Economist Aigerim Ilyasova advises Kazakhstani people to start assessing their well-being by creating a personal financial report. This will help identify where to reduce debts and which family assets can generate additional income, according to infohub.kz.
Aigerim Ilyasova, an expert from Qazaq Expert Club, a financier and candidate of economic sciences, believes that a high salary does not guarantee good financial standing. A person earning 400,000 tenge may be richer than someone earning 1 million tenge if they correctly assess their financial situation.
She advises Kazakhstani people to follow the example of companies that regularly prepare financial statements, evaluating capital, assets, and liabilities. This will help determine a starting point and answer the questions of how many assets and debts you have and what your equity is.
The first step is to list all property that has a market value, meaning it can be sold at that price. This includes real estate, cars, deposits, housing savings in Otbasy Bank, investments, and other property. It should be valued at current market price, for example based on similar housing on listing websites. Cash is valued at face value, and foreign currency at the current exchange rate. Items such as furniture can only be valued if they have market value.
As an example, the financier took a hypothetical middle-class family. They own a home worth 30 million tenge, a car worth 5 million tenge, savings of 1.2 million tenge, 4 million tenge in Otbasy Bank, and an apartment worth 20 million tenge that they rent out. Thus, the family's total assets amount to 60.2 million tenge. Next, liabilities must be assessed: loans, installments, and debts. In this example, the family has a mortgage of 15 million tenge, a loan of 2 million tenge, and an installment plan of 500,000 tenge.
The expert notes that to determine one's financial position, liabilities (debts) must be subtracted from assets. So from 60.2 million tenge, the family subtracts 17.5 million tenge, giving them equity of 42.7 million tenge. By tracking changes in this figure, one can see if the family is becoming wealthier or not.
“Not all property affects financial well-being equally. There are assets that generate income and property that requires constant expenses. Investment assets include, for example, rental properties, bank deposits, and investments. But a home you live in or a car, while valuable, do not generate income on their own,” the expert noted.
According to the expert, it is important to identify which family assets are investment assets. In the example, these are the rental apartment, the deposit, and the savings in Otbasy Bank. Meanwhile, the family's home and car are liabilities. Subtracting liabilities from total capital gives net investment assets. In this example, that is 7.7 million tenge. This figure, net investment assets, should be increased over time by reducing debt or growing assets.
“Ideally, you should aim to increase your net investment assets. If you assess your financial situation every three months and see that your equity and investment assets are growing, then you are on the right track,” the expert concluded.
Earlier, the economist shared advice on where Kazakhstani people should invest 1 million tenge.