Don’t Leave Your Money Behind: How Expats Can Escape the Trap of Debt and Financial Stagnation by Moses Chavi
PREFACE
This book is partly a memoir and a compilation of an expat’s
symphony of travel, adventure, hopes, experiences, grandeur, lessons,
and realities of a global career. As a long-time sojourner myself, I have
lived through the ups and downs of working in a foreign land plus the
complexities of leading a beautiful family away from the place we call
home.
For those of you who have lived the expat life before, or are doing
so now, our experiences would resonate, and somehow, somewhere
deep within us, there is a longing to be significant and to build
ever-lasting wealth for ourselves, our children, and the entire posterity.
We dream of generational wealth that would end the string of historical
financial family struggles. If we were all financially sorted, international
ventures would only be characterized by consultancy projects, trading,
conferences, tourism, and lots of fun! Not working on a ‘9 to 5’ job.
Beyond a blossoming career there is always a fundamental rationale
why we desire to grab that international stint. For me it was to make
some handsome cash – and then build my own consultancy firm back
home after a well-planned 3-year period. After 12 years of working in
multiple Gulf Countries, I have understood that the reality of ‘getting
stuck’ in the diaspora is not a mere cliché. Many lives are spent and
exhausted away from home for decades, but it still feels like it has only
been yesterday when you first left home.
What about you? What was your reason for making the
international move?
Every time I ask random expats this question it just appears as
if almost everyone has lost their original ‘why’, and their current
disposition is more of a mutated form of rationalization.Most of them
would say they took the overseas role to make some good money over
a targeted period of five years, on average – only to realize they have
been outside their country for 20 years or more! And what about
the money? (Laughs, cymbals, and trumpets!) Nothing. Most of them
have nothing much to show for the massive expat contributions to the
foreign lands.
To be fair with ourselves, we must live and survive, right? The
monthly paychecks quickly run from the bank into the pockets, but
only to be quickly whisked away by the same banks, soft creditors
and all the demands of a fast life. Some of the interviewed expats
lamented costly housing and school fees that mercilessly deplete the
bank accounts before you even practice the left-right-left side mantra
for crossing the road. Anyway, this could make a beautiful story for
another day. But I am very sure you have been there before.
Mama said, “Embrace wisdom, and life will treat you well.” As I get
older, those words ring a validation bell. I wish I had learned earlier the
lessons I only appreciated after falling into a ditch of debt and unheard
financial burdens. I am one of the most qualified expats to write on
this subject because I have made most of the mistakes that people like
me make when they grab their first international move. I have done it
all. Although I may sound like I enjoyed the experience, I genuinely
appreciate the lessons learnt on this knotty journey. It has not been
easy, but it has beenmassively helpful formy future and posterity. Every
moment of mistakes and triumphs has been worth it.
In this book I bring you some of the deep lessons on living wisely
in a foreign land; how to make a good buck and how to keep it. Not
just how to save money, but also how to purposefully keep, grow and
protect your money.
Although I have every right to brag and focus on my professional
profile as an Accountancy Fellow and an international risk and internal
audit consultant, this book is not about that type of corporate stuff. I
will do the subject great injustice if I complicate our discussions in any
way. This book is all about a heart-to-heart conversation; sharing the
lessons learnt on this journey so that those who choose to gain wisdom
will avoid the traps of a flashy and cozy life submerged in debt and with
a far-fetched assurance of survival and financial breakthroughs.
The idea to write this book came at a time when innumerable
expats suffered a heavy blow of losing jobs due to the global Covid19
pandemic which engulfed the surface of the earth since November
2019. Visibly, many industries have been heavily affected to the point
of being left with no option but to retrench their staff with the hope
of saving a shaky bottom line. Although citizens of the heavily affected
nations also suffered pretty much a similar fate, the heavy effects were
and have been felt by the expat communities.
It saddened my heart to see how families were torn apart at the
news of losing the ‘only source’ of income’ amidst the obligations to pay
back massive loans solicited in the ‘days of plenty,’ when the markets
were liquid. And then there weremany expats who worked in countries
that do not release retrenched residents who have debt in their financial
systems. This episode meant the non-working spouses and kids
returned home leaving the bread winner in the foreign land until they
could figure out life. It is a sad but practical situation.
Being someone who has been on the debt side of life for the longest
period, I understand the pain, the fears, the shame, and the
embarrassment of having to ask friends and family to bail you out of a
situation you did not foresee.
The biggest pain of debt is that by the time you get to the point
of paying back, oftentimes you cannot even remember what you used
the borrowed money for. If you bought a car, you would be lucky to
still see it in your driveway; nonetheless, it is not that mint shiny thing
anymore. It has become just one of the mobility apparatuses that does
not excite you anymore. If you borrowed funds for a ‘brilliant project’,
you may find yourself at a time when the project has flopped, and you
do not even know where it all went. And if you borrowed for food,
furniture, entertainment, and even school fees, the passage of time
makes every penny you spent unjustifiable and non-traceable. This is
called ‘life simply happening 101’.