On Thursday 23rd February 2017, I had a privilege of speaking to over 80 Head teachers at their regional meeting in Namagunga. We discussed on the topic of personal finance: If you lost your job today, how long can you maintain your lifestyle? Whether dependent or not, salaried earner or not, self-employed or not, as long as you spend money, you earn something. How much of what you earn, do you save and invest?
Remember it is not about how much you earn, it is what you save and invest wisely that makes a difference.
I want you to take a moment and think about your personal or family financial security. Is it healthy? In life, anything can happen. If the bread winner or your income source stopped, what is your fallback position?
The challenge with most people is that they live for today. If you; lost a job this month, chances of starving the following month are very high. That is what happens when you fail to plan for your retirement well. In my book, Your Thee Keys To A Worry Free Life, I explain a simple way to allocate your salary to help you save some money to cater for your retirement needs. You must plan for your future because that is where you will spend the rest of our lives, and those of your children and dependants.
Items 1, 2 and 3 in table 1, are about your future. Items 4 and 5 are about your present lifestyle. How much of your income do you save for your future since that is where you will spend the rest of your life? Start using the above model to save for your future.
As you note in table 1, If you earn say Ugx100,000. You will have only 65% for current consumption and paying fees. The rest, 35% or Ugx350,000 must be set aside for your future. You don’t have to starve yourself. But you must learn to not eat all you earn.
In the next issue, we continue on how to be entrepreneur.
