Eight out of 10 Filipinos are optimistic the Philippines can become a developed country and that such would redound to improvements in the people’s lives, a survey commissioned by Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) showed.
The survey indicated that 30 percent of Filipinos believe the Philippines is already a developed country, and that, while the remaining 70 percent do not believe this, this group of Filipinos believe the Philippines can become a developed country by the next decade.
This demonstrates the optimism Filipinos have for sustained economic development in the Philippines and their own financial future, despite such external developments as the financial crisis in Greece and the Chinese stock-market crash, which had minimal effect on the Philippine economy.
Sun Life Financial Philippines President Rizalina Mantaring said the optimism of Filipinos and their financial future is also reflected in their investment choices. Mantaring said Filipino investors now exhibit increased risk appetite best shown in increased investments in so-called dynamic funds that are invested in stocks, as opposed to investments in funds that offer fixed rates of income.
This investment activity is no longer confined to the rich and upper middle classes generally believed in the past as those who are always looking to grow their money.
“In the past, when you say insurance and investments, people think that it’s only for the rich. But we discovered that there’s actually a large number of Filipinos now who are investing for the future,” Mantaring said.
This trend, which probably started in the past decade with the advent of the variable universal life insurance (VUL) product, is evident in the high growth rates in the sale of these insurance products that double as investment instruments.
Sun Life Financial Philippines’s sale of new policies in the first quarter already posted a 39-percent expansion from a quarter earlier. Most of this growth came from the sale of VUL products.
There is, however, room for growth, as the survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations indicated.
According to the survey, 74 percent of Filipinos believe the country’s economic development would redound to their own benefit even though an alarming 26 percent said they believe economic development would not likely improve their own financial condition.
Also, 18 percent of Filipinos said they are not doing anything to improve their own financial condition at this time.
“The country’s economic progress has been all over the news lately, and Sun Life wanted to know the Filipinos’ sentiments regarding this. It would be great if the country’s economic progress can be enjoyed by all and not just a few. However, there are still those who do not foresee that the country’s economic progress would have any positive impact to them and there are those who are not doing anything to help their financial situation improve,” Sun Life Chief Marketing Officer Mylene Lopa said.
Lopa said this was why Sun Life Financial Philippines launched the “Live Free Philippines” movement to inspire Filipinos to believe that a brighter future is possible, and to provoke them to think about their own financial freedom so that they can work toward it and eventually realize that goal.
The Sun Life campaign was highlighted by a new television commercial featuring Sun Life ambassadors Piolo Pascual and his son Iñigo that will also be launched in key cities throughout the country to rally more Filipinos to join the movement and declare their commitment to work for their own financial freedom.
1 comment
Perhaps SSL4 should push through..