Update on giving to Japan

The Hong Kong Red Cross has come up with a great list of local businesses & charities doing their part to raise money for the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami victims.

Have a look here and see what you can do to help.

image: http://www.redcross.org.hk/

TWFT: Help Japan

These last few days have no doubt felt like a nightmare for millions around the world - the devastation of Japan's earthquake and tsunami are heartbreaking.

It was only 3 weeks ago that I was holidaying in Japan, my third wonderful trip there. And now I've spent the weekend glued to news reports of this beautiful country's tragedy.

My fiance and I will be married in a little over 40 days - our best man is on his own 1st wedding anniversary in Hiroshima (fortunately well out of harm's way). And if I wasn't worried enough, my father is on a cruise - currently stopping in Japan!

OK, that's enough from me and my insignificant issues. The agony of Japan's millions is so much greater and more important.

This week's finance tip is - be generous. Be generous with your time, be generous with your love, be generous with your ideas and be generous with your money - especially for those in need.

Click on the links below to donate and find out more about the wonderful organisations doing all they can for Japan:

American Red Cross ~ deploying to the region to assist the local Japan Red Cross
Salvation Army ~ in Japan since 1895, providing emergency shelter
Shelter Box ~ providing 'emergency shelter, warmth & dignity' to people affected by disaster worldwide
Medecins sans frontieres (Doctors without borders)  ~ Medical teams on their way to the worst affected areas

Image: Reuters 12/03/2011

TWFT: Argh! Lost Wallet!!

Hmmm this week's finance tip is a very practical one, with lessons learnt first-hand.

My boyfriend staggered home at 3am this morning after celebrating his new promotion, only to arrive by taxi at our building and discover he'd lost his wallet.

I awoke to his distraught phone call from the taxi, threw on a robe and trotted downstairs to pay the worried taxi driver.

The next 30 minutes were spent on the phone helping him cancel his credit cards and Octopus card (HK travel card - like the UK Oyster). Let's just say he wasn't very sober and needed help pressing the phone buttons...which explains how he lost his wallet!

What did I learn from this? Keep a list of your important finance details on hand for emergencies.

Something that has:
~ Account numbers
~ Emergency phone numbers (i.e. for lost cards)
~ Your ID numbers (i.e. passport, HK ID card)

Just the basics, nothing extensive.

And another tip - don't keep ALL of your credit cards in your wallet. If you don't use all of them all the time, keep one home for emergencies like this!

Hope you had a better week than this.

Protection and Prevention for redundancies

As an expat, there are simply so many things to spend money on. It's only too easy to live hand-to-mouth from month to month. As the wages come in, they quickly go out on holidays, outings, experiences, shopping.

But one thing you might have noticed during the GFC is how vulnerable the expat employee market is to an economic downturn. When things started getting nasty in the  financial markets, companies needed to cut costs in order to stay afloat. And not just small belt tightening, I'm talking about limb-removing cuts here. Entire departments losing 20% of staff, all foreign travel suspended...no free fruit in the kitchen.

As expats, we can be a little more expensive than a local hire in many cases. We can demand housing allowances, children's education allowances, drivers, helpers (maid), blackberries, corporate credit card. The list of perks can go on...together with the incentive to sack expensive expats first during a crunch.

So what can we, as an expat, do to protect ourselves from this situation. Other than working hard, being innovative etc (which are covered off in a million other blogs), we should consider:

1. Emergency expense reserve
Set aside 3 - 6 months of expenses in cash or liquid assets (i.e. money market) for easy access should your source of income dry up. The cash reserve will allow you to pay your bills, while looking for a new job, and save you from having to liquidate your investments in order to eat.

2. Stand alone insurance policy
Your employer will, in many cases, provide you with some level of insurance cover. And in many cases, this insurance will cease when your last day at the company ticks over. This will leave you without insurance cover, and could be very stressful. Look into the costs of having a basic stand-alone insurance policy, so that you have emergency cover should you lose your job.

3. Stress test
Having a monthly budget is great while you have a job to keep track of expenses etc and exactly what you are spending. Now take this budget...and zero out your income. What impact does this have on your cashflow and long term financial goals? Use this opportunity to work out where you can make some savings in your budget to see you through. And use this to work out how long your savings will last in a worst-case scenario. Scared? Think you won't make it? Great - use that knowledge and fear to give you the kick you needed to start saving more!