Alvin Hall, a seasoned financial advisor, and author once said: the key to making better choices about your money begins with understanding your approach to earning, spending, saving and investing.
- Earning – your ability to bring in money
- Saving – your ability to produce a surplus
- Investing – your ability to make that surplus grow
- Spending – your ability to live frugally
Earning is very crucial to survival as it determines how well your basic needs are met; consequently, we can’t do without spending as basics needs have to be purchased. Saving is keeping your spending in check and Investing is ensuring your savings work for you. Understanding the first three will keep you ‘OK’ but adding the last will help you ