For better or worse, money touches all areas of life. Financial literacy can help. People with appropriate financial literacy training make better financial decisions and manage money better that those without such training.
The Philippine financial literacy program is comprehensive. It covers all sectors from policymakers, regulators, microfinance providers down to the clients. It is a continuing activity for many government institutions.
The 10th Financial Literacy Summit in April 2016 said the financial literacy program cover everyone, all from ages 5 to 100. “We have financial education in the schools, lectures for overseas Filipino workers who, as a group, remit US$28 billion annually, and lectures on financial market for young people who make up 1.3 million employees of the BPO (Business process outsourcing) sector who, as a group, generate about US$25 million in revenues annually,” it said.
Financial stability fuels economic growth. Using the 50.8% gross savings-GDP average of the Philippines from 2005 to 2015 as a benchmark (World Bank data), a 10% improvement in the efficiency of financial management could boost the country’s GDP growth by 5 percentage points, the summit presentation showed.
A BSP survey
A survey done by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that 86 percent of Filipino households don’t have bank accounts, thus are unbanked. Of those having deposit accounts were usually employees of private companies and some from government agencies.
Majority of the unbanked are self-employed, or working for a private household, household’s farm, or in other informal occupations. They usually cite not having enough money to keep an account.
Other reasons include: 1) They do not need a bank/cash account; 2) the bank/institution location is far; 3) They cannot manage an account; 4) service charges are too high and 5) minimum balance is too high. Some even said they do not like to deal with banks/institutions as they don’t trust them.
Thus, the BSP has strengthened its partnership with local government units (LGUs) to widen the reach of its financial literacy program and help educate people on how to wisely save or invest their hard-earned money.
Because the country is an archipelago it is hard to fully cover all parts of the country without the help of LGUs and the private sector, BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said in an interview.
She explained that local government officials “would be the first to know what’s happening on the ground, or at the surveillance level.”
“The LGU would be in a position to identify the vulnerabilities in their respective areas where the BSP together with other government agencies like the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), IC (Insurance Commission) can focus on as far as fin-ed (financial education) is concerned,” she said.
While the tie-up may help raise public awareness on investment scams, there will always be people vulnerable to get-rich-quick scams, some even sell their land or farm animals in hopes of reaping huge returns on their investments.
BDO’s financial inclusion programs
The BDO Foundation launched in February this year a financial literacy program for the Army with top officers of the Philippine Army in Camp Aguinaldo. BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito said the program was requested by the higher authorities of the Philippine Army itself.
The program comes in the form of video presentation on the importance of savings and investments in assuring a decent life for the Filipino soldiers and their families by encouraging them to set aside a portion of their salaries for savings and investments and to encourage their families to do the same.
Also launched earlier in February is financial literacy program for the country’s overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). BDO turned over to the BSP and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) upbeat and danceable videos which come in three stages: pre- departure, upon arrival at host country and post arrival (or during their work-stay) in that country.
Aptly dubbed “PiTaKa” or Pinansyal na Talino at Kaalaman, the program symbolizes the family’s wallet that never runs out of money. Instead, it should always be full and growing in interest and earnings.
BDO, in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the BSP, also launched in May 2018 the Financial Literacy Program for School which also comes in videos and various teaching aids that is meant to be integrated into the current K to 12 curriculum. As many as 24 million students and 700,000 teachers are expected to benefit from the program which is BDO Foundation’s flagship corporate citizenship initiative under its financial inclusion advocacy.
The program also includes the deployment of the financial literacy videos to more than 47,000 public schools nationwide. Video and lesson guides have been uploaded on the DepEd learning materials portal for teachers to access. Among the topics are investing, the responsible use of credit, personal budgeting and financial management. Copies via the USB are delivered to schools without access to the Internet.
According to the DepEd the program has been in the agency’s pipeline for two years with the passage of Republic Act 10922, or the Economic and Financial Literacy Act, in July 2016. The education department has committed to use the videos in classroom instruction, the Teacher Induction Program, learning action cells and regular training and development programs for both teaching and nonteaching personnel.
InLife’s Wealth University goes nationwide, educates people on funds management
Financial literacy equips us with the knowledge and skills we need to manage money effectively. Without it, our financial decisions and the actions we take—or don’t take—lack an informed foundation to maximize their success.
