Angela Boshoff Hundal is the founder and head of copy at Scribe content agency. A South African, she has spent eight years in Dubai. The 34-year-old’s attitude to money changed dramatically when she and her husband were forced to tighten their belts due to redundancy in 2008 and after having a child three years ago.
How did your upbringing shape your attitude towards money?
I wish I had been taught more about how to manage money. I am the last of four children, with a 14-year gap between me and my youngest brother - a “late lamb” as we say in South Africa. I was born in Johannesburg but grew up in the Western Cape, in Hermanus. We were middle class, not wealthy, but I usually got the toys I wanted. My mother used to do work from home, my father worked nights as a musician. Money wasn’t really something we spoke about. But I don’t like to spend willy-nilly, which could potentially come from my parents - they were quite cautious, not risk-takers.
What do you think you are doing differently as a parent?
I am trying to teach my son how money can make you money, because I wasn’t taught that. He’s very little, nearly three, but he already understands where money comes from and that we work to make money. I am starting to give him money to put away, so he can understand about saving. Schools don’t talk enough about money - either how to save or spend. Spending is a skill. You can either blow everything or spend well and have some left over.
How much did you get paid for your first job?
At 15 I was a waitress and earned 1,000 South African rand a day (Dh280) in a good season - a lot for a teenager. I blew it on clothes and stuff. In my mid-twenties, after travelling and working in a linen design studio, then as a personal assistant and receptionist, I got my first proper writing job earning 15,000 rand (Dh4,225) a month as a junior writer, a decent salary in 2003.
Are you a spender or saver?
I’m more of a saver and much more conservative now because I own my own company. It has separate finances and I take a salary out each month; I’m quite strict about that. I’m happy with everything I have - clothes, car, where I live - and I’m not a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ kind of person. I don’t spend randomly.
What is your most cherished purchase?
Holidays, when I get to see family or go away with my husband and son. We had a little bit of an indulgent holiday to the Maldives last year - Dh22,000 all-inclusive and full board, so we didn’t have to worry about anything. It was really wonderful.
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Have you ever had a month where you feared you could not pay the bills?
My husband and I married in 2008 and the next year he was one of 1,000 retrenched from a bank after leading its merger. I was the only bread winner for about seven months, working as a copywriter for an events company. We had to move out of our two-bed house in Deira into a furnished, serviced studio in Bur Dubai - a much smaller space. It was quite a life-changing, stressful time. We had to sell a lot of our stuff, some of our most treasured possessions, like my husband’s bike. We were 26 and 29, not kids but quite reckless newlyweds who brunched a lot, shopped a lot, went out a lot.
How did that change your attitude to money?
We really realised, when one salary was taken away, how much disposable income we weren’t putting away. My husband changed careers - he had studied programming at university and left banking, where he worked crazy hours, to become a digital development manager for a group of radio stations. When we left the studio, we found an amazing one-bed in Tecom, an old hotel converted into apartments, and felt like our luck was changing.
Did having a child have an effect too?
We became a lot more cautious and conservative after having our son - almost a 360 - and my husband now puts as much as he can into trading and saving. Today we live in a three-bedroom apartment in IMPZ – it’s a full house, with a rescue dog and cat, my in-laws staying for up to six months at a time, and a live-in nanny. I feel very privileged to have this support as it allows me to focus on my business.
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Where do you save?
I put a set amount away each month for myself in a life and critical illness/ savings plan and an offshore account. An additional amount stays in the UAE for general savings, and I save offshore for my son, which I hope to put towards his tertiary education.
Do you prefer paying by credit card or in cash?
I prefer cash but we do use a card for groceries and big purchases to get the points. However, we reduced the limit down to Dh5,000 per month - which was very hard to do - as it really keeps us in check. Dh5,000 is much easier to pay off than Dh40,000 or Dh50,000.
What has been your best financial investment?
Just putting money away into an account that grows.
What do you most regret spending money on?
My father gave me Dh30,000 when I was about 20 and I rented a very nice, unfurnished modern house and furnished it - sofas, beds, artwork - and had a lot of parties. There was nothing particularly exorbitant I bought, but the money went quickly. I could have bought a small piece of land with that. It taught me to care about money more … once it was all gone.
What financial advice would you offer your younger self?
Buy property and save. I think properties are a great investment. One of my dreams is to buy property around the world.
Do you have a financial plan for the future?
Once I’ve met some of my property goals, I will start a retirement fund. I don’t see my family and I moving away from Dubai unless we are offered an incredible opportunity elsewhere. Having children in Dubai is very expensive in terms of schooling, though. We might consider having another baby of our own - or adopting - in the future but it’s not on the cards right now.
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Read more:
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If you won Dh1 million, what would you do with it?
I would put it away and let it grow, or buy property in South Africa and India, where my husband is from, which would act as investments for our son and safety fall-back plans if we ever had to move home. From Costa Rica to Portugal, there are endless well-priced properties worldwide. I fell in love with Sri Lanka when I was there too.
What would you raid your savings account for?
I just want to travel as much as I can; I would love to travel around the world with my son. I’m a big believer in buying experiences rather than things. I backpacked through South America - Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil and Argentina - when I was 17 for about five months. My son and I recently did a week-long trip to Thailand, and the whole family is going to Sri Lanka in August and South Africa in October. I am very keen to take my son sledding in Sweden around Christmas-time in a couple of years, and I’d love to see Tibet and Mongolia, perhaps when he’s a teenager.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm
Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: L/100km
Price: Dh306,495
On sale: now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
