Nathan Andrada’s Blog

If you are 20ish and has a habit of jumping from one job to another, now is the time to reform that attitude. The economic crisis, although still in its infancy here in the Philippines, is expected to go full swing next year. The problem is real and most of it is really out of the hands of ordinary middle class families and individuals, especially the yuppies, a slang term for young professionals.

There are things that young working professionals can do to secure themselves financially as our economy transverses this crisis. Start saving. Saving money, though, is easier said than done, because if it were, we would have ranked among the countries with high savings rate but unfortunately we are currently among the bottom of the sphere along with the likes of Bangladesh and Myanmar racking only 17 percent. People from our neighboring countries Thailand and Malaysia save three-tenths of their income while the Chinese save half of theirs.

Why is it important to save? Because it is a form of investing in your future (purchasing a home, buying a car) and bring security to a rather uncertain future (untimely health care costs, other emergency situations). Also, it is a good leverage against a burgeoning credit card debt, which is a situation that most young professionals find themselves into nowadays. A high debt with low or non-existent savings is a recipe for bankruptcy. Certainly, no one wants to be a young, hip, and broke professional at their 20s or early 30s.