How much money am I losing for nothing?
Well, that’s the question I have asked myself today upon reading the local newspaper. Please do not think that I am just wasting my money for nothing. That I am spending left and right and so now, I am questioning my spending activities.
NOPE! The answer is a definite No. As a matter of fact, both you and me are losing money for nothing. And that is all because of the bastard called “Inflation.”
There is no need for me to define what inflation means but I can assure you, it is a phenomenon that eats something out of your earnings and it does nothing but just eat part of your earnings for nothing. LOL
Going back to what I have JUST read in the paper, The Arab News reported that inflation for May is 10.4 percent, A BIT LOWER compared to 10.5 % last April this year, the highest in 30 years. “The rental index which includes rents, fuel and water soared 18.5% while food and beverage costs rose by 11.51 with other goods and services increased by 11.9%.” (Data from the Economy and Planning Ministry)
On the other end of the globe where most of my earnings go, the Philippines, the inflation rate is still running at a nine year high of 9.6 percent in May.
Using my simple mathematics, the total inflation I have to deal with is 10% (10.4 % + 9.6 %/2). This could be interpreted as:
For every USD100.00 I earned, the actual value now is only USD90.00 or 10 percent less of its actual value.
or;
For every goods or services worth USD100.00 before, it will cost me USD110.00 now or 10 percent more (10.4 percent for me here and 9.6 percent for my family back home).
Inflation also extends to whatever investment I may have. Meaning, for every cents I earned plus the principal amount I invested, the value of which now is effectively reduced by 10 percent as well.
Added to inflation is the fake appreciation of the Peso against the US dollar, which in reality is useless (as far as I am concerned) because the purchasing power of the Peso has not increased. Perhaps this is the reason why there was a huge increase in remittances by fellow OFW’s and I could imagine how hard an OFW scratches his/her head every time the wife, the children or the parent ask for additional money to cope with rising prices.
How to beat inflation to avoid losing money for nothing is the question that I will be asking myself in the coming days.
For now the biggest question of all is “Do I have the brain to do that?” LOL
now you confuse me with your math, though you are in a better position to do those calculations. i wonder why you are adding the 2 inflation rates, when i thought you should just be averaging them. because the inflation on the arab market will be only on your local spendings there, while the inflation on the phil market will be dealt with on the spendings in the philippines.
basta what i know is that every time i go to the supermarket, the goods i bring home become lesser in quantity each visit, and that each time we gas up, there are less liters of gas for the same amount of money. and each full tank is more expensive by a hundred/s each time. even the kids are conscious now about all these things.
how to beat inflation? tell me…
sexymom,
That’s a good question. I just added the two so that it is easier to compute. lol
and yes you have a point and the effective inflation rate is 10 percent only.
Thank you for the input. I already corrected my computation.
that will make you feel better now, myepinoy, from 20%, down to 10% effective inflation rate. LOL now you can delete my comments.
sexymom, Thanks. I guess there is no need for me to delete your earlier comment.
Just a bit of information from Inquirer today, July 1, Central bank sees June double-digit inflation.
you know this has been on my mind for the past few weeks. although, iniwasan kong magcompute kasi masakit sa loob. lol.
pero one thing is evident, nde maramdamam ung “peso appreciation”. tama sabi mo it’s fake. oh well.
Inflationary pressures must be treated with urgency and countries that check inflation promptly, i.e. lowering intesest rate if inflation rises – are assured of a more stable economic growth.
Inflation is always going to be a round. It is like a bull in a china shop which you make all effort to keep it in check. YOu must keep the bull asleep otherwise it will wreck havoc to your shop
romelettedj, ha ha ha. tma ka, masakit talaga sa loob.
bw,
You are absolutely right.
George Soros said in one of his interviews, “because markets are imperfect but so are regulators. And what’s worse, they’re also bureaucratic, so they are slow in responding and very bureaucratic in their response. I’m for better regulation and that is not necessarily tight regulation.”
We are in the same boat! We’ve also been losing so much money these past few years and more so these past few months because of both inflation and the appreciation of the peso. Imagine when I left the Philippines in 2002, the dollar was P54 and now it’s only P44-45. And then, I lose my allowances pa when I go to the Philippines. We have to find a place where we can put our money which has interest higher than the inflation rate… but don’t know where. So for now, we just have to tighten our belts. Haaay!
This may sound unrelated (and therefore stupid), but I feel like I’ve been suffering from intense “inflation” ever since I moved to expensive Switzerland (LOL). My pesos don’t go a long way here. But of course this is another story.
*****
My sister has been complaining about the rise in consumer prices in Pinas. She has been telling me to think thrice before deciding to settle down in RP for good.