When Emergency Strikes

Risk Protection, , , ,

“Into each life some rain must fall. Some days will be dark and dreary.” – Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

“Your bill is J$2,100,”  the cashier muttered.  As I handed over the money to the cashier at the hospital, I wondered what would have happened if I didn’t have enough money to pay for the admittance fee. Would they not attend to my six-year old son’s obvious case of emergency?

“Your lab fees are J$1,734 and the cost of the disposables is J$2,926.”  One more time I had to pay the smiling cashier to ensure that the emergency care was provided.  Hours later, as I prepared to leave the hospital with my son, the nurse handed me the documents with a note that there was yet one more bill to be paid.

“Your charge is J$1,904.” As I handed over the money, I realized that my early morning emergency had already cost me over J$8,600, and this was with health insurance! With the cost of medication to come, I knew that my budget for this month had just been turned upside down. Continue reading When Emergency Strikes →

Success in Business

Business Success, , ,

“Last year, I started my own small catering business. It’s always been my dream to do my own thing, but I’m wondering if I have what it takes to be successful in business. It’s really financially challenging right now to make ends meet. I need some assistance in organizing my business, but I don’t know where to turn. Help!”

Being your own boss is one of the most desired goals on many persons’ financial wish lists. We dream of having the chance to do what we’re really passionate about, instead of working just to pay the bills. We are sure that if we could only get the chance to do things our way, we would be fulfilled and wealthy.

The reality is that owning your own business is tough. Many of the skills needed for success in business are rarely learned in the classroom, they are mostly gained in the battlefield of experience. Many highly successful entrepreneurs will point to several failed business ventures, until they finally got it right.

So how can we increase the odds of operating a profitable business? Continue reading Success in Business →

A Budget for all Seasons

Budgeting, ,

“I find it really difficult to make a proper budget. Each month I write down all my expected bills, but somehow I seem to spend more than I had planned. Some unexpected expense always appears and throws off my planning. Please help me to figure out how to do a budget that actually works! “

Budgeting can sometimes feel like an unrewarding exercise. It can be time-consuming to record all the planned expenses, as well as depressing to see how much money you’ll need to spend written in black and white. It’s even more frustrating when you do all that hard work and your budget doesn’t match what you actually end up spending!

Congrats on making the effort to organize your finances with a budget. Many people don’t bother to budget because of some of the reasons above. They are also reluctant to plan for their needs and goals, displaying a wishful attitude that things will all work out for the best eventually.

Whether you earn J$20,000 per month or take home J$200,000, making a plan for your expenses is absolutely essential to manage your money properly. Continue reading A Budget for all Seasons →

Use Debit Cards With Care

Spending, , , ,

“I recently received a big surprise when I looked through my bank statements. I didn’t realize that I was paying so much for transaction fees when I used my debit card. Between getting cash from the ABM, paying for goods and using online banking I paid over J$400 in charges last month! Do you have any tips how I can use my debit card smarter?”

Debit cards are rapidly gaining popularity as a preferred medium to pay for goods and services. They are more widely accepted than cheques, and they remove the hassle of carrying large amounts of cash. However, when plastic replaces paper, this convenience can come at a big cost. Continue reading Use Debit Cards With Care →

Be Ready When Opportunity Knocks!

Goals, , , ,

“A friend of mine recently bought a fabulous house in Mandeville at a bargain price. We’ve both been talking for years about home ownership. Unfortunately for me, I was not in a financial position to quickly bid for the house, while my friend was ready with her money.

“It seems that good opportunities always pass me by. I’m convinced that luck is not on my side, and I’m tempted to just give up trying.”

Sometimes it may seem that opportunity and luck favour the few. Is it possible that there is some unwritten universal law that decides whom lady luck will smile upon and fortune will bless?

