A Happy New Year to My Fellow Countrymen Buried in SO MUCH DEBT

The Motley Fool

Well, it's past Season's Beatings and it's time to great people "Happy New Year!" right? I did remember not celebrating New Year on Odette because of the severity of the damage. This year, there was no Odette to ruin my holidays except for a short-term stomach upset and rainy weather. Right now, I'm glad I'm able to write this one. I'd like to write this post to bring a bit more awareness. Last year, I did write a couple of blog posts such as the Philippine holiday debt trap (read here), when a Merry Christmas can lead to an unhappy New Year (read here), running out of money after the Noche Buena (read here), and complaining about inflation because one feels the need to celebrate lavishly (read here). This makes me want to greet my fellow countrymen buried in so much debt "Happy New Year!"

January is here and I'm expecting some development. It's not just starting a new fiscal year. I'm also expecting those Indian five-six lenders to start roaming around asking for their money back (read here). I feel January is a very vindicating month. December can be the worst time of the year with heavy traffic. I blame the heavy traffic on people who waste their money from January to November so they end up having to wait for their December bonuses. It's unlike if people manage their money well and decide not to celebrate lavishly. It's not enough to waste money from January to November. December comes and they expect to have a lavish feast. The irony is that they complain about ongoing inflation while they don't seek to manage money. Year after year, some people still repeat the same mistake.

I wrote a post about the "If it's bitter then just add sugar" mentality (read here). Rather than face the bitterness and solve it--they choose to just add sugar. Tea and coffee are more beneficial when drunk without sugar than with sugar. Sure, some sugar can help but it seems it's the norm to "just add sugar" to everything in the Philippines, right? I could just imagine a conversation that could happen this January. I could think somebody will say in any Filipino language, "How bitter! I have my Noche Buena and New Year's dinner debts to pay!" A fellow Filipino might say, "Oh don't worry! Bitter? Just add sugar! There are still feasts this January to help you forget about your debts!" Instead of facing the debts, they will probably decide to keep adding debt to debt rather than paying the debt. That's just pretty insane but what do you expect from people who love to say, "Bitter? Just add sugar!"

Amazingly, some of these people will never learn. They can get a lot of eviction notices (and have been evicted maybe more than once), debt statements, and disconnection notices. They still persist in the mindset. There's even a saying in Tagalog that says, "Utang (debt) is life." They still think that their lives is all about splurging money no matter how small it is. If somebody is living paycheck to paycheck every 15th and final day of the month then why waste that money? Instead, why not focus on paying the more important things such as bills instead of going out with the barkada (peers)?" Instead, they will say something like, "But it's the tradition in the Philippines to be wasteful!" Then I reply, "Do you ever wonder why your finances don't improve." Some of them might even go as far as saying, "It's the fault of the rich that we're poor!" My backfire can be, "Did the rich tell you to waste your money?"

December can be frustrating. January can be very vindicating. I could just imagine somebody right now might be packing their things because creditors are on the way. I could imagine some angry lessor now is preparing an eviction notice because of unpaid rent. I could imagine as the present begins--there will be a reckoning for people who have bad debt habits. I guess I can just sarcastically greet them, "Happy new year! I hope you enjoy your debt problems!"

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