Only 21% of women in Philippines have savings — study

MANILA, Philippines — Six out of 10 Filipinas manage their own household’s budget, but only two of 10 are able to put money into savings, according to a study commissioned by Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. (InLife).

Citing the results of the Sheroes Landmark Study on Women, InLife executive vice president and Insular Health Care president Noemi Azura said most Filipinas are careful spenders who prioritize their families, but most of them don’t have savings for future needs.

“The results of the study indicated that six in 10 Filipinas manage their own money or are entrusted with their household’s budget. Most of these are spent on current needs, such as food and beverage, household bills and utilities, personal care products, and other items related to children’s schooling,” Azura said during the study’s presentation at the Filipi-now: Realities, Challenges, and Solutions for the Filipino Women of Today held in Makati City.

However, she said only 21 percent of the total respondents are able to set aside money for savings. Among those who do, they are able to allocate only three percent of their budget as savings, she said. 

“More alarming is that while life insurance awareness is 30 percent, ownership is at a very low four percent. These are not enough to cover future emergencies, especially in the event that the family’s breadwinner, which could be the woman herself, or the husband, meets an unfortunate incident,” Azura said.

On the other hand, Azura said Filipinas were found to be practicing healthy living by controlling their intake of food, keeping a healthy diet, getting enough sleep and rest, avoiding vices, keeping themselves hydrated at all times, taking vitamins, and engaging in physical activities and sports.

However, she said only 23 percent of the respondents avail of health and wellness services, while only 12 percent do regular consultations with doctors.

As a result, Azura said eight out of 10 Filipinas believe they are healthy because they have access to healthy living, and that their families motivate them to be healthy.

“In our culture, Filipino women take on the default role of taking care of the sick family member. They are expected to care for and nurture the sick, and this holds true, whether the women work full time, or stay at home to take care of the family. But when asked about future concerns on health, these women said they are more concerned with cardiovascular diseases, followed by diabetes and cancer,” Azura said.

The InLife Sheroes Landmark Study on Women, undertaken by the Philippine Survey and Research Center (PSRC), was commissioned in order to have a deeper understanding of the Filipinas, their attitudes, knowledge, awareness and practices with regard to finances and health, according to Azura.

She said the study has given InLife an opportunity to plan the next set of actions through the four focus areas of Sheroes--financial education, health and wellness, connection to business and social networks, and women-specific solutions.

“We are intensifying our efforts by developing our own financial education course for women, which is co-branded with the Philippine Business Coalition on Women Empowerment or PBCWE,” Azura said. “We have also partnered with PLDT and Smart’s Gabay Guro Foundation to deliver the financial education module to about 20,000 teachers who are part of their Foundation.”