Dubai: Filipino expatriates need to change their mind-set from being just remittance senders to becoming investors themselves as now is the best time to invest in their country, an influential wealth and life coach has said.
“The time to invest in the Philippines is now,” Chinkee Tan, a well-known motivational speaker and life coach, told a Filipino crowd in a hotel recently. Tan made the statement just days after the release of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, which described the Philippines as the most improved country overall from 2010. Two months earlier, in July, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim called the Philippines the next “Asian miracle” as it overcomes its reputation of being the region’s economic laggard for decades.
Tan was in the UAE for a two-day session called ‘Plan Right, Live Bright’, an empowerment session in Dubai and Abu Dhabi organised by Manila-based Robinsons Land Corporation to inspire Filipinos to save and invest in their future.
“It is very important for each family to learn how to save. Part of saving is investing for the future. And once every Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) learns to do that, our economy will grow even bigger. It will also help OFWs so that once they go back to the Philippines, they have something to sustain them for the long-term,” Tan told Gulf News.
Tan said the most common pitfall of OFWs and their families in the Philippines is their wrong mind-set about money.
“The common misconception among our compatriots who have loved ones abroad is they think overseas workers are earning a huge sum and are living the high life abroad.”
In most cases, the money sent to the Philippines monthly only pays the bills.
“Oftentimes, what they focus on is their remittances, the goodies to send home, how to help the family, etc. All these are short-term goals. How about their long-term goals?”
The Philippines was the world’s third top recipient of officially recorded remittances in 2013, after India and China, according to the World Bank. Some 11 million OFWs worldwide remitted around $26 billion (Dh95.42 billion) in 2013.
The UAE is among the major sources of dollar remittances to the Philippines. In 2013, remittances by Filipinos in the UAE grew by 31.45 per cent from $960 million in 2012 to $1.26 billion, according to the Central Bank of the Philippines.
All these remittances shouldn’t only fuel consumer spending, which is currently the case, but should act as seed money for small businesses. That way, Tan said, their families back home will be able to sustain themselves in the long run.
“Your goal should be to teach your families in the Philippines to grow the money you’re sending and to slowly train them to be less dependent on you. They should treat the money they receive as seed money to start and grow a business. Once that’s done, programme yourself to save your earnings here for your retirement.”
Retirement planning could involve saving money to buy fixed assets such as land or real estate that appreciate in value as opposed to buying fancy cars.
