Tanggap ko na… tanggap ko na sa Pilipinas na ‘ko tatanda. Dito ako pinanganak at mukang dito na nga rin mamamatay. So all I can do is to live and make the most out of a bad situation.

Pinanganak akong mahirap at sa awa ng Diyos ay umahon nang walang tulong ng AFAM. No judgment, though, on sisters who are clinging to an AFAM’s shoulder for a better life. Bakit? I judge more the foreigners in Manila who take advantage of our naive women. They sweet-talk them and promise a better life but treat them as less after marriage—an instant unpaid maid, caregiver, and sex worker, more or less. Yes, not all! But it exists… and I’m not turning a blind eye.

And so, as a Filipina, I’m shaking up the system. I aspire to live like an AFAM myself! Think about it: a guy who only has a couple hundred thousand dollars in a 401k back home, but lives like a king here in the Philippines. Why can’t we do that on our own terms?

To be my own AFAM and hedge against the falling peso, I’m investing in a Global ETF. VWRA is my specific fund of choice. It tracks the stock markets across the entire world. While it’s heavily weighted in the US, it gives me a piece of the global pie so my entire life savings aren’t tied solely to one country.

Apart from this, VWRA is Irish-domiciled. Why does that matter? Because if you buy a regular US ETF (like the S&P 500), Uncle Sam chops off 30% withholding tax on your dividends. But because VWRA is legally based in Ireland, that tax is cut in half to 15%. That’s more money staying in your pocket.

And the icing on top? It’s an accumulating fund. Meaning, hindi mo na kailangang abangan ang dividends para i-reinvest at magbayad na naman ng fees. Ang kita niya, kakainin niya lang ulit to re-invest in itself. Mas mabilis ang pag-grow. Literally, you can set and forget.

There are different ways to achieve financial freedom, but ultimately, as Filipinos with relatively small buying power, it is important we think of the best bang for our buck. We need to be more hopeful about our finances—in our own land, and on our own terms!

​I don’t laugh at finding an AFAM as a life path. My heart cries for our women because they had to consider this as a survival choice na parang kurso lang sa college. Hindi normal ang kahirapan, let’s not romanticize it. Don’t look for a rich man, be a rich man, ika nga ni mareng Cher.