Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on businesses, has been an incredible and sustained learning experience. It has compelled people to become more resourceful and creative with new ways of generating income.
According to a recent survey conducted by The Global Filipino Investors (TGFI), 64% of respondents have tried launching a new business while keeping their day jobs, with 45% getting into online selling and 14% into freelancing.
TGFI foresees this number to further go up as 18% of respondents lost their main sources of income during the course of the coronavirus crisis.
When it comes to purchasing behavior, there has been a notable increase in the use of online banking and e-wallets as preferred payment modes at 75% and 71%, respectively, indicating a strong overlap in the two types of payment.
With 42% percent still choosing cash, liquid currency remains to be a strong payment option, which corroborates less-than-dynamic growth in the credit card and banked bases. Only 2% of respondents have been using credit cards to pay for their transactions.
In terms of e-wallet usage, GCash remains to be the popular choice at 86%, followed by Pay Maya at 34%, and PayPal at 22%.
62% of respondents are privately employed while 20% declare themselves as self-employed.
Of those employed, 51% are home-based and 49% on-site (not considering time periods when ECQ is in effect).
However, 61% said they prefer a work-from-home arrangement due to transportation and risk of infection concerns.
Still, 89% stated that they would go to the mall to buy retail goods and other consumables if possible.
TGFI said with the pandemic affecting employment, income generation, and consumer behavior, it is crucial to step up personal financial education to help Filipinos survive and be on stable ground during and even well after these global health and economic crises.
To this end and with its main advocacy of promoting and improving financial literacy of Filipinos globally, TGFI continues to deliver online educational financial management and investment conferences — the next one being the TGFI Financial Literacy Summit 2021 to be held on Aug. 28 and 29.
Together with FWD Insurance, Mandani Bay, Sun Life and Go Robinsons, TGFI presents Financial Literacy Summit: Generation Investors, a 2-day free-to-attend event with exciting talks from industry leaders and experts.
It will cover 5 general topics: Entrepreneurship, Investment, Personal Finance, eCommerce, and Real Estate.
Each topic will provide the needed knowledge to aspiring entrepreneurs, financial advocates, young professionals, students, and even OFWs and their families.
Four generations, different strategies, one goal
Every generation thinks about investing differently, which has a major impact on our money habits.
The Global Filipino Investors aims to highlight each generation’s investing strategies and financial ideas to understand and effectively use various financial skills in this year’s Financial Literacy Summit.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno will open the event with a keynote speech.
TGFI president and founder Floi Wycoco, BDO Digital Channels head Mark Bantigue, and The Real Estate Hub president Mary Gaw So will also join the esteemed lineup of speakers on the first day to talk about topics on entrepreneurship, real estate, investment, and eCommerce.
“We all have the capacity to make money, not just anyone can manage it well. We have to make financial literacy part of our Filipino culture,” Wycoco said.
Also sharing their expertise and insights on the second day are DingDongPH founder Dingdong Dantes, Multisys Technologies founder and CEO David Almirol, The Final Pitch host John Aguilar, SEO Hacker author and editor-in-chief Sean Si, Wealth Arki president and chief financial planner Rienzie Biolena, Caylum Trading Institute president and CEO Edmund Lee, CFA, Ohmyhome CEO Rhonda Wong, EduCreator speaker and author Lyqa Maravilla, The Resto Coach’s Rommel Ng, and Simply Finance PH founder Mariel Bitanga.
“One of the things I realized is when you invest, you don’t invest in business, you invest in people. Beyond the numbers, one has to be comfortable with the people one wants to do business with,” J.J. Atencio, chairman and CEO of TGFI and JHI said.
Join and experience the two-day collaborative event and learn from industry leaders and experts. Register now for free via www.tgfiph.com/finlit2021
