In order to survive while working in a foreign country while being able to provide for your family in the Philippines, OFWs must learn the virtue of thriftiness.
Fund management and finances will always depend on the lifestyle of a person. This way of life will become a necessity when you start to become an OFW.
For Filipino workers who are relatively young and earning well abroad, time is on their side. If they are unmarried, they have more freedom to manage their finances and are involved in fewer expenditures. But this freedom can also be a recipe for a lifelong habit of negligence and lack of forwarding thinking.
So before it’s too late — eventually returning home and realizing you did not save enough — create that good habit of managing money.
Here are some tips on how to manage your money.
Table of Contents
Be realistic about expenses
The mind controls everything, if you are able to control your mindset to be realistic, it can become the most powerful tool of your lifestyle. Use your head to direct your finances, nobody wants to become poor after years of being an OFW. Realize that your spending in the Philippines will not be the same in that developed countries.
Adjust to your real economic status in the place you work and not in the Philippines. Your money no matter how much when converted to peso is essentially less due to currency differences.
Give your OFW life a life span
That is unless you wanted to die an OFW on foreign soil, then you may just go on and become an immigrant, and even then, what if you wanted to change your mind?
Even before applying, you have to set a time and date on how long you plan to have the OFW life. Whether you want to settle in a foreign land or not, you need to maintain this way of thinking. This sets a rational goal in mind to make you limit your expenses, kick out bad habits. and start your long-term goals of being financially secure.
Consider your thoughts on when you want to get married, when you want to have children, and what you want at this age and after 5 years, 10 years, and so on.
Be careful in what you invest in
Investing is not emptying your bank accounts into the stock market or getting a property or applying for business loans at this instant.
Educate yourself on the passive ways of earning extra income and observe. Don’t jump headfirst or you just might find yourself in the way of debts and zero savings. Do your own research and know the consequences, advantages, and disadvantages of each situation to make a logical decision.
Do a self-study
Do you know where every cent of your money goes? Account for each and every spent money from your hands. Weigh your budget, is it really that important to have new clothes every month? How much do you spend on groceries? Utilities? Bills? Find where you fall short on your budget scheme and discipline yourself on it.
Save for yourself
Even if you are the breadwinner of your family, it does not mean that you can neglect your future. OFWs come from all walks of life but a common mistake most commit is to send all their money to their families in the Philippines and leave nothing for themselves. Some might even feel guilty about saving for themselves when they should not.
Allocate a portion of your income for your savings. Do not spoil your family. They must learn to become independent for themselves and you must save some for your own.
Just because you don’t work in the money or business section of the industry does not excuse you from making the wrong economic decisions. Educate yourself and weigh your decisions carefully. Fund management is the lifestyle of the wise and wealthy. Read and learn about investments and business. Try side hustles that align with your passion and skill, and make extra income.
Nobody wants to come home poor.
