It is Good to become your own Financial Adviser

[lorenzoleo]

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It is good to become your own Financial Adviser especially for OFWs. These is already an old news but a very good read. T_T!

Finance planning, not the rich’s secret - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos


CEBU CITY, Philippines - Training overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to become financial advisers is one way to encourage them to practice smart spending and wise saving, a top official of a marketing group said.
“The biggest fear among OFWs is going home because they don't have money anymore. They continue to spend but they no longer income,” said Jose Enrique De las Peñas, president of the International Marketing Group (IMG).
IMG began the “Life After Hong Kong” program in early 2004 to train OFWs under IMG's Wealth Academy. The program tackles financial foundations such as health care, insurance, debt management and proper investment portfolios.
Since then, the program has rolled out to Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Dubai, Spain, Rome and Italy.
“Before these OFWs can give people financial advises on how to manage money, they have to learn how manage money themselves,” he told Cebu Daily News.
“This way, they are also in a better position to think about their financial status and won't be in panic mode when they go home because they know what is happening in the financial market,” he added.
Training schedules differ in every country. In Hong Kong, training is done every Sunday, the common day-off of most workers.
De las Peñas said the program erases the misconception that financial knowledge is “the secret of the rich.”
“The masses deserve this information because they have a right to be wealthy. In fact, they are the ones who need this because the rich know this information,” he said.
Out of the 150,000 registered OFWs in Hong Kong, De las Peñas said 3,000 OFWs were already trained as financial advisors.
For instance, there are 80,000 Filipinos, mostly seafarers, whose home ports are based in Athens, Greece, who have yet to be educated on financial management.
“Noting this number, we can see there is so much to be done. Many people attend our seminars because they can feel the shortage of financial advisers.”
De las Peñas said continuing education is necessary among financial advisers.
“(Attending trainings) three to four times (on different modules) is already good orientation but there are twelve modules to complete the entire course,” he said.
He said the first and second module orientations is free while the succeeding modules has an affiliation fee which include financial education materials such as books and DVD (digital versatile disc) copies of lessons.
To update the modules, De las Peñas said IMG officials meet with US affiliates every two to three months to discuss changing financial landscape and market trends.



OT : For IMG brokers/Financial Advisers, see you at IMG Asian Convention at Hongkong Convention Center this Coming January 30, 2011. Wooosh!!