JAMAICA/CHINA DO BUSINESS? GUNG HE FATT CHOY … IN THE YEAR OF THE HORSE …AMEN

D&G phones

YOU KNOW THIS IS ACTUALLY POSSIBLE – MAROONS, ATHLETES & MUSICIANS – ALL ON OUR TERMS AFTER HARD WORK & SOME SACRIFICE, THINK ABOUT IT.

OUR RESOURCES:
A DIRECT LINK TO A JAMAICAN LAWYER ON AL GORE’S CLIMATE AND CARBON FOOT PRINT GROUP
MASTERS IN GRANTSMANSHIP HEADING BIG TIME FOUNDATIONS
A DIRECT LINK TO THE NATURE CONSERVANCY WHICH ONCE BOUGHT AN ISLAND FOR 31 MILLION US TO SAVE IT
A CHINESE JAMAICAN FELLOW AWARDEE WITH AL GORE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AT OR FROM UWI

ADD UP:
SO WE GET THE GRANT WRITERS TO GET US SOME MONEY FROM NATURE CONSERVANCY TO FORM A NEGOTIATING GROUP INCLUDING SUCH AS THOSE ABOVE AND FORCE GOVT TO FESS UP/ACT & NEGOTIATE RESPONSIBLY ON OUR BEHALF

SCENARIOS:
ILLEGAL DEAL IN THE FIRST PLACE
BUT IF A LEASE, WE CAN NEGOTIATE WHAT THEY DO WITH OUR LAND AND WATER
IF STRAIGHT SALE, IT’S STILL OUR TERRITORIAL WATER WHICH CAN’T BE SOLD SO WE STILL GET TO SAY HOW WE EXPECT EFFLUENT TO BE PREVENTED FROM CREATING DISASTER OUT THERE

THIS IS GOING ON ALL OVER THE GLOBE, LET’S JUMP UP AND DOWN & ‘FLING OUR TOYS OUT OF THE PRAM’:
US MAKING ILLEGAL ENCROACHMENT ONTO SOME OF ITS TERRITORY OF DEVELOPMENT IN SECRET
COCO ISLANDS WITH COSTA RICAN GOVT BEING BRIBED TO ALLOW POACHING
SOCHI OLYMPIC SITE IS BEING BUILT ON NATIONAL PARK ETC ETC

Hidden Jamaican Money

There is hidden Jamaican money throughout the Jamaican financial system!  I kid you not.  NIS has disablility assistance and relief with doctor signed forms, there are widow’s benefits like funeral costs, they may also hold the only key to your getting pension money from places you worked and forgot or are closed down.   Let’s say the company you worked at closed and you didn’t get your NIS and NHT forms…the closed company is supposed to have handed your data over to NIS ….then again, if they didn’t ‘yu salt’….but if they did you can use it towards getting govt pension (however small) and towards getting NHT refunds.   As you leave/retire from each company make sure you get your NHT & NIS data for pension purposes, i.e., your NHT letters, keep all your pay slips and P24s back ’till you were 2 yrs old’ (just kidding but the 7 yr rule DOES NOT HOLD HERE!) …as the tax man and HR lady told me….it can take ‘ a long time’ and you don’t have a long time to wait for income when you retire…  Did you know NIS is in surplus because people aren’t claiming?!  And…they’re using to money to buy up overseas property rather than increase ‘the smalls’ we get…..sad…but every ‘mickle mek a muckle’..when it comes to your pensions…

Find out if your business is exempt from GCT transactions.  Call the ‘tax specialists’ (official name) at the Ocean Blvd dept of the Tax Office….(bet you didn’t even know this section existed, these are the guys that know every last angle and loophole of Jamaican taxes!!!)

