 Welcome back to the program. My name is Yvonne Anula and this is business highlights. Now Christmas holidays come with a lot of excitement. We want to try new things that we've not done before with money that we do not have. Tonight our topics revolves around the holiday budget. We want to find out how we can be in a position to save money as well as be in a position to spend wisely during this period. And to see us through this topic tonight is Mina Azmiu, who is a financial wellness consultant, a serial investor and an enter premier. Remember you can be part of this conversation by tweeting us. Beginning with the word why news at Yvonne Anula at Y254 channel, the hashtag to use is Y254 updates. Mina, when I heard of this topic, the first question that landed in my mind was do I really need to get budget for this? Do I really have to have budget for my holidays? Thank you Yvonne. And it's true. Money you don't spend before you plan for it. A budget is not a very big issue. It's a list of what you intend to do with the money that you have. You don't plan for spending money you don't have. So we normally look at what is our income and the money we have saved. In fact the money we are going to spend over the Christmas holiday new year. It's money we have been saving throughout the year. So every month you save a certain amount of money towards your December expenses. Because this is the longest holiday and people over indulge. So we knew that Christmas will come as early as January. So what have you planned for? If you have not planned, don't spend. How easy is it for me to come up with the amount that I want to use for? Like Christmas? It's important to first get down and list the things that you want to do. This is a time of having fun and enjoying yourself and feeling good. And it is important to feel good. But you have to do it in a responsible way. So the question we ask ourselves is what can I afford? So it is more of affordability not what you feel like doing because even if you know it's good to fly home but you cannot be able to fly to Mobasa, you can take a SGR train or you can take a bus or you can hitch a lift. There are many ways of getting but you still get to Mobasa. So the question is how much money have you saved for this December? A less plan for it so that it's able to make you feel that you have enjoyed your Christmas? Definitely. Most young people are emotional about this festive season and at times I find that I bought a dress in December and in come January I look at the dress and I'm like, oh my God, I could have used this cash to do something else. Sure. That happens not just the young people alone. Even us at our age, we also do the same. In fact, Kenyans, we are emotional spenders. We spend to just feel good for the time being. And this is why nobody call for delayed gratification. You delay the gratification because you make mistakes when you allow emotions to guide your expenses, resist. Make sure that you plan for your shopping much earlier. I advise people that for Christmas shopping, especially clothes and shoes, do it in October before the mood has caught up. Because this mood actually is the one that comes with emotions. Choose what kind of address you don't want to adore yourself with during Christmas. A new year and plan invites earlier on. So what are some of the mistakes that young people tend to make when it comes to budgeting for holidays? Thank you. Young people have a problem of wanting to show that even them have made it. Exactly. And it is just putting a show. So I would advise you and the young people like you who are listening to us to resist the temptation to want to please other people. You do so much to please people who you don't like and they also don't like you. You are not going to get any advantage by showing them that you have arrived. So the point is, are you digging your grave and have a suffering year 2019 or are you spending responsibly now and live a better life in 2019? I advise that 2019 is more important than just a few hours of fun. Exactly. Now how do I prioritize between needs and wants in this season? We have it in mind that for parents, the kids are going back in school in January, but still we need to celebrate as a family because it's a holiday for us. For you young people, because you have no kids, you're taking it to school, first and foremost, you have a budget. January is the longest month. Exactly. Now we have already been paid or we have paid our workers to go on holiday. They'll be coming back in January. Already they have got the money that they are going to spend over the holiday in January. Have you paid your rent here? Have you made arrangement for your transport? If you drive, do you have enough money to fill your car or have you kept aside your bus fare to come to work because January month is very long and there is no money. Everybody is broke. So you must make sure that you have enough money which will take you, keep you going over January unless you don't leave. If you don't leave you're lucky. Are you coming back in January? Of course. Then you have to pay your house rent, you have to keep money for your bus fare and your lunches when you're here. And again you won't go to saloon. All this is money you should first remove from your income, the money you have. Pay those bills before you travel home or you go for holiday wherever you want to go and enjoy your holiday. Do not be tempted to spend fast. Then come later to think what will I do with any of you. Oh somebody, any money you have not paid. Pay it now before you go because the person who has been patient waiting on you also needed to have money for Christmas. Exactly. So be good to them by paying them off. If you have got anybody who have been assisting you pay them off. The retail that remains is what now you should enjoy. But don't spend before you have done those key things. Okay remember you can still be part of this conversation by treating us beginning with the word why news at Yvonne and Yula. It's Y254 channel. The hashtag to use is Y254 updates now. What is the number one thing you'll recommend for people to stop overspending or to avoid overspending? Any expenses that you are doing not that because you had planned for it is a need as you said need and wants. A need is a need like now transport. Yeah. But again it depends on how you want to get home. Do not go for instant gratification. Yeah. Try to minimize your expenses because I can assure you December is a very long holiday. Like now it's beginning on Friday. We are going to come back in January. So those are more than 12 days of spending without working and without earning. So I will tell people do not engage into any unplanned for activities because if you had planned for it well and good but then anything is good because it's a holiday and it's a break. What happens in the case of solving mislineas like items or services? Do I need to budget separately for that? No. Don't have separate budgets. List all of them. And the point here is if you have not planned for it don't spend on it. I advise people like now you young people what I have learned over the years how I have been able to solve the problem. I look I list down all the things that I do. I divide my money and put it into envelopes and write on top of it. It's for clothes I write clothes. If I want to buy any gadgets, if I want to buy any presents, if I want for transport I will not change money that belong to the envelope for transport and usage to buy