One of the sleepless but sweetest nights that OFWs experience are those few hours before their vacation in the Philippines.
It’s the packing of Balikbayan boxes, the printing of plane tickets, getting hold of the passport, and the thought of getting to kiss and embrace their loved ones again as soon as they get off the plane and the airport back home that makes the experience very emotional.
But vacations are not all about good times and happy memories. Many OFWs encounter many challenges that affect their financial decisions in the middle of their very short time with family and loved ones.
Here are some money traps to avoid while you are on vacation so you can go back to your work in one piece and your emergency savings still intact.
1. Endless Family or Class Reunions & Parties
It’s not uncommon for Filipino families to see each other and celebrate every once in a while. Celebrating with your immediate family members is good especially if you are a married OFW who may need to catch up for the lost time with your spouse and children.
However, inviting extended family members and distant relatives to visit you almost everyday of your vacation may not be a good idea at all. Add to this the (un)timely school reunions that sometimes offer “VIP” seats to OFW classmates for reasons that are quite obvious enough.
When hosting or attending reunions, make sure that you stick to your plan and budget and be firm with it. This will keep yourself from being in a situation where you will have to shell out more than what you expected.
2. Unplanned Outings and Excursions
Whether it’s summer or Christmas, going out for an out-of-town lunch or beach outing can be fun for the whole family. I highly encourage that you include this in your itinerary.
A friendly reminder though, going out with your family need not be expensive. Prior to your flight date, do extensive research through reliable sources online on where to find cheap but good places to dine and spend some quality time with your family.
However, there will be times when some relatives or friends may ask you to sponsor another outing apart from what you originally planned. It’s never a loss to say no to these surprise invitations. You may tell them politely that there will be more opportunity to bond with them next time when you already have more than enough savings.
3. Big Ticket Housing and Car Loans
One of the main targets of real estate and loan agents are OFWs. As a matter a fact, according to property company Vista Land, 60% of their sales are to overseas Filipinos who are looking to find a house in their hometowns in provinces.
Unfortunately, many of these properties sold to OFWs end up foreclosed and held back by banks because of their failure to pay the amortization on time. If your earnings and savings are not yet enough to purchase a house even through a loan, it’s best that you save up and look for more sources of income before committing yourself to buy one soon.
This goes out as well to those who are planning to purchase a car on low-downpayment schemes. A simple way to check whether you are ready to buy a car is by using the 20/40 rule.
This rule asks whether:
(1) you can afford to make a minimum downpayment of at least 20% of the car loan, and
(2) you can effortlessly save up 40% of your monthly income and take out from there the amount of the monthly payment for the car loan.
If you are both good on both bases, then that’s the only time you can say yes to a car loan.
4. Daily (or Weekly) Drinking Sprees
This may not be a big deal for many OFWs, whether male or female. But looking at the current cost of beer, one may need to reconsider including this as part of your welcoming sessions for your visitors.
Let’s say a bottle of beer costs P40 and you can gulp down at least 3 bottles at one sitting, then that’s P120 already off your budget. If you welcome at least 3 visitors who can take in at least 3 bottles as well, then you are about to cough up at least P480 each drinking session.
But you know that’s not the case (pun intended to the beer case). Many OFW drinkers can actually consume more than one case of beer. That’s at least 24 bottles or equivalent to P960 for every drinking session.
If these vacation drinking spree pattern should happen in at least 10 days during your vacation, be ready to fritter away at least P9,600. You could be well be using this money instead to purchase yourself a health insurance plan for you and your family.
5. Lending Money to Neighbors and Relatives
There’s this humorous saying that “Dumadami ang kamag-anak mo kapag naging OFW ka.”, which means “You suddenly gain many relatives and friends when you become an OFW.”
Many OFWs tend to become too emotional whenever they are approached by people in “dire” need, particularly by neighbors, not-really-close friends, and distant relatives.
It is good to be helpful and charitable to people in need. On the other hand, helping your friends and relatives financially with your limited source of income is not really good at all for you and for them.
For example, if you are just earning P25,000 abroad and a friend asks to borrow P5,000 from you, that is already 20% of your monthly income that you could have saved up for your retirement fund or emergency funds.
If that friend fails to pay you up on time, it is you who will suffer the consequences especially if that money is budgeted for your family’s bills back home. This failure to pay may even be the cause of the failure of your friendship and good relationship.
It is best to say “No” right from the start. If a person is really a true friend, then he or she can understand your situation and why you said no in the first place.
Do you have other advise to our OFWs on vacation? Write them down on the comment section below and let’s discuss!
Rock your way to abundance!
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