So this is my first post in November whee!!! And I thought I'd with you my article that was printed in this week's Jamaica Observe Teenage. The article is about financial management which I think is pretty important to most, if not all, of us. So I hope you enjoy and any questions, comments or suggestions can just be left on the page or email me. I'm looking forward to your views.
Take the reins on your finances
Everyone has the dream of financial independence. As
children we wish for our own money to buy toys and games. As teenagers we want
money to buy clothes, accessories, video games and all the new technology
available to us. And the need grows exponentially with our age and our growing
wants and responsibilities. Unfortunately, not everyone reaches the level of
financial freedom we want. In fact, most people do not, including many of the
celebrities and personalities we see ‘flossing’ and showing off the expensive
items on television, magazines and newspapers.
In reality, many of us spend our lives stuck in a
financial rat race of wants, needs, owed, borrowed and bought, where many of us
spend our working careers paying off debt we made at an early age or at later
stages in life. Now there aren’t any claims being made of financial genius or
wizardry. However, with some level of guidance you will see some improvement in
your relative finances. And with the beginning of the new month, an opportunity
has presented itself to start afresh, especially as it gets closer to a major
spending holiday such as Christmas.
1) 1`) The
first and possibly the most important step is to assess your current financial
status. Look at your means of attaining money and look at your spending
patterns and habits, are you spending more than you are bringing in? Are you an
impulsive spender? Do you love to splurge on a specific item or set of items
more than anything else? Carefully and
objectively examine yourself and note any trends you see in your behaviour and
habits.
2) 2) Make
a plan. After you’ve made your initial assessment, the next step is to make a
plan of action. Write a list of your ultimate financial goals for this stage in
your life or it may just be an item that you truly love and would like to buy
for yourself or a current goal you want to achieve. From the goals, make a plan
as to how you are going to achieve them.
3) 3) Self-control.
Now comes the hard part, exercising a decent level of self control. As a teen
it is easy to be tempted by things we see and want or what is the major fad.
However, it is important to determine what is a want and what is a need.
Whenever you feel the urge to buy and item think to yourself ‘Do I really need
this or do I just want it?’ If the answer is no then you should put it back and
move on. Think of how much money you’ll save in the long run. Remember the
popular Jamaican proverbs: ‘Every mikkle mek a mukkle’ and ‘One one cocoa full
basket’.
4) 4) Check
out your options. If you’ve managed to maintain your self control and have
reduced or stopped buying the unnecessary items, then it’s fair to assume that
you would have some extra money lying around. Now it’s to decide what to do
with it. Remember it is never too early to open a savings account. Go to the
respected banks or credit unions and find out about all the savings options
available to you and choose one that best suits your needs. Once you have an
account or if you already had an account, then you could make it a personal
goal that every month you place a specific amount of money in your account. You
may think it’s not much, but it adds up in the end. Another option is to look
at investing, however, this is quite risky and you could end up losing some of
your earnings so you should do some amount of research before you do so.
5) 5) Track your expenses and savings. You should try to
keep a record of how you spend and save your money and see how much progress
you’ve made since you began. This can help you identify any shortcomings or
positive developments in your spending habits.
You can also note prices and see if you can get better value for money
elsewhere for certain items.
These are only some basic ways to get you
started on the right track. They are only steps, that if correctly implemented
and followed will help you on your path to financial success. Ideally, one
truly aims to generate their own income for their true financial freedom.
Much Love,
Nella
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