September last year, there was an accident aboard Harmony Of The Seas, which was the biggest cruise ship in the world at the time – I am told the same company has unveiled an even bigger one. The accident happened during a drill when one of the safety boats detached and fell tens of meters into the sea with crew members (who had been participating in…
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The most common reason why many people do not join SACCOs in Kenya is lack guarantors or aversion to the idea of guaranteeing other people’s borrowing. The principle behind loan guarantors is that should you fail to repay your loan, the SACCO can recover their money from the people who have signed up as your guarantors in addition to your shares. Different SACCOs approach this in a…
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Yesterday, I needed to buy some vegetables and I was short of time so I went to the supermarket, something I have not done since the plastic ban came into effect. It was not only an unpleasant task, it left me with questions insofar as public health matters are concerned. In the past, the vegetable section was a joy to shop in. You would find gloves…
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If you ask a regular personal finance adviser whether you should borrow money, they will give you the Debt Creed; Only borrow to invest, if the investment will earn you better returns than the interest rate of the borrowing. Never borrow for consumption. Aspire to be debt free at all times! However, life does not work so neatly. Most of us have borrowed money which…
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When I shared about my losing my #52WeekChallenge savings on the Telegram Group, one of the participants asked me a challenging question: Don’t you have an emergency fund? See how wonderful accountability is? We all know that an emergency fund is Personal Finance 101. When you start earning money, first thing you should do is build up a fund of at least 3 months of your…
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Last week, I was forced to withdraw most of the money in my #52WeekChallenge Lock Savings Account. On Friday last week, I had Kshs 35,213 saved. I was feeling really proud of myself because I was ahead on the challenge, having ticked off the crazy December weeks. I am not under any obligation to share my finances on this blog, but I am writing this…
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As I write this post, Public Likes, yet another scam is collapsing with millions of Kenyans’ money. Public Liked was marketed as a “Revolutionary Social Media Marketing” platform, that paid people for paying to view ads and to recruit others. We have seen a number of social media posts from angry subscribers who are unable to withdraw their returns, and as at 11am, Safaricom announced…
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When we had our last #52WeekChallenge Twitter chat, I did a poll that showed some fantastic things (many people are still on course), and that some people were either lagging or had fallen off the wagon. That’s the thing though. The savings habit is a journey. Sometimes we fall off the wagon or we lag behind, but we must never stop trying. If you have…
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Someone said, living a fun life and good financial management is like water and oil they do not mix. I think about this quite often, especially when I meet people who from reading my articles online seem to think certain things about my attitude and approach to personal finance. “It must be nice to be in control of your money” “You must save a lot!”…
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Growing up in a Christian home, tithing as a practice was taught very early in life and reinforced throughout life . My earliest memory of actively earning an income involved a little chat I had with my mother about giving in Sunday School (church). Every Sunday, mom would give us some coins to give in church. Then one day, she told me that how it…
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