Tag Archives: Jamaica

Balancing Boomerang Kids

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Twenty-nine-year-old Robert was confident that his MBA in finance would secure him a solid career and a comfortable future. After getting laid off from his enviable position at a top financial institution, he found it difficult to replace his income and had to accept a job with a 50 per cent pay cut.

Unable to afford his rent and faced with mounting unpaid bills, Robert had no choice but to move back home with his mother.

Susan, a 46-year-old divorcee, had very little to fall back on after her husband of 25 years left her. She had not worked for a long time and was desperate without a place to call home. With no children, the only place she could turn to for help was her elderly parents.

Despite her best efforts, Susan has been unsuccessful in obtaining a job and feels frustrated about being dependent on her parents for survival. Continue reading Balancing Boomerang Kids →

Become of Fan of the 3 Ms of Money

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Writing the ‘memoirs of my money madness’ is now a bigger task than I first imagined. As I dig deep to recall all the challenges I faced with money, I realise that so many others today are suffering from the same issues that I had to overcome.

As a coach, speaker and newspaper columnist, I interact with many people who are on the brink of financial disaster, and generally clueless about what they need to do to turn around their money situation. The level of financial distress is increasing across all sectors of Jamaican society.

Sometimes it feels overwhelming to figure out how to address the financial concerns of so many people. Although I’m really dedicated to helping people deal with their money issues, I am just one person. This is why I am writing this book, The 3 Ms of Money hoping that it can reach a whole lot more people than I can speak to individually.

The intention is to inspire others to believe that, YES, it is possible to live within your means, dig your way out of debt, start a savings habit, learn about investing, and achieve your goals. Trust me, if I can do it, then ANYONE can!

I’ve created a Facebook fan page to help you keep track of my progress along the way. Please click here to join the 3 Ms of Money Fan Club!

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Eight Essential Money Principles

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Very often, people ask me to provide them with one piece of advice that could help them to be more successful with their money.

Over the years I have learnt that there isn’t just one method to effectively manage your finances, create wealth, or preserve your money for the future. In fact, there are several steps which, when combined, can put you on a solid financial footing.

Here are eight guidelines that can help you successfully traverse the road to financial freedom: Continue reading Eight Essential Money Principles →

3 Ms of Money- Dealing with Debt

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Writing my first book, The 3 Ms of Money, has allowed me to take a look back in time at all the BIG money mistakes that I have made. One of the worst wrong turns I have made is to think that having access to other people’s money (OPM) would make life easier.

Borrowing money can be a very destructive practice, as it lulls you into a spending lifestyle that isn’t sustainable. When you are dependent on a source of income that doesn’t come from you, you lose sight of the fact that you are living beyond your ability to produce. As your desire for credit grows, eventually the monthly payments become too high to manage, and then your debt mushrooms beyond control. Then you have to keep on borrowing to stay afloat. Very often at this point, you can’t access any more credit and your entire financial well-being is impacted.

The Bible says that the “borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). I have found this to be true. For years I worked hard to pay off thousands of dollars in loan interest. And for what? Useless trinkets and idle entertainment that were long forgotten!

I teach people that debt is not only about borrowing money. It’s any obligation where someone else has delivered their part of the deal, and you have not. Just recently, I almost got tempted to take a great mobile phone offer where I could get a ‘FREE’ Nokia E71. In return I would have to sign a 3-year contract with the mobile company. After thinking about it some more,I realised that I would only be selling myself into 3 years of slavery to pay for this ‘free’ phone. What if I hated their service? What if they raised the monthly cost? I couldn’t complain because they had supplied their end of the deal.

I decided I would just save up and pay for it in CASH, thank you.

Anyway, you can read more about my misadventures with debt and what I had to do to get myself out of the mess I had created when The 3 Ms of Money is published.

Keep thinking and acting Financially SMART!

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Saving for Retirement in Jamaica

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Last week we examined the high cost of retirement and calculated the amount of savings that would be required to replace your income when you choose to stop working. Although cash is tight in today’s economy, if you delay putting aside some of your money for your retirement needs, it will only cause you more financial distress in the future.

