(Loop) -Luana Laurent is on a mission to change the way Dominicans handle their money. The young CEO and Director of her company Finance Focus Consultancy is providing an educational platform that aims to share financial information and improve financial literacy among the masses.
What started as her passion for teaching has grown into a movement of people seeking ways to better manage their finances.
“It grew through sharing information and money tips on Instagram and Facebook and now it’s a full-fletched movement,” Laurent said.
While she was not raised with excess, she and her siblings hardly lacked anything as most of the time their parents were able to afford their needs and wants but the reality of money issues hit Laurent when she discovered that the times her wants were not fulfilled was because of lack of money.
Setting out on her own to attend university out of the country further solidified to her the need for financial literacy.
Laurent has a master’s degree in International Finance and is an Examiner at the Financial Services Unit in Dominica, a department of the Ministry of Finance. She is also the Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Dominica and Vice President of UWI Alumni Association, Dominica Chapter.
From December 1 to 31 2020 Finance Focus has collaborated with Digicel Dominica to help the masses to financially detox.
The plan is not to deter people from spending but to help those who see the need to better manage their personal finances. It’s all about planning Laurent says.
“In week one we identified our sources of income…following that we identified our expenses and it could be anything that you spent on you had to write it down,” she explained.
“After we identified our income and expenses, we now make a plan to spend our money and what’s the best way to do that but by creating a budget!”
Finance Focus uses the 50 30 20 rule for managing finances. This means that 50% of income should go towards needs, 30% to wants and 20% to savings.
The focus on week two is awareness. It focused on identifying where extra income can be made in order to meet expenses and put towards savings.
Week three speaks to acceptance. Accept that our debts exist. Laurent says it’s a subject that many people don’t want to speak about.
“I don’t believe that you should not have debt,” she says, “it’s a part of life, we use it to survive. What is important is how we manage it. We should not let ourselves become overcommitted or overwhelmed with debt especially now in the Christmas season. There are so many loan offers …”
Week 4 is all about making that extra income to pay off those debts!
She wants Finance Focus to become a household name not only in Dominica but across the region. She says her tips on social media are already catching on. “I want people to know that they can reach their financial goals through planning.”
Finance Focus will be launching a new money series in January called Money Mondays. This will add to the existing series Financial Fridays.
Laurent is hoping that through these videos persons can reach out to her personally and gain more insight on their own personal financial situation.
You can already view her weekly Financial Fridays on her youtube channel Finance Focus and she can also be reached on all of Digicel’s platform, BIP, GoLoud and the various podcasts.
She can also be reached on FaceBook and Instagram
@financefocus767.
