Achieving financial wellness: BPI proposes Gen Z consider a three-pronged approach

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is helping Gen Z achieve financial wellness and success through a simple framework and key tips that aim to build their financial resilience.

During this year’s Business Leadership Program of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, BPI shared learnings from various market studies on Gen Z, for whom top priorities include: minimizing debt​, achieving financial independence​, and ability to give back to family.

To equip Gen Z with tools for financial planning, BPI leveraged a three-pronged approach to financial wellness: Build for your future​, Prepare for spend and splurge, and ​Invest in stability.

“First, building for your future requires assessing your personal revenue streams,” said BPI SVP and Head of Consumer Bank Marketing & Platforms Mariana Zobel de Ayala. “See yourself as your own business. Understand where you might have income coming from — whether your salary from an employer or a side hustle you may have —  and how much you might realistically expect from each stream.”

After which, she suggested that it is crucial for Zoomers to plan for their monthly needs by forecasting their spending, determining savings goals, putting savings to work, and then monitoring and adjusting accordingly.

“Find the appropriate vehicles to make sure that you can make money on that hard-earned money,” she added. “Goals change, the market changes. Be disciplined in tracking your budget so that you may continue to adjust and ensure your longer-term goals are being met.”

BPI recommends preparing for spend and splurge by supporting lifestyle needs and long-term aspirations through an effective cash flow management.  “There’s no right or wrong approach to saving. Your plans should be dependent on your personal aspirations and needs. Different individuals may have varying thresholds for savings that make sense for them — some are comfortable putting 10% of their monthly income towards a savings account, whereas others might have more aggressive goals that require them to put away 30% of their monthly income,” noted Zobel de Ayala.

“You should not stop enjoying the things that bring you joy. Anything you put towards savings is good,” she said. “One of my favorite tricks is to use different savings accounts in my BPI online app — naming each for different purposes. It makes it easy to put away my monthly income into different categories — short-term savings (like a trip or a new gadget), long-term savings (like a retirement fund) or a stash for recurring expenses (such as food, bills, and other monthly needs).”

BPI is also encouraging the younger generation to invest in stability by managing life’s uncertainties alongside institutions that have strategic foresight. “Stability is not just about investing in the right instruments, it is also about investing in the right banking partners that will keep you and your goals safe,” Zobel de Ayala continued.

Secured partner

One of the ways BPI is helping Gen Z accomplish all these is through the variety of features on its Online and Mobile app that help manage cash flow, including convenient bills payment, registration of billers and payees, and BPI QR code. These allow customers to customize each entry with notes for easier reference and use the card control feature to limit spending.

BPI’s digital banking also enables account security through features such as logging in via biometrics and e-commerce access management.

For Zobel de Ayala, “The bank’s Dali-gital Banking thrust owes to the fact that personal finance management should be quick and easy when you partner with BPI,” she said.