The Bradleys' sweetlife nipped by recession

SURVIVAL - beating a recession

As the local
economy struggles under the weight of rising food, electricity and other
costs, Jamaican families across all socio-economic groups have entered
survival mode.

Consumption pattern data provided by the
Planning Institute of Jamaica and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica
indicates a reduction in household expenditure across nearly all areas
since 2008. The data suggests further that there has been significant
belt tightening in households, especially in rural townships, as
residents grapple with less available cash as a global recession ravaged
incomes worldwide.

Real mean per capita consumption
decreased in the Kingston Metropolitan and rural areas by some 13 per
cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively.

The Gleaner takes a closer look at families as they make critical adjustment in hard times.

THE BRADLEYS enjoyed life. They worked hard to get where they were and they had every intention of savouring the fruits of their labour, while giving their children the opportunity to experience the finer things of life.

Yearly summer vacations overseas, monthly weekends on the North Coast, dining out at a different restaurant on a whim, an evening at the theatre, movie nights at the cinema, shopping to their delight, you name it ... the pleasures of life were theirs for the taking.

But all that has changed. The recession over the last few years and skyrocketing inflation have led to a loss of confidence in what the future holds.

For the Bradleys, everything is now carefully planned. The family is making a conscious decision to drastically cut back on external entertainment while holding on to their income, spending only on the essentials.

"What the recession does is destroy confidence. Instead of doing some things that you would consider normal, now, because you are not sure of things like your employment status, value of investment, status of the economy, and things like that, you are constraint in spending. So the tendency is to hang on to whatever cash you have," stated Winston Bradley.

"My purchasing power has also changed. I have not got an increase in close to two years, so I have been on a fixed income. And because of the inflationary effect taking place and generally prices just keep going up, especially with food, petrol and electricity, I now have less disposable income, which has restricted by ability to live my life as I normally do."

The 55-year-old lives with his wife Sharon, 49, and two children Kevin, 19, and Laura, 13, in a very spacious four-bedroom, four-bathroom house, with a helper's quarters in upper St Andrew.

Serious investments

Winston and Sharon both hold senior management positions in two prominent companies. They strongly believe in investment, having real-estate holdings and other investment instruments.

"We practise the old adage of saving for the rainy day and we make sure we have something secure and adequate in place for retirement, which is very important," he stated.

In the last three years, they have watched their electricity bill doubled, moving from an average $10,000 per month to now bordering on $20,000, while their water and phone bills have seen a nominal increase.

With each driving an SUV, it is now costing them approximately $4,500 to full the tank, coming from $2,500.

Winston now practises purchasing petrol only late evenings or early mornings when the time is cool.

"We also don't drive up and down willy-nilly like we used to in the past." Winston places the highest value possible on education. Nothing is more important to him than that.

"Having my level of education has been the one thing that has allowed me to survive to get to the level I have, so I place a lot of emphasis on it, I know the importance of it. To me, education is the one tool that enables some sort of upward social mobility," stated Winston.

Children's education

Himself and Sharon possessing master's degree in managerial studies from separate universities overseas, they have every intention of affording their children the opportunity to reach the highest level.

Their son, Kevin, is currently pursing architecture at university in the United States and has already made the list of honour students, with a 3.8 grade point average. Daughter Laura is doing exceptionally well in high school in Jamaica. However, she is yet to decide on a career path.

It has got quite expensive keeping them both in school. In fact, this September, Winston had to dip into his savings, "But it is worth every penny, I will make the necessary sacrifice. I have to make sure I give them the requisite tools so that they themselves can succeed," stated the devoted father.

This school term, he spent some US$10,000 (J$860,000) on Kevin going back to university, which includes airfare, accommodations, tuition, books, medical and extracurricular activities. There are also other incidental expenditures during the year.

For Laura, it costs approximately US$2,000 (J$172,000) to cover her books, uniforms, tuition, extracurricular activities, among other things.

With Kevin overseas, air travel is an important part of their expenditure, so they have invested in a Visa credit card with miles rewards. Hence, the majority of their purchases are done via that credit card to rack up the miles, which are cashed in for airline tickets.

Sharon does most of the shopping for the family, both for food and clothing.

"The food bill has increased significantly, at least doubled in the last three years. And we aren't buying more. In fact, we are buying less, because Kevin is now overseas at university, he only comes home for holidays," noted Sharon.

Sharon said she now finds herself looking for deals and specials, and doing more wholesale shopping, something she had never done before.