Journalists, just like other Ugandans have been asked to stop saving blindly but rather have a purpose and this way, they will achieve from saving.
“Have something to show for your saving. Don’t just save for the sake of doing it but at the end you must show something that you got out of saving. For example save for four years to buy a plot of land and indeed buy it. This way you will be motivated to save more,” said Tilda Nabbanja, the head financial literacy at Bank of Uganda.
She was on Wednesday speaking during a financial literacy training for journalists organized by Diamond Trust Bank(DTB) Uganda at Hotel Africana.
Quoting the BoU financial capability survey, Nabbanja said only 21% of Ugandans save to achieve goals in their lives whereas only 8.6% of the Ugandan population can live for six months after loss of jobs or income.
She noted that it is high time Ugandans changed their habits towards money.
“For any money you get, put it on paper (budget) before it leaves your hands. Even before you buy food or save, make a budget. Know that every coin you get is out of chance. Forego certain things that you want to have but ensure every penny you spend goes to only things out of which you will benefit,”Nabbanja said.
“Above all, you must develop financial discipline in all you do. Spend on things you need before those you want.”
According to Samuel Matekha, the head of marketing and communications at DTB, the training was organized to empower not only journalists but all members of society in regards financial literacy.
“If you have an empowered community, you are sure their health is fine even if government is not there because they can manage their needs. We targeted journalists today because they are an important pillar in society since they communicate, influence opinion, make or break communities,” Matekha.
“We wanted to show them that they too can be rich but this depends on the way they utilize the resources they have.”
Matekha explained that in some circumstances, members of society have finances but don’t know how to use them and end up blowing whatever they have.
He says so far the bank has trained over 8000 people but noted they plan to roll out the trainings to a large number starting next year.
“We want to talk to over 50,000 people in financial literacy as part of our environmental and social sustainability campaign to see how to reach out to people not to just open up accounts but to also learn financial discipline.”