For many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the main purpose for going abroad is to become a better provider for their families. This is why despite the difficulties of being away from the country, OFWs do their best at their jobs in their desire of earning big and providing the necessities of life for their loved ones.
It is, however, an unfortunate fact that there are instances when an OFW goes home empty-handed, with no savings whatsoever.
This happens because of poor financial literacy, according to Vince Rapisura – a wealth expert who also serves as the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. Some OFWs, he remarked, tend to overspend while they are employed abroad. So there is always the tendency for them to continually seek further employment after their contracts’ completion.
In a Rappler article, Rapisura said OFWs should make it a goal to be able to come back to the country without having to return again. He further shared useful tips about how to make that possible.
Here’s Rapisura’s recommended migration process:
1. Beginning stage (1-2 years) – For the first two years, the migrant should work on paying off the debts he/she incurred to be able to work abroad. (ie. money spent for plane tickets, processing fees, etc.)
2. Medium term (2-3 years) – During the medium term, the migrant’s focus should be to provide for his/her family’s basic needs.
3. Long term (3-5 years) – The migrant’s last years, meanwhile, should be spent for their financial goals like being able to buy a house, open a business, among others.
“When they go there, initially they say, ‘I only want a tricycle as a business,’ and send my children to school.’ After 5 years and they’ve already attained that, the goal would shift somewhere else. Maybe the tricycle is now a jeepney, and sending the children to school is finished and now they want to put up a house,” Rapisura remarked.
This means OFWs should seriously set their own goals and do their best to achieve them. Of course, goal setting and planning is key to success and so OFWs should come with a reasonable time-frame so as to make it realistic and challenging at the same time.