18 Sep 2023
About 140,000 Gambians work in foreign countries, primarily to earn a living and help their family back home financially. To this end, these Gambian migrants send money to Gambia from overseas. Do you know how crucial is managing finances for these overseas Gambians? Let’s dive deep into understanding and managing finances in better ways so you can achieve your goals of living and working abroad.
Since a majority of the people in the Gambia suffer from unemployment and poverty because they cannot find sustainable jobs in the Gambia. Therefore, they travel to developed countries for work.
The financial contribution of the Gambian migrants is substantial as the remittances they send back account for over 20% of the country’s GDP.
A World Bank report said that the quantum of inward remittances to the Gambia in 2022 was a little over $600 million. This is a substantial amount, although less compared to remittances other countries in the region receive. But given the number of Gambian migrants abroad, it holds immense value for the country.
Do you know what is the role of personal financial management in making such financial contributions, both at the household and national level?
Well, personal finance management plays a key role in it.
Always remember that with better management of your finances, you can achieve with little financial resources what you cannot with a substantial earning.
Otherwise, working abroad would mean making big fortunes for everybody, which is not the case, of course. Most of the global migrants end up doing jobs that they do not find ideal but take those up because of absent alternatives.
This blog will help you understand personal financial management and give you tips to ensure you manage your money easily and efficiently.
Personal finance has many dimensions to it but simply, personal finance is the process of planning and managing your financial activities like income generation, spending, investing, and saving.
It also means how you manage your money and how you make a budget to decide where your money goes, and so on.
As a Gambian migrant, you must efficiently manage personal finance in a money transfer to Gambia. Because in the process you run the risk of paying more to the service provider than the intended beneficiary back home.
Therefore, it is essential to know the Tips To Save More On Your International Money Transfers from overseas.
As mentioned earlier, personal finance has many dimensions. But here it is made easy and simple for your better practical understanding.
Below are, therefore, listed its key components.
Like in every other field, you start with the basics in personal finances too and the three basic personal finance principles are discussed below.
Prioritisation is the basic principle for successful personal finance management. As the term explains itself, it means to focus on what’s important and worth spending your money on and what’s not.
The second principle is the assessment and honest analysis of your finances. Always be careful and honest while assessing your finances. Because any hope- or chance-based financial analysis will bear a negative impact on your financial management. So, be extremely practical.
The third principle restraint means to live within your means. Many people earning millions end up with little to no savings because they spend money on their wishes instead of needs. And others with limited means end up saving more because they exercise restraint while spending.
As a Gambian migrant, you leave your loved ones and family to earn a living and support them back home through money transfers. Right? But do you think is it all that you work abroad for? Don’t you have financial goals and objectives which you aim to achieve?
Of course, you do.
But how do you achieve those financial goals? Yes. You are right. It is through managing your finance efficiently instead of just deciding to simply send money to Gambia online regularly. In short, personal finance is the only practice that helps you achieve your financial objectives – big or small.
Let’s now see how you can manage personal finance easily.
It is not about being rich to manage personal finance. It is, rather, about allocating your money to pressing needs first and other needs later.
Here’s how to do it.
You must know why you are earning money. This will help you create financial objectives and keep you focused on those objectives. Your financial management must be aligned with your financial goals.
The best way to achieve your financial goals is to create a budget in light of your earnings and stick to it. Always keep your eye on your current finances while creating a budget instead of what you will likely earn in future.
Keep in mind that emergencies never knock before coming. They just appear. Therefore, always create an emergency fund and keep contributing to it regularly to handle emergencies with.
If you have borrowed money from some institution such as a bank paying back which is incurring additional costs in terms of interest, then consider paying it off immediately.
Using credit cards can drain you financially. Because they help you pay online for your shopping. You think that payment through these cards will not burden you financially at once as you will pay the money back gradually. It is true. But its excess and unwise usage has a negative financial impact.
Make sure to create a fund other than the emergency fund (explained above) for your retirement and keep contributing to it. because you will not live abroad forever or keep earning forever, for that matter.
So, save for the time when you can no longer work so that you have some backup to fall back on.
Consider investing the money that you manage to save in different areas. But beware of the scams and also thoroughly consider your investment options. Consult those with insight and experience in making investments.
Personal finance management stems from what you earn and how much you save. Right? And as a Gambian migrant, you have to send money online which incurs costs. So, find a service provider like ACE Money Transfer for your online money transfer to Gambia to save fees, get competitive exchange rates and much more from one stop.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is personal finance?
It is the process of managing and properly planning your finances. This process revolves around what you earn, how you earn, your investment plans, and how you spend and save money.
Why is personal finance important?
You travel abroad to earn a living and to achieve some financial goals that you have set. To achieve those financial goals, you have to manage personal finance without which you are unlikely to get any closer to those goals, let alone achieving them.
What are the key components of personal finance?
A few key components of personal finance include income, debts, mortgages, investment plans, retirement plans, insurance policies, tax planning, and budgeting.
What are the basic principles of personal finance?
Key principles of effective personal finance are an honest assessment of your resources, accurate Prioritisation of your needs, and the ability to exercise restraint and live within your means when it comes to spending money. Try resisting the spending temptation.
How to manage personal finance smartly?
You can manage your finance by creating a budget, setting financial goals, creating an emergency fund, preparing for retirement, considering investments, using credit cards wisely, paying off high-interest debts first, and so on.
Resources
(Personal remittances, received (current US$) - Gambia, The | Data (worldbank.org)
