When you look around the region
or even the world, the Filipinos are favored by different countries to work for
them to help build their nation. We export more skills than products because we
cannot deny that Filipino’s resilience, resourcefulness, work ethics and don’t
forget our English proficiency are undeniably impressive. But that makes me
think, despite our skills and intelligence, the Philippines is still one of the
poorest countries in the world.
Here’s what I discovered from my family, friends and
colleagues.
The Bigger Pay, the Better
When a Filipino finds a job
with a better pay, they pack their things, submit a resignation and move to the
next job. Who would not, right? But if we will stop and analyze closer, a P1,000 or P2,000 pay increase would not go a long way. Many times, that increase of
pay will sadly just go to income tax.
Have you heard of “it’s not how
much you earn, it’s how much you save”? If you spend all your earning, it
doesn’t matter if you earn 10,000 or 100,000 a month, you will still end up
poor. Instead of never-ending search for the higher pay job, maximize what you
receive. Okay, I hear you saying, "how can I save if the income is short"? That brings us to the next mindset…
Spend then Save
Many of the Filipinos I met
know how to budget, that’s a good start. However, when they start listing the
items, they prioritize to spend rather than save. They pay the bills, pay children’s school,
food, transportation and everything else, except paying yourself a.k.a Saving.
Filipinos must understand that to become rich, the perfect formula is Income
minus Saving equals Spend [IN – SA = SP], and not the vice versa. The sooner
they realize the importance of this mindset, the sooner they can escape the poverty.
It may not be easy at first but remember that it’s harder to be poor forever than
start changing your life.
Good Job, Good Money, Good Life
Many Filipinos look at employment
like gold mine. For us, with hard-work we can beat the life of financial
stress. We embed in the core of our soul that one day hard-work will pay off and we can retire with fat account.
Little did we realize that our active(main) job do not make us rich but it’s the passive ones that makes the
difference. Why…because the income that
we receive from our job is limited. It will never increase as much as we want,
there will always be deductions that give us barely enough to pay our bills.
The job of your second income is purely for keeping, and if you know how to
manage it properly, this could be the key to your becoming rich. Multiple streams of income is the secret to
an abundant life.
Conclusion
Filipinos are intelligent, hard-working,
skilled, organized, persistent are just some of our best traits known worldwide. But look
around and see if all our elders who worked all their lives. Many are still struggling to meet the ends at the later part of their journey. Are they enjoying the life that they deserve?
Are they living comfortably after retirement? Being wise and smart about your
money is the turning point. If we only open our eyes and learn from the
mistakes of others and improve it in our own lives, the Philippines will be one
of the great economies in the world.
Credits to Pinoy Biznes for the image.
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