I grew up in the province of Laguna in a small town named Santa Maria. Admittedly, I can tell that life in the province is much easier and more simple than here in the city. But in terms of personal finance, many are still NOT financially educated that keeps them poor. Here’s why.
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Growing up in the province and then living and working in the city gave me the thoughts to compare life and situations in both places. When you lose your job you have all the free time to process all the ideas coming into your head. Hehe. 😀
I came to think that life in the province is more simple and easier but on the other side I wonder why there are still many poor people there?
Many are still getting scammed? Marami pa rin ang “isang kahig isang tuka” and most people are still not aware of what is emergency fund, what is insurance and how they could grow their money thru investing.
As far as I can see, you can live in the province without spending P200 a day. If you’re industrious, you can save more by planting fruits and vegetables in your backyard. If you have a good neighbor, you can get free fruits and vegetables from them. You can ask for “free rice” if you wish. But still, many remains poor.
For example, in our place, though it is easy to get food and eat 3x a day(in fact you can have “free lunch” from your neighborhood) many families still having issues with their budget. Many are having hard time to save.
Some people do investments but most don’t have idea how they can grow their money. Many are living just to earn and then spend all of them.
Though opportunities and jobs are limited and mostly related to agriculture, people still earn money. That means they have income. But what they do on that income makes the difference.
For example, a hard-working guy earned P1,500 in 3 days of helping in the farm. In the following day, he went to the “cockpit arena” and lose all of them. Boom!
Working in the farm for 3 days is no joke. It’s hard and literally tiring. But still many are “working to spend” them all.
It happened that some people borrow large amount of money too just to spend in gambling. Tong-its, majong, sabong and many more you name it. They knew how it works.
Another good example is a family who is having hard time to budget and save because the income is just enough for food and bills. But when the “fiesta” came, they have the courage to borrow P5,000 to spend on all of them in the occasion. It happens in birthdays, baptism and many more.
Most guys can spend P100 to P200 on buying cigarettes and alcoholic drinks with their friends but having hard time to save for emergency.
I can go on and on and give more examples and I know you can too (if you came from the province). But down the line, we see what’s the problem right? It’s how they manage and think about money. It’s their mindset.
Poor money mindset will keep you poor. In fact many people in the province has money-limiting beliefs that keeps them poor. Don’t get offend, I am a “probinsyano” too. I’m talking about the general but not everyone.
I know there are people living in the province not into this but in most cases this is what happening. In fact even in the city this happens too. This is the situation in general or at least in our place. They lacked out of financial education.
It maybe part of the culture and society because we know that personal finance is not being taught in school. Or maybe it is just how the life in the province works?
They maybe out or lack of resources too. If they can read blog like this and watch youtube videos about personal finance, that would be a great help. But we know that internet access is still limited in provinces.
The other reason I see is the lack of support from the government. If the government can push educating people about budgeting, investing and proper personal finance, that can lead to change especially in the province.
There might be another personal reasons for others but I’m sure you can relate with this in general. Right?
I hope this blog and other filipino personal finance blogs can reach them to aid some help and inspiration. To encourage them and educate them in our own little way.
I hope and pray time will come everyone will have access to resources in terms of financial education. Hopefully in the coming future, more Filipino will be financially intelligent to make smart decisions about their money. If you’re into this, help me and this blog share financial literacy one blog at a time.
What do you think? Do you came or live in the province too? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Cheers!
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I came from a province too. One thing also that needs to be consider is the language used in spreading information. Mostly, if not all, the English language is being used that many (and we are taking about province here) cannot understand or just in one glimpse, seeing the text is in English, losses interest on the matter.
Right Rachelle. Hoping Government could provide some aid or better to include it in our education system. 🙂
Hi Billy, I am from Agno, Pangasinan. It’s a small town at the end Western Pangasinan. Think about Hundred Islands, we are in that part of the province.
I truly agree with you. Many are still poor in our town, especially those who are in barrios. Most of them do not know how to manage their finances.
As for me, I already talked to my cousins to mind their spending habit. I also shared to them some things about investing. They seemed interested and I hope it goes well.
Hi Den, nice. Goodluck and thanks for taking the initiative. I’m doing the same thing on our end but starting on my cousins/relatives first. Hopefully more and more Pinoys do the same. God bless!
I firmly agree with you. Many of our folks in certain provinces in the country lack the knowledge on financial matters. We, at loansoutions.ph, are open to share enormous ideas on financial growth and management. Come, visit us and learn more about our financial services.
I firmly agree with you. Many of our folks in certain provinces in the country lack the knowledge on financial matters. We, at loansoutions.ph, are open to share enormous ideas on financial growth and management. Come, visit us and learn more about our financial services.