I believe budgeting is an essential positive life tool that has, unfortunately, evolved into a negative task for many. This realisation led me to carry out research on feelings towards budgeting and consciously managing money.
What I found is that feelings can vary quite significantly when you mention the word budget, with many people tensing up or dismissing it as an option.
They tell me that it raises feelings of restriction, restraint and unsustainability, but also shame and guilt. Others assume budgeting can only result in living a boring life because of the financial restrictions it dictates.
For me, budgeting is about deciding what I want to do with my money, in my best interests and within my values. Its purpose is not to only highlight what I can't do – but that said, there are things I can’t do if my income doesn’t allow for it.
Budgeting highlights the gaps and provides clarity and information I can use to set goals. If there is something I need, want to buy, achieve or do and it involves money, I set a goal and find a way by using my budget to do it. It is an essential skill in my manifesting toolkit.
What is it exactly about budgeting that puts many off? Language is so powerful and how we talk or think about budgeting has the same effect as the language we use in other parts of our lives.
If you budget or consider budgeting, do you think, “I am on a budget” or “I have a budget”? Is there a difference? I believe the difference is vast.
If you are on a budget, chances are you feel you should be spending as little as possible. You watch every fil, penny or cent and feel guilt or shame when you spend. The goal is usually to cut out as much cost as possible and, usually, this means less spending on the areas of life we enjoy, such as socialising, shopping, eating out and entertaining.
This approach to budgeting often means saying no a lot as you feel you are not allowed to spend. You miss out on so much of life because you feel shame about spending money on what are considered to be frivolous activities, items or events. It is essentially a low-calorie diet for your money.
It feels restrictive and, let's face it, very few can sustain being on a budget long term. But would you want to? It doesn’t sound very joyous or life-enhancing to most. What happens when you don’t stick to your strict budget? We feel shame, a sense of failure and, more often than not, we just give up.
However, having a budget is having a plan. It is consciously deciding how you are going to use your money to live the life you want.
It is telling your money what to do as opposed to telling yourself what you can’t do. It is freeing. It reduces stress. It is clarity. It can even be exciting and motivating. It is a powerful tool to help you best use the financial resources available to you.
It is how I support myself to use my money in line with my values, my goals and how I want to live. In more recent times, I realised it is a powerful form of manifestation.
When we approach budgeting with a positive attitude and mindset, it feels natural and helps us to live our best lives.
Carol Glynn
Think about that. I am planning what I want to happen in my future and using my money to achieve what I want in life. Yes, it is planning my financials but how much of what you want in life is not in some way influenced by money? Very little, when you break it down.
When we approach budgeting with a positive attitude and mindset, it feels natural and helps us to live our best lives. It can be flexible and sustainable as opposed to stressful and unsustainable.
If your budget feels restrictive and is holding you back from living your life, then maybe it is time to approach it differently.
Carol Glynn is the founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
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Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
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What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
India expects 99% of exports to benefit from zero duty, raising opportunities for textiles, marine products, footwear and jewellery
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
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- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
