Stop borrowing to supplement your income, banker urges

A banker has warned Jamaicans that borrowing to supplement their income could quickly lead to a tragic addiction to credit.

The caution was issued by Ryan Parkes, chief of business banking and public sector engagement at JN Bank, while speaking to teachers at an investment seminar organised by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) at Mandeville Hotel in the Manchester capital.

“It is a fact that the salaries of our teachers and others in the civil service, particularly the police and nurses, are not comparable to the workload they carry, with the average entry-level teacher earning a net salary of about $90,000 per month, or slightly more than a million dollars after taxes annually,” Parkes said.

“This makes living difficult for many teachers who, like everyone else, have bills to pay — rent, in most cases to finance, because so many are struggling to afford homes of their own; and they have children, whom they need to nurture with what little they receive. Therefore, there are some teachers who borrow to supplement their incomes,” he explained.

The business banker said as result, some people develop a habit of borrowing, which leaves them saddled with debt to the point where their net pay is zero dollars.

He advised teachers and other professionals to, instead, develop a discipline of frugally managing their finances, despite the size.

“Wealth is a discipline, not something only a few people are born into, as we often seem to think,” he underscored. “It takes focus and stick-to-itiveness to harness wealth, and many people who earn less than you do have achieved it.”

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/stop-borrowing-to-supplement-your-income-banker-urges_161007