The Akamai Global Money Page

By James Abola It is said that love is blind but some wealthy people go into marriage with one eye open, to watch their money. A prenuptial agreement is usually signed before the knot is tied so that if, or when, the marriage comes to an end the person with more money escapes with enough to start all over again. In Uganda the excitement of elections has briefly pushed the domestic relations bill (DBR) into the back banner. A key issue in the DBR is control over assets between husbands and wives. Disagreements that lead to the dissolution of a marriage lie on the extreme end of the spectrum but even more stable relationships still suffer from money induced or related tensions. With the advent of laws requiring public officials to declare their assets, is it of any use for people intending to marry or those already married to institute an asset declaration policy, as well, so that all earnings first go through a joint account? How about the vexed question of budget control, who among the...

By James Abola We often hear about offshore investment and mutual funds but what do they actually mean. The term offshore indicates something foreign or outside a domestic territory. Offshore investing or alternative investing is conducting financial business outside of the investor’s home country or home currency. Most offshore investments offer high returns, low or no taxes and a high level of confidentiality. Dictators and corrupt politicians in Africa have given a bad name to offshore investing for many Africans. Most people have heard stories of politicians who steal resources from their countries and go and deposit it in numbered Swiss Bank accounts. Both global and national developments in the financial sector have made it more difficult for the so called blood money to be stashed away by politicians. These same developments have opened opportunities for honest citizens to participate in offshore investment. One of the main offshore investment vehicles is the mutual fund. A mutu...

By James Abola Studies have found that Ugandans are one of the most entrepreneurial people in the world going by the number of new businesses springing up every year. It is not possible however for everybody to be involved in business as means of growing or sustaining their wealth. Some people must find a passive means of investing. The passive investor provides money and does not have to report to office at 8 am and knock off at 5 pm in order to get a return. The favoured arena of the passive investor is the securities market, like the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). The major items traded on the securities exchange or market are shares and bonds. Shares and stocks are the same, only that Americans prefer stocks while the British use shares. Shares represent units of ownership in a public company. In the case of Uganda examples of public companies include Uganda Clays, Bank of Baroda and BAT (Uganda). Shares are the most common ownership investment traded on the market. Bonds on the...

By James Abola Retirement is that time when you should be enjoying more leisure time than stress time, if you continue working it could be as a part time consultant. You may even choose to volunteer for a worthwhile cause. This ideal picture of retirement is only possible if you have actually planned for retirement ahead of time. The prospect of a comfortable retirement is like the proverbial carrot dangling in front of us, encouraging us to keep going in hopes of a future reward. The only difference is that, unlike the carrot that is always just too far away to reach, a comfortable retirement is actually attainable. While this is encouraging, achieving your retirement goals will not happen automatically. As with most other things, the two key things that you need to do are to plan ahead and to follow through with your plan. Unfortunately, there is no retirement planning resource that will provide you with the self-discipline and self-motivation you need to achieve your retirement goal...

By Michael Mawa Unconditional Love – the way to go! It is with utmost reluctance and somewhat heaviness that I am, finally, at the bidding of my good friend James, writing this piece about our impressions on the practical consequences of the northern war. There are two reasons for my reluctance: First of all, while the debate rages on what has and has not been done, that debate is largely doing very little if any, in practically improving the day to day lives of these precious Ugandans who do not want to spend an extra day in such despicable conditions. Secondly, there’s simply a feeling of resignation especially with the older generation whom we strongly believe could do a lot in extending tangible support and thus alleviate some of the pain; most especially those who wear the name tag of practicing Christians. Instead they seem to either be completely insensitive, unbothered or just unwilling to respond appropriately to the plight of these people, and prefer to carry on with business...

By James Abola Our daughter is a few months past three years and has been inquisitive for most the past 2 years. Recently she has got round to asking where my daddy and mummy are. I reckon she always sees her Jjaja (her maternal grand mother) and wonders where the paternal grannies are. I have attempted to explain to her that daddy’s parents are no longer here but with little success. When I got a summon to go home for the traditional marriage of my cousin Miriam I jumped at it and that is how daughter and daddy ended up in Gulu for three days. When we were about to live Gulu for Kampala she came with ‘knowing’ smile and told me “daddy I have seen your mummy.” Now I have to dig deeper to explain that although her biological grandparents are departed from this world she still has many grand parents alive! During our stay in Gulu I observed three things: dust, darkness and dance. The dust You see, for long time, Gulu has been the defacto regional headquarters for Northern Uganda and that...

