As a way of introduction, I am a fellow of the Kenya Institute of Bankers with now over 25 years of management experience in the banking sector. A graduate of Moi University, I also hold an MBA from the East and Central Africa Management Institute. I am born again. A mother of two wonderful teenagers, a public speaker, coach and mentor who is passionate about people and their financial wellbeing.
Early on in my work life, I had really wanted to get into a certain investment plan but I kept postponing; I felt I wasn’t able to raise the capital I required. I lived from one paycheck to the next and month after month I seemed to have just enough for that month. In retrospect, I now realize I fared a lot better than my contemporaries because I did not incur any debts for everyday expenditure.
Nevertheless, my situation bothered me a lot as I knew I needed to begin my investment journey. One day I noted something interesting; At the start of weekends, I always withdrew money from my bank account for use at the weekend (this was before the advent of Mpesa). It occurred to me that whenever I withdrew ksh10,000, I would have nothing by Monday; and I couldn’t account for it! When I withdrew ksh3000, I would also get to Monday with nothing and yet again I would not remember anything important I failed to do due to lack of money.
My conclusion was money needs to be tied to purpose. You either give it purpose or it will find itself one.
Fast forward from story one and am seated at a restaurant with a friend over lunch and a little catching up. I recount to her an incident I had with a certain man a couple of weeks before then. This guy had told me about how unlike many of us, he ate healthy food and saved money in the process by carrying packed lunch to work.
We stopped to consider what we were eating at that moment and couldn’t agree more with him. We noted that our lunch on that day had cost us ksh250= each. We resolved to each open a savings account that afternoon and from the following day we would each deposit ksh250 everyday bring lunch from home. My friend could actually go home for lunch as it was a 5-minute drive to his house.
From very early in my life, I have been curious about money. I have in almost equal measure seen people start off from a point of financial abundance and end up poor but also seen others rise from nothing to great possessions. Either way, I found that the difference of outcome lay in whether these people had a financial plan and whether they executed it. Financial wellbeing is central to the total health of any individual and inevitably affects family, organizations within which these people work and society at large.
The book I have written is my contribution to help humanity in this area of personal financial management. The book goes beyond classroom knowledge to provide individuals with a practical model for financial independence. It seeks to demystify personal financial management by breaking it down to 5 simple steps in a model I have labelled SMAAT. The model is designed to help individuals come up with practical ways of managing their finances in a manner that ensures they not only are able to live within their means but also create surpluses within their current incomes for savings and investments. I can be reached on the following contacts:
jisiaho@hotmail.com
jane@smaatfinance.com
And of course via WhatsApp on this same number 022271267
This is insightful. Well done.