Checklist Advice By Current Returnees
1. SET A GOAL DATE
Set a goal date at most 5 years ahead and make all spending and investment choices your priorities. Get life insurance, open retirement account-IRA and Annuity accounts both abroad and in Ghana in order to get stable monthly income once you hit 59.5 years. Get a personal trusted financial advisor or contact low cost brokerage firms like Fidelity, to make a financial plan and go through UcanMAP orientation. Go on www.ecobank.com and www.databank.com to review their products for Ghanaians abroad. Call or email them with extensive questions. Cut monthly expenses to fifty percent, double mortgage payments, consolidate credit cards, if you own a home, take home equity to pay off all debt and use balance to put down on a house in Ghana or pay your 2yrs rental advance in Ghana. Contact real estate about selling or renting your house and get your agent to be your property manager while away.
2. BUYING A CAR
Ordinarily, buying a car in the US and shipping it down would be nice. However, Ghana has this annoying customs policy under which it charges cut throat duties for the importation of cars. Indeed, in some instances, the custom duty may be higher than the price of the car. Coupled with freight and other shipping charges, it may not be advisable to ship a car from the US. There are countless car garages here selling both used and new cars. However, the new cars are mostly from Europe and Asia so they tend to be stick - that highly impractical gear shift system. There are also new US cars from PHC Motors - strictly Chrysler and Jeep models. You can also get very good deals for slightly used cars from the US from small time garages. They are often in the range of US, Canadian and manufactured Asian models like Toyota, Nissan, Lexus, Infinity, Mazda and Hyundai.
LOOKING FOR JOBS IN GHANA:
It is important to get your resume ready and send it to as many places as possible. Visit sites with job postings in Ghana and apply if you believe that you will be able to start work when an offer is made. In most cases, companies will like to interview you so don't apply for positions you know you can't interview for let alone start working. In some cases where you have to include a cover letter, cease the opportunity to let a would-be employer know when you possibly can take an offer. For certain positions, the end of the submission deadline does not mean that the position will be filled. If you have a good resume and your experiences and academic background best suits a particular position, an employer may be willing to "wait" for you to interview for it assuming you can't be in Ghana before the deadline. In one instant, I had indicated in my cover letter that I'd be in Ghana after certain date by which time interviews would have been conducted. I did not get a call for this position because I wasn't available then but I was surprised to get a call from the company asking me if I'd be interested in interviewing for another position. The company had taken notice of when I was going to be in Ghana. I ended up interviewing for the job, got an offer but had to turn it down because I had gotten a better offer with another company. Expand your network. Use your parents, friends and former colleagues if you've worked in Ghana before.
4. WHAT TO BUY AND NOT TO:
Anuanom na Adofo, there is practically everything in Ghana these days! All things considered, but for some very important things you already own, don't buy "anything". You can get "everything" in Ghana. There is too much hustle to clear your things at the harbor. The frustrations pile up when you are asked to pay unnecessary duty on practically everything in your shipment. If you are not lucky, the customs officer or clearing agent will ask you to pay duty on your old school T-shirt or the frame encasing your diploma. For electronics be mindful of the differences in voltage. Adapters and converters don't help much. Some electronic equipment especially TV's don't work here in Ghana. (I don't know why). As for cars, aside of the heavy duty and all, it is not bad if you bring your own used one or you buy one in fairly good condition. You can find a home used car but you may be paying for a seventy year car passed "mechanically fit" and "dressed" for 2005 model by your wise-ass dealer. You can't trust anybody.
PRE-DEPARTURE(MAILINGS & BANKING ISSUES):
If you have trusted sources in the U.S, change your mailing address or forward your mails to selected relative/friend’s address. You can also add a trusted person to your checking account as joint or get a power of attorney to take care of your financials on your behalf. Don't worry if you do not expect any important mail. In any case some mails may not come in again once you settle all outstanding bills (if you owe). If you have bills that you intend paying whiles in Ghana, then change your address before you leave. You may also consider changing all your paper based bills to e-bills. This is more convenient if you do internet banking and pay bills online. You may want to close all accounts that you may not use and keep just one or two (consider fee-free checking) accounts to pay your bills.
6. YOUR CREDIT BILLS
Consolidate all your credit cards and loans if you can and use internet banking to pay this bill! You may add an authorized user to your credit card by simply calling customer service and giving only the name of the selected person. Such a user can only take care of customer services related issues and not open new account. Keep your credit cards and maintain a healthy credit. They may come in handy. As you are aware, Ghana is a cash and carry country so it is pretty cool when you want to travel to back to Yankee for whatever reason and you can purchase your ticket on credit. Besides you can pile up a little more debt when you shop and have folks back in Ghana think that you are rich. (Who do you think you are deceiving?)
