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Financial advice-Don’t give it!
Author, Stella Riunga Rop.
What you need to know:
- Stella Riunga Rop says: Brethren, let us have some empathy for those going through financial difficulties.
Like every good, responsible citizen, I have always done my best to save, invest and live within my means. But when the motto of your government is ‘Tax everything except sunlight and Diarrhoea’ this is a difficult task.
I applaud my fellow citizens, because the fact that we have not all become beggars is testament to the ‘resilient spirit’ that our dear president is always referring to. (Mbu, can we eat ‘Resilient Spirit’?) Well, in light of that, I think we should all think thrice before dishing out the following ‘well-meaning’ advice.
1. You MUST have six month’s savings stashed away somewhere. Very good advice. I love it. For this one to make sense, let us travel back in time and eliminate all tax hikes, including the fuel price hikes which, like the Tower of Babel, threaten to rise right into the heavens.
After that, we should pack all our MPs and their useless ilk into several spaceships and blast them off to Neptune, where they will instantly turn into icicles. The cost of this space travel will be almost nothing compared to the amount they cost us every month in current salaries and allowances, bi-annual salary hikes, expensive-for-nothing vehicles and collective mental stress. Also, we will save on burial costs.
2. The only debt you should incur is for investment. Eheeeeh. So when your employer does not pay you for three months (as mine were in the habit of doing), or your business is doing badly, what are you supposed to eat; promises and positive thoughts? I think staying alive is a worthwhile investment!
3. It is important to build your own home.
This is true, but when you are living hand-to-mouth, you have no option but to rent.
Well, unless you have the skills to mix sand, cement and water with your own hands and feet to make concrete, the time to travel to your nearest quarry to cut stones by hand, and friends who will spend all their weekends helping you to build your house, ha ha ha!
Brethren, let us have some empathy for those going through financial difficulties.