presents. Thank you. Now that I don't want to use money that I had kept for some other things or I don't want to overspend is it okay for me to get a loan maybe? Loan? No. The loan is, the debt is struggling yourself. Do you know by the loan it's living tomorrow's life today. What will you do when tomorrow comes? Don't borrow money which you are not investing to make more money for you for expenses. They are called consumption consumer loans. Don't resist that temptation because it will become a bigger burden on you when you'll be paying it to be very painful. So resist that temptation at any level. So how can I be in a position to budget within my limits? Very good. You accept yourself for where you are. In fact you normally have two distant lives. The least of what is possible and what you aspire for. What you aspire for is good because it makes you work harder to increase your income so that you can afford them. Like now let's say this year you are going to Mobasa. It is good to go by air. Yeah. But you can't afford it. But I want to try that. It's a new thing definitely. I want to try it. Very good. Try it but budget for it. Have you put money aside for it? Because you should start planning now. If you have not planned for it this December I advise you even don't do it. But because December will come out another 12 months next year. 2019 Mobasa will still be there. Airways will still be there. We don't need better planes. Resist. Practice what we call instant gratification. And you can plan for it in 2019. This time take a train or take a bus. Or drive there. Even hitch a lift. You still being Mobasa. And you'll actually have a better time because life does not end in January. It becomes more difficult. So what is the use of having fun for only two weeks? You've had cases of young people. Now that it is festive season. I want to go at my grandma's loaded. I want to show everyone that I can actually buy you a drink. I can actually buy you buy you a new dress. I can do this for you. I can do this for you. I can give you 50 shillings each. What happens in such cases? Show everyone. This is the problem. You have to make sure that you do not do it for them. It is for yourself. Do not want to please people at your expense. It's good to treat people, yes. It's good to make people happy. But are you overstretching yourself? Resources do not increase. Unless now you have got a plan on how you're going to increase your income, you cannot go spending before you make. And that is a mistake we do. Those people you are making happy there and you are showing them that you are doing good in Nairobi, they will not be part of your suffering when you'll be paying back, when you'll be broke here when you come back in January. By the time you get to 15th of the month, you have nothing. You are borrowing even money for food, you for water and everything. I will advise the young people do not get into that temptation and allow yourself to focus on what is important because there are two things in life. First and foremost are priorities. What is your first priority? Needs. Then we come now to wants. We all have wants, but do not spend on wants before you have met the needs. Always make sure that the money go to the needs first before you go to the wants. You spoke about saving for the budget or maybe budgeting from as early as October. And I'm here thinking vehicle prices hiked just the other day. Now it seems like the money budgeted for traveling won't be enough. What happens in this case? In that case, you'll have to remove money that you had planned to do other things to add into the transport kitty because you have to travel. We know, okay, again another area in life, we have got to what is urgent and what is important. You always look at what is more urgent. So because you must, if you have to travel home to any destination you want to go, you have your fun. You must first and foremost allocate money for the transport or you change the means of transport. So if the means you're using is more expensive, you can change and adjust. But otherwise, there's some factors which are beyond your control. If fare went up, what do you do? You go to bed or you stop going home? No, I won't stop going home. And people are waiting for you at home? Yeah. So what do you do? Do not buy that shoe. Use the one that you have. They do not even notice. They do not get bothered that people are looking at you in so many ways. Be comfortable in your skin. Do you be you? The problem we have is that we like wearing a mask. Branding. Wanting to show that you are more than we are. Yeah. And remember, the people down there in the reserve, they are not of any value to you in branding. Exactly. Plus please the people here who you can actually, who can give you a job. Like now you I know you can become, you can be given some job to MC or at least you can give it for entertainment. Those are the people you should target, not the people in the rural areas. Okay. As we wind up, what should I consider while budgeting? While budgeting, you consider all the items you want to spend on. Again, it's the money that you have saved. And I would want to advise this. Start saving for 2019 Christmas in January. Every month save a certain amount of money towards what will be spending in the next Christmas. Because I can assure you, your salary will not be enough to make you enjoy your Christmas if you did not save. Every month for the 12 months that we have in a year, put aside a certain amount of money that you call holiday kitty. Keep on adding into it. But before you put the money aside, first plan where you want to go and spend your holiday. Plan the things that you will do because the amount of money you save per month should add towards the budget for that time. Unless now things prices go up, like you have said, that transport went up in October because of our budget and other issues, the bill which was put in which you do not envisage, you should be able to plan how you are going to spend your holiday now. Then start saving every month. And again, work harder to create extra income which will feed into your holiday spending. Okay, minor. I understand there are a lot of holidays in a year. Now, let's say there's a holiday in February. I've started saving in January. When I'm done with that holiday, am I supposed to start saving again in February for the other holidays or what happens? In effect, when you are budgeting and planning, you know, budgets come after you do planning. During planning, you first recognize all the holidays which are there. In fact, apart from now, like the holiday which we are given during elections, there's no holiday which is not in the calendar. Even I don't know what you are saying in February. February is not a holiday. Valentine's Day is not a holiday. I don't know. So, Valentine's Day, but it is a calendar. And we spend money during Valentine's Day. Yeah, exactly. So, the point is, we know there will be that time for spending in February. We know during Easter there is holiday. We know first May, first June, October, and December. Unless now, another holiday, then you also know edificatory, the Islam holiday. So, you list down all the holidays that we have in a year. Then, when you start saving, identify how you want to go for each of those holidays and what you want to do for yourself and for other people. So, after you identify that, do a costing. Then, that costing is the one that should determine how much you save per month. Okay. Thank you so much for