PHILAM Life has rolled out its newest campaign on financial literacy. Philam Life said life is not only about living better every day; it is also about living ready in the future.
It begins with a positive attitude toward the future and thus the campaign is aptly named “Live Ready”. A study in 2015 by Standard and Poor on Global Financial Literacy showed only 25 percent of Filipinos are financially literate.
This is where Philam Life, one of the earliest insurance companies established in the country, sees a role to play. Their experience shows that educating the masses in financial literacy can be daunting, but of great benefit for Filipinos.
“The lack of financial literacy among many of our countrymen is still a major cause for concern and we want to be a key part of the solution. There is an immense number of Filipinos who wish to be financially stable,” Philam Life CEO and President Aibee Cantos.
Together with the government, Philam Life has embarked on a program to bring financial planning closer to Filipinos for them to reap the benefits from proper savings and sound investments.
The campaign started in January, and on April 22 Baguio branch Philam Life executives who are also members of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) met with the local media to drum up the campaign in the city.
MDRT is an international organization of top international insurance professionals in the world.
Belmar Guilanda, associate agency manager of Philam Life–Baguio, said increasing the financial knowledge of Filipino individuals will lead to the betterment of families and the nation as a whole.
Guilanda said helping countrymen be financially literate is part of their commitment after their company was mandated by President Duterte to help Filipinos be aware of proper saving and good investments for education and retirement, among other goals.
Meanwhile, Gina Cadiogan, unit manager of the insurance company in the city, rolled out the basic considerations their financial advisers give.
First is the wealth pyramid. Financial planning must first consider protection that refers to the basic needs in life—food, clothing, shelter, education and retirement plans. This is followed by short-term goals, a back-up plan for living expenses for three to six months. Middle-term goals then expand beyond mere basic needs and include goals like having a car, their own home or travel. The long-term goal would be investments.
Inside this pyramid are three levels of wealth formulas. The poor man’s formula is where one must first pay before savings, or Income – Expense = Savings.
The ordinary man’s formula is Income – Savings = Expense.
And lasty the rich man’s formula would be Income – (Savings + Investment) = Expense.
Cadiogan said many middle- and upper-class Filipinos have their money sleeping in banks. She said that while the campaign mainly targets lower-income Filipinos, they also aim to teach the ones with money in the banks how to invest with the proper companies.
While people normally have the notion that money is safer in the bank, the panelists were one in the opinion the financial risks are present both in banks and insurance companies.
But Cadiogan said insurance companies have an advantage over banks in that they pay a higher interest and there is an insurance plan while banks merely offer a P500,000-guarantee return should a bank go bankrupt.
Guilanda said people are now more open to financial advising and alternative investments other than savings in banks because it is easy to research via the Internet on the viability of a company and people now have the initiative to research on their own.
Cadiogan said an insurance company cannot operate without the nod of the Insurance Commission, which ensures they have reserved funds for insurance purposes.
Charity Angeles, Philam Life financial adviser, said at all have risks and that’s also where their Live Ready campaign comes into the picture—to help clients know what kind of risks they can tolerate.
She also reminded how one must live beneath one’s means in order to achieve goals.
“We have to have goals and with that must come discipline,” she said, adding what delayed gratification in financial planning means—not having the “wants” before the needs and the goals come first.
While new in the game of financial advising, Philam Life has been in the country since June 21, 1947, and is worth P245.9 billion in assets as of year-end 2016.
The company is a member of the AIA Group, the largest independent publicly listed pan- Asian life-insurance group.