Money and me: Security with room for adventure

Entrepreneur Javier Cardona has always treaded carefully when it comes to investing - though he admits it's a decision he sometimes regrets.

Javier Cardona, is the UAE manager of Aldeamo, which provides mobile data services. Ravindranath K / The National

Javier Cardona launched the regional operations of Aldeamo, a technology company operating in 18 countries across Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, in 2012 after moving to Dubai from his native Bogota, Colombia. The company offers SMS- based service subscriptions to lower income people, including news, traffic reports and entertainment. Mr Cardona, 35, lives on the Palm Jumeirah with his wife, Claudia.

Describe your financial journey so far.

I was employed with a mobile phone operator for 10 years in Colombia and my job was quite safe. Then my wife got a job in oil services in Dubai, and as we were financially secure we decided to give it a go by moving here. I then paid royalties to start the business in the Middle East.

Are you a spender or a saver?

We are savers. I like to be positive every month and avoid debt as much as possible. I have always been very safe. Before I had a salary I wanted to be financially secure before my 40s or 50s. During our first year in Dubai a lot of money went to restaurants and going to Friday brunch, but after a year we got tired and went back to our normal life, which means we are not spending as much any more. The exception is travel. My passion is travel and we try to do a trip every three months or so and that takes expenditure. We have been to many places in the region and farther afield, including Oman, Qatar, Greece, Mauritius, Russia and Thailand. We know we will leave Dubai before too long and so we decided to see as many countries as possible.

Is money important to you?

My philosophy is having your money work for you and not the other way around. We have been savers to be financially free. The company has required a significant amount of money and any money remaining we have invested in Colombia or the United States.

If you won Dh1 million, what would you do with it?

I would spend a couple of weeks relaxing on an island somewhere and then I would invest in start-ups in Dubai, as I see a lot of opportunities. The regulation is different in Dubai to Latin America but there are a lot of opportunities in content creation online in Arabic and Spanish. There’s a lot to be done still on the internet.

What has been your biggest financial lesson?

I think I have missed opportunities by playing it safe. I missed opportunities to invest in start-ups in Colombia and the US. I cashed out of a company that was bought by another company. I have been more cautious in the past, although that has changed for investment. But my spending habits are still the same. I’ve also learnt that everything takes planning. If you’re building a company it takes a bit of planning and you may have to spend money on creative things, but if you plan for the long term then you know planning finances and being organised are important.

What do you enjoy spending money on?

Aside from travel, there’s nothing else I can spend money on without feeling guilty. Now that I work for myself, I wouldn’t say there’s more free time but I can be more flexible. You can be travelling but can spend an hour or two checking emails. When I was working for somebody else I would not do it, but it is now my business so I have a different approach and it does not bother me. We have always travelled but in Colombia I used to have fixed dates to travel and sometimes my wife could travel and I couldn’t. It was not as easy as it is here.

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