The Philippines’ most trusted mutual insurance company, backed by more than 100 years of existence and service to the Filipinos, know this.
That’s why Insular Life (InLife) recently launched the Wealth University, a program poised to help Filipinos to take control of their funds so they can have better lives and futures for themselves and their families. Initially, we produced a series of YouTube videos featuring the InLife Wealth Mentors, who by virtue of their knowledge and decades of experience in financial planning and management, give pieces of advice and answer frequently-asked questions about money, wealth, insurance and investments. These videos provide practical applications on savings and investment, insurance, retirement, health, and education, etc. This program is tied to InLife’s commitment of providing a lifetime for good to our customers, so we’re certainly looking at growing the video base and developing its content in the coming years.
The internet has become so powerful, because of the instantaneous response to many of our questions. Consumers know the power they possess. However, there is no single platform or website that tries to answer the commonly-asked questions on finances. One of the agency’s leaders, Raul Mabanag, thought of how it would be good to use videos as a platform for educating Filipinos on financial matters. Thus, the Wealth University was born.
Wealth University will initially feature 90 videos and 75 Wealth Mentors from around the country. These Wealth Mentors have diverse backgrounds, yet, their pursuit for mastery of the life insurance and wealth management field, plus the learnings they got from experience as financial advisors and agency leaders, are what make them the authority when it comes to financial education.
In the videos, people will see their experiences as first jobbers, newly-married individuals, family starters, career builders, empty nesters and retirees and how they were able to come up with solutions to their concerns during those specific stages of life, were helpful as they tried to answer question on financial matters.
So how does InLife see the program in the future?
In one of the videos, Wealth Mentor Mercy Gurrea answers an oft-asked question: How can I invest when all my money goes to bills? In our country, the idea of saving for the rainy days is not a priority. Obviously, most of the money we earn is spent on our needs, especially the bills we need to pay, and a few items we buy to reward ourselves for our hard work. Most of the time, there is nothing left for future needs. So when emergencies happen, we resort to loans which, most of the time, are hard to pay off. Our video discusses how one can change this way of life into something your future self will thank you for.
InLife hopes for Wealth University to be able to contribute immensely to educating Filipinos on the various financial concerns they may have now. Let’s face it, many Filipinos have plenty of financially-related questions but are afraid to ask because they do not know who to approach. Wealth University offers practical answers to these questions. We also hope the videos will spark discussions among those who will be able to watch them. This way, we can be assured that more will learn about the importance of planning one’s financial future.
InLife also aim to make use of the technology to further reach more people.
InLife aims to be the most digitally-connected life insurer in the country. Aside from using YouTube as a platform to educate fellow Filipinos on financial matters through the Wealth University, the company have also increasingly made use of technology to improve our services.
For instance, its Automated Underwriting System (AUS) quickly renders underwriting decisions to life insurance applications in under 30 minutes. So applicants and even agents do not have to go to InLife offices in order to apply for a life insurance plan and submit these insurance applications. This may be done using the AUS. When an application is approved, payment may be made using the policyholder’s credit card, while the policy may also be delivered electronically, via the Customer Portal.
Through the Leads ARchiving Assistant or LARA, financial advisors are given a platform for storing their customer data and managing their sales performance and activities. LARA enables the financial advisors to conduct leads generation activities within it by scheduling sales calls, providing a system for logging these activities and generating reports.
Philam Life: reliable partner in life’s challenges and opportunities
Philam Life, proud member of AIA, the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, endeavor to know and provide Filipinos with the right solutions and the right plans that turn struggles into successes, fears into peace in mind, and dreams into reality.
Philam Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Philam Life, continues to advocate financial literacy and savings awareness through its Philam Savings Awareness and Values Education Session (SAVES) Program.
Started in 2016, the program is a two-part module—story-telling and coin bank-designing session for students and the Financial Planning Session for parents and teacher—which aims to promote the value of saving and being thrifty to children and their parents.
Founded in 1997, the foundation was borne out of Philam Life’s serious intent to be a good corporate citizen and fulfil its social responsibility to the community. Through the years, Philam continues to contribute in addressing societal needs through its core programs: Philam SAVES, Philam Paaralan, which builds classrooms in areas affected by calamities and areas that are unserved or underserved; and the Alliance for Philippines’ Health and Advocacy (ALPHA), which spearheaded the expansion of the country’s first hospital-based cancer registry program.