Hey dude, have you got a spare phone?

Everyday, even before I have my breakfast, I come to my PC to check mails, and to see if there is anyone who’s in need of me urgently. Today added another ring to that chain. I met a close friend of me online in MSN, who is working in Malé. He is a cool charming buddy with the best of sense of humour. He never keeps me bored when I’m with him. He always had the best way to tell a story; even the most boring ones in his words are the best ones. Yes, he is smart and attractive in his attire. Hey guys don’t think I’m gay now. I just wanted to describe him.

As usual I met him online today and he asked me for a favour. Whenever a friend of me asks me for a favour, almost always it’s about a suggestion or an opinion. His favour was no different form the usual ones. The first thing he asked me was; “hey dude, have you got a spare phone?” This almost shocked me. Well not because he asked me for different kind of favour. It surprised me because he’s the kind of person who would always have a cool phone. He gets a good salary; he has no wife no kids. Neither had he a girlfriend until recently. So I was thinking that he would have saved most of his income from the job. But to my surprise he told me he’s left with nothing. He has no money to buy his phone. This really made me worry about my dear friend. When I said I have no spare phones, he sadly asked me “what shall I do now Hassan?” Yes he’s desperate, and he needs a phone. I’m writing about this not because I want to embarrass him, rather I want this to be a lesson for all of us, including myself.

How could I help him now?

Saving money has been a hard job for the youth in Malé, especially during their teenage. In fact I was one of them who didn’t know how to manage the income. But God willingly, now I have at least some degree of tolerance to live a so called “cheap” life. This problem is so common among the youth in Maldives is mainly because of the culture in Malé. Everyone loves to live a posh life. Everyone wants to dress up like movie stars. Everyone wants to have an ipod and everyone wants to have fancy mobile phone. Some one who lives has a different style is considered “uncivilised”. And also there are some challenges faced by the youth, especially guys. Girls admire those who appear smartly with most expensive motorbikes, with the most expensive costume. Most girls don’t consider the fact that, physical appearance doesn’t reveal the personality. This is a wrong attitude. Unless every one of us change this attitude, it is hard to change the current culture among the Maldivian youth.

Here is a simple balance Sheet for a typical Maldivian guy’s expenditure per month, who earns 6000 as a salary. This balance sheet was drawn based on the expenditure of some of my friends and my personal experiences. When we spend for our personal things we need to consider our income. Our target should not be using up all the money we have by the end of month. In fact it has to be saving as less as possible, in order to make the savings maximum. There are many ways we can cut down the expenditure. There are many more that we can save in a typical month. There are many things for which the expenditure could be reduced. Below is an example of how much we can save for the same salary!In fact we can save even more. We all need to think that we have a life ahead of us. The more we do now for that life, the happier with it be. So let’s save money for our future starting form now, with the intention of leading a good life.

These are just my thoughts. I’m quite sure there will be others who would have different thoughts. So why don’t you guys send your views to the “comments” box below.