Pocketful of Dirhams

Rents, mortgages and buying property during the coronavirus pandemic

Alice Haine, personal finance editor at The National talks to Mario Volpi, the sales and leasing manager at Engel & Volkers, about everything you need to know about rents, mortgages and buying property during the Coronavirus pandemic.

How to manage your money during the coronavirus crisis

Coronavirus is taking its toll on every area of our lives and nobody knows when the mayhem will end. This is why it is so important to take good care of your finances as well as your health. Stock markets are crashing, employees are working from home, schools and entertainment venues have closed and incomes and jobs are in jeopardy. With so much uncertainty around us, it is time for all of us to assess how financially secure we really are. Can you afford to support your family if your income is cut or you lose your job? And are you torn between buying and selling as the value of your investments dwindle and no one know when the markets will reach the bottom?

Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National is joined by Nyree Mcfarlane, The National’s features editor. Also joining later in the show is Steve Cronin, the founder and DeadSimpleSaving.com, an independent community for financial education in the UAE, who shares his tips on manage your money in these uncertain times.

Insurance: How much do we need it?

Protecting yourself, your family and your personal belongings with insurance should be part of a comprehensive financial plan. But many residents in the UAE don’t bother to take out protection with some paying the price for having no cover further down the line. While some insurance cover is mandatory in the Emirates, such as car and health insurance, other protection is optional such as travel, home contents and life insurance. So what insurance should we actually have in place? How much should we expect to pay to protect ourselves and our possessions? And what cover do we need to protect us during the coronavirus outbreak?

Host Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National is joined by Willy Lowry, a multimedia producer at The National who admits to knowing very little about insurance. She is also joined later in the show by Jonathan Rawling, the chief financial officer of yallacompare, who is an expert on the insurance industry.

Saving money in the UAE: Short-term goals or long-term plans

Saving money is something many UAE residents struggle to achieve. According to a 2018 study from HSBC, more than three quarters of UAE residents are not saving anything for their retirement. Two in five agree it’s better to spend money on enjoying life now rather than stashing cash for their future, and more than half are typically saving for short-term goals rather than longer term plans. So why are residents finding it so hard to save? And what strategies should they put in place to ensure their hard-earned dirhams are safely stored for the future?

Host Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Gillian Duncan, a news reporter at The National, and Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com, an independent community for financial education in the UAE, who shares his tips on how to save more effectively. She is also joined later in the show by Laila Clarke, general manager of The Studio, a Dubai business providing photographic and videography services, who once saved Dh500 by cutting out coffee and takeaway lunches for a month.

Teaching your children to be financially-savvy

Educating children about how to manage money is vital for their future. But with lessons in financial literacy sometimes on the more basic side, it falls to parents to pass on those early messages on effective financial behaviour. A 2019 study by Visa found that 43 per cent of those polled in the UAE between the ages of 16 to 24 are not ready to manage their own money, while more than half believe schools do not prepare them enough.
Which is why parents play such an important role in shaping a child’s attitude towards money. So how can parents introduce the concept of budgeting and saving to their children? 

Host Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Ayesha Khan, The National's podcast producer, and Marilyn Pinto, the founder and managing director of the Kids Finance Initiative, which runs financial literacy boot camps for young children and teenagers. She is also joined later in the show by Mika Coquia, a mother who changed how she educated her daughter about money after spoiling her as a young child.

Cut costs of running your car in the UAE

Running a car in the UAE can be an expensive process, once you factor in petrol, maintenance, repairs and insurance. But there are a number of ways to cut costs. One rule of thumb includes limiting payments on a car loan to 10 per cent of your monthly income to ensure your total costs for all car expenses stays below 20 per cent of your earnings. Another tip is to replace your car if repair costs are too high, while some question whether you need a car at all?

Host Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Louise Burke, a home page editor at The National, and Imad Hammad, the co-founder of CarSwitch.com, a second-hand car platform in the UAE. She is also joined later in the show by Philip Bahoshy, the founder of start-up data platform Magnitt, who decided the most cost-effective option was to ditch his car altogether.

A guide to property investment in post-Brexit UK

Brexit. It’s a word we’ve all become familiar with since the UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23 2016. The move saw the pound plunge in value and property prices cool as buyers struggled to digest how the UK’s exit from the EU would affect the market. However, following the Conservative win in the UK’s December election, central London property buyers no longer appear phased by “the Brexit dip”. Sales increased by 34 per cent in the last quarter of 2019 compared to the same period the previous year, according to LonRes, with central London house prices rising 2.4 per cent  following five consecutive quarterly falls. With optimism in the market once again, what’s the best way for UAE investors to buy in the UK?

Host Alice Haine is joined by Emma Tracey, deputy creative director at The National and Chris Battle, founder of The Property Hub Meet-up Dubai, who owns 10 buy-to-let properties in the UK. Later on we'll hear from a UAE resident who has become a successful UK developer while living and working in the UAE.

How to invest your money in volatile times

Investing your money always come with risk.  This month alone, we’ve seen how geopolitical shocks can spook the markets and sending the price of gold to a six-year high of almost $1,600 an ounce. Last year the US-China trade dispute also took its toll on the markets, along with the never-ending Brexit saga in the UK. Now, markets are trying to absorb what the coronavirus outbreak means.

So how should investors position their portfolio in volatile times? 

Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Andy Scott, a video journalist at The National. Later we’ll be joined by Stuart Ritchie, a director and chartered financial planner with the global wealth advice company AES International. Also, we’ll hear from Steve Cronin, founder of Dead Simple Saving, who keeps investing in a portfolio of low-cost index-funds no matter what is happening in the world.

Gratuity in the UAE

How the UAE’s end-of-service gratuity is evolving. If you are an expatriate employee in the UAE, you are entitled to a gratuity payment. But how much will you receive when you leave your current job? And, with the Dubai International Financial Centre now implementing its workplace savings plan, known as DEWs, is the UAE also considering a change to the gratuity system for the whole country? 

Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Rory Reynolds, The National’s news editor. Later on we’re joined by Martin McGuigan, a partner at McLagan and Aon Recruitment, who will give us some insight into the changes around the new workplace savings scheme at the DIFC and answer our questions on the future of the end-of-service payment. We’ll also hear from Fred Wobus who used his gratuity payment to start an investment portfolio for his children.

How to get a pay rise

While every employee would like a pay rise in 2020, making it actually happen is another story altogether. Numerous research studies say we are in line for a raise this year: employees in the UAE can expect an overall base salary increase of 4.5 per cent in 2020 across all industries, according to global consultancy Mercer. Meanwhile, The Cooper Fitch Salary Guide says while strategy roles are set for a 5 per cent pay rise on their basic salary plus allowances this year, other sectors are looking at more modest increases of 2 per cent.

So how can ensure we get a pay rise at all?  

Host Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Nyree McFarlane, The National’s features editor and David Mackenzie, Group Managing Direction of recruitment company Mackenzie Jones, who explains how to secure that elusive pay rise. She is also joined, later in the show, by Rasheda Khatun Khan, founder of the wealth wellness corporate training company Design Your Life, who once secured a pay rise of 40 per cent.

In this episode:
Alice and Nyree on pay rise (1m 14s)
David Mackenzie (4m 12s)
Success Story (22m 28s)