bills for the next couple of years or even decades.

But it hasn’t always been that easy. Not at all.

I carried $40K debt after closing my retail business. Credit card collections were knocking. I was late on paying my bills. I didn’t have any money saved.

It was also during that time that my then-girlfriend (now wife) and I were planning on building a family together. It was then when I took charge of my situation.

The Practical Saver is an unbiased personal finance blog that provides realistic, actionable steps to help readers save money, make money, budget, and pay off their debts.

How The Practical Saver can help you:

Learn how to manage your money with our comprehensive, complete guide on how to save money
Learn the simple tips and tricks on how to make money online and make extra money from home
Get your finances back on track with our complete guide on how to create a budget like a pro
Become debt-free with our ways to pay off debt fast

About Allan Liwanag

Hi there, I’m Allan ‘Lan’ Liwanag, a personal finance expert, stock-market avid, self-taught personal finance nerd, and the guy who had $40K in debt but paid it off in 2.5 and saved over $70K at the same time, on a single-family income of $39,000/year. Read the story here.

I am a father of two (Adriana and Alfonso) and husband to my wife (Ana Marie).

My family struggled financially during the first two years, but pulled through and ahead.

My family struggled financially in the past, but we succeeded in the end. It was tough – an experience of a lifetime – but it was never impossible to overcome.

Now, we’re sitting at over $500,000 in savings and investments, having a happier life than ever, and enjoying raising our family.

I knew someone, some families, and somebody out there are experiencing what we experienced. I realized that I had something to share, and that’s how this blog was born.

Education and Profession

I graduated from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (Philippines) with an Economics major and graduated with my MBA from Appalachian State University (Boone, NC).

I am a Maryland-based analyst with a Level II Certification in Cost Estimating and working through my Level III.

This basically means that I can somewhat predict what things would cost in the future (in terms of savings, costs, investments, opportunities, etc.). To get to this level, I took courses (aside from 4 years of experience in the field) that included, but not limited to, the following:

Fundamentals of Financial Management
Fundamentals of Cost Analysis
Intermediate Financial Management Concepts
Statistical Analysis
Forecasting Techniques

Quite intense, right? Not really. But I have used this training for my family’s personal finance and beyond.

The Mission

After our family’s struggles and triumphs with finances for many years, I launched The Practical Saver in early 2016 in the hopes of helping readers with their personal finances using no-BS, actionable steps that may not cost a lot of money.

It is my mission to share the ideas and actionable steps to help people make money, save money, pay off their debts and budget effectively.

My voice has been heard by a lot of people, and I have become an authority in the personal finance field. My tips and nuggets of wisdom and experience have consistently been sought after by major media publications.

Some of my anecdotes and contributions have been published in the following media platforms: