THE year 2022 began on a sour note. The NCR was again back to Alert Level 3 due to the steep rise of Covid cases in a matter of days. From December 24, 2021, with only 80 infections, there was an exponential rise in cases. As of January 10, 2022, the infection reached a high of more than 33,000.
How did this happen?
Last August, a hard lockdown was recommended so that consumers and businesses will be able to have a good Christmas. It was also projected that the last quarter will allow businesses to recover. It is a small sacrifice that will give us a long-term gain. Then later in November, the alert level was brought from 3 down to 2; meaning the restriction was more relaxed.
Ever since the pandemic began, I have been accustomed seeing few people in the malls and supermarkets. But this time around, it was totally different. I was shocked to see people behaving as if there was no pandemic. Parents brought their babies or toddlers (unvaccinated and no face mask).
It seems the government is in such a hurry to revive the economy at the expense of public health. Worse, there was already the threat of the highly-infectious Omicron variant late-November, which the government unintentionally imported owing to its failure to implement a longer quarantine requirement like that of Hong Kong’s.
Unfortunately, a lot of overseas Filipino workers came home with the Omicron variant. Then there was also the news about people skipping quarantine via bribery. In haste, all the gains we got in December went to waste. The effort and sacrifice we all made went to a naught.
We are back to square one.
The hospitals are seeing a rise in the confinement of patients as compared to almost zero last December. We are doing the same thing over and over again but the government expected a different result. Evidently, not only does the government took short cuts; travellers did. too. Similar to driving, if one isn’t familiar with the road network, one can reach a dead end.
The same applies in our personal finance. A lot of people are always in a hurry to get ahead faster than others and, most often than not, end up with nothing. In their haste, they got into a scam. Instead of growing money, they lost everything.
How do we avoid this scenario? Below are some pointers:
1. Know yourself and your situation. Similar to the pandemic, our authorities seem to not know what they are doing. They can see what is happening abroad but seems not to learn anything. They even recommend the same erratic measures that yielded disastrous results. One needs to study the situation and seek wise counsel from those who have been successful.
2. Be proactive. Knowing full well what lies ahead, it pays to have a plan of action as compared to waiting for the risk to occur and then react. That will be too late. Similar to our Covid response, our authorities will act only after the case is severe. In managing money, we need to think far ahead and see the future risk that is certain to occur. Having the luxury of time gives us room to prepare without much stress. Failing to plan the future is simply planning to fail in the future. Lost time cannot be recovered and one will definitely pay a heavy price later.
3. Prevent rather than cure. When our health secretary said that the entry of Omicron is not a matter of “If” but a matter of “When,” I already know his mindset. China’s policy is zero-Covid. So when we read news we see the difference in their actions. Prevention of the entry of the variant is definitely a lot cheaper than letting it come in and treat the citizens. The latter mindset causes government and the citizens to lose lots of money unnecessarily.
Scams are similar to the Covid virus that takes away hard-earned money. When these scammers guarantee high return, we should treat this as a red flag and avoid them the way we avoid the virus. Remember that if the offer is too good to be true, then it’s too good to be true. Using that information as the antidote, we can prevent scams. If only authorities prevented the Omicron variant from coming in, then we will not be in a mess now.
4. Learn from mistake humbly. We already had three surges during the pandemic. Yet authorities still do not seem to learn. Every time a new variant appears, they will always say that they are prepared. They do not want to admit their mistake and reject suggestions from knowledgeable people. The result will always be deaths and overwhelmed health workers.
Similarly, in the haste to make money and recoup past losses, a lot of people keep on getting scammed over and over again. They even go against the warnings of financial advisors on the dangers of the offer. The lure of easy money gave them the idea of invincibility. Unless they humble themselves, unlearn and re-learn, they will keep on repeating the same mistakes until it is too late.
Let us all hope that the pandemic be over soon so that we can continue building our future wealth. Always remember, money needs time to grow and haste only makes waste.
Let this be a Happy 2022!
Edmund Lao is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal-financial planning, attend the 93rd RFP program in January 2022. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text at 0917-6248110.