Overseas Filipino
Workers are dubbed the modern day heroes of the Philippines. Their monthly
remittances help drive the economy of the country. These remittances contribute
heavily to the country’s balance of payments (BOP), which gauges the country’s ability
to pay external debts.
Heroes maybe
said about them but unfortunately, I have seen many of these folks went back to
their homes during their twilight age empty handed. Where goes the money they supposed
to have saved to support them during their retirement age?
Let’s take
an example of Mang Mario, one OFW who have just retired at the age of 65 years
old from the KSA last year. He used to be one of the most reliable production operators
of his company, an FMCG factory in Jeddah, KSA.
With the 27
years he had worked with his employer, never did he failed to send his whole
salary to his wife during pay day. The family feels so blessed. With some
excess from his remittances, his wife was able to buy a tricycle which they
expected to add another stream of income from its daily “boundary”.
However, with
the excessive money his family was receiving every month, the family’s expenses
were alleviated, too. Soon, the family cannot determine which expenses can be
considered a necessity or a plain luxury. In the end, uncontrolled expenses exceeded
the family’s income and soon his monthly remittances were not enough to support
his family’s “wants”.
A year
before he retired, he confided to me that he was not ready to leave his work because
his family were burdened with debts. He’s also supporting his son’s family as
his son was not able to find a good job enough to support his own family’s
needs. Unfortunately, he was forced to go. He had reached the point where the
age requirement to retire is mandatory.
The above
example was a real life scenario where our modern-day heroes must learned a
lesson from. The most important asset that they must know to utilize wisely is
“TIME”. A time that was spent can never be brought back. Every day, time was
spent. You may not noticed it until you may woke up one morning you realized, you have just
a few years left approaching retirement age.
Retirement is imminent and if you don’t
prepare for it, then you will be yet another case of Mang Mario.
To prepare
for retirement is not simple. In order to succeed you need a plan to help you
blueprint your roadmap.
To help our
kababayang OFWs with these facts, I would like to suggest the following sets of
guidelines to help you prepare after your productive years working abroad.
I would love
to call it the 5Ps of Planning for Your Retirement.
Let’s round them up one by one.
THE 5Ps OF PLANNING FOR YOUR RETIREMENT
P1 – PURPOSE
Your purpose
or your goal is the end or the destination you wanted to be in a certain future
of your life. It can also be a material thing you wanted to have in your possession
in a certain future time. Purpose is a
goal that you don’t have yet in your possession but you desire or intended to
have or to be.
I can compare
it in driving a car. Before I will ride my car, I am certain where I wanted to
go. Driving my car without any intention to go in a certain place I wanted to
go is an effortless endeavor, a waste of time and energy. And as I have said a
while ago, a time that was spent can never be brought back.
To lay down your
purpose or objective, imagine what you wanted to be when you reach your
retirement age working as an OFW.
Do you
wanted to see yourself having a small mini-grocery you tend every day, a profit
of which, is enough to support your daily needs?
A
one-hectare farm where you culture organic vegetables which you sell wholesale
in the local market?
A number of
rental houses which will give you a passive income month-after-month?
A portfolio
of paper assets, UITF and Mutual Funds combined, which will give you adequate passive
income streams, the returns of which, you withdraw every month to support your
personal needs?
The
possibility is boundless! All you need is to get started. Take the small first
step. Make your P1. An example of this could be like the one stated below.
“To have a retirement
fund of P2,000,000 by 2030 through investing in a UITF portfolio by regularly buying
units of participation with the amount of P5,000 pesos every month.”
P2 – PLAN
To realize
your purpose or your goal, you need to concretize it to make it happen. How
will you do it is the planning part. It is like creating a map or a guide that
you will follow to reach your destination. Without planning, I bet, you will
never reach your purpose or goal.
An example
of a simple plan is like this.
Step 1. I
will open my BDO ATM Account on August 1, 2013. I will deposit an initial
amount of P10,000 pesos to be the maintaining balance of my savings account.
Step 2. I
will invest and initial amount of P10,000 pesos in the BDO Equity Fund on
August 30, 2013.
Step 3. Every salary day succeeding August 30, 2013, I
will buy units of participation of BDO Equity Fund worth P5,000 pesos.
Step 4. I will continue doing this investment strategy
until the end of the year 2030.
P3 - PERFORMANCE
Performance is the most significant part
of the 5Ps. It is the part where you will execute your plans into actions.
Without performing or doing what you have laid out in your plan, your purpose
will be just a wish written in the sand.
P4
– PASSION
Passion is the strong feeling or
desire to accomplish a certain goal or objective no matter how hard is the odds.
Without your burning desire to execute what you have planned, you will never attain
your purpose or goal.
Every time you feel down and
frustrated because of some turn of events that may block your way in doing what
you have planned, just listen to your burning desire to reach your goal or
purpose.
P5 – PRIZE
The fifth or the last P is the so-called
Prize. Executing all the processes you have laid out according to your plan, the
prize is the realization of your goal or purpose.