Definitely not! The reality is that most people who are successful didn’t achieve their objectives by just being lucky. They had to put in many years of persistent, hard work in order to be in a position where they could grab the opportunities as they passed by. It takes a lot of effort to be in the right place at the right time.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s said in his autobiography, “I was an overnight success all right, but thirty years is a long, long night.” Continue reading Be Ready When Opportunity Knocks! →

Creating Passive Income

Income Creation, , , ,

“I work at a job which will not provide a pension. I’m trying really hard now to earn more so that I’ll have enough money saved up when I retire. However, the problem is that my time is limited as I go to college part-time and I’m a single parent of a nine year-old boy. Any ideas how to increase my income without spending a lot of time doing it?”

In our never-ending search to make more money, we all face an unchanging limitation- there are only twenty-four hours in one day. There is just so much work that we can physically do to generate income and no more, given the constraints of time.

Is it somehow possible to create income that is not restricted by our capacity to work? Yes it is! The answer can be found in passive income. Continue reading Creating Passive Income →

Your Money Personality Pt 2

Book Review, Money & Your Mind, , ,

“I read your discussion about the money personalities last week, and I realize that I’m very uptight about money. I grew up poor and was always determined to make it big.

“Now I have a high paying job and lots of money in my bank account but I hardly enjoy it. I’m afraid to spend any of it, and my family thinks I’m cheap. I may be rich, but I’m certainly not having fun and I would like some advice on how to change this.”

Last week we looked at five of the nine money personalities described in “Your Money Personality:  What It is and How You Can Profit from it,” by Kathleen Gurney, Ph.D. In this book she explains the connection between your emotions and the way you relate to money.

Why should we care about how we relate to money? As Dr Gurney points out, “the money style you have developed defines the amount of money you are earning now, the amount you save, the pleasure you get in using money, and the success of your investment plan.”

So if you’re not happy with your money situation now, perhaps you need to change your money personality.

Continue reading Your Money Personality Pt 2 →

What’s Your Money Personality?

Money & Your Mind, , ,

“My sister and I are so different when it comes to money. She’s a big saver and recently bought her own apartment. On the other hand, I have over J$60,000 in credit card debt. I’m feeling a little jealous of her although I know it’s not fair, because she has tried to help me manage my money better.

“Why is my sister so successful with money while I’m always a loser?”

Why it is that some people seem to be ‘born with gold spoons in their mouths’ while money never seems to visit the lives of others? Are some people just destined to be lucky with money while others are doomed to remain poor?

Kathleen Gurney, Ph.D. author of Your Money Personality: What It Is and How You Can Profit from It states that there are psychological factors at play when it comes to money, as our thoughts and beliefs about money help to influence our financial success or lack of it.

She points out that along with our physical self, emotional self and social self, we also have a financial self. This money self influences the way we interact with our money. Continue reading What’s Your Money Personality? →

Save Now for Back to School

Budgeting, , ,

“Sending my son back to school this month has been really hard. His father, who usually pays for school fees and books, recently lost his job and had nothing to contribute. I’ve had to borrow from friends to pay the fees, and most of the books have not been bought yet. How can I prevent this from happening again next year?”

School is in and many parents are still reeling from the effects of back-to-school expenses. Some may feel that September comes around too quickly, as they are never quite financially ready to meet the major expenses that this month brings.

Some people rely on using ‘partner’ plans or borrowing from credit unions to meet the September back-to-school costs. However, these strategies might not be enough to take care of the regular monthly and term expenses that will arise throughout the school year. Continue reading Save Now for Back to School →

Increase Your Net Worth

Wealth, , , ,

“I daydream constantly about being wealthy. I’m fed up with not earning enough money, and tired of having to scrimp each month to make ends meet. What should I be doing now so that one day I can really be rich?”

I believe that at some point, everybody has fantasized about being very wealthy and living like the upper class on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” While most people never realize that dream, a select few have been able to figure out a way to make the wealth gods smile in their favour.

What is it that separates this small percentage of the population that has achieved great riches from the rest of the world? One of the reasons, according to T. Harv Eker, bestselling author of the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, is that people who are determined to be rich focus on increasing their net worth. Continue reading Increase Your Net Worth →