by Jet V. Villamor
It is estimated that between 80 percent and 90 percent of us, Filipinos, need help in terms of managing our finances.
Many factors contribute to this sorry situation. One is our tendency to relegate financial health to the backseat of our hierarchy of priorities.
As a result, many of us become financial wrecks as we ride into the sunset of our lives. Even those earning oodles of money in their prime could end up being buried in a mountain of indebtedness, or worse resort to begging from relatives or from complete strangers in the streets in their retirement, all because when they younger, they were clueless about personal finance management.
No use blaming this situation on the failure of our educational system and other institutions like the home, the church and government to put emphasis on teaching how to manage one’s wealth. Finger-pointing is an unproductive preoccupation, if not an exercise in futility. Prospectively, however, we can avoid ending up losers, if we educate ourselves on managing our money and other personal resources.
We must realize early in our life that financial well-being is just as important as being physically, mentally and spiritually fit. Indeed, one can get very sick, go off his rockers and become agnostic as a result of the cramping, dehumanizing penury that he is suffering from.
This section wants to help readers avoid worst case scenarios like the one we just described.
There are many financial management practices that we can discuss in future editions –simple savings, basic financial planning, investments, preparing for retirement, estate planning and many topics about managing one’s money.
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Lotto: Many people desperately, and mistakenly, think that all it takes for them to be liberated from heavy indebtedness and other financial problems is to suddenly have lots of money. That’s why many people stand in long queues before lotto betting stations to buy lotto numbers, hoping against hope to hit the jackpot.
What are the probabilities? Based on statistics, the odds of winning in the 6/49 super lotto is one to 14 million, 6/45 mega lotto, one to 8.1 million, while the 6/42 lotto is one to 5.3 million.
According to the PROBE Team and the UP Statistical Center, the average “investment” of those who become millionaires their their winnings since 1995 is in the vicinity of P98,460.
Even if one win the jackpot in lotto, the winning is not a guarantee that one would become rich. Money is not and will not answer or cure poverty. Attitude will.
(For your comments, reactions and suggestions, email me at jvvillamor@insular.com.ph or jvvillamor@gmail.com)
