IMG Teaches Wealth Management To Hong Kong OFWs

THE International Marketing Group (IMG) cites major breakthroughs in their efforts at educating overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on the value of wealth management as the group enters its fourth year of operations in Hong Kong. IMG chief executive officer Noel Arandilla said it is very important for OFWs to learn how to manage their finances. "We have seen many cases of domestic Filipino workers in Hong Kong who planned to work for a period of two years only, to save a specific amount of money. But they end up working in Hong Kong for 10 to 20 years, and come home broke," he said. He cited a mother of three who left the country in 1986 to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong. She got a two-year work contract in Hong Kong, earning P20,000 (HK$ 3,000) per month. She thought she would be able to save up P480,000 in two years as she has no need to spend since she lived with her employers.

She had a good plan on what to do with her P20,000 monthly salary - P8,000 for savings would mean P192,000 in two years. She sent home another P8,000 to supplement her husband's income in the Philippines. Her monthly expenses in Hong Kong is P4,000 per month - P1,000 per week during dayoff every Sunday which brought her expenses to P96,000 in two years. Even then, her expenses reached P480,000 in four years. She finished the two-year contract but cannot figure out why she accumulated debts of more than P100,000. She renewed her contract for another two years to pay off her debts, but after renewing her contract nine times (she worked for 18 years in Hong Kong), she still could not figure out why her debts exceeded her savings. Arandilla said that OFWs need guidance on how to invest their money. In the past four years, IMG Hong Kong has trained more than 5,000 OFWs on the benefits of wealth management. It offers courses like practical wealth/financial management, "The Rule of Money/How Money Works," "Creating Multiple Streams of Income-Generating As sets," financial check-up and analysis, fundamentals of investment/insurance and healthcare, among others.

With the help of IMG, hundreds of OFWs improved their financial situation. IMG offers wealth management courses not only in Hong Kong but also in all its branches worldwide - Barcelona. Rome, Milan, Greece, Dubai, Macau, Taiwan and the Philippines. (PR)