Many Filipinos Have IGNORED These Practical Words By Jack Ma About Budgeting And Spending

Who can remember the event when Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) invited Jover Laurio (of Pignoy Ako Blog fame) while De La Salle University (DLSU) invited Jack Ma the founder of Alibaba? Those events were in 2017. I'm amazed at how the once-revered ADMU, the dream school of many and the school I once aimed for, ended up inviting PAB's head writer Jover as a RESOURCE SPEAKER instead of Jack. Just think who would you listen to between Jover or Jack? Jack established Alibaba and Jover established PAB. If you're going to consider giving a resource speaker - why not a businessman who can hire you for a well-paying job than somebody who's obviously a paid hack? Jack has some practical words which I posted above that Filipinos should heed to.

I was thinking about one of the many times I read Get Real Philippines and I still remember these comments directed at the ever blameless Fliptard. Fortunately, Aeta's Fliptards blog is now DELETED though I miss the time I would actually challenge his intellectual stupidity. Jack's words really showed a lot of stuff as to why the Chinese tend to succeed more than Filipino IN THE PHILIPPINES. The words of Ma are as follows:

1. Don't buy a bigger house just to impress your parents.
2. Don't purchase a new car just because a co-worker has a new car.
3. Don't take four vacations a year if you can't afford it.
4. In short, buying things you DON'T NEED with MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE to impress PEOPLE YOU DON'T LIKE.

The words of Jack really shows why a lot of Filipinos are stuck the way they are and why some Filipinos succeed. I know some Filipino businessmen who have followed such advice and emerged as such and I salute them. The stories of Rags to Riches really shows the difference. You can think that some of the biggest Filipino-Chinese businessmen weren't born with silver spoons in their mouths. They succeeded not just by working hard but by working smart. Not everyone is destined to become a billionaire but it's still impressive if you were so poor yesterday and you still managed to live and maintain a middle-class life. What's not impressive is if you're poor yesterday and you're still poor as ever today. Why do you think some people are still poor yesterday and are still poor today? It's because the summary is they're always buying things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like.

I thought about the number of times I was bullied as a child because I lived with thrifty parents. Some of the bullies I encountered brag about their parents giving them almost everything they wanted. Some of their parents gave them generous allowances giving them thick wallets while I only had PHP 100.00 a week (it was big in the 1990s) and had to deal with no allowances during the summer. Yup, I had to learn to eventually save money because my parents refused to increase my allowance except when necessary. I ended up having richer peers whose parents also restricted their allowances and didn't have the latest cool stuff. Later, I discovered some of my schoolmates who bragged about this and that were eventually broke from OVERSPENDING. Somebody even lied he had up to one million pesos for Christmas but was always having problems not having lunch. You can think about how some people who brag how rich they are have NOTHING to brag about. Later on, I just find that my childhood nemesis who I dubbed as "Mr. Sinister" was broke. Soon, I started to shun away from my once-dream of having a huge mansion, a collection of BMWs and Mercedes Benzes (and ended up loving the Toyota), and to have four vacations all the time. Later, I started to see that overspending is one reason why rich people can become poor and why some poor people REMAIN poor.

What's really the use of competing with each other over cool stuff when you're broke as a joke? It reminded me of how you can have what you want but can you pay for what you REALLY NEED. It's really a common problem in the Philippines where they think one's wealth is dictated by your status symbols over savings. However, Lance Gokongwei stated that you should NEVER judge a person by the car he drives. You can be driving a BMW but you are BWM or broke without money. You could be using an i-Phone but you don't have ipon or savings. It's better not to impress people you don't like and just live your life and keeping how much money you have as CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. 

This also reminds me of why many OFWs REMAIN POOR. OFW which means Overseas Filipino WORKER has become an acronym for Okay Fine Whatever. Rather than focus on earning big abroad to help their family - they are focused on impressing their rivals at the same time feeding parasites they have for fiends and relathieves. They would end up bragging about the unnecessary stuff they bought from abroad rather than focus on using the savings to uplift the family from poverty. It's almost like rivaling over who owns a Louie Vitton or a Chanel rather than who has more money in the bank. If OFWs listened to Jack's advice - maybe many of them won't have to be OFWs. However, many of them are so satisfied in that stuck situation.

The Christmas season isn't exatly the season to be jolly either. It's really a common tend to run out of money during Christmas before the New Year comes. No money for the New Year? Why not loan AGAIN and the previous loan wasn't paid? It's no wonder why Five-Six Indian lenders are very active in January - they're going after the money they loaned to people on Christmas and New Year. Just think that when it's Christmas - it's also time to buy BRANDED ITEMS and have extravagant parties. It just also reminds me of how we ended up comparing what he got on Christmas vacation. Some even brag about stuff they really don't have.

Do I even have to wonder why that many Filipinos don't know basic economics? I want to think that there's a correlation between being spendthrift and being a caveman with economics. Why do you think the late John Gokongwei himself was for constitutional reform? Why do you think I say people should listen to Gokongwei rather than Hilarious Davide Jr. concerning economics? It's because Davide only knows how to spend but not how to create a business. Gokongwei created a business that employed many people. That's why I'd say it's stupid to remove his name from the ADMU School of Management. Having a poor concept of budgeting and spending makes you really ignore economics. After all, just think, isn't it but economics to learn how to save for a rainy day?