I read this blog post and I was blown away! I can't believe that my family in the Philippines belongs in the upper middle class in terms of income. All this time kasi akala ko middle class lang kami. I mean, compared sa mga kakilala ko nung college na "rich", malayo naman kami ron. Wala naman kaming BMW or Mercedes Benz or wala naman kaming mall na nakapangalan sa amin. Yes, I knew people in college who owned gas station franchises, owned flashy cars, owned farms, malls, and other forms of wealth.
As I kept reading the post, what really blew me away was the 3 Predictors of Wealth. My family meets all 3 predictors. Really, owning 3 air conditioning units is a predictor??? 3 cars maybe, but a/c units? Owning doesn't necessarily mean using them regularly, no?
What bugs me is that the predictors don't take into account savings or investments at all. It was all about consumption, except for the 1st predictor. Owning (or consuming) something, to me, is not an indicator of wealth. I've met a few people who prefer to own less and yet have a massive bank account.
There's a need to shift our paradigm in the Philippines. The idea of wealth being tied to an object is perhaps the reason why we change cellphone models as though it were a necessity. It's obvious that if you have a lot of money, it means you can afford to buy things. That's what I think is one of the reasons why people consume -- because it gets the message, that they can afford to buy, across.
What do you think?
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