Camille Steer, senior corporate manager at JMMB, says households should avoid overextending themselves financially as they support recovery efforts after Hurricane Melissa.<\/p>\n
In the rush to help neighbours and relatives after Hurricane Melissa, financial experts are urging Jamaicans to be careful not to give more than they can afford. <\/p>\n
The instinct to step in is strong, they say, but too many people are dipping into savings meant for emergencies \u2014 or worse, taking on debt \u2014 at a time when their own finances are already stretched thin.<\/p>\n
JMMB Senior Corporate Manager Camille Steer said Melissa\u2019s aftermath is revealing a pattern that tends to follow every major storm: People want to help immediately, even if it undermines their own financial stability. She warns that while generosity is important, it should never come at the expense of a household\u2019s long-term security.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the oxygen-mask principle. You secure your own position first, then you\u2019re in a stronger place to support others,\u201d Steer explained.<\/p>\n
Many Jamaicans, she noted, are living without even a basic safety net, a reality that the hurricane has made painfully clear.<\/p>\n
Jamaica\u2019s economic structure adds to that vulnerability. With heavy reliance on tourism, agriculture and mining \u2014 three sectors that slow sharply after any major storm \u2014 income streams across entire communities can dry up overnight. The large informal workforce, often without insurance or structured benefits, is hit even harder.<\/p>\n
Steer believes households must now treat financial preparation with the same urgency as storm shutters and bottled water. That begins with assessing one\u2019s true financial position. The goal, she said, should be to build at least one to two months of emergency savings, even if it has to start small.<\/p>\n
Setting up automatic transfers helps turn saving from a struggle into a habit. Budgeting, she adds, is where real resilience begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cBudgeting with discipline and purpose helps you understand what you can realistically contribute,\u201d she said. A values-based approach which prioritises necessities and aligning spending with what genuinely matters prevents guilt-driven giving or panic spending from derailing recovery.<\/p>\n
For Steer, Hurricane Melissa is also a reminder that recovery is a marathon, not a sprint.<\/p>\n
The pressure to quickly \u201cfix things\u201d often leads to financial missteps. Remaining flexible, pacing spending, and avoiding emotion-fuelled decisions will matter as the country slowly rebuilds, she added.<\/p>\n
She emphasised that resilience doesn\u2019t come from grand gestures but from small, consistent actions: Micro-saving, micro-giving, and steady contributions to personal financial goals. Over time, she said, consistency is what builds true financial power.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur steady, consistent efforts will create a collective impact that strengthens Jamaica\u2019s resilience. Together, we can rebuild and rise again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Camille Steer, senior corporate manager at JMMB, says households should avoid overextending themselves financially as they support recovery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-137165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}