25 July 2020, Dubai, UAE- The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and Northern Emirates launched on 24 July 2020 its Parola Series, a forum and avenue where issues relevant to overseas Filipinos are discussed to assist them in coming up with smart, informed and effective decisions.  Coinciding with the launch was a webinar conducted on Investing for Overseas Filipinos based in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, the second module of the Consulate’s year-long financial literacy program that focused on investments.

The webinar was the first time since the program’s inception in 2017 that the Consulate offered the module on an online platform given the constraints in conducting face-to-face seminars due to precautionary measures still in place in the UAE because of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Consulate maintains that despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, it is all the more important to give focus on the importance of financial wellness and conduct of financial education. Being financially literate is improving one’s preparedness for economic uncertainties and financial insecurities due to threat of unemployment or having to work on reduced hours. The Consulate’s main message is: in the midst of the crisis, it is important to have the ability to make smart, effective financial decision to assist us how to manage our limited resources and avoid taking on huge amounts of debt or fall victim to bad investments.  

Your financial condition impacts your physical, mental and emotional well-being. This was the key message of Mr. Lyndon Magsino, a Dubai-based expert on business strategy and stock market investment, and one of the key resource persons in the webinar. He stressed the importance of financial planning and becoming a smart investor.  He also shared the rudiments of effectively combining active and passive income, and how overseas Filipinos who have an 8 to 5 work can still become entrepreneurs. 

The other resource speaker, Mr. Mark Serrano, a corporate strategy executive and investment consultant, underscored the importance of keeping our cash clean by saving before we invest, and before we invest we must thoroughly study and inspect the product.  He emphasized that investing must come hand-in-hand with understanding the product where you are putting your money in, including its level of risk, the local and global factors that may affect your investment, and the commitment required from investors.  He noted that in times of crisis, investors may opt for lower risk investment alternatives such as government bonds or pursue a passive investment strategy.  

The Consulate General has been conducting its financial literacy program since 2017 to promote personal financial management among the members of the Filipino community. In efforts to come up with a program that is appropriate to the needs and requirements of Filipinos in Dubai and Northern Emirates, the Consulate General tapped experts from the banking and insurance sectors, investment management companies, real estate firms, and professional organizations to develop training modules aimed at building the capacity of participants on various financial issues to allow them to make informed, sound, and effective financial decisions.

The seminars that the Consulate conducts yearly, free of charge, focuses on savings and budgeting, debt management, investment and insurance, entrepreneurship and re-integration. END