LIVINGSTONE MUKASA: Ten rules for surviving in Uganda on a salary of less than UGX 3M per month
Choose increasing your productivity, Savings and Investing and you can double your monthly pay in the next 5 years.
Earning a Shs3M per month in Uganda can be exciting and may make you think you have “arrived”. It’s a point where you may be able to break the cycle of poverty in your family but don’t fool yourself that you can bail out many of them yet.
It’s what you do after you hit this mark, which will define your economic future for years to come. Choose increasing your productivity, Savings and Investing and you can double your monthly pay in the next 5 years. And that is what this Class of 2024 is about. Lets do it.
- Don’t buy a car. Get acquainted with Public Transport Lingo: “Maaso awo”
- Have basic meals.
- Use UPE schools for children education.
- Have a strong church/community connection. They can help you fundraise for emergencies.
- Take loans and don’t be afraid to default if you have to but if you do, learn to talk your way out of trouble (“the birds ate my grains but I shall pay soon”).
- Save and buy Land in 3 years and build a home in 6. Forget about building a dream house, it will be a standard 3 bedroom on a 50X50ft for you. If you already have a home, start paying yourself rent and put it into a unit trust. This money should be used to buy land and build a rental property in the next 10 years.
- Use public health services and as well learn to wait in lines patiently.
- Extract as much value out of your money as possible at every opportunity. This also includes shopping used and stocking on dry ratios. Refer to rule number 2
- Learn to beg professionally not Kwara Kwara. Refer to number 4.
- Learn to blame everyone except yourself. We all need a bogeyman.! Don’t we?
