Global financial advisor, Suze Orman who runs her own show on CNBC recently released a statement cautioning family reliance on Overseas Foreign Workers (OFW) remittance. The money flow will sadly end eventually and will the family be financially capable to carry on?
“Anything can happen at any time and the problem that is going on out there [abroad] when one person from over there stops sending money in here, you’ve not only affected one person there but also four, five or six people over here. Then that starts the very dangerous possibility of things going wrong,” Orman stated.
The Filipino economy has been highly stimulated by an OFW’s monthly pension. These workers have accumulated $20 billion dollars and have invested it into the Filipino economy through daily purchases bought with remittances.
“And once we understand it is possible that that check would stop [coming], you would think twice before you go out and buy a flat screen TV or you do things other than saving that money,” continued the financial guru.
Orman who is familiar with this topic because she herself has hired Filipinos as a part of her household staff noticed the pattern of these hardworking laborers mailing their paycheck home to the Philippines. Orman questions why they never save money for themselves. She also noticed that her staff members were not taking their normal month long vacation back home. These OFWs do not want to spend the money to buy the plane ticket to return home.
This pattern of sending the entire check home is not only seen with Filipinos but with the African culture as well. Does this really help families in need? In ways it can be beneficial; however, this does not give people in the Philippines the opportunity to make their own living. Hence, they do not work as hard because they are counting on their monthly capital boost to pay the bills. They are unaware of the harsh reality which could happen any day—no more remittances.
“But nothing feels greater than to have a sum of money in a bank account somewhere. And that’s what they should be striving for,” Orman concluded. This is a goal that people worldwide should aim for whether or not they rely on OFW checks.
What do you think will happen to these families once the remittances come
to an end? Comment below to answer.
In this article, I think Suze Orman is talking about the importance of saving money for yourself, because anything can happen at anytime and although it is part of the culture (including mine) to help our families, friends and those in need, not to forget and not to take for granted the benefits of return, short term vs. long term. When you save money, you create opportunities including buying power and possibly an opportunity to build wealth and help people in the longer term (create jobs etc.) in a much bigger way vs. short term rewards to both the giver and recipient. I think there is a saying by Confucius that goes, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” Although, the issue remains how challenging it is for many of us (including me) to balance the immediate and daily needs of survival. What I learned from the article is to recognize the importance of a financial plan for yourself including being able to help our families and those in need.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the response.
DeleteMy understanding is that without remittances, the Philippine government would collapse. This would be horrible because, with the world economy the way it is, who would then rescue the Philippines?
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I'd like to relate too that earlier today I was lucky enough to be witness to a presentation (at the San Francisco Main Library) by survivors of political imprisonment at the hands of the Philippine national government. This included shares from a number of prominent religious and literary figures, plus a personal conversation later had with former political prisoner, Ms. Angelina Ipong--which seized my attention:
She related that one way to assist Filipinos from abroad who are oppressed in their homeland is to write letters to the United States President, which was taken as a strong cue to urge him to cease U.S. backing of the Filipino military.
What I got overall from the 2-hour long presentation is that only when the U.S. stops supporting this corrupt government, which uses our support in turn to oppress and disenfranchise the great majority of the Filipino populace, will the peasants, farmers and other poor people whose inalienable rights to their land and autonomy, which have been stripped by multinational corporations--backed by U.S. foreign policies and the Filipino military--be restored.
I really like the idea of writing letters to the President. I think that it could really make a difference. thank you for this comment.
DeleteI like your blog, Alex! alot.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWe can realize the poignancy of this issue when Suzie Orman weaves it into her show. The numerous amount of Filipinos that are working overseas in virtual slave like labor in order to support their corrupt government is mind boggling! There must be numerous avenues to enlighten people on this issue. I am sure the U.N. Human Rights movements as well as the Europeanb and American ones need to be apprised of this. The louder the noise, the more blatant the issue and the more responses will be received!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the more blatant the issue is that there will be more responses received. Thank you for the response.
DeleteA friend of mine from South San Francisco told me of her experience two years ago when she visited her home town of Lipa in Batangas. She said she wanted to offer jobs to the local youth to provide them with income to use for college. When she offered to hire them to work on a local project, she said they turned her down because they were already receiving money remitted by their OFW parents so they did not need to work anymore. My friend and I felt sorry for the OFW parents slaving away while their kids are just playing video games and texting their friends, wasting their lives away.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that your friend was offering them a job to earn some extra cash. It is unfortunate that the local youth did not take advantage of this opportunity but are rather taking advantage of their parents. Thank you for your input.
ReplyDeleteThis mendicant behaviour unfortunately will continue for awhile until the giver dies. Now what's next? How much do we have to condone this kind of destructive behaviour? This is surely a way of contributing to the kids failure and delinquency. Our country needs the youth ---is this how we are supposed to teach our children well?
ReplyDeleteIt is us who are sending support to our families in the Philippines that can make the right judgement on how and why we are sending funds to the Philippines. The aim is to help advance their lives not to become dependent on what we send them.
ReplyDeleteWe are breeding a society of mendicants. Building a culture that is becoming loose in morals and values. The age of the quick fix and remedies so people are selling body parts or convert their homes into brothels as solution to their day to day needs.
Where this will end... is fearsome, but needs to be stopped. It is only us who are looking at this from the outside that can demand a change. Only if united in cause and action will this happen.
It better be soon.
This does need to be stopped and it is our duty to enact better legislature to protect them. Thank you for your comment.
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