A common challenge which many people contend with on a daily basis is how to better manage their finances - to ensure financial independence and growth. Joy FM’s Super Morning Show put together a panel to of finance experts to advise the public on how to better manage their finances in year 2011. Reverend Ogbame Tetteh (Head of Assets management at Databank Ghana) said that people seeking to enhance their financial prospects in year 2011 must begin by doing a good assessment of their income streams, knowing that multiple income streams can be possibly the best option to enjoying financial independence. He pointed out that the commonest flaw with most people is that their outflows or expenditures by far exceed their inflows or incomes. Emmanuel Quarshie (Chief Finance officer of Vanguard Life Assurance) …….. suggested that every person can put a cap on their expenditure by either increasing their income or cutting down drastically on their expenditure, but proposed that a combination of both strategies will be the best approach to increasing wealth. He advised that spare time should not be wasted or used for activities which do not generate income. Rev. Ogbame Tetteh said that going into the New Year, people seeking to better manage their finances should do an audit of their skills, especially on things which they enjoy doing, and focus on how that can solve problems which people have. He urged a proper packaging of such skills and tailoring them to meet people’s problems as solutions. In his view, a person who is unemployed should know that time is a valuable resource which can be invested into money generating schemes. He said people with some savings should consider money as a potential employee which can work for you. He advised that people make investments although they may come with some risks. Rev. Tetteh said that the double “T” rule should be a guiding rule for good finance management; being Tracking and Trimming of expenses. He said that to track your expenses, one needs to know what he/she is spending, and to trim your expenses means to cut down on what one spends. Story by Sedem Ofori/Joy SMS