Who Bolted With The Funds???

Everybody is blaming everyone for the loss of Usain Bolt's millions (They have forgotten that others have lost their funds also). It is sad, but I must say that this loss was expected. Bees are always attracted to flowers because flowers have nectar. When there is no more nectar, and the flower fades, there will be no more bees around that flower.

We are taught to read and write, but we are not taught to be financially literate. My Granny couldn't even sign her name, but nobady a market coulda fool her. She kept that tread bag eena har bosom, and if one farthin' went missing she could tell you. We have persons with university degrees and they don't even understand the concept of debit and credit. We learnt about company accounts but who is teaching us about personal accounts. It is said that at the UWI they have a Management Studies Department but no Ownership Studies Department!

Persons have said that the Minister of Finance should have received reports from the Financial Services Commission(FSC), and he would have been made aware of the challenges at Stocks and Shares Limited(SSL). They are correct. The Minister and his team at the ministry should be getting quarterly reports from the FSC. The important question is, when last have we asked for reports from these financial organizations? We keep on asking politicians to do for us what we can do best for ourselves. Those who lodge their money at SSL, should have been asking questions long ago. Those who invest funds in organizations, must read newspapers and listen to radio programmes to get information on what is happening in the financial sector. We have been FINSACED, moved from Cash Plus to Cash Minus, we have been Olinted, and now some have Bolted with our funds. 

You remember the story about a black man's wife who gave him a chiney looking baby? Him Chiney friend told him say dat im did use di wrong colour condom! Di man replied, "Mi never have di extra one cent to buy di black one. Memba dis, losing di money is one ting, but wi can' lose wi head. I am talking from experience.

Remember this, wen yu see trouble on di horizon, no badda ask no question, just Bolt! Next week Thursday, February 2, on SpotOn aired on Riddim FM between 1000 and 1300 EST on weekdays, we will have Dr. Nelson 'Chris' Stokes and Dennis Chung to educate us about investments. We need to understand the business of finance if we intend to grow our wealth.

Finally, I am appealing to our banks to allow us to use our banking application on our phones to monitor and control the movement of our funds. Scotia Bank has removed this feature from our cell phones. All financial institutions should develop a customer portal which allows customers to monitor their assets at any time of the day or night. Emails should be sent to depositors the moment there are any changes in these accounts. We have the technology to do it, so let's do it. We also need to have a secure messaging system which must be a part of the customer portal. This would allow us to communicate with our financial institutions securely. Emails are not secure enough to be used for communicating directions to financial institutions. Join me in calling for changes to be implement in the system, which should give the consumers more power over their funds.

Let me have your feedback by adding your comments. Thanks.

Dr. Nelson 'Chris' Stokes OD, OLY

Dennis Chung JP

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