Money Problems

A lot of people wonder why they never seem to have any money or rather
enough money. None in savings, little in investments and they hardly have
enough to spare. They know that they earn a decent income, but they never
feel like they have any money left over at the end of the month. They
wonder why the money is never enough. Unfortunately, there are a number
of traps that people can fall into that gobble up large chunks of their
income and leave them with little or nothing.

If you notice, the issues discussed here do not have much to do with
money directly. They are mostly attitudinal but they score big negative
points if you commit them.

1. Other People’s Lack Of Planning Cannot Be Your Emergency:
   Remember who you are — a good friend, a good sister, a good whatsoever
   but you are not Aliko. Infact Aliko got to where he is by careful planning
   and by minding his business. It takes 9 months for a baby to come.
   Don’t
   allow people to blackmail you with “this is your only nephew, please do
   something”. Everybody needs to do their part so that we can all survive. If
   you keep bailing people out especially from their obvious financial
   mistakes, you will be a financial wreck and also the people will not learn to
   take care of their business.

From time to time, allow people to clean up
their mess. The American government watched Lehman go down. Learn
from history.

1. Patronising “Loan Sharks Plc”: No matter how desperate the
   situation is, please always try and get the best deal.
   Stay away from loan
   sharks. Going to loan sharks is burying yourself by yourself while you are
   still breathing. The likelihood for you to default in the payment is high
   because the interest is already high. You end up paying 50k interest for a
   10k loan.
   Loan sharking is a business and those fellas will shake you down
   to get their money. Payday loans are a formal “Loan Shark Plc”. Try to
   avoid them in any format that they come.

All the money in the world is no
use to a man or his country if he
spends it as fast as he makes it.
All he has left is his bills and the
reputation for being a fool.

~ Rudyard Kipling

1. Lending Money To A Friend Of A Friend:
   If you became friendly to
   a friend of a friend and the person's next move is to ask you for money —
   RUN!!!. If you give that loan, then that is the end of that money.
   We all
   have friends with baggages and we try not to let their gist out but most
   times, these people ruin our circle of relationships that we had
   inadvertently brought them into.
   If a friend of a friend comes to you with a
   money problem; first thing is to alert your mutual friend. What is most
   likely going to happen is that you will hear stories of how he has borrowed
   money without paying back from everyone in his/her inner circle. Since
   s/he has broken trust with all those that they know, the person is now
   exploring new targets. Heed to the advice. People who can easily ask for
   money, hardly pay back. Thank me later.

2. Seeing Every Rich Person As Evil: Growing up, I realized there was
   a general animosity for people who fared better financially. The easiest way
   to discredit them was to say that the source of their wealth was not pure
   aka evil aka juju was involved. This is a big money mistake.
   If you ever
   know someone who is successful around you, try to get close enough to
   ask them how they got where they are. You will be making a big mistake to
   think that every wealthy person is in a cult or practices voodoo. I was
   privileged to know one of the most successful financial persons in my
   neighbourhood, though I did not ask many questions I did observe a lot
   around him.

I learned a lot by being around. I saw that he viewed life
differently. As I got close to him, people told my parents funny stories. I
am sure they thought I wanted to join whatever cult that family was into. It
was all a hoax. I learned more from those fellas than any formal money
education I had.

1. Not Investing In Your Financial Education: This is a big money
   mistake. Most people just feel that they can figure it out as they go along.
   This is not true. If you have a sharp axe, you will bring down the tree faster
   than those that are putting in more effort. Effort is great but knowledge
   is a good leverage to get to where you are heading to on time.
   Take
   out time to read financial books, watch financial movies and YouTube,
   listen to financially successful people speak, ask questions etc. It will take
   time but when you know where you are heading to, your financial
   knowledge will help you to navigate the field.

2. Monetizing Everything: The love of money will make you monetize
   every opportunity and access that you have. When you do that, you will not
   have friends because everyone and everything is a means to make more
   money. People are smart and they will run via the nearest exit when they
   realize this is what you are about. If you have to make your friends pay for
   every small favour they need from you, then the days of that relationship
   are numbered. If everything around you must have a naira and kobo value,
   then people around you will feel they can be bought or have a price tag.
   Nobody likes that and the natural consequence is that they will...fly away
   Peter, fly away Paul. Not to worry, they will not come back.

3. Seeing Every Other Person As Having A Ball: You think every
   other person is having it easy and you are the only one with the issues of
   life. I was once like this until I walked into the light of better
   understanding. When this happens, you are bound to always make requests from
   people. If you continue like this, you will become sour. Nobody wants to be
   around a sour person who drains them. I have people that I know who feel
   they have to take from you. Their mantra is “Take! Take!! Take!!.” Well,

within a short period of time, people will leave you to wallow in your pity-
party. Enjoy!

1. Calling People Only When You Need Something: Nobody hears
   from you except when you are in need. You call, sound friendly for the
   first one minute and then you drop your predictable request.
   Sometimes you
   are obliged and you feel very smart. Well, what people are doing ...they are
   trying to exorcise you. It is a matter of time and your calls will not be
   picked. Mark my words! There is nobody against you, you have become a
   nuisance and those folks run for cover when you call.

1. Abusing Access: Some people are privileged to know some important
   people and they think it is their right to always ask for this and that from
   these important people. Some were introduced into a mentorship
   relationship and they saw (or rather mistook) it as an opportunity to
   offload their personal money problems on the mentor.

The mentor tries to
manage and feels it is youthful exuberance but when the pestering
continues, the mentor finds ways to cut you loose. So now you know why
it has been difficult for you to see them for the past one year.

1. Not Honouring People: This can be tricky. I will explain with a
   personal example. I had a colleague in school, who was extremely generous
   to me. He took care of me and tried his best to make life comfortable for
   me. Hey, things were tight then. Oh, he helped a lot.

When I ran into some
money, I “blessed” every other person around me except him. I could not
imagine what I could buy for him that he did not have. It was the wrong
way to look at the situation. I failed to thank him and honour him. It is also
a common mistake most of us make especially with our parents and close
associates.

HOW TO PROFIT FROM THE STOCK MARKET:

We feel if our parents need money, they will ask us. Reverse the
situation; would you like your kids to send you gifts from time to time or would you like
to ask before they give? A good thing is good. Learn to honour special people
in your life. Thankfully, I learned and honoured my friend in due season.

It is good to know that financial mistakes can take a while to clear up and
they come with attendant problems that spread into other spheres of life
— social, spiritual and family. Noteworthy is the fact that they can be hard
to fix. Understanding the most common financial mistakes will help you to
avoid financial pitfalls and make better financial choices. If you know
better, you will do better. Avoiding costly money mistakes can save you
money, time and eliminate stress.