Filipinos and our unhealthy relationship with money

Have you noticed how us, the Filipino kids who grew up in the Philippines are financial illiterate? I realized that when I was younger. There is not one memory of me talking to an adult and them teaching me about the value of saving, the value of investment, not one. The only thing that I remember is when the elderlies would usually just you, to see, save, you need to be frugal, but they never really teach you how. Haha. The ironic part is they keep on telling you to be frugal, but then you realize that all your life what you actually witness is the adult's toxic relationship with money, how they have a splurging habit. And now that you've grown ups, we have adapted that habit wherein we feel that we're entitled to splurge whenever we want. How we never out of excuses on why we should spend. Like, uh oh, today was a good day. Yay, let's go eat out. Oh, I just received my salary, let's eat out. Um, or, oh, I'm feeling sad today. Oh no, let's try to cheer you up. Let's go out. I moved to Singapore when I was 22 years old, right out of university. I am embarrassed to say this because the only time I realized that I had a bad relationship with money is when I hit 30s and you know, ah, happened. Hi, I was working with one of my previous companies and over lunch, I was working and I overheard my new colleagues, fresh out of university, 22 years old, he was talking to our other colleague. Of mine were both Singaporeans and they were both in their early 20s like, oh my god, their first job. And so I heard one of my colleagues say to the other colleague like, hey bro, did you buy these stocks? Or think about this? And I'm like, wow, like fresh out of university and over lunch, they were just casually talking about investment and then so, of course, I got curious, right? And so I joined in the conversation and that's when it hit me that at a very young age, my colleagues, my Singapore colleagues have been taught now to save and invest, even before they could get a job, they were already buying stocks. Like, and I was in my 30s with zero investment. Can, can you imagine? I've been working in Singapore for 10 years, zero investment. Ah. That conversation with my Singaporean colleagues triggered something in me. It made me feel ashamed of how I managed my money. Um, because I've always been a salesperson and it made me think, oh my god, commissions, all of the money that I made in those 10 years, where did they go? Nowhere. And so I spoke to one of my Filipino friends about this and how we agreed that growing up, we were never taught to be financially literate. We were never taught how to have a healthy relationship with money. But I guess that kind of makes sense because the adults in our lives when we were kids also did not have a healthy relationship with money. So basically we just inherited their habit. But here is the scary part, you know what's the consequence of that splurging, consequence of that splurging culture? We are a part of a sandwich generation, a generation where the elderlies then in our family did not plan for their old age life. And so therefore, we have now taken responsibility for that. So we are in the age where we most of us have our own families, we have our children, right? But while you are trying to look after your own family, you now also have to look after your parents, uncles or whoever needs help. And please do not tell me that we are doing this out of love because there are of cases out there wherein we are forced to help because no one else will help them. I have to confess that my money saving tip that post has been sitting in my draft for at least a week because I wasn't sure whether, you know, will anyone be even interested with this? But I thought to myself like, uh, I'll just post it. And now my notification inbox has never been this busy. And so to me, that made me realize that, oh okay, like there's a lot of people who shares the same sentiment as I am, wherein we want to save, but we don't know how because we were never taught how. And majority of the money saving tips that you see out there just doesn't seem to make sense because it's just not practical and realistic for our lifestyle. And so I thought to myself, okay, I have been lucky enough to be taught by my Singaporean friends, like poor them. Haha. The number of questions that I, oh, so I really admire their patience in them introducing like stocks, investment to me and how they just kept on answering all of my questions. And so I forward. I have decided that I am going to give myself a project, a pay it forward project in relation to financial literacy. So I've actually listed topics that I wanna cover because I was thinking, I've now reached a point where in saving and investment is a habit, like it's part of my lifestyle. And and what I'm realizing is there's a lot of people out there who still is stuck in that like how to start, where to start. I am happy to share whatever I have learned from my friends and also whatever I have learnt from my personal experience. And the only thing I ask is you also pay it forward. You can pay it forward in three ways. Number one, share the love. I kindly ask you to share my post. Number two, ask questions. You never know that question can help someone. Number three, talk about money that doesn't involve splurging, saving, investment, retirement ideas and plans. I don't know if this project will work out, but I really do hope so, because if we don't learn to have a healthy relationship with money, I, I do not want to imagine the future that way. So we are in the age where we most of us have our own families, we have our children, right? But while you are trying to look after your own family, you now also have to look after your parents, uncles or whoever needs help. And please do not tell me that we are doing this out of love because there are of cases out there wherein we are forced to help because no one else will help them. I have to confess that my money saving tip that post has been sitting in my draft for at least a week because I wasn't sure whether, you know, will anyone be even interested with this? But I thought to myself like, uh, I'll just post it. And now my notification inbox has never been this busy. And so to me, that made me realize that, oh okay, like there's a lot of people who shares the same sentiment as I am, wherein we want to save, but we don't know how because we were never taught how. And majority of the money saving tips that you see out there just doesn't seem to make sense because it's just not practical and realistic for our lifestyle. And so I thought to myself, okay, I have been lucky enough to be taught by my Singaporean friends, like poor them. Haha. The number of questions that I, oh, so I really admire their patience in them introducing like stocks, investment to me and how they just kept on answering all of my questions. And so I forward. I have decided that I am going to give myself a project, a pay it forward project in relation to financial literacy. So I've actually listed topics that I wanna cover because I was thinking, I've now reached a point where in saving and investment is a habit, like it's part of my lifestyle. And and what I'm realizing is there's a lot of people out there who still is stuck in that like how to start, where to start. I am happy to share whatever I have learned from my friends and also whatever I have learnt from my personal experience. And the only thing I ask is you also pay it forward. You can pay it forward in three ways. Number one, share the love. I kindly ask you to share my post. Number two, ask questions. You never know that question can help someone. Number three, talk about money that doesn't involve splurging, saving, investment, retirement ideas and plans. I don't know if this project will work out, but I really do hope so, because if we don't learn to have a healthy relationship with money, I, I do not want to imagine the future that way. So we are in the age where we most of us have our own families, we have our children, right? But while you are trying to look after your own family, you now also have to look after your parents, uncles or whoever needs help. And please do not tell me that we are doing this out of love because there are of cases out there wherein we are forced to help because no one else will help them. I have to confess that my money saving tip that post has been sitting in my draft for at least a week because I wasn't sure whether, you know, will anyone be even interested with this? But I thought to myself like, uh, I'll just post it. And now my notification inbox has never been this busy. And so to me, that made me realize that, oh okay, like there's a lot of people who shares the same sentiment as I am, wherein we want to save, but we don't know how because we were never taught how. And majority of the money saving tips that you see out there just doesn't seem to make sense because it's just not practical and realistic for our lifestyle. And so I thought to myself, okay, I have been lucky enough to be taught by my Singaporean friends, like poor them. Haha. The number of questions that I, oh, so I really admire their patience in them introducing like stocks, investment to me and how they just kept on answering all of my questions. And so I forward. I have decided that I am going to give myself a project, a pay it forward project in relation to financial literacy. So I've actually listed topics that I wanna cover because I was thinking, I've now reached a point where in saving and investment is a habit, like it's part of my lifestyle. And and what I'm realizing is there's a lot of people out there who still is stuck in that like how to start, where to start. I am happy to share whatever I have learned from my friends and also whatever I have learnt from my personal experience. And the only thing I ask is you also pay it forward. You can pay it forward in three ways. Number one, share the love. I kindly ask you to share my post. Number two, ask questions. You never know that question can help someone. Number three, talk about money that doesn't involve splurging, saving, investment, retirement ideas and plans.