Check out my article on the Philippine results of an 11-country Citibank survey on financial intelligence. The results were very revealing, and quantified in figures what we all suspected.
Here’s the link: 8 out of 10 Filipinos worry about bleak retirement–survey
And here’s an excerpt:
MANILA, Philippines – Eight out of ten working, middle class Filipinos believe they face a bleak retirement and more than half expect to be supported by their children in their old age, results of a Citibank survey showed.
The Philippines is one of the 11 countries where Citibank decided to conduct a survey called Citi Fin-Q to measure financial intelligence among consumers. The Philippines is the third country to come out with the survey results after Indonesia and Australia. The rest of the results will be released in March.
Citibank interviewed 400 respondents living in the Philippines who either had a bank account or a credit card. Respondents earned P30,000 per month on the average and two-thirds of them were below 40 years old. They were asked to answer questions on their outlook for their financial future, their approaches to budgeting and saving and whether they have a formal financial plan, among others.
The survey revealed that only 36 percent of working, middle class Filipinos save regularly every month while 51 percent “save when they can”. Nine out of 10 attempt to follow a budget, but only 33 percent stick to it.
Another article on the same subject from Doris Dumlao of Philippine Daily Inquirer can be found here: Filipinos have low financial IQ–says bank
Both articles are in the ten most-read stories in the INQUIRER.net’s business section. I hope that means Filipinos are paying attention. Feel free to forward these articles to your friends, colleagues and family using the “Send as an email” feature from INQUIRER.net. If you want to blog about these articles, please feel free but please follow the rules of propriety and add links to both the article and this blog post to give due credit to this publication.
While I was going through my notes, I found these other snippets of information that may be useful but were not included in the articles:
• 77% seem to be optimistic about their future, but few seem financially secure.
• More than 6 out of 10 are not confident their savings will enable them to meet their financial commitments
• 2 out of 5 have job security concerns
• Filipinos are generally pragmatic and appreciate the value of savings. But minority or 36% save as a habit
• Learning to manage cash flow is a concern
• 40% cannot pay credit card balances in full thus financial protection and independence are dire needs that are set aside
• only 32% have enough insurance. Insurance to meet health needs and protect income in time of emergencies are lacking
• retirement planning is poor. 17% have no idea how much they will need to retire and 28% have not started planning at all. Only 16% have a retirement plan
• as much as 53% feel they have average or poor overall level of understanding a out money management and finances
• less than 10% leverage on the benefit of expert guidance from finance professionals who can teach them proper planning
• individuals who understand proper financial planning are better in their approach towards expense management and saving and are more satisfied with their quality of life.
What do you think is your financial score?
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 am
retirement should start as early as you can and able.
if you have money and on a salaried position,make sure u have insurance to protect you and ur family.If u are GSIS (me pera pa ba?),PAG-IBIG members…that’s a bonus with ur savings+insurance.
save ,save and save.Investmnets are great but can be risky.know ur investments and be ready to win or LOSE.If u have no savings yet,don’t invest muna.save first….alwyas have fallback!
If you have savings,put it in time deposits or online accounts that earn high interests!its worth it.no hassle of thinking the high and lows of business or investments.But look for a better bank that offers secure and great interest rates on savings.
family support during retirement is essential but it doesn’t mean the pressure is on the kids to financially help us every single day.we have to get ready for retirement and be responsible as much as we can.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 am
ako ay isang pilipina na nakapagasawa ng puti dito sa netherland.tapos ako ng BSECE sa pilipinas.kaya kaming buhayin ng asawa ko at dalawa kong anak pero i prefer to work kasi if i work i can build my pension and save for retirement,sayang din naman ang aking investment sa aking sarili na nasa bahay lang soi prefer to use ang aking pinag-aralan.kahit ako ay kumikita i use to it na i use my hard earned money wisely by buying things that i only need,pay only in cash and dont use credit,saving 10% of my salary and investing some.money management must be taught in early age and the important of it to have a financial freedom.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
random, i believe we are in the lower middle class category..
we have an annual savings of 150-200K; this is expected to grow along with my pay increase.
my longevity bonus is always earmarked for charity..
i’m also in a SIWK scenario — Single Income With Kid. My wife takes care of our child.
Can we survive without my parents support? I hope so.. but it won’t be easy, that’s for sure. It will surely affect our annual savings.
With their help, we will be able to save up for supporting our retirement and our child/children.
If you are in a situation wherein you are supporting your parents.. then support them. Try your best to avoid passing that responsibility to your children. I know my grand dad did! thanks lolo!!!
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
The book “The Millionaire Next Door” is an interesting read. I admire parents teaching children the value of saving rather than spending.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:07 am
What jojo did was very good. I should have done that too with my kid. But she is now 20 and she might not be “trainable” anymore.