Personal ANNecdotes

Of Appalling Figures and Numbers

The Financial Literacy Madness


I was planning to sleep early today to prepare for tomorrow's battle. The onslaught will be heavy since I am required to make up for lost time while teaching for a bootcamp next week.

Enter my sister who asked for my help in proofreading her term paper. Honestly, I ended up doing some of the hefty work since she wasn't really patient when it comes to paperworks.

Surprisingly, her topic centered on one of those which I am particularly interested on - - FINANCIAL LITERACY. And the words from her research articles hit me like home.

1 percent - - that's the total number of the population who religiously invests and makes passive income in the stock market. While our country is lucky enough to have the youngest demographics in the world, 41 percent of the current millenial generation do not know the importance of saving and allocating funds for the future. Imagine having an average of at least 23 years old joining the workforce.

In my current industry, we have at least 20-year old fresh grads coming in to the team. Imagine if this group would work on saving, then later on investing to improve their current financial state. The number of these individuals could help raise the current economic state of their country. Needless to say, the government and some private institutions have been continuously working to open the eyes of this sect of the population to become financially literate. Some of these institutions include, but are not limited to, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Colfinancial Group, BDO and BPI. Similarly, insurance companies such as Sunlife of Canada Inc. and Pru Life UK promoted insurance policies to these yuppies in hopes of investing their hard earned money for a better future.

I would have to say that I am part of those who learned about saving and investing a little bit late in my life. I know for a fact that saving is important to keep some funds for the rainy days. However, as time progressed, life made me realize the reality of inflation. Savings in one's bank account will decrease in value over time due to the continued increase of prices, especially on basic commodities and services.

Enter my sister again who had decided to become financially literate and introduced a well-known investment vehicle - - Colfinancial Group Inc. The company was first known to me as Citisec Online. I have been following Bo Sanchez since college and he talked about this SEC-certified investment company several years ago.

What appealed to me for joining Colfinancial was the idea of cost averaging method. The concept was simple - - you purchase stocks for a given company over time and watch your money grow exponentially as it progresses. Another appealing term was exponential. This meant you don't have fixed growth. Rather, your investment may boom to at least twice, triple or more than quadruple your base investment over time. Amazing, right? But, there will be highs and lows. For a given month or months, the value of your stocks may increase or decrease depending on the performance of the stock market. Some individuals recommended going for stocks owned by companies foreseen to be surviving up to 50 years and hence. Honestly, I am not an expert in this niche. I can go over the jargons and explain them in text book definition. But, my blog post is not dedicated to infiltrate you with stock market jargons. I was aiming to rub in the idea of the appalling figures seen on my sister's research.

The main goal of financial literacy is to promote saving for the future. Surprisingly, a 2017 research from BSP cited 77 per cent of the current population remain unbanked these days. 52 percent of the same study group had no savings to work with from the start.

The slim figures may be attributed to the lack of banking facilities and offices in rural and remote areas. Some of these folks had to travel several miles in order to get to the nearest bank in their area. Hopefully, the technological advancement we have nowadays can help promote online banking. The government needs to understand the limitations of physical banking services in these far flung areas as well.

I was truly amazed and disappointed at the same time while going over my sister's research. It made me realize that the Philippines has a long way to go before obtaining financial freedom. In a land where the parents treat their children as investments and have little regard for their future financial wellness, it is not surprising to see why the millenial generation had not been taught well to save and invest for their future.

And while we remain having the "one-day millionaire mindset, " it wouldn't be a surprise if in the coming years, the same tradition of parents making their children their future investment will continue to prevail. I am not saying we should forget the value of "debt of gratitude." Yet, how long are we planning to live this sickening tradition?

The generation nowadays is slowly opening their eyes and have become aware of the currently prevailing financial mindset we have on the country. It can be observed that most couples or singles choose to establish financial stability prior to entering marriage. Marriage is not a state of euphoria - - it's a solid decision with real and crucial responsibilities that come along with it. Daily expenses and budget, child birth and pregnancy, monthly checkups, sickness and death are expected just to name a few.

Here is looking forward to a more financially literate nation in the coming years ahead. For now, the basic thing is to stick on generating savings. You can invest when you have more than enough on your plate.