Much of our trouble making money doesn’t come from the low income we get from work we take on wherever we are. If everyone follows the principle of income entitlement, there will be no need to seek the higher salary commonly found by Filipinos abroad. If you think about it clearly, being an OFW requires a great deal of time away from your family, and in most cases, the price you have to pay may not be enough for the sacrifices you make.

The principle of income comes from a simple but difficult to follow mathematical algorithm:

Net Income – (Needs + Savings) = Expenses

Net income refers to the total amount you receive from work minus taxes and other deductions required by law. Needs refer to bills that need to be paid, such as water and electricity, which are basic necessities. Savings must represent at least twenty percent of your total net income. The rest would be divided for your other expenses. (Some religious people include 10% of the titles of the church in this computation as part of the needs). If we are all able to spread our income well, we will never run out of money when the rainy days come. Someone used to say, stop spending what you don’t have.

This is a notion that we can teach our OFWs, as the government has already realized that many of these employees go home without sufficient investments or savings that can support their vacation or stay in the Philippines. Although there are some rare cases that require people to leave their country to work elsewhere, people need to realize the fact that this is not forever. Like any other job anywhere in the world, a downturn in the economy can often put one out of a job, so saving money is so important. There are many OFWs I know who would send everything they have home and keep nothing for themselves, not even to buy their own clothes, and my financial advisor always said that this is not really a good start. He must realize that the reason he is there is for future purposes and may be temporary, he may have accidents or be among those laid off. You always need to have something for yourself and your future at the end of the day. The reason why we always send Balikbayan boxes home is to make our families proud and to make people at home proud and happy to receive all these gifts. From time to time, this is good, but there has to be a limit to overspending and abuse.

What about the future? When will people start getting out of debt?