Business in Jamaica – ASSUME NOTHING!!!!! This is not business as usual…

Do/create the opposite of the below mentioned and you’ll be a business success phenomenon in Jamaica:-  (Will keep updating this…)

1) Receipts are not automatic…ASK FOR & IF NECESSARY CONNIVE FOR THEM…ie at a gas station the attendant can’t bother go and get the receipt book…tell her the boss will cut off your allowance if you don’t give him the receipt…these people respond to and empathise with being marshalled by a boss

2) You will find fewer attendants at the counter at lunch hour rather than the more needed to accommodate the vast public also doing their business in their lunch break

3) Your employees will steal … especially your professional fees, household and food items, phone calls & cell phones

4) You are unlikely to be able to buy, find or count on what is advertised.

5) The customer is NOT always right…you are likely being ‘done a favour’ by your provider

6) Meetings never start on time

7) Jamaicans do not make short speeches, even when asked…they respond fairly well to bells at conferences though.

8) Most of middle management is female

9) If you find it once, don’t expect to find it again or have it re-ordered (except at Stewart’s Auto), supply and demand is not a big concept here. Eg all canteens will be out of perishables by 2, even if it the main sale item and the place is open til 5.

10) Professional standards are not a big deal here ….sometimes not even a deal…as talented cobblers and downright charlatans work happily alongside licensed professionals often with impunity in the tradesman fraternity.

11) If you have a query or are looking for something always ask 3 people in the same company and rely on 3 different answers…then decide the answer for yourself…commercial banks especially!!!

12) Dormant and unclaimed money is not facilitated back to rightful claimants, you must ‘make a federal case’ to get it.

13) The Jamaican Govt. is the greatest waster of resources on earth…monitor any assistance you give it tightly

14) Jamaican small business is genius at recycling…so good it steals to recycle.  Honest recycling is a gaping niche and potential gold mine in Jamaica.

15) Returning a sold item in Jamaica is not a concept …you will be lucky to get an exchange..expect this in more upscale shops but not necessarily

16) In a Jamaican office you should be able to get service or the phone answered between 10 and 3, before or after that is pushing it. Don’t ever rely on posted work/opening hours.

17) Ensure electrical and computer back up and surge protection or you will lose your business

18) Small businesses often do not have electrical or water backup…your business with them may be affected…bank on a hurricane season and concomitant disruptions

19) Car values only appreciate in Jamaica unlike the rest of the known world

20) Women run the entire show but the men are invariably deferred to.

21) Jamaicans don’t read, but are very visually oriented

22) More than most populations, Jamaicans need to be stars, they are not natural team animals…pack yes, team no.

23) The difference between SERVICE & SERVITUDE is not well understood by Jamaicans in Jamaica, they learn it when they go abroad.

24) Freeness and food are massive motivators of Jamaicans

25) At a business interview expect to be asked who your father is..

26) Consumer recourse is a difficult concept in Jamaica, but there exist several fair trade policing entities, one of the oldest the Consumers’ League was very helpful to me…you must ‘keep at it’ & stand your ground.

27) Jamaica is just realising the untapped value of its global diaspora – equal to the internal population or larger – (click the blue link below photo)

the Jamaica Diaspora Conference 2013

The Jamaica Diaspora Conference 2013.

28) The English language is no longer easily used in the Jamaican office setting as our education system has fallen into disrepair…

“Miss, where shall I go?”

“In de Hyti Room”

“Where is that Miss?”

“Me seh de Hyti Room!”

“Miss, I don’t understand.”

“DE ROOM WID ALL DE COMPUTER DEM!”

28)  When disagreeing with or reprimanding the Jamaican man-in-the -street, stand your ground, look him in the eye, don’t raise or voice, use no bad words, speak good English if you can and start your sentence with “With all due respect…”   Magic…like finding the Holy Grail…  Jamaicans have an underlying fear and horror of being disrespected…

29)  LIME Telephone service directory assistance is not integrated….they told you they don’t have a listing?  Well, phone back …the next operator often taps a separate system and voila…listing appears… you’ll never know till you try…they sure don’t tell you

30)  You have works listed with the Jamaica Copyright Licensing Agency JAMCOPY?  Hm, watch what your royalties are at year end…they sometime just omit to credit you for one genre of writing or another…..MAKE THEM CHECK AND TELL YOU WHAT THEY’VE GOT LISTED FOR YOU….!!!!