The employment terrain in the last 20 or so years have been marked by changes like divestiture or privatisation (government pulling out of the business of managing businesses); retrenchment or downsizing and early retirement. Employers have also moved to consolidate pay so that instead of multiple allowances the employee gets a consolidated pay. Some stronger organisations still continue to provide health allowance, but usually in the form of health insurance. By taking up the insurance premium the employer gets a more definite cost for the health of its staff and passes the uncertainty on to the insurance provider. While employers have gradually (in some cases) drastically moved away from looking after the welfare of their staff, the employees have not been prepared for this change. It is becoming more common for organisations to employ independent contractors who are responsible for all insurance and tax obligations related to their contracts. The message being communicated by the ch...

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By James Abola Dear Friend In 1996 my employers transferred me from Gulu to Kampala. When I got to Kampala I joined a group of young people who met regularly to pray. Being fresh from Gulu I regularly brought the conflict in northern Uganda as a prayer item but it always met with lukewarm interest. I have thought long and hard about this matter and the only conclusion I can come to is that many people do not know the real picture of what has been going on in northern Uganda for the past 20 years. I have taken the liberty to share with you the little I know about the pain going on in Northern Uganda in the hope that it will encourage you to take positive action to lessen or better still overcome the plight of “those people.” Since Mr Olara Otunnu, the former UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children opened the debate on a genocidal programme in northern Uganda, many people have jumped into the fray. Olara’s first volley was fired during the November 2004 Sydney Peace Pr...

By James Abola It seems there is a conspiracy among many professions to lock other people out of their fields through the use of jargons and abbreviations. I once attended a meeting in the education sector where everybody was talking in abbreviations which made no sense to me as an outsider. Since I had been brought in as a consultant, I had to swallow my pride and request them to use proper words and not acronyms. The field of finance is not any better either with things like Repos, buy, sell, options having meanings that by pass non financial mortals. The trend in most economies now is for individuals to take personal charge of their investments including retirement planning. This makes it more vital to know what is meant when the ‘financial types’ get talking and selling to you products. I have come to learn over time that interest rate can mean many things and should not be taken at face value. When looking at interest rate many aspects need to be taken into account: what time peri...

By James Abola Two men were asked to explain how the world came into being. One answered, the universe is a result of a major event termed the “big bang”, which made random matter to become organised as we see in nature and living things. No, interjected the second fellow, the big bang theory doesn’t add up, because if it were true then tell me where did the matter needed for the bang come from? He continued to assert “the universe is the work of a supreme and ever present being, who is responsible for its design and order.” When it comes to the issue of originating a business idea there is a remarkable parallel with the thinking about the origin of the universe. Some people believe that to come up with a good business requires a big bang. The emphasis is usually on promotion and marketing to get customers turned on to the products of the new business. Other people put their money on a creative approach to establishing a business. The essence of the creative approach is a business idea...

By James Abola I am left with about ten years to become a parent with a teenage child. Given the speed at which the past three years have flown, I know ten years is not a very long period to learn the art (if it exists) of successful parenting. I have been learning from parents with older children what values they are passing on to their children so that they grow up to become responsible and successful in life. Most parents would be happy if their teenage children were performing well in school and do not get into trouble with the opposite sex. Parents emphasise the importance of education to their children, the message is if you do not get a good education you will not amount to anything in life. Privately many fathers (mothers are generally more accommodative) would not want their children to go out on a date unattended and place a dusk to dawn curfew during holidays. I am told that if I add to these a few other details like respect to elders and authorities; no tattoos; no outrageo...

By James Abola Does having and implementing a personal financial plan mean going through life with a long face, while donning the proverbial tight belt? The thought of living within one’s means is not entirely palatable. At times it means choosing not engage in debt driven consumption in order to save for the future. One time after talking to a gentleman about developing a personal financial he invited me for lunch. My response that I could not have the lunch because I had carried my food from home did not rub him well. He turned to me and said “James people like you who carry chapatti from home for lunch are not good for economic growth, how do you expect people whose business is to sell lunch to prosper if their food is not bought?” I found his justification of free spending very interesting. I would love to conduct a survey to find if the many people who spend money as if their pockets or handbags have been hired by De La Rue are actually being that charitable to the economy. A lady...

Hi Welcome to this blog. I am James Abola a financial consultant based in Kampala Uganda. This blog contains some of the thoughts and articles that I share to help people to grow their money and businesses. You can also read my articles in the Sunday Monitor on the Money Matters page - www.monitor.co.ug . If you need my services send me a line on jhabola@yahoo.com Have a great reading