The Human Resource Department led by Mr. Hollis Nicholas, thought it timely to host two seminars entitled ‘Financial Planning’ following the conclusion of negotiation with OWTU and increases in wages for UWI workers. The objectives were to increase the financial management capacity of staff and to create a greater awareness of investment possibilities. The seminars were held on Thursday, July 5, in the Human Resource Conference Room and were facilitated by representatives from two major financial corporations within Trinidad and Tobago namely CLICO and CMMB.

CLICO Branch Manager, Mr. Anderson Melville and Ms. Janice Greasley examined effective financial planning. Staff members were asked to analyse their spending habits with the goal of understanding how finances are utilized. The participants cited Carnival, Christmas and household expenses as their greatest financial burdens, they also stated that “making money is pleasurable but having money is difficult”. The facilitators encouraged investing and saving as opposed to borrowing money for activities such as taking a vacation.

Mr. Melville and Ms. Greasely discussed the uncertainty of life and encouraged the participants to plan for life as well as for the absence of life. In terms of the absence of life they hinted to the importance of planning and protecting oneself against certain risks, for instance making a will as well as smart structuring of insurance policies. Planning, as they suggested involved doing cash flow analysis (where does the money go, income vs. expenditure), cash flow planning (how much interest will this generate and when) and finally budgeting.

Ms. Maria Pardais of CMMB explored the ‘Five Steps to Financial Freedom’. This presentation took staff into the how to aspect of making money work focusing on investing money. Some of the areas discussed were: - How to start a plan, financial goals, retirement planning, Investment Portfolio Allocation. Ms. Pardais detailed CMMB products and services in addition to providing information about getting started in investing in these products which include both TT and US Money Markets, and the Fixed Income Paper.

The UWI staff members were encouraged to prepare personal balance sheets, participate in monthly budget planning, reduce debt, and set financial goals in addition to maximizing savings and investments.

The sessions were open to all UWI staff members and will be repeated for new staff members closer to Christmas. The participants showed a great deal of enthusiasm and regarded the information as highly valuable and applicable to their lives. They also clamoured for an additional session about pension planning.