Broke at the End of Every Cannery Season: A Filipino Columnist's Plea for a Savings System

Next to a family lawyer, the life insurance adjuster hears more stories of real life than any professional or business man. And the burden of these stories is "if I only had known..." The saddest thing about these stories is the fact that what people do not know about Life Insurance forces them into unskilled labor, never-ceasing poverty, or hateful dependence upon parents or relatives.

Every Filipino in America is aware of the hard life we live. Most of us work in seasonal industries such as the canning industries of Alaska, and in some states, and the harvesting of agricultural products throughout the country. At the termination of the season we find ourselves with enough cash — at least, enough if spent wisely for our own support while attending school. But our general condition is termed by most of the boys I interviewed "hard life." Obviously, one must ask why? I find in my conversations with the boys of Seattle that the trouble lies in the fact that we do not have a systematic saving. Most of us put their money in a local savings bank to be sure, but being lured by something pretty or some "good time" — I do not know which — they keep on drawing all their money. And this is our failure. After all these we find ourselves "broke" and as a consequence the pawn shops get plenty of business with us.

My countrymen, there is a remedy for these. We can't be all the time "broke" while we are here in America and expect to live nicely in the Philippines. In most cases the reverse shall be true. Under the Endowment policy plan of good and reputable insurance companies, you can really save and at the same time insure the happiness of your folks in case of death and can also protect ourselves against want in old age, should you attain the maturity of our policy.

The arrangement is simple. All you do is to agree with an insurance company as to the amount you are going to save every year for a definite period. Our present earning power enables the average Filipino to save at least from fifty to a hundred and fifty dollars annually. The company agrees that at the end of the period, if you have made your deposits as agreed, they will pay the beneficiary — your mother or father, if you please — the full amount of the policy. The one thing I must also impress at this point in a life insurance endowment policy is that, should you lose your earning power either by illness or accident, the company not only waives future deposits but in addition pays you an amount equal to one percent of the face of your policy, which means that if you started to save two thousand dollars, you will get twenty dollars a month for a hundred months thereafter. If you will attain the life of the policy, you can get the whole amount you saved or deposited in the company, either in bulk plus interest, or leave it to the company which will pension you monthly or quarterly, whichever you wish.

So an insurance policy should be studied as an investment of your savings and not as a tax levied upon some intangible disaster.

(Editor's Note: Mr. Rebodos will be glad to assist anybody who wants more information about insurance.)