BULA readers!
In our last article, we shared the importance of checking your receipts, to see that you are not being overcharged. This simple practice helps you to keep track of your spending, and managing your personal finances better.
Keeping your receipts and financial records is especially very useful when preparing your small budget for various needs, setting financial goals, saving and planning for the future.
Have you set your goals and resolutions for 2012 and have you prepared a plan for achieving these goals?
How have we learnt? And is it enough?
Each of us learns to manage our own money from a number of different sources. Some of you may learn from your parents, a relative, a mate, or from observing others such as the next-door neighbour, the lady down the street, some from books, magazines, radio, etc. There are many ways to learn since we all do not learn new things in the same way.
Did you know that by the time a child is nine years old, a child has already developed the natural and critical behaviours that will take him/her through life?
Therefore the first eight years of your life are the most critical development years of an individual.
Why then, would you wait until adulthood or the teenage years to get introduced to money management by someone, when behaviors are generally learnt?
Why not, start early and build on that through the remainder of your life?
Handling money is something that is a part and parcel of everyday life for each woman, man and child in Fiji, and every day there are choices and decisions to make, with very real financial implications.
Three ways to save money:
1. From the piggybank to the bank
o Put all your spare coins in this rather than letting them lose here and there. This will be very useful in the long run and go into your very own bank account later.
2. Spending less
o We have all heard the phrase, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Spending less increases the amount you can save is as important as learning to put money aside. If you are able to save money, you can put it toward a bigger item later.
3. Earning things
o Many of you get an allowance. For some this comes without strings, while others have to earn it. But an allowance is not the only way for a child to earn money. Have a garage sale with old toys for instance. With the money you earn, you can buy a new toy that you have been wanting for some time.