Let’s look at some of the options which can help you to achieve your retirement nest egg targets:

Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans

Pension plans, also called superannuation funds, are retirement saving schemes which businesses voluntarily set up for their employees. Larger workplaces usually offer pension plans, whereby both the employer and the worker contribute funds to create a retirement lump sum for the employee. Staff members are required to put aside at least five per cent of their salary into retirement savings, and this figure would be matched by the employer. Continue reading Saving for Retirement in Jamaica →

Is it Practical To Plan For Retirement?

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As it becomes increasingly difficult for many companies to finance workplace pension plans, and more persons join the ranks of the self-employed, the number of Jamaicans who are currently investing towards their retirement years is woefully inadequate.

Studies indicate that private pension arrangements are now covering some 60,000 persons of the approximately 1.3 million people in the labour workforce in Jamaica. This means that only about one out of every 22 persons contributes to a savings plan that will help to replace their income when they can no longer earn a living or choose to stop working.

This is a startling statistic, as it indicates that many persons may not have considered the necessity of planning to create an income for their later years. Continue reading Is it Practical To Plan For Retirement? →

Don’t Stop Spending!

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A call for persons to spend more might seem like very strange advice for a financial coach to give in these challenging economic times. The typical recommendation for weathering this tough economy is to cut back on consumption by buying only the basic necessities and channeling as much money as possible into savings.

First, let me qualify my comments by indicating that my discussion on the merit of spending is not intended for persons who are in unmanageable debt or unable to make ends meet. If you are in that position (as too many of us are) then you need to focus your attention on aggressively reducing your liabilities and earning more money to cover your budgetary needs.

However, a fear of all the gloom and doom surrounding the global recession has prompted some consumers who are financially capable of maintaining their normal buying habits, to choose to keep their money close to home instead. Continue reading Don’t Stop Spending! →

Mission: The 3 Ms of Money

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I am really excited that I have now begun to compile eight years of learning and teaching the principles of money into my first book, The 3 M’s of Money: How to Manage, Multiply and Maintain Your Money.

As you may already know from reading my Author’s Bio, for most of my life I was a financial mess – I had never saved, was over my head in debt, and was generally clueless about how money worked. After getting a job at one of Jamaica’s largest financial institutions, I started interacting with financially savvy people and then determined that I would learn the secrets of money success for myself.

The 3 Ms of Money is basically a tell-all of the financial mistakes I have made and the lessons I learned which helped me to change my financial situation.  As I started teaching others the principles that I had applied in my life, I realised that they also saw positive changes in their financial and personal lives. This observation led me to start Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services with the mission to be Jamaica’s number one source for practical, down-to-earth and independent answers to all questions about personal finance.

So keep looking out during the month of November, as I will share with you my progress in writing The 3 Ms of Money.  I hope that publishing this book will inspire many people to believe that they too can win the money game!

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Money Lessons from the Animal Kingdom

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Recently, a reader commented that a lack of discipline was one of the primary reasons many people were not successful in their personal and financial goals. He noted that most animals, unlike many humans, were disciplined in their everyday habits, which resulted in a sense of order and efficiency in nature.

I thought about the many wild animals that exhibit very civilised attitudes towards carrying out their purposes. Although human beings might be more developed than other creatures, there are many valuable lessons that we can learn from them. Let’s examine some animal behaviours that can teach us important truths about the achievement of financial goals.

Envision A Better Life Like A Caterpillar

I believe that it would probably be easy for the lowly caterpillar to despair as it crawls along the pathways of life. Inching along at a painfully slow pace as it tries to eke out a living, dodging the threats of extermination from humans who despise its very existence. Why should a caterpillar dare to dream of a better life? Continue reading Money Lessons from the Animal Kingdom →

Your Money and Your Time

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The old saying ‘Time is money’ came to mind recently as I sat in a recording session that had to be paid for by the hour. As the taping extended beyond the planned schedule, I began to watch the steady progress of the clock’s minute hand, and mentally calculated the cost of each tick of time.

Time is really the only resource that’s in limited supply, as we only get 24 hours, or 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds in a day. Oftentimes, we forget the important connection between time and money, as there are many ways that we squander time that will negatively impact our money.

Here are some considerations about time and money: Continue reading Your Money and Your Time →