Victor & Rhea are my shopacholic friends. Of course these are not their real names and I truly thank Victor & Rhea for allowing me to share their story.
They will not admit it, but all the signs show that they are shopacholic. Not just Rhea, but the same case is also true for Victor. This couple is match made in shopping heaven 
When we first met, they told me that they earn Rp 25 mio per month. This is huge amount, considering that Rhea is a stay home mom and Victor runs his own printing business. The couple has two daughters, Adis (10yo) and Kiki (5yo).
Borrowing Victor’s own words, “We’re in deep sh*t!”
They have no cash whatsoever! Their bank account has Rp 10 mio, but this is their expenses for the rest of the month. They have no Dana Darurat, no Holiday Account, no insurance, no investment, nothing.
They have a house, two cars, two children at expensive private bilingual national plus school, and their monthly expense, according to Rhea is Rp 16 mio.
I dared myself to dig deeper. We discover that Victor and Rhea’s monthly expense is… Rp 35 mio. This means MINUS Rp 10 mio per month.
Why MINUS Rp 10mio per month?
Rhea thinks this is because of their children expense tuition fee. I disagree.
They have huge debt. The credit card debt is totaling up to Rp 60 mio and growing, one of the cars’ installment is Rp 6 mio per month, they dine out almost everyday, they shop till they drop.
Why is the credit card debt Rp 60mio? I looked into their billings. The last 6 months, Victor and Rhea have gone for holiday 3 x! Singapore, Bangkok, Bali. Rhea collects designer hand bags each costs her minimum of Rp 15 mio. Victor has the habits of buying electronic goods, regardless of the price, using his credit card. He bought new laptop, new softwares, new dvd player for the car, and many more he wont admit but listed in his credit card bill.
They kept coming with new excuses every time we met.
“Nonton konser Win, di Singapur. Tiket konsernya udah beli dari lama… masak gak jadi?”
”Anak-anak kan lagi liburan. Kasihan kalo liburan gak ke mana-mana. Jadi ke Bali deh.”
”Kita anniversary yang ke 15 dong. Special trip jadinya, gue belum pernah ke Bangkok. Ih seru banget deh!”
”Kerjaan gue perlu laptop yang bagus Win. Gak bisa laptop ece-ece begitu.”
”Anak gue brisik banget, pusing kalo di mobil mereka jerit-jerit. Jadi biar mereka bisa nonton Cinderella dengan tenang di mobil.”
Victor and Rhea is our ‘pasien kemo’. Those who are in the condition of FINANCIALLY CRITICALLY ILL. Every Rupiah we can save will make a difference to their future financial condition. The process is often painful and as their planner, I’m not actually their favourite person in the world right now
They are not the first!
There have been cases where we were forced to recommend selling off houses or cars just so people can close their credit card debt.
The good news is, Victor & Rhea’s condition is getting better. They are opening separate accounts, each will have responsibility of a different kind. Victor is responsible to manage his ‘business’ account and his ‘personal spending’ account. Rhea is responsible to manage her ‘family expense’ account and her ‘family entertainment’ account. They will also start with their investment in September after paying off all their credit card debt. For now I’m telling them NOT to use their credit card. I’d rather they look into these accounts they have and see whether there is money in the accounts.
Ada uangnya.. baru beli barangnya.
Punya uangnya, baru pakai kartu kreditnya, supaya ada uang untuk membayar tagihan kartunya.
The bad news is, QM Financial does not accept ‘pasien kemo’ anymore. It’s been really difficult for QM planners when they have to handle these kinds of cases for over 6 months and making very little progress. A Plan is out of the question. This is all about cashflow management.
Jadi kalau ada teman-teman di luar sana dengan kondisi ’pasien kemo’ yang perlu ngobrol dengan QM Planners, mendingan datang aja untuk konsultasi. Biaya konsultasi Rp 200ribu – 350ribu / jam. Telpon Aay di 5290 4041 atau 990 90440 untuk membuat janji pertemuan dengan QM Planners.
Take a step into improving your financial condition. Do it NOW!
Finance Should Be Practical!
Ligwina Hananto