JAMAICAN INVENTIONS & PATENTS

Let’s ramp up Jamaican production and invent and patent stuff.   Jamaica Intellectual Properties Office will help you register your patent & this organisation will help you fund the start up if they think your idea is worth it!

I thought this organisation might interest you all…

they review money making Jamaican patent projects and give grants of about US$30,000:

Tameka Dunbar
Administrative, Procurement and Visibility Officer
The Competitiveness Company Limited
59 Hope Road,Kingston 6, Jamaica W.I
Tel: (876) 927-8981 or (876) 978-7481

Happy entrepreneuring!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money in Dormant Accounts/Unclaimed Bank Balances – Jamaica

I have helped encourage the Government of Jamaica, Ministry of Finance, to make available, for the first time, on a continuous basis, the dormant account lists of the commercial banks.  After 15 years, under Jamaican law, these monies go to the Bank of Jamaica and you must have proof it is yours in order to claim it, meaning, not  just regular account information and particulars.

We have a way to go in making the information useful, however, because right now the listings are by account numbers and not alphabetical name so you will have to have an idea of which branch an account might be in.  The first 2 numbers of the account at National Commercial Bank designate the branch, eg., 35 means Knutsford Blvd Branch.

Here is the link for the latest National Commercial Bank listing on the Ministry’s site. Click the link following, and then scroll down the list of links on the right hand side of the page to Useful Information section
Unclaimed Bank Balances, NCB

it will come up as a very slow loading PDF once you click the link (towards the very bottom of the right-hand column).

Below is a file for Unclaimed balance at The Bank of Nova Scotia & Citibank.  These files are not yet uploaded to the Ministry of Finance’s siteCitibank entry is the very last page in a tiny corner.

Bank of Nova Scotia & Citibank Unclaimed bank balances, March 2010

Let me know if you need further pointers, I’m trying to get info for the 3 other big commercial banks operating in Jamaica.

 

No one can charge you for your money, with the right credentials as proof of legacy or ownership it is yours for free but if you need help organising the paperwork and transactions that will help you get access to dormant money, we charge 6 percent of the sum in the account and a JA$ 3000 non refundable down payment.  If you need help let us know re decisions or actions concerning the banks, Mental Health Act, Administrator General or probate as your claim may go through one of these routes.

Worth Your Weight In Gold? The Wealth – Weight Connection

The connection between weight and wealth is ancient and can range from the personal to the global context.  There are always four variables to the grand equation, FAT, THIN, PLENTY, SCARCITY and through the course of history the relationship between these 4 has changed.

In the beginning… the first currency was salt, a mineral nutrient without which we die.  To measure wealth you sat on one side of the scale and salt was used to balance the scale.  You were very wealthy if you could balance your weight with salt in your possession.  As WoMan ‘progressed’ and his/her ability to amass resources became great enough; the first use of ‘disposable income’ arrived when gold could be used to buy salt and replaced salt as a measurement of wealth.  A wealthy person now became ‘worth his weight in gold’.  This was the primordial disconnect between directly consumed resources as wealth as they were replaced by inedible/non- life sustaining resources like…gold.  Think of it this way…if you were stranded on a desert island…what is more useful, a directly useful food/resource… or gold?

From history we will move to the global relationship between weight and wealth and finally to the personal aspects of the weight and wealth relationship.

Globally, as time went on it became obvious who was wealthy and who not, only rich people could amass enough resources of any kind, including food, to become fat.  In many cultures from Africa to Tonga and always during wartime in any culture the wealthy and sought after ….are fat.  The patricians of Rome invented the vomitarium, the ultimate excess.  Therefore, by the ‘natural order’ FAT and PLENTY went together and THIN and SCARCITY went together.  Many gods and goddesses are portrayed as fat because fat implied prosperity and fecundity.  Below a certain weight, women cannot reproduce.

