We Can All Learn Great Financial Habits From Ramadan: Here Are the Top 4

May 10, 2020

As UAE residents, we feel Ramadan all around- even in these unusual times! Ramadan is not only a month of fasting, it is also a month of patience, reflection, giving and mostly importantly discipline. These traits that everyone can embrace are not only practical, they are needed in our daily life as well as in the way we handle our finances.

We want to find a way to bridge both by helping you better your habits, do good for yourself by investing in yourself, and do good for those in need at the same time. We will get to how shortly.

First, no matter what your beliefs are, here are 4 financial learnings we can all take away from Ramadan. After all, Ramadan is a special time of the year when people change their habits.

Reflect on your financial situation

We all want to be able to save and grow our wealth for the future, but it’s really easy to slip and not stay on track when it comes to your finances. It’s important to reflect on your financial situation and evaluate what you’re spending on. In these times, many of our spending habits disappeared or have been put on hold. Yet, just like everything, there is always room for improvement.

Are you still over-spending on things you don’t really need? Is there a subscription you completely forgot about? Take a moment and reflect on that, and make the right moves to help better your current financial situation. ‘Financial fasting’ will help you break bad spending habits. Now could be the right time to create a plan to get yourself debt free, save more, and ultimately reach financial freedom. You can start by only purchasing the needs, and keeping a spending journal.

Stay disciplined and don’t pull back

Fasting for anyone who tried it takes immense self discipline, especially in the beginning. Slowly it starts turning into a habit and gets easier with time. You can mirror the same principle in your financial life.

It’s not enough to start good habits, whether it’s working out, eating healthy, saving or investing. You need discipline to maintain them. When you’re trying to get in shape, it is not enough to hit the gym one time and then splurge on your diet- you won’t see the long term results you are looking for. It’s the same when it comes to your finances: putting away some savings one month, and then spending half the salary on non-essentials the next won’t help you get to your financial goals. This also applies to your investments, it’s important to stay the course and invest regularly. Financial freedom comes from managing your money well, and practising healthy financial habits.

Be patient and reap rewards

The current economic situation around the world is having an impact on the job market and many feel the uncertainty of the financial situation. If you have an emergency fund set in place, knowing that any set back is solvable will help you focus on the big picture. A sound financial strategy will help you through. Much like fasting, it’s important to be patient with your finances. You will not see large rewards in the short term, you must think long term. It’s important to stay patient not to pull out no matter how the market is moving, unless absolutely necessary.

Give back when you can

Ramadan is about compassion and humbleness. With everything happening in the world, we’re fortunate enough to have our jobs and food on the table. This isn’t the case for many other people that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. That’s why it’s important to give back and help when we can. Being a force of good makes us stronger as a community.

Our promise to you has always been to deliver value. This Ramadan, you can give back to future you and others. How? At Sarwa, we have partnered with YallaGive to help raise money for the 10 Million Meals campaign by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. For every $5,000 funded, we will give away profit and donate 10 meals to families and individuals that have been affected by COVID-19.

You can find all the details on their website. Just apply the following promo code when signing up: RAMADAN 2020 or email us at hello@sarwa.co for more details.

Ready to invest in your future?

Start now

Leujean Fakhani