A Need for Increase!

I’ve been an employee for three years and it seems the experience from employment had opened a lot of great insights for me on handling my finances. Prior on becoming employed especially when I was young I always thought that people who went into their office wearing decent attires, driving cars and looking so dignified are signs of success esp. when it comes to their finances. I had to admit that I think it’s cool to be one of them. These people from the middle class up to the upper income made me believe that they are money “experts” and of course wealthy, but I realized It was a wrong impression.

Yes, I was very wrong, especially on my first hand experience in the employment field. People from this class may look so “wealthy” but in reality they are so poor in financial IQ. Most of them are into heavy debts created through loans and credit cards and they are living life from paycheck to paycheck. Some of them are living in a situation that their future income is already destined to be out of their hand because of financial immaturity and lack of discipline. They brag about their newest gadgets, phones, apparels and even cars but most of these things are not yet theirs until the time they finished paying their loans. You can even add the unhealthy lifestyle like partying, smoking and the likes that diminish their savings potential if they will make an effort to do so. That’s why I made a firm decision that I don’t want to be one of them.

Surprisingly, many of them believe to be self-proclaimed financially well by having enough savings in the bank and acquiring property after property and considering these as their asset. When you ask them other options such as investments and insurance it seems that these are Greek word for them. These are clear sign of financial ignorance that should be address to avoid future downfall. Filipinos have a lot of potentials and the capacity to earn is almost limitless, the only thing that we need to fix is to eliminate the ignorance. They must be encouraged to learn the basics of financial concepts and planning as well as the instruments needed to make this well-founded. Their goals and aspirations will become a reality as long as they are open to this learning.

I search for ways and means on how to increase my financial IQ since I never learned it in the school. The thing is I cannot inspire them to learn if I will not do it first that’s why I took actions to make myself increase. I attended seminars, allowed myself to be mentored by great financial coaches, started building a solid financial foundation through various reliable instruments and of course, share this to the people I care for. My journey for personal increase becomes a mission to share financial knowledge to people. I am on a mission, and I claim, with God’s grace and guidance I will be able to share this great news for those many people living in misery and poverty and bring their life on track for abundance. (Contributor: Jaymark Balabis)