Enter the mores of the modern Euro-American world and this relationship between the 4 variables is pitched on its ear.  Now it’s ‘in to be thin’ in this culture (give or take the fact that you should still have big boobs and a fat rear end…after all, we must still have our signs of fecundity!)  After WWII when America, full of goodwill and the best brains on earth, decided that none should starve, all manner of well intentioned farming and food producing machinery and the beginnings of agrarian genetic manipulation took off.  Now many people could pay small amounts and eat well again and it was still very good food.

People no longer had to grow resources to be able to eat and eventually there was enough amassed wealth to again pay top ballerinas, jockeys and female athletes to make livings by becoming ‘barren’ as they kept their weights to aerodynamic requirements.  I say ‘again’ because just before the war during the Depression, this kind of fast life ‘beauty’ became connected with disposable income and for the first time, those living in scarcity  had the strange paradox of going hungry and being emaciated because of it, while the wealthy OPTED TO BE EMACIATED.

Then something really sinister happened, the agro food industry discovered that all food could be grown and processed more cheaply and that the easiest foods to grow and manufacture cheaply were ‘the staples’ …sadly, our main sources of energy …the sugars and starches.  Fruit and vegetables are comparatively difficult to grow and process on a mass basis and fall by the wayside as fortunes are made speculating and genetically manipulating grains.  But wait!  Fruit and vegetable farming can be optimised, manipulated into hardier varieties …with less nutrient value.  So now everybody can be fed inexpensively with food that is cheaper to grow and manufacture and thus the agro-industry profit margins soar. The increased profit margins and amassing of cheap grain allow us to further concentrate food production into rearing animals we can eat.  This new food malnourishes the population, especially as those experiencing income scarcity go for cheaper, sweeter food and the fat rendered from grains and animals.  The governments of the ‘developed’ world also learn that you can even manipulate crops and food as a way to control the ‘developing’ world and keep it supplying the ‘developed’ world with resources that allow the wealthy to become wealthier.  Here we now have a bizarre switch; FAT is related to SCARCITY and THIN is related to PLENTY because those who can afford it are now eating expensive, healthy organic food and less fat.  These wealthier people are more educated and read about what is good for them and use their resources to buy the best for themselves.  The dieting industry now takes off as fat poorer women look at thin wealthy models and treat their weight and health like yoyos.

So where does this leave us personally?  First, food is always a part of celebration, next and wrongly, it is used as an incentive by many to get what they want from others. Rich countries to everyday mothers resort to it.  Plenty of food and variety is still associated with wealth, though not necessarily the eating of it.   One of our primary survival reflexes is the suck reflex, related to the comfort and warmth of the breast when we are babies.  ‘Food’ (really, cheap fuel in most cases) is very easily available now and it all pans out as follows.  The natural order was that under stress the animal’s appetite decreased, it lost weight, true for human animals too.  NOOOOOT ANYMOOOOOOORRRREE…now, in the ‘developed’ world we can use cheap food to soothe our suck reflex when we feel deprived.  In years gone by you couldn’t very well feel depressed and then run up the nearest honey tree 30 miles away, 40 feet in the air, fight swarms of stingers and then sit there sucking honeycomb!  Now we punch the coin into the snack machine in the hall and start ‘sucking’.  Have you noticed that when you of the ‘civilised’ world are happy, fulfilled, have lots of happy sex and rest, hugs and massages and plenty of social life and stimulation generally, including easy access to a variety of  healthy food…you lose weight?  I did.

But it gets weirder, in today’s world, we can feel so crazy we can feel like we lose control of our lives and everybody and everything around us,  but there is still one thing we can utterly master …ourselves…even punish ourselves and starve ourselves into anorexia and bulimia to prove ‘we still can’…but ‘can what’…?  Control the fact that your mother was alcoholic and you have bad relationships because of it?  It’s a terrible mess at this point and the poor self-esteem creates the worst habit of being stingy with yourself – to the point, even, of starving yourself to death.  Keep in mind companies that want a wealthy profile don’t hire fat people.  Finally, weight is being connected to health in a non-judgemental and scientific way and some hospitals are considering not hiring overweight staff in order to set an example and cut down on the increased sick days of unwell, fat people.

