Back in the days, when we bagged our first jobs, we were always excited to share the information with our friends, and well wishers. As if to say, I’m off the professional applicant list, getting a job was a major sigh of relief. With pictures of the crowd of unemployement in mind, getting a good job certainly was a big progression. For some people, the fear of ever getting a job was the greatest fear they had until they had it, and now that they do, it’s the fear of loosinig it! One of the interesting things however about getting a job back then, was the critical question, or so we thought it was -“What are they offering?” Don’t get the question wrong, it wasn’t a question of the job description or title, it’s a question of cash (ego, kudi, owo)! We were eager to know how much each company paid, if the company had an unknown name, but paid extremely well, it had made it into the biggies. Recently, I got thinking about it, and it dawned on me, that the best question ought not to have been how much we were earning.
The best question is “How much are you saving?” How much you were earning won’t matter a dime after you leave the job, how much you were earning won’t make things happen for your inevitable future. What matters most, is how much of what you earned you saved.
Saving is a very regular word, but a very irregular practice. We all have different stories for why we have not been able to develop a culture of saving. Is it really too much to put away 10% every month? If you have denied yourself of 10% of your salary, should it not be easy to deny every other person from your village that demands for it? Hear me clearly, it is extremely important that no matter how much you earn, you put away some for your future.
Many of us have learnt a lot of principles about sowing and reaping, I’m about to burst your bubble. Your seed that will give you financial abundance is not the one you dashed away, gave to a religious course or a charitable event! Your real seed that is capable of giving you a financial breakthrough is the one that you have saved! Everything else plays a multiplier role to the seed. Your seed is your savings!
Imagine you existed many hundred years ago, then the world did not spend cash, business was trade by barter. The predominant and only existing business was agriculture. Imagine that in that day, you were a maize farmer. You tilled your ground, planted your maize, weeded the farm, fertilized and tended your farm until harvest time. Your corn responds and grows into a healthy harvest. From a few grains of maize, you have reaped thousands of bags. You use some to feed your family, give a few away to your family, friends and neighbours, you give some to your local church or mosque, and you keep some of the grains to plant the next season. Tell me, which is your seed? Clearly it’s the one that has potentials to grow. Stop kidding yourself, whatever you have in savings has potentials of being multiplied, if you have nothing in savings, nothing will be multiplied. Just imagine a good year, where the weather was fantastic, and the soil excellent. All these will not atone for the lack of seed.
A financial habit that you must be quick to form, is saving 10% monthly. Saving doesn’t mean putting it in a savings account (you can start from there), but what will invariably happen is that a time will come for you to take the seed that you have put away and invest it in the right business or scheme. Many people are looking for money, looking at this site alone and the fact that the most viewed posts are about money proves the same. But it doesn’t respond to looking for, it responds to action based on understanding.
Here are a few quick tips –
Save a minimum of 10% of everything you earn
Put 20% of your increases in savings additionally
Diversify your funds – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket (except you are willing to guard the basket with your life – literally)
Financial literacy is the cure for poverty – Read! (What the poor man needs is not bread, it’s “How to”.
Be accountable, give to caesar what is caesars and to God what is God’s.
It doesn’t matter how much you earn, it matters how much of what you earn you are putting away to invest. It doesn’t matter how much you have to invest, it matters that you have to invest. Some of the biggest companies in the world today started with the owner having less than you have today! If you put the little you have in the right soil, your harvest will not be little.