I'm Afraid Many of My Fellow Filipinos REFUSE to Make Financial New Year's Resolutions

WWD

I really hate December because of the heavy traffic. Some say that people do last-minute Christmas shopping because they just live paycheck to paycheck. However, the way things go during payday can tell why they can't have the money to do some early Christmas shopping. An irony indeed that Christmas comes early in the Philippines (September) but not the Christmas shopping.

Indeed, so many should realize that living paycheck-to-paycheck should be a warning not to splurge on it (read here). Instead, they choose to many stupid activities. Maybe, call in the one-day paycheck where they immediately go splurging the paycheck when it arrives. They would focus more on their wants than their needs. I guess that's why some fools are demanding the stupidity of higher salaries and lower price of goods aka Sahod Itaas Presyo Ibaba. I'm afraid that such a move isn't economically feasible (read here). Even if they do get a high-income job (or even become an OFW for better income), they can still fail to build wealth if they continue with their bad habits (read here).

We often hear of New Year's resolutions. My question is when will more of my fellow Filipinos ever start to make them? I guess they enjoy the cycle of living beyond their means from January to November, waiting for their Christmas bonuses and 13th-month payments. I even heard from other people that some people even splurge their 13th-month pay so they have no money for the Noche Buena. The "solution" is to borrow money for the Noche Buena. I could imagine grocery stores getting unusually long lines on December 20-24 because they failed to do early Christmas shopping. Sometimes, I saw it while I did some Christmas deliveries. Even worse, they do their Noche Buena so extravagantly that they run out of money for the New Year's Party (read here). I even experienced poorer neighbors hiring a music band they simply can't afford.

In Cebuano, there's the statement of "Sa Disyembre lipay-lipay. Sa January likay-likay." In English, it means, "Enjoying December, escaping in January." I wonder if Indian restaurants getting fully booked so soon in January can be linked to 5-6 lenders? I guess the abundance of motorcycle-driving lenders in January is because they're after their capital. Another reason for the 5-6 lenders eating at Indian restaurants in groups is probably either they're recovering their energy or they're celebrating their successful loan collection. Some of them may now be hiding. I heard loan sharks can be very notorious. I heard from some people that 5-6 lenders can use various means to get the money back.

January is supposed to be when they learn their lessons. Sadly, many don't and the same cycle repeats itself. It's because it's very difficult to make financial resolutions. Why make resolutions when there's an easy way out? You can have these practices like (1) blaming the rich for one's poverty, (2) blaming capitalism for one's bad choices, (3) rally for Sahod Itaas Presyo Ibaba, (4) getting into get-rich-quick schemes such as Ponzi schemes, (5) gambling hoping to get rich quick fast, (6) investing in stocks hoping to get rich quick fast, and that's but a few of many that can be named.

In my case, I started to learn to be more investment savvy and stop relying on business school knowledge. I never learned other ways to invest in stocks even during my MBA days. I believe that they should've talked about investing in stocks via UITFs (and an index fund is one of them). Business school has become too theoretical. I even got scammed during my MBA days. It wasn't until I did more research finding out why the Philippines is still left behind and how certain improvements happened.

Sadly, some people seem to enjoy the financial troubles they're always getting into. If that's the case, the best thing that I like to fire out is, "Do you ever wonder why you're still poor?" I guess such people will still blame the rich, capitalism, etc. The reason is that it's always much easier to blame others than own up to one's mistakes.

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