So for a good life, in our somewhat complicated developed world, try to stimulate and allow yourself to feel prosperous by affording yourself good company, enjoyable recreation and fun, enough rest and quiet and work at something you like.  When you prepare food, take the Japanese approach; make it look gorgeous and ‘wealthy’…lots of colour and variety.  Be Spanish and take 2 hours to eat it…i.e., take time to eat and do this and nothing else in good company.  Make sure you buy yourself a ‘sugar bun’ now and then (my term for a literal sugar bun or that glass of champagne, good meal at a restaurant, the dress you know will knock them dead, etc., etc.).  Appetites and drives get mixed up in the ‘civilised’ world…we feel deprived or stressed, we have the ‘luxury’ of ‘sucking’ bad food…we’re too tired…we eat, we’re sexually inactive…we eat, we feel worthless…we eat.  Try to separate your wants and appetites and satisfy what’s really ‘eating you’.  Buy the dress; go for the walk; drink coconut water; buy the fancy wine; get the physical stimulation – sex, hugs & rock & roll; go and rest, tell the bad relationship to naff off…  What you feel is often not hunger so don’t give it food; learn to feel what your body is really saying.  It is deprived of something, it feels scarcity of something …rarely is food the right answer in providing the ‘wealth’ you need.  When you do feel hungry eat and enjoy …never scarf down due to hunger, stress or panic, realise there will be more when you need it…  Time teaches you this and I learned it.

My own passage went something like this; I met a skinny, funny little man when I was fat due to sexual and social discontent.  He thought he looked wonderful at his end of the scale so I decided I looked wonderful at mine.  Next came the business of exercise; I found ‘luxury’ swimming and feeling light and then the ‘wealth’ of a free sauna in the student sports complex and a walk home in the soft snowy night all bundled up.  Then I plateaued, I still ate too much unhealthy food.  Then came work at a hotel when everything under the sun, healthy and unhealthy was available 24 hrs per/day.  I found I loved the healthy food and ate only that in small frequent amounts, 5 small meals/day.  The weight peeled down… there was a ‘wealth’ of choice and amount never ending.   Finally, as a med student, I discovered pro-biotic, organic, SLOW food (as organic as possible and as near home grown as possible) and never looked back.  For our ‘convenience’ generation, it is not cheap re time or your pocket and it is the main standard by which I judge my immediate income situation and also take into account that I help the planet when I eat SLOW…you might have a different yardstick.  Take into account the ironies that as we come full circle, the wealthy, including Obama and Prince Charles have staff who grows their private organic kitchen gardens and whereas Castro once cut down the majority of Cuba’s fruit trees to ensure ‘communism’, Cuba has now discovered the fortune to be made in organic farming (but they cut corners!) and Dominica has declared its entire island organic.  When you ‘eat your own’ or ‘SLOW’ you reclaim your wealth so if you can, grow a kitchen garden with heritage seeds (not Monsanto’s GMOed stuff which is now 90% of the world’s saleable seed) or eat from the wild plants and trees around you.   …There is a connection between weight and wealth…

Below is the knock out, drop dead, gourmet, SLOW food, ‘amuse geule’ menu of a restaurant which, except for some haute cuisine & foreign bar items, uses home-grown/made food as organic or near organic as  possible and found within at most a 4-hour drive from the premises.

