Working abroad is not like taking a vacation out of the country and earn money. It may seem an easy way for you to help your family, but a lot of our Kababayans spend years or decades to save and send money back to their loved ones.
As a former OFW, one of the goals that we have is to give our family a better life, give them the things we can't afford, and paint our children's smiles with chocolates. With that mindset, we tend to send them whatever we can, up to the point that there is nothing left for us, and that should not be the case.
You don't want to work until you've had enough, you need to set goals, save money and prepare for the future of your family, giving them the things that they wanted is not bad but don't spoil them, your family needs you, more than the toys, fancy clothes and chocolates in the Balikbayan Box. Your return is what they will be anticipating most, so you can spend time and enjoy what you've hardly earned abroad with them.
If we want a better future for our family, saving money and teaching them the importance of investing and saving to have a stable future is the best thing that we can give to them.
So how can we start? It's easy to say that "I will save for my future" but taking the first step is the hardest.
This is one of the reasons why our government agencies like OWWA and Financial Institutions like BDO are helping our fellow Kababayans to achieve this goal.
One of the ways that they are doing it is by creating programs like Pinansyal na Talino at Kaalaman or (PiTaKa) to equip our OFW's with the ability to manage their finances by teaching them on where they can put their remittances aside from sending it all back and ending up nothing left for them.
The goal of this program is for our OFW's is for them to return home without the worries that they need to sign another contract because they are already financially stable and able to take care of their family.
A lot of our Kababayan's are doing side jobs and overtime work just to earn extra, some of them even try to put up a business abroad to maximize their full earning potential and so they can save much faster.
This is the reason why organizations like BDO Foundation and BSP are eagerly educating our OFW's together with OWWA to make all their sacrifices worth it and create a stable Filipino family, one OFW at a time.
According to BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito, "Filipinos should change their mindset regarding saving and spending We are all allowed to earn, in the case of OFW's, the opportunity is bigger, so all the more that we should save, we should save first then spend".
BDO Foundation is supporting the PITAKA program through financial education videos. These videos teach not only OFW's on how to handle their money properly but also encourage their families to do the same.
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