Use the business pages to create wealth

I’M a media person. I’m in the business of selling words. Anybody who writes for a living will tell you that it is always useful to read newspapers. Yes it is… (I do have to toe the line right? :) ), but be smart when reading the papers. Read it to enhance your wealth. For example, this week there has been a flurry of articles on the findings of a controversial SWS survey that one out of five Filipino families had to bear hunger at least once in the last three months. Our own Nonoy Espina wrote a great article about that here. Do you know what it feels like to be desperate for food? I have. I come from a poor family. This is an emotional issue, and a very political one for Malacanang. The President responded by telling Filipinos to stop texting, smoking, resist the urge to buy luxury items, "curb spending patterns." Hmmm. That’s a basic personal finance principle but it certainly cannot apply for all. We don’t have to go far to see that people are hungry, but talking about it to death doesn’t really create wealth, doesn’t it? Let’s see what does. Manufacturing production in January rose 2.0 percent from a year earlier, the first annual growth in 14 months. The central bank believes that the country’s balance of payments surplus with other countries will exceed expectations. Registered investments recorded by the Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority jump 125%, and overseas workers' remittances in January hit $1.1B, up 20%. All economic indicators paint a rather cheerful picture -- the manufacturing industry, which employs a lot of people, is buzzing with activity, a better-than-expected BOP surplus points to a possible strengthening of the peso, among other things, and more investments means money is coming in. The Reuters story that the Arroyo administration is giving an across-the-board 10% salary hike is of course a reason to celebrate (although the sudden announcement is suspiciously close to the elections) but can you imagine how much money that will release into the financial system? It’s good that inflation is low at this point and I’m crossing my fingers some of that money will be saved and not used to buy more stuff that are not needed. The 91-day T-bill rate inched up to 2.998%. This rate is the benchmark that banks use to price their loans, as well as interest on deposits. Also, National Treasurer Omar Cruz is planning to drop T-bills in 2008 and issue just bonds. Don’t you think that’s better, so that people will shift to longer-term savings? In the private sector: Megaworld is getting ready to plunk in as much as P60 billion into one of its projects, SM Investments is on track with its P6-billion coastal resort project. A well-planned strategy in real estate investment cannot be too bad at this time, after all interest rates are low. Stress on "well-planned." People who usually go looking for a tryst with "hot" investments get burned, but doing it because it fits in with your overall plan can be a powerful way of growing money. I saw, however, a very distressing news item that has a direct impact on personal finance, especially those who are nearing retirement. In Virac, Catanduanes, retirees were fuming over delayed GSIS pensions (read the story here). Read about a beneficiary’s experience with getting her father’s pension from GSIS in her letter to the editor. It’s such a pity the GSIS and SSS cannot properly take care of its pensioners and that we have to worry very much about whether we are going to outlive our money, saving more, working hard -- the whole shebang. Lastly, I noticed several articles this week on my soapbox issue -- education. Veronica Uy wrote about UP Engineering’s decision to offer 200 graduate scholarships, Alex Villafania said in his article here  that poor students rated highly in career assessment examinations and that high school seniors show aptitude for technical and vocational courses. Filipinos are such gifted people. Harvard chose a Pinoy as Scientist of the Year. I told you that I was born poor in the hinterlands of Bicol. But my mother worked day and night to send her children to school. A scholarship in UP changed my life. So it was with my sisters. It’s a documented phenomenon: better education raises income levels and quality of life. I really hope we, as a people, get our education act together.