ISLAND GOURMET  SLOW FOOD ‘amuse geule’ MENU & ACKEES OFF THE TREES BELOW


Motto: Guiltless Indulgence

Jamaica's National Fruit

Business Gratitude Page

In these early days of shifting to a more entrepreneurial approach to realising my dreams, these people or organisatiIons who have and are achieving their own have shared much of their time, talent, experience, encouragement and even ‘kind’ with me . I would like to acknowledge to the Universe and them that I appreciate it and intend to continue attracting more of same while I wish them all more of what they so freely give:

http://helenmacmillan.com

http://www.yardedge.net/

www.hotelmockingbirdhill.com

www.islandcarrentals.com

www.horsebackridingjamaica.com

www.thelittlebookofmissingmoney.com

www.oprah.com

www.deniseduffieldthomas.com

www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com

www.socialmediamagicuniversity.com

http://animalfarmjamaica.com

http://www.jamaicapropertyfinder.com/

and the list will grow.

HIT YOUR SIX ON ROUTE KINGSTON KICKS – Escapade No. 10 – Forget Death & Taxes…Make it Life & Tax Write-Offs in Jamaica & Go Visit Alpha Boys with Wata’s TGIF Tour!

Look here Ladies & Gents, it’s all very well to talk about

GOOD FOR JAMAICA, GOOD FOR YOUR POCKET

&
TAKE BACK JAMAICA, KINGSTON IN PARTICULAR, BY FINDING THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE THAT ARE FREE (OR NEARLY)

but you and I know we aren’t taking back anything if we don’t TAKE BACK THE PEOPLE!!  And as a man said recently, ‘hungry people will mash up the environment faster than ‘development”.  Therefore, at tax time, do something philanthropic & enjoyable with your tax write-off funds in Jamaica (or anywhere the spirit moves you). Cash or kind, combine a holiday or personal entertainment with giving back to reputable/longlived productive NGOs, charities and good causes. May I suggest:

My  favourite – The Alpha Boys School (producer of the majority of our world class musicians, this place is integral to music education & history in Jamaica, – I mean the Skatalites & back up to the likes of Louis Armstrong!  Should be UNESCO world heritage if you ask me!!  Since 1890 odd!!!).  Keep your ears glued in 2014 and if it comes off, be prepared for a SKA/ROCKSTEADY NIGHT BLOWOUT with the kind support of COUNTRYSIDE PANYARD…(Escapade No. 7 on ROUTE KINGSTON KICKS!!!)

Click the these links and discover!!

BOOK A TGIF TOUR OF ALPHA BOYS,  A CRADLE OF SKA, WITH WATA!!


FUND THE RADIO & THE STUDIO SPACE!! (BRANSON’S VIRGIN IS ON BOARD!! & CHRIS BLACKWELL’S ISLAND OUTPOST IS HELPING PROMOTE!!!!)

THERE’S ALSO:

The Pineapple Ball (Well…not really, dress for a ball and enjoy yourself to popular and

Caribbean music). Last quarter of the year.

The Area Youth Foundation (Arts, Culture & Performance from the inner city, weaving ‘garrison communities’ together. They’ve performed for Prince Charles and worked with Emory University & Wole Soyinka.)

The Jamaica Environmental Trust

Jamaicans for Justice

The Salvation Army in Jamaica, one of the few facilities for the blind in Jamaica.

Jamaica Society for the Blind

Jamaica Special Olympics movement

Campion College teachers fund. This peculiar public school mixes uptown and downtown, is one of the island’s top 5 and produces national and world leaders. Think the ‘Jaipur Leg’ & Disney art directors, etc., etc. (We do not pay our teachers well so choose any school you like and stipulate your funds are to be used to benefit the teachers.)

Shaggy’s Dare to Care ‘elegant dancehall’ benefit, early year, for Bustamante Children’s Hospital, Jamaica’s only specialist paedie facility.

The Mustard Seed Foundation (Catholic facility, education and trade training)

Lister Mair Gilbey & Jamaica Assoc. for the Deaf network of schools for the deaf, & facility for restoration & preservation of rare/old books. (I dream of seeing a scholarship line to Gallaudet).

