On your road to financial freedom

The road to financial freedom is not a tortuous one as many had made it seem. It is particularly tempting to begin to think that lack or unavailability of material resources is the sole cause of “financial kwashiorkor” in this part of the world. That theory could be right to an extent but I sincerely think that financial kwashiorkor is primarily caused by financial illiteracy.
People do not spend more than they earn because they love to go broke but they do because they lack information and financial aptitude!

A comprehensive research into the lifestyle, believe system and spending habits of all poor people gave us the same result. It was really shocking to discover that all those who have “lost” the financial battle have a distraught cash-flow system; they all have one source of income at one end of their cash-flow statement and loads of expenditure items at the other end-they spend more than they earn. These set of people are also very hardworking in an effort to get ahead. The flaw in their thinking is that money will solve all problems and they really try to work harder to make more of it! The truth is that more money will not solve the problem; in fact, it may actually accelerate the problem. Money often makes obvious our tragic human flaws; it puts a spotlight on what we do not know. That is why a person who comes into a sudden windfall of cash- let’s say an inheritance, a pay raise or lottery winnings soon returns to the same financial mess if not worse than the mess they were in before they received the money.

Money only accentuates the cash-flow pattern running in your head. If your pattern is to spend everything you get, an increase in cash will only take you to a deeper financial mess. No wonder millions of educated people pursue their profession successfully but later find themselves struggling financially. They work harder but don’t get ahead. What is obviously missing from their education is not how to make money but how to spend it-what to do with what they earn and how they are able to re-deploy money to work for them.

We can summarily say that the difference between the rich and the poor is the quantity and quality of information at their disposal. It is also a known fact that what you would become in the nearest future is a function of the people you associate yourself with and the type of information you are able to access.
It may also be a rude shock to many Nigerians that the Nigerian Stock Market is still the best in the emerging economies in terms of return. One can easily ask why majority of the people who stay at the “backyard” of this market still grumble; it is simple. Lack of financial aptitude. Someone can say but I don’t earn much, how do I start investing? You can start by forming an investment club with a few of your friends who are like minds or join an existing one so as to stay informed. There is an investment club fully managed by the firm where I work for instance and it encourages people who want to invest with as little as a thousand naira (1000) every month. It is wise to start now, procrastination is by far the deadliest disease in the world. The road to financial freedom can be easier to ply if we make a conscious effort.


Shola Akinyemi is a consultant with BIGPLUS LTD, Lagos.
Email: sholaakinyemi@gmail.com, shola.akinyemi@bigplus-group.com
Websites: www.sholaakinyemi.com, www.bigplus-group.com