How can OFWs cope with the weakening of the US $?

[empy]

baliktad pala sabi ko... "buying high, selling low" pala

[gwen2ita]

save and invest. thats the only way an OFW can do with the weakening of USD. Eliminate buying of unnecessary items/appliances etc that is not of immediate need of the family. We cannot do a thing about it because the result of stronger peso is for the country. In the long run we Filipinos benefits from it, yull see...

[chua_riwap]

well, you can try to beat inflation by parking your "excess" money in dollar/euro bond funds, mutual funds (ang dami niyan ngayon), and UITFs for 2 or 3 years at the very least. because if you leave it sleeping in time deposit schemes, tsak na ma-uunahan lang iyan ng inflation. and if you've got a stout heart, you may want to invest in the bullish local equities scene (go blue chips for the long haul and if you wanna be a tsupero, eh ibang usapan na iyan) konting tipid na muna

Nu'ng umuwi ako last July, sinubok kong kumuha ng BPI ALMF. Initial investment is P100K muna (subok lang.....). Ok naman at kumikita. Mas ok talaga, compared sa TD. This coming December, pag vacation ko ulit, balak ko bumili ulit ng additional shares. Yung TD ko ang maliit ang kita, pero du'n nalang muna siya. He-he!

So far kahit naman maraming scams at "political kuskos-balungos" sa gov't., pataas pa rin yung amount ng MF.

[slamtaz]

well, you can try to beat inflation by parking your "excess" money in dollar/euro bond funds, mutual funds (ang dami niyan ngayon), and UITFs for 2 or 3 years at the very least. because if you leave it sleeping in time deposit schemes, tsak na ma-uunahan lang iyan ng inflation. and if you've got a stout heart, you may want to invest in the bullish local equities scene (go blue chips for the long haul and if you wanna be a tsupero, eh ibang usapan na iyan)

pero just like everybody else here, i suppose we guys should just be vigilant about our cash flows. tama na muna iyong extravagance. konting tipid na muna

well, you can try but again, i suggest that before you do, you make sure that you're very well aware of the risks involved with the different types of investment schemes, yes.. even in banks. because, like uitf's you can very well lose money (i.e. reduced principal amount) if you fail to put it in the proper pool of funds, which is categorized in terms of risk aversion. of course, the higher the risk of proportionately earning beyond inflation rate means equal risk of losing in the opposite direction. and when you do play it conservatively, meaning putting your hard earned money in low risk investments, chances are you'll barely earn more than what inflation eats up into the value of your money (i.e. if you even earn more than what the inflation rate is )

and as for pagtitipid, i know this might be off-topic but just to share my experience, during financially challenging times ay grabe talaga ang tendency ng mga kababayan natin mag-impok (especially, yung mga kababayan natin up north, from where my wife's family came from) kasi we have observed savings deposit trends nationwide at talaga naman bumubulusok pataas during these times.

but conversely, most successful businessmen & entrepeneurs (i.e. specially our tsi-noy kababayans) look at these times as a good opportunity to seize and true enough, look at them surpass financial obstacles even stronger.

i'm saying the latter in a very positive light, because i believe that the key here is not just to produce more people skills in wealth management but to skillfully produce more wealth that people will manage. the first one is a good approach but the second one is definitely better.

just my :twocents:

do i make sense?

[DonT]

Great posts there mga Ka-Tsikot. Instead of letting our USD sleep and degenerate..why don't we place it in some useful investments which could earn from 5 to 30%..depending on your risk tolerance.

And of course, Income - Savings = Budget for Expenses and not Income - Budget for Expenses = Savings. Kasi baka wala na matira kapag lagi expenses ang unahin.

[slamtaz]

Great posts there mga Ka-Tsikot. Instead of letting our USD sleep and degenerate..why don't we place it in some useful investments which could earn from 5 to 30%..depending on your risk tolerance.

And of course, Income - Savings = Budget for Expenses and not Income - Budget for Expenses = Savings. Kasi baka wala na matira kapag lagi expenses ang unahin.

I agree and actually, there is wisdom in this approach and there are actually those who advocate it and a good following too... ika nga, "pay yourself first"...

kaya lang this requires a paradigm shift and a strong will at that, on how money should be treated.

[the_wildthing]

otherwise, you might be better off placing your investments in a currency hedge like gold.

Oo nga pala I forgot to mention gold. You can get exposure by either buying gold futures or stocks of gold mining companies.

[Kalinaw_75]

well, you can try to beat inflation by parking your "excess" money in dollar/euro bond funds, mutual funds (ang dami niyan ngayon), and UITFs for 2 or 3 years at the very least. because if you leave it sleeping in time deposit schemes, tsak na ma-uunahan lang iyan ng inflation. and if you've got a stout heart, you may want to invest in the bullish local equities scene (go blue chips for the long haul and if you wanna be a tsupero, eh ibang usapan na iyan)

Paano kayo mag DD ng mga equities jan sa Pinas knowing na limited lang ang info sa public listed company? Tsaka paano kino control ng SEC ang insider trading jan? Ano bang equivalent ng S&P 500 jan sa atin at sino-sino ang naka beat nito?

sensya na po sa OT at maraming tanong.

* Dont
the word is cyclical, as they said you cannot time the market. Pareho na rin sa forex yan antayin mo lang at babalik rin yan na tataas
para sa akin kasi, yung savings hindi ko ginagamit as emergency fund, bali di ko ito magalaw hangat hindi muna ma-ubos ang emergency fund, which is equivalent to 6 * max monthly expense. Knowing na hindi talaga stable ang pagiging OFW natin.

*empy
buy high and sell higher, mas maganda yan lalo na pag bullish ang sector at tsaka under the radar ang mga analyst.

[DonT]

Oo nga pala I forgot to mention gold. You can get exposure by either buying gold futures or stocks of gold mining companies.

Sayang nga..a few months ago, price of gold here in KSA was around 75 Riyals/gram..now its around 90 Riyals/gram na...that's 20% increase..But I guess you mean investing in stocks or funds related to gold.

[teeyoh]

First we have to accept that the weak dollar is a risk we have to face as a nature of our work being an OFW, the cause of which is not in our control.
Secondly what we can control is its effect on us. We have to keep our expenses to the basic - good budgeting muna.
Then for long term measures we have to think of some way to put up an sme business or a novel idea to take advantage of the stronger purchasing value of the peso for example like an import business.

(Putting your money in some investments schemes, blue chips and so on entails another kind of risk and we need some really good advice from a trusted broker, analyst etc. or anyway the whole economic outlook).

Lastly, one thing that results from high oil price is the mushrooming of oil/gas projects worldwide. So if there is a boom in this sector jobs will be guaranteed. IMO the remaining solution I think is to be able to increase OFWs income by improving their selling points to the interested employer err easier said than done but this is the present in-demand career path and direction one has to take.