HMMM!!! WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS TOPIC?
Last night, one of my Kid-Sister who is a student in one of the Nation’s secondary school sent me this text message.”LIFE IS A RACE. YOUR DESIRE TO SUCCEED BEGINS WITH IDENTIFYING THE RACE SET BEFORE YOU”.
I begin to wonder what a life we are living. Most us had missed the journey from the very beginning. While many are struggling to find even what to eat for that day, with no hope in sight, many are so busy wasting their hard earned income. Spending so much on frivolities that even at the 5th day of the month, they are back to where they started from.
I agree that quite a few people are still jobless and trying to find their means of sustenance. They are jobless so to say because they are blind to the countless opportunity abound in this country today. On the other hand, a large number of people fall into these broad categories: Under paid and can not save; Wellpaid but can not manage the money;
Earning good salary to a lot of people means buying big cars, big houses, expensive dresses which are largely bought on credit, big electronics and fabulous lifestyle, many wives, concubines and girl friends. And so on. To these group of people, how to manage the money and get the best out of it is their major problem.
To illustrate this further, I want to use three of my friends.
(1) Chiedu (not his real name) works and lives in Asaba, Delta State as a driver to a fast growing company in the Niger delta region. He earns an average of N20, 000 a month.
(2) Audu (not his real name) lives and works in Akure, Ondo State with a private company. He earns average of N70, 000 monthly.
(3) SEUN (not his real) is well paid and a serious devoted and ever busy workaholic.
Chiedu has couple of bobbling friends and one girl friend. At the end of each month, after collecting his salary, himself, his girl friend and few of his friends will go to a weekend party at Grand Hotels, Asaba. By the time they come back the next day morning, 90% of his entire earnings for that month are gone. And that is how he lives his life and complains of not being paid enough as compared to his friends driving in other companies’ month after months and years after years.
Audu on the other hand is not engaged in partying. However, as soon as he receives his monthly income, he breaks it down immediately into expenses. Large portion of the salary goes into solving his family problems. He starts from his brothers, sisters, uncles, and friends. He also stretch into part payment for clothing’s he couldn’t complete the payment the previous month, not forgetting the fact that he has to budget for his girl friend that comes every month end to visit him all the way from Warri. He will usually lodge her in a hotel for two days, spend a lot to take care of her as well as give her enough to go back.
And the circle continues. Both Chiedu and Audu can work for years without a tiny thing to show for it.
On the other hand, Seun is some one is well paid and ever busy. He wakes up 4:30am every morning to work and returns 10:30am every night. He sometimes sleeps in the office to meet up with deadlines. For him, he makes the money as well as saves but no time to enjoy it.
COMMON WAKE UP EVERYBODY. We needn’t to surfer that much all our life. All we need is financial intelligence in other to get the best out of our earnings and secure a good tomorrow for ourselves and our children.
WHAT IS THE WAY OUT?
The following, when practiced sequentially could guarantee a better tomorrow for us and our families.
SAVINGS: The need to save for tomorrow can not be over enfersized. Even though we all want to go for greener pastures, we need to maintain the present job and take a full advantage of it before moving a head.
(1) SAVINGS ACCOUNT: We can start with opening a savings account outside our salary account, religiously save a regular amount. Some banks charges zero-COT on savings while some do charge a little on the transactions.
(2) FIXED-DEPOSIT ACCOUNT: Here, we save a specified amount of money over an agreed period ranging from six months to one year and above, depending on the bank. During the period, we can not have access to this money what so ever. At the end of the period, a certain percentage of the money is added as interest and this also depends on the bank.
(3) LIFE ANSURANCE SAVINGS SCHEME: This allowed you to save on a regular basis, an agreed amount of money over a period. In most banks and insurance companies, the period is not less than 2 years. Some banks pay from 3% to 9% after 2 years and continually every month as long as the money is in their account. They also give you a life cover of up to N2.5million, depending on the bank incase of accidental death.
(4) You get more of these in my new free e-book…15 WAYS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM. To get a copy of this, please send a text to 08160368729 or send email to any of the following: liman@limsnetonline.com, or lim_su2006@yahoo.com .
INVESTMENT. After savings, the next thing to do is investment. If you save money, the ability for the money to multiply is difficult. Why, because we can hardly wait to meet up with the banks set down rules and regulations. In such case, investment becomes the next option.
(1) LIFE ASSURANCE INVESTMENT SCHEME: Here, this is just like the number 3 above, the only difference is that you can not access the money until the end of the agreed period (5 years in some banks). The interest is usually very high. You can also use the account as collateral to get a loan in the bank or the insurance company. If however you decides to cut the investment half way, you loose part of your money.
(2) STOCK OR CAPITAL MARKET: Here, investment is based on long or short term plans. It involves buying shares from companies through capital market at low and keeps or sells at high. It also involved doing the same in the commodity market which involves buying of agricultural commodities.
(3) SMALL BUSINESS SETUP: Here, you invest part of the money you have saved over time in different means into a small business of your choice. I know the next question will be…Which business do I invest in?... If you look seriously into our New Magazine, START YOUR OWN BUSINESS MAGAZINE, you will notice that it is filled up with different ideas. So look into it and pick the one that suites you.
(4) ONLINE BUSINESS SET UP: you can as well invest in an online business. There are some many businesses you can do online. They include affiliate marketing, blogging, website designing and so on. To get a guide on the kind of online business to go into, please visit my site www.limsnetonline.com and get free guide. Also, get a copy of my new book, it has so many ways you can make money online clearly stated inside and most important of all, it is FREE!!!
(5) WHAT MORE: Keep reading my Colum in START YOUR OWN BUSINESS MAGAZINE and you will never miss your way to the Top.
See you at the Top.
Lim Usman Lim
www.limsnetonline.com
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