Tag Archives: save to buy a home

Seek and You Will Find

Goals, Home Buying, , , , , ,

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” — Matthew 7:7

Some persons think that if they have clear financial goals which they would like to accomplish, then they should not experience too many obstacles en route to success. They believe that if they come upon challenges which make the process difficult, then their goals were not destined to be realised.

There will be occasions when no matter how desperately you wish for your dream to come true, it will be highly unlikely to occur. This could be the case if you don’t convert your dream into a smart goal; with specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and time-based objectives that you can apply.

For example, if every month when you pay your landlord, you declare, “One day I’m going to turn the key to my own door,” but you never put plans in place for this desire to become real, then don’t expect a miraculous event to eventually bestow you with the home of your dreams. Continue reading Seek and You Will Find →

Financial Priorities

Budgeting, Spending, , , , , , , ,

A Guyanese colleague shared with me her concern about the financial practices of many Jamaicans with whom she interacted. After spending a few years managing a project in our country, she observed that the attitudes towards saving, spending and debt were very different in the two nations.

One major point of divergence, she noted, was that most Guyanese people were very focused on saving to buy a home as their first priority. The consultant remarked that you would hardly see persons in her country driving a car if they did not already own a piece of property.

Another point of difference was that most Guyanese were very embarrassed about having debt that they could not afford to pay. Indebtedness was taboo and there were even cases of persons who attempted suicide because they were so devastated about their unpaid financial obligations. Continue reading Financial Priorities →