Times Of Swaziland: ‘CIVIL SERVANT TAKES HOME E123.14 PER MONTH’

‘CIVIL SERVANT TAKES HOME E123.14 PER MONTH’
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The Editor on 24/01/2020 00:26:00


Sir,
It is very dangerous to give financial advice off-the-cuff. A financial expert
should know that it is very dangerous to give financial advice off-the-cuff
(‘Civil servant takes home E123.14 per month’, Times of Eswatini, Wednesday,
January 22, 2020).
Well intended advice might just inadvertently mislead people. I’m sure the
financial problems this civil servant is facing are deeper than what has been
reported.
Hence, they require a specific solution - not just a simple one like the
consolidation of the loans as suggested by the financial expert.
The inadequacy of the information provided in the article makes it very
difficult to understand her problems and their sources.
Information
Without knowing the totality of the information it is not possible to give the
best solution to *Bubu’s problems. While I totally symphathise with her for
going through this terrible situation, I suspect that she owes more individuals
or organisations than she has provided.
In other words, the problem goes beyond the loans she has with the two service
providers and the rental arrears. For instance, she might be owing
‘shylocks’ and I suspect the details of these were not provided to the
financial expert before she gave her advice.
To come up with the best solution/financial plan for her would require more
information. She would need to share all the information with an independent
financial planner.
For instance, for any independent financial planner to assist her, they would
need to have all the information on her debts (i.e. balances of each loan,
repayment period of each loan, instalment for each loan), bank statements of all
her accounts including those for credit cards, information on the size of her
family, ‘assets’ (I’m deliberately using this term loosely so that it
includes all the things she owns that could be sold to raise money), school
fees, bus fares for her and her children, rental, hire purchase agreements etc.
The best financial plan for her should not only be about clearing the debt it
should also have components for saving and income generation. This means that
she should seriously think about either running a small business on the side or
providing her skills to those who can pay for them on weekends and/or after
work. Lastly, I have bad and good news for Bubu.
The bad news is that it will not be easy for her to get out of this situation.
Planner
An independent financial planner can assist her in identifying her ‘assets’
and areas of expenditure that could be cut, structuring her debt etc, but the
work to execute the plan would still rest on her.
It will require a lot of sacrifice and determination. The good news is that it
is very possible to get out of this situation. But, as they say, the only place
where success comes before work is in the dictionary. So she should be prepared
to work hard in executing the plan. I wish her the very best while she embarks
on this journey.
Sifiso waka Mavuso
Makhwelela, Nhlangano