Living sensibly must be our goal for 2023
THE collective goals of a society change over time, usually in the direction of broad trends and in response to recent events. We’ve experienced a lot of change in recent years, and it seems to have made an impact on us, imprinting itself on our goals.
Looking at the world in general and at the Philippines specifically, optimism is out, pragmatism is in, and 2023 looks to be the year of living sensibly.
Get in on the movement
Reassess: With the top 3 resolutions for 2023 being saving more, paying off debt, and spending less, goals seem to be shifting toward prudence during these uncertain times. While we’d never encourage you to curtail your dreams, ensuring your goals are sensible is equally important as dreaming big. Now may be a good time to reassess, change, or adjust according to your situation as things have changed.
Contribute: The markets have been choppy this year, but there’s still a good time to invest. In the spirit of sensibility, perhaps the best thing we can do to shore up our future is convincing others to invest jointly with us.
Check your debt: Interest rates are on the rise across the board, and high-interest debt is one of the most prominent victims. If you’re carrying a balance, it’s important to stay up to date on the rate you’re paying as it often increases quietly. Subsequently, let this create a greater sense of urgency for paying down that debt too.
Reduce expenses: Spending less money is a top-voted resolution for 2023, and it might not be such a bad idea. Inflation is still historically high, interest rates are rising, budgets are shrinking, and layoffs are coming. In one way or another, it’s likely the ripples of all this will impact us all eventually, so creating some space in our budget is a smart move.
Expand our saving: For similar reasons cited above, it’s a better time than ever to expand on our emergency fund and savings. If you only have a month of expenses saved, now’s the time to shoot for three. If you’ve got three, go for six. Beyond that, it’s up to your discretion and comfort level, but it never hurts to save a little extra.
While I am focusing on what we need to do as individuals in 2023, I am clear in my mind that the Marcos administration has to focus on the same kind of sensibilities in 2023. The government and the private sector must agree that we have to turn things around in 2023:
Re: Think, Re: Duce, Re: Use; Re: Cycle!
And finally, let’s not copy Europe:
“Bags of cash” have been found at the homes of four European politicians. They’ve allegedly been paid hundreds of thousands of euros to do the bidding of the Qatari government. If true, this is one of the biggest lobbying scandals in European history.
This corruption scandal is only possible because the European rules on lobbying are lax and outdated.
The Qatari bribery scandal must be a wake-up call. The credibility of the whole European Union is at stake.
Unless we change the rules of the game, this could happen again and again. We urgently need a full inquiry into the scandal and stricter rules to fight corruption and bribery.