The Branson Centre for Caribbean Entrepreneurship

Tammy Browne’s ‘spay the strays’, animal programme

The Jamaica Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Etc., etc., etc.

If you have business dealings in the US & Jamaica, try this guy re sorting out your tax returns – conscientious, straightforward, knows his business, won’t rip you off, an eye for strategy that can save you money, was with H&R Block, is a town treasurer, has a couple of pretty famous clients (like patients, you don’t go broadcasting names).  I think of him as a ‘Jamerican’ as he lives/works in both places.

Bob Cleaves Tax Consultant

136 N Main St
Barre, VT 05641
(802) 476-8080
(876) 283-9365

 

Money Mini Corner…Relax & Think Money…

“Money is like manure, spread it around and watch things grow…”
– Dolly Levi, “Hello Dolly”.

Relax & think money?  No, it’s not an oximoron…but unless you’re one of the few, you may need to learn how to do it.  Money is one of my clients’ main stressors so getting yourself organised and informed can give you more control and peace of mind.  I’m still learning and therefore this is obviously not my area of expertise but I can share some key things I’ve learned about finances in Jamaica and the world.

Try to save at least 10% of regular income

Try to give away 10% of regular income

Do not save or give if when you do you feel deprived or miserable

Do your monthly totting up of bills, cheque books, statements…learn what you need to live on and then decide how much to have fun with/save/invest.  Make this a nice experience for yourself, put on good music , do it with you partner,  get him to cook/order something gourment while you work, put out some aromatherapy, send the kids to the neighbour…whatever eases you through….

Watch the Jamaican Commercial Banks like a hawk!
– NCB
if you’re an individual with a miles card get three different sources
at the bank to calculate them for you …you often get 3 different
answers…keep asking till everyone produces the same result or
better yet, learn the system & calculate yourself

       The new Visa Classic was an accounting travesty, nowhere on it
will you find your rate of exchange…you have to call Bank of
Jamaica for the weighted avg. and then add Visa’s %!…but at
least you now see the converted sum.

       Current accounts are fined approx.  JA$600/mon. for being
below JA$20000!  (They claim they waive this fee when you’re
above!).  Senior citizens exempt.  Some senior staff don’t know  

this!

       – ALL BANKS
Unless you have a big company account…you will really have
          to canvas every rank & file to find out exactly what is offered re
e-banking, no one, including managers, ever knows the whole
story…get to the IT people themselves!

In Jamaican commercial banks only save up to JA$600,000, that’s all that’s insured.

In Jamaica, do not invest in anthing you cannot check with the Financial Services Commission (investments) or the Bank of Jamaica (commercial banks).  Other countries have their own watchdog organisations.

Get rich quick schemes will make you poor!

In Jamaica, get health insurance & critical illness insurance, the former does not cover the lifetime affecting stuff like amputations and long lie-ins for cancer.  Try to get a plan that carries investment benefits.

Life insurance may be a waste of money if you are a regular saver and if you are single, but if you have family to provide for, want collateral for business and property investments, etc., it is worth investigating.  Find the ones with the investment benefits.

In Jamaica, buy property as the best investment, it may ‘go slow’ in recession but NEVER depreciates.

When you invest in Jamaica, remember we’re up against depreciation and inflation….work out whatever you do in US dollars and then adjust to what you/the Jamaica market can fairly support.

In Jamaica, put away some funds in a foreign currency.

Join a credit union, you may be able to have access to health plans till you are much older than for regular plans.  These institutions suffer less ups and downs in recessions.

Don’t make investments that have any fluctuations unless you have JA1,000,000 you can afford never to touch.  For amounts under this some do conservative, low risk investment even if the returns aren’t great…this will guarantee your principal if you have to haul it out for an emergency. 

In Jamaica, take care of your car, it usually holds its value … and find out the ones with a high resale value and for which spare parts are easily available.

Find a mechanic you love and trust and feel free to argue with.

Find a lawyer you love and trust and feel free to argue with.

Find a doctor you love and trust and feel free to argue with.

