Personal finance plays a key role in the juggling act of work-life balance. While working women can be consumed by dealing with day-to-day financial decisions budgeting for immediate needs of food, petrol, clothes, and the sought after annual vacation) sometimes not enough time is focused on long term financial planning. What is your plan if you have a health emergency and can no longer work? Are you prepared if your spouse passes away before you? Have you saved enough money for retirement? Have you started saving for your children’s university education?
It’s important to have answers to questions like these, especially for expats living in the UAE. Unlike in our home countries where we pay taxes and there are government sponsored pension schemes, and most of us know the local laws regarding health insurance or wills, many expats are not well informed about UAE laws.
There are a plethora of “independent financial advisors” in the UAE who will help you with these matters. Just Google those words if you want to be overwhelmed with information. But how independent are these financial advisors? And can they deliver after the sales pitch?
The good news is that there is a personal finance social media platform called cashy.me – in both Arabic and English – that provides quality information and advice. With the tag line “manage your money, live your life” it offers information based around five themes: MANAGE (savings, debt, finances) LIVE (work, play, family, PLAN (tax, retirement, the unexpected), INVEST (shares, property, alternative ethical) and COMMUNITY (Q&A, Videos, Resources). It is not just a website but about “content related to money and life”. Its content is shared on TV and radio and spread to different platforms. There are also community outreach initiatives and town hall events where experts go to local communities and schools to share their advice.
Cashy.me was founded by Nima Abu Wardeh, a prominent bilingual English-Arabic broadcast journalist based in Dubai, who presents the weekly Middle East Business Report on BBC World TV. Seeing a need in the expat community that makes up 85% of the UAE population, she started this community-based initiative. It was the first personal finance platform in the Arab world. Delivery in both languages is a key advantage.
Remember, financial planning is not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing process. Your plan should be updated as your circumstances change based on your goals. And these goals change whether you are single, married, divorced, widowed, working or retired.
Written by: Theresa F. Weber
