Not shy anymore

(Putting personal finances in the public eye does not scare Filipinos anymore. Photo from  AFP)

Used to be that Filipinos would rather reveal their most embarrassing bloopers to friends rather than talk about how much they are making or how much debt they have.

Not anymore.

Pinoys are talking about their deep, dark money secrets in blogs, their investment portfolio and strategies, revealing their net worth and their biggest financial dreams, the lessons they learn along the way as they journey on to financial independence – and sometimes even their mistakes (laudable, really. After all, who doesn’t make mistakes?)

I usually go looking for these blogs once a week and take a peek at what people are feeling and saying. Aside from real life interviews that I do on a regular basis, these blogs give me a chance to get the Filipino pulse.

The bloggers I like don’t pretend to know everything. But they are very opinionated. I do not agree with everything they write, but hey, diversity makes life interesting. I read them because they tell their stories well.

Here are some examples:

The Money Tree…my ABCs of Personal Finance. Carefully chosen topics, good narrative, nice tables. The latest entry, however, was a month ago. Pinoy Piso, wake up!

Tales of the absolute trader is written by Tarantrader who is wild about technical analysis. He’s very opinionated. Warning, his blog is technical, but you’ll find some interesting posts like the one on choosing a stock broker.

I just discovered “The Girl With The Pearl Ngipin” lately. She’s a newbie in financial planning living in New Zealand. It’s interesting to me how she will handle the wild ride to her first P50 million . Let’s cheer her on!

Most of you know Digerati Life. She’s a Filipina living in Silicon Valley. Her blog posts will be helpful to Filipinos in the US, and even those who are making their own way here.

Moolah Matters  is an example of how the young urban professional in Manila thinks, acts and decides. She’s the only one in the group that I know personally and I only met her recently.

Maybe it’s the anonymity in blogging that allows them to talk about what used to be a taboo subject. Maybe it’s the drive to do better with finances, maybe it’s the chance to talk to like-minded people. Whatever the reason, this shows there’s a shift in the Filipino psyche when it comes to money.

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