Money Talks UAE

By Randell Tiongson on February 5th, 2015

The biggest finance event for the OFW in the United Arab Emirates will happen this March 20, 2015!

Be part of the learning by attending this life-changing event and learn from the experts who have a heart to help bring financial education to the OFWs!

To register, CLICK HERE or email [email protected]

My guests for this conference are all advocates for financial literacy and have extensive training & experience in finance and investing.

Allan Miranda – Allan is the most recognizable OFW in UAE when it comes to financial literacy. He has been conducting successful seminars in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a few years now and he is seen as the champion of the OFWs when it comes to financial enablement. He is based in Dubai, UAE.

Burn Gutierrez – Burn is the founder and main driving force behind the hugely successful OFW Usapang Piso forum and the Angat Pilipinas Coalition. Due to his efforts, thousands of OFWs are becoming financially abled through his extensive work using the internet and now even live events in many parts of the world. Burn’s team is composed of many volunteers and leaders and virtually every city in the world where there are many OFW’s. He is based in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Bernard Anduyon – Bernard Anduyon was the immediate past President of the Overseas Filipino Investing & Entrepreneurship Movement, a group that is almost single handedly transforming the financial lives of the OFWs in Qatar. Doha has a high concentration of financially abled OFWs because of the efforts of Bernard and his movement. His group has been deputized by the Philippine embassy in Qatar to provide financial education to the OFWs in that region. He is based in Doha, Qatar.

Jess Uy – Jess is known as the international investing expert and has been active in investment education and financial planning amongst many OFWs. He has successfully conducted seminars in many countries like Japan, Brunei, Dubai, Qatar, Hong Kong and Singapore. Jess is based in Singapore.

Don’t miss this!

2015 Outlook, part 10

By Randell Tiongson on February 1st, 2015

One of the big reasons why the Philippine economy remains to be in a positive track is because of the enormous remittances that our OFW heroes are sending home month after month. In 2014, the remittances exceeded $25 Billion and we are not expecting that to slow down anytime soon.

For this installation of the 2015 Outlook, I am featuring the views of an OFW himself, Burn Gutierrez. Burn is one of the driving force behind the increasing financial literacy of the OFW’s through his vast network of OFW’s world-wide. He is the founder of the OFW Usapang Piso, an on-line group that has over 33,000 members world-wide. An accountant by profession, he envisions seeing the OFW as financially enabled in the near future.

The 2015 Outlook of OFW Usapang Piso’s Burn Gutierrez

The year 2014 has been a year of new opportunities and challenges for OFWs especially in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, we saw thousands of undocumented OFWs or those whose visa sponsorships has either expired and have not been renewed by their respective employers repatriated to the Philippines.

There have also been a significant decrease in the number of OFWs in Saudi Arabia while more Filipinos have emigrated to Canada or the USA according to the statistics provided by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. This could mean that many OFWs still view North America as the ultimate continent to immigrate to. I believe this migration trend will still continue this year.

Interestingly, BSP’s recent survey revealed that more Filipinos abroad and their families back home are allocating their remittances for savings and investments. The survey showed that OFW’s families savings increased to 42.1% in the last quarter of 2014 from the 39.7% in the previous quarter. Funds for investments also increased from 6.3% to 6.8%.

I would like to note and give credit to this development to a handful of financial literacy advocates and investment personalities who are gaining popularity on Filipino households abroad because of their exposure in Philippine TV shows streamed abroad by GMA PinoyTV, The Filipino Channel, and AksyonTV.

Another venue that will continue to aid the learning journey of OFW’s is the social media, especially the growing number of Facebook groups and pages that aim to educate Filipinos about paying consumer debts, saving for emergencies, insuring themselves, and investing in paper assets in addition to promoting traditional entrepreneurship. More OFW’s are starting to get information about affordable investing through the these social media groups and non-profit organizations online.

While this development do sound favorable, throngs of fraud schemes and online scams will still go after the hard-earned money of many OFW’s and their dependents this year. In the same manner, the combined vigilant effort of government agencies and non-profit organizations will help in identifying and fighting these scams.

The year 2015 will be a great year for many Filipinos to start their own businesses in the Philippines. Our OFW’s will realize this urgency considering the continuous falling of oil prices that may affect their current work overseas, most especially those who are working in the Middle East and the Americas. OFW’s should have this alternative plan while they still have their contract live in their respective countries of work.

Burn Gutierrez is an accountant and auditor based in Al Khobar in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is the founder of the OFW Usapang Piso Facebook group and the Angat Pilipinas Coalition. Through his efforts, OFWs all over the world are becoming financially aware. His extensive experience in the auditing and finance has equipped him to help the plight of the OFW’s achieve financial freedom.