Let’s talk about your personal finance for 2020 and ways you can light it up and end 2020 financially better than ever
Change the way you see money -This comes as the first because it’s just about the foundation for every other finance tip. Without a right mindset to money, you will always stay within a particular zone. Money responds to who you are on your inside so if you have any bias with money, you will need to tackle this area urgently. Funny thing is you might not even know that you have this bias but a good way to start is to ask yourself how you feel when you see that your rich neighbour drive by with that his DOPE car or when you see someone buying hair for 100k. There’s a reaction of ‘I will NEVER do that’ with disdain and there’s also the reaction of ‘that’s ok, when I can comfortably afford it.’ If your reaction is in the former zone, you have some work to do cos money is noticing that you don’t like it & it won’t come too close to you in abundance. www.instagram.com/iambankole can help you more here
Create a Budget – There is nothing really difficult in creating a budget. What sometimes is a challenge is not knowing how much you typically spend on a thing and that’s where tracking your expenses comes in but don’t let the fact that you haven’t tracked your expenses yet, stop you from budgeting. What you can do is to set a budget with an idea of how much you can spend and allow for a 20-30% window just in case it’s more but when living it out, aim to actually spend less than that. So you can for example, set a budget of N5000 per week on transportation or fuelling but add a window of about N1000 to N1500 extra just in case you actually need more, but during that week, look for creative ways to spend below the initially budgeted N5000. Also while making your budget, differentiate between your needs (those things you absolutely need, to survive) and wants ( those things that are nice to have but not really necessary) and then allocate more financial resources to your needs and the balance to your wants and as you earn more and multiply the earnings, the ratios allocated also increase. Then after tracking your expenses for about a month or two, you have a more realistic view of your expenses that will help you plan appropriately. If you need more help creating a budget, send me a message on aijayufomadu.com and I’ll let you know when my class, ‘budget like a pro, for non-finance individuals’, will come up and it’s likely to be free so hit me up.
Track your Expenses – Write down every penny you spend. Thiswill help you know exactly where your money is going to. And it’s not difficult. Create a space in your daily planner if you have one or get a cute little book that inspires you and write down as your spend. You can write immediately (recommended) or write at the end of the day if you can remember everything you spent. At the end of the week & month review what you’ve written, you’ll be surprised that it isn’t your village people that’s making you broke .
Save from every income/earning – Yes. From that money someone dashed you, save. From your income, save. Anything that comes like a gift, even if it’s N100, save my dear. Have a percentage you save &only start spending after you’ve saved. Now, if you’re just starting, start small so you don’t hook yourself. 10% is a good place to start but if it’s too much, start with 5 or 7. But whatever you start with, stay consistent. That’s the trick. If you must alter it, do so upwards. If someone dashed you N100 and it’s too small, save it all. After all if the person never gave you the money, you won’t have had it. So save & take it further, invest. www.instagram.com/tomiebalogun & www.instagram.com/moneyafrica can help you more here
Start a piggy savings – for small monies which you can’t really walk into the bank to deposit, like the N100 above, start a piggy savings at home. It’s also a good way to save your money change at the end of the day or any money you get that you don’t have a really important use for. At the end of the day or week, put any money change you see in there. At the end of a quarter or better still the year, you’ll be surprised what you’d see in there. Who knows, you might have enough money to buy gifts for loved ones in 2020 Christmas or indulge yourself..but only after you’ve saved from that savings. Remember, save from all you get
Set a budget for self development – Your learning determined your earning. What you bring to the table affects what you take home so make a conscious effort to add value to yourself by intentionally planning for your self development. A good place to start is 3%. You can do more but please plan towards it and in addition to free resources and materials online, do some certifications, attend conferences, add value to yourself
When you get a raise, increase your savings, not your expenses. A raise usually makes us think that we’ve landed and it’s time enjoy life but before you do that, pay your future first by increasing your savings. If you have no really urgent and important use for the increase, you can save 70-80% of the increase and lounge on the rest. But whatever you do, don’t increase your expenses just yet. Increase your savings first.
Confess your way to more – you will have what you say. Words are powerful so use your words to build your future. Don’t ever call yourself poor. Get into the Word of God and let God teach you how to create wealth.
The last but not the least is Tithing. This has become a controversial topic so I’ll just narrate to you what a dear preacher man once said about tithing. He said and I paraphrase – ‘ when I was young, my dad would ask me to look left and right before I cross the road and if I failed to do that, he’ll whoop me. Now I’m grown but I still look left and right before I cross the road, not because I’m afraid of my dad’s whooping but because i want my own good. The same it is with tithing. It’s for your own good.’
That about sums it all up.
Have an amazing financial year ahead.
Aijay Ufomadu…..The Game Changer
