MEDIUM RARE 

As we have a nickname for everything from pets to typhoons, so have we nicknamed the last four months of the year, not as the last quarter, but as the “ber” months.

Dear folks and gentle people, if “ber” is here, can Christmas be far behind? September hath 30 days, it’s the ninth month (that has been erroneously named, because sept is not nine but seven, in French). Nevertheless, expect lower temperatures, cloudier days, a sense of anticipation of the merriest season of the year.

Last weekend, Sept. 6-7-8, the malls were already screaming Merry Christmas from the rooftops; not quite a payday weekend for the shopping class, yet there they were, spending happily.  

Times like these, I pause to pay tribute to the Chinoy industrialist who noted, “Money is not yours until you spend it.” If you don’t spend it, it’s gathering dust in your piggy bank and losing value due to inflation; or the bank’s using your savings to make money out of your money while you sweat and save and try to outrun inflation, which looks like a losing proposition anyway.  

Spending money is a pleasure when you treat it as a reward for your hard work. The shoppers I saw at the mall, the couples and groups who were dining in the brightly lighted restaurants were what I would call the spending class. They’re not necessarily rich-rich, they just know how to treat themselves to a good time once in a while, like once a week. They’re the same folks who pay their income taxes religiously, so you may call them an asset to the government, too. Without the spending class, the BIR would be hard put to collecting enough taxes, and not just VAT, to keep the wheels of government turning.

Long ago I was advised that working stiffs should keep 20 to 30 percent of their salaries and consider the savings as emergency money for a rainy day or for the future, preferably one without a drought. Today, can a minimum-wage earner live on P480 a day if he had a family with children to feed and send to school? A tip for affianced couples: Not to be greedy, but you’re better off as a two-income family.