You can’t wait for Thursday kasi payday na?   Tapos your pay minus rent, food, petrol, personal loan automatic deduction, credit card dues, car finance, monthly remittance equals O?? Or negative?? Yung feeing you spent all your money before you earn it by using your credit card? Well, I must admit, I’m one of them few years ago! Even a lot of my friends. I even remembered some of my friends borrowing money from me kasi gipit. It breaks my heart everytime it happens. Their pay is not enough for their expenses and padala to Philippines. I’m sure it doesn’t feel good to be in that situation di ba? Especially when you know you’ve worked so hard all week, minsan wala na ngang day off tapos kulang pa rin. It’s really SAD and embarrasing as an OFW kasi most of your family and friends thought we become super rich when we go and work abroad, but in the real world, that’s not always truth. It’s true that we earn way way better compared nung we work sa Pinas. But it’s also very easy to live a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle even if you’re abroad. Paycheck to paycheck lifestyle yung term pag abroad ka, if you’re in Pinas – it’s called ISANG KAHIG ISANG TUKA….remember that song? That song is not just for “ mga duka” or poor people, it’s also very common even sa middle class people wit high paying jobs.

Most of us have a reason why we leave our country to work abroad. We want to give our family a brighter future. It’s never easy to leave especially if you’re married and you have kids. It’s a difficult decision to leave them behind.We sacrifice a lot of thigs for them so make sure you have a definite plan. Example, you want to work abroad so you can send your children to good universities until they graduate. Or you want to build a house and save to start a business in the future. Or if you have plan to migrate and bring your whole family, do the same. Don’t just live Philippines because you wanted to earn more or you’re looking for a better future, be more specific and put a time-frame for your plans. Your goal should be SMART. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and with Time-frame.

Many OFWs end up in big debts because we’re not honest with our family. We give and give even if we can’t afford it anymore. I understand we want to help them but if we can’t afford it anymore, we need to have the courage to say NO and I’m sorry I can’t help at the moment. Another thing, I’ve heard some OFWs loaning money from the bank to spend for their holiday. Plan your holiday ahead of time and set aside money regularly to save for it.Again, make a budget and stick to it so you don’t end up in debt and get stressed after your holiday.

4. . Don’t just rely on your main income as an OFW. Look for ways to create other income. You can plan something with your family to start a small time business and help them start something small. Maybe you can give them seed money or puhunan and work together to make it big small. Remember, start something small and legitimate. Avoid investing into something very lucrative, promising, an too good to be true because greater chances, it is a SCAM! Many OFWs are victims of SCAM so be very careful. According to Bro. Bo Sanchez, founder of the Truly Rich Club, the only way to prevent people from getting scammed is financial education.