(Prayer on New Year’s Day morning):

Dear Lord,

So far this year I’ve done well.

I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper; I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on I’m probably going to need a lot more help! Amen.

~ (www.guy-sports.com/humor/christmas/new_year.htm)

The MBA Forum wishes you the very best in 2016! Please do not make any New Year’s resolutions. Instead, commit to making two or three significant changes in your life — and stick to them. Remember, as I said before, if you cannot manage yourself, you will not be able to manage others!

Let us start off the new year with a financial flourish. To do this we will get some help from the article

9 things to do in the new year to brighten your financial outlook from the website:

money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2015-12-22/9-things-to-do-in-the-new-year-to-brighten-your-financial-outlook and written by Teresa Mears.

Max out your pension contributions

If you are one of the privileged few working adults who has a superannuation pension plan, then it is possible you may be cheating yourself. Many employers match payments to your pension plan up to a certain point based on the employee’s contribution. The problem is that many employees choose the basic minimum — and so deprive themselves of the additional free money from the employer! Also remember that pension payments are tax deferred — so you do not pay taxes on the money that is deducted for payment to the pension.

Another fundamental issue is the fact that laws have been passed in Jamaica to allow you to save towards a pension even if you are self- employed or your company does not have a pension plan. You can consult any insurance company and ask them about the Approved Retirement Schemes (ARS) for individual retirement savings. Whereas the superannuation plans allow you to contribute up to 10 per cent of your salary before tax, the ARS allows you to save up to 20 per cent — so you can exploit that!

I think our lawmakers need to address an anomaly in our pension laws because whereas in the United States, for example, you can be involved in multiple pension plans, in Jamaica you can have only one (not counting the NIS).

Make a will and review your estate planning

Death is so much a part of our existence, yet we do not like to think about it. Ever heard the joke that says, “Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die to go there”? You don’t want to leave your family in the lurch if something untoward happens.

Make sure you’ve designated who will take custody of your children, who will inherit your property and who will make decisions for you if you become incapacitated. And then make sure your family knows where to find this information as well as your other financial information, including passwords for online accounts.

Increase your savings

If you’re putting $5000 of each pay cheque into savings, move it up to $7000 or $9000 or more. As I indicated above, you should increase (to the maximum if possible) your pension savings. You will thank your younger self when you retire!

By making small changes to your savings habit, you won’t miss the money, and you can build up your emergency funds. Open a college savings fund for your child — again the insurance companies can help you with this. Remember, there is still also the long-term savings plan allowed by government whereby if you commit to save in such an account for a minimum certain number of years without touching the funds, you pay zero taxes on the interest! Yes, check it out — I said zero taxes!

Automate your savings

I was much younger when I bought my first house — a very tiny unit in Portmore – but guess what, it was mine! Can I also share a secret that I have already shared on the MBA forum? A few years later when I wanted to upgrade to a bigger unit, I sold that house for 1,000 per cent of the original price! That is why I say to young people – buy property!

Anyway — back to the point. The only way I could have bought that first unit was because I set up automatic deductions straight from my salary into an account that I could not touch (well… I could have touched it, but with some penalty). So I forced myself to save because I knew it would be difficult if not impossible to just save the money myself on a monthly basis.

Organise your finances. Some people just do not have the knack to be organised generally — much less to organise their finances. Get help! Go to your bank or your investment broker — they will help. You should know how much revenue you get, what your expenses are and why you are always in the red.

You may need to increase your income, reduce your expenses or both. You may need to consolidate your debt. Do you absolutely need that new dress/suit/car? Do you really have to eat out tonight and spend that $12,000 you already do not have? You may also need a lesson on “how to use your credit card”!

Bottom line, 2016 cannot see your finances continue to spiral out of control. Get a grip!

Ask for discounts

Most places you shop have tiers of different customer discounts that they offer. Typically you will get a discount but only if you ask (and yes, I mean in Jamaica!). Try it — you may be surprised. At one particular place where my wife and I shop, we regularly get discounts of up to 30-35 per cent off. How? Because she had the temerity to ask!

I have had a loan at a particular financial institution for a little while now — and suddenly I realised that the rate I was paying was fairly high compared to the going rates being given to new customers. So, I wrote a very short email requesting that they review the rates. And without any fuss, they lowered the rates to the current rates. I wasn’t even required to sign anything or visit their office. All I did was … ASK!

Pay your bills on time. Some people pay utility reconnection fees, exorbitant charges on late loan and credit card payments and incur other fees by missing bills, not because they cannot afford it, but because they are disorganised. That is money wasted. Money you could be saving. Fix that for the new year!

Dr Kenroy Wedderburn is an MBA part-time lecturer. Send your e-mails to drkwedderburn@gmail.com.