MANILA, Philippines – When a Filipino leaves to work abroad, it usually means higher income and a more comfortable life for their family back home.
But did you know that for the second quarter of 2023, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas found that just 34.9% of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) households were able to save the remittances they received? Citing the World Bank, the BSP also said that just a quarter of adult Filipinos are knowledgeable in basic financial concepts.
There’s a character to recall in the Philippine blockbuster film, Four Sisters and a Wedding, when eldest daughter Teddie comes home from Spain in a fancy outfit and supposed success. But when the Spanish recession (in the film) made Teddie lose her job, she was pushed to find multiple service jobs and go into debt just for a plane ticket home. She also had to pretend in front of her family that everything was okay.
The reality is, many OFWs end up without savings, even when they reach their senior years, despite having worked abroad for most of their lives.
In this episode of At Home sa Abroad: Stories of Overseas Filipinos, Rappler multimedia reporter Michelle Abad speaks with Joanne DG Rico, an Abu Dhabi-based marketing chief who recently released a new book, It’s Not What You Think: Cracking OFW myths on personal finance.
It is a book by an OFW, for OFWs, on how to stay financially stable and prepare for their future.
Watch the video on Rappler on Monday, November 13, at 7 pm, Manila time. – Rappler.com
At Home sa Abroad: Stories of Overseas Filipinos is Rappler’s one-stop video podcast for all things Filipino diaspora.
Watch other At Home sa Abroad episodes:
- How this leadership program helped Fil-Ams connect with their roots
- How is the local economic crisis affecting OFWs?
- Inside a migration reporter’s notebook
- The Filipino diaspora through a migrant’s eyes
- Is exporting Filipino workers a good thing?
- How this Gen Z couple is making their LDR work
- Tales of Martial Law, People Power from migrant Filipinos
- The plight of overseas Filipino women
- Navigating the int’l film industry as a Filipino woman
- After EU decision, what’s next for Filipino seafarers?
- Why do so many Filipinos go abroad to work?
- Filipino mom and daughter champion diversity in US
- Commemorating Independence Day as a Filipino abroad
- 1 year of Marcos’ migration governance
- Realities of Filipina marriage migration
- The road ahead for Rechie Valdez, first Filipina in Canada’s Cabinet
- How this seafarer turned lawyer fights for OFWs at sea
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