Find an investment person you love and trust and feel free to argue with.

Ask me about the most people friendly bank in Jamaica

Use one credit card with the best rate you can get, you might have to use an American/European one, Jamaican cards carry an approx. 48% interest whereas foreign ones have first year giveaways at 1% and regular rates of 4-5%.

Don’t use your credit card like a credit card in Jamaica, pay it off, we don’t really care about credit ratings yet.  Elsewhere pay it off and once in a while use it to generate credit so your credit rating scores go up.

Bankruptcy is a big deal in Jamaica, try not to declare it.  You can ALWAYS CUT A DEAL WITH A CREDIT CARD COMPANY, EVEN IN JAMAICA, NO MATTER HOW DISGUSTING THEY MAKE THE PROCESS FOR YOU.  In the States, bankruptcy is not a big deal, in 3 years you can wipe your slate clean, it may be better to do this than to have a bad credit rating which is THE MORTAL AMERICAN SIN.  YOU CAN ALWAYS CUT A PAY BACK DEAL WITH AN AMERICAN BANK.  America gives you great deals on everything if your credit rating is good.  Check your American ratings for free once/year if you’re tied into the American system.

Stand up for yourself in your financial dealings, if you can’t ask questions, go elsewhere.

Create a relationship with the top people however small your dealings and wherever you’re invested.  You’re good enough!!!

Pay your bills and debts or explain yourself and keep in touch…don’t be a laggard or a liar.

Never lend money, give it and let go…that way you won’t get ulcers expecting payback.  And you know …when you give, the universe ensures you get back, often double, but not always from the person or entity to whom you gave…and not always as currency.

Money surely eases the passage through life, but it alone cannot make you happy, it’s the energy with which you surround money that can make you happy… and wealth is not masses of money and belongings alone, but what you have access to and how you share it.

Don’t buy a house unless you can buy it outright or have 8 months clear ability to make payments whether you lose your job, get ill, etc.

Look for a job while you’re in a job and do it discreetly. Don’t quit and then look.  Make sure when you start you have six months income saved in case of mishaps.  Get the new job offer in writing before you quit the old one!!!

When you can’t get out of bed for, get tight chest at, hate the place, feel ill at the job it’s time to take action whether it be to help change the system or get out of it.

Do what you love, the money will follow…This may mean a job change, getting on the job training, changing careers, getting more or different education, doing something alongside your job until you can earn a living from it. 

Don’t go back to school unless you’ve thought out how it is to be financed and whether you will be able to have/generate income the minute you graduate.  Generally, stay away from student loans, but absolutely so in Jamaica.  Investigate them anywhere else if they’re no higher than 8% maximum.  The Student Loan Bureau in Jamaica makes virtually fraudulent claims, their 12% ADD ON interest (never explained to prospective students) is really 20-22% regular interest!

Read the books, “Money Is Love”, “Do What You Love, the Money will Follow” & “Creating Money and Attracting Abundance”….certainly put a new spin on money and abundance.

If you get good marks the range of scholarships open to you worldwide is mind blowing.  I mean almost to the ridiculous when is come to special circumstances…scholarships for people who have eyes of two colours, etc.  I’m not joking.  Expect medicin to be the hardest to find.

Scholarships for undergrad are rarely available after age 25, grad usually up to age 35 and doctoral and post doctoral up to 45, rarely age 50.   People want returns on their investments….you. 

Jamaicans, cash in on the fact that you’re automatically a minority in the States and apply for these scholarships.

Don’t believe a soul who tells you they’ll watch your stocks for you…they won’t.  YOU WATCH THEM.  Stocks make most money not by constant adding to a fund …but by knowing when to sell or IF YOU HAVE DISPOSABLE INCOME BUY BLUE CHIP STOCK which is usually more pricey but more stable and often pays dividends…it’s usually always good value when you do want to sell and you would rarely have to rush a sale because values are suddenly dropping.

I’m going to keep adding to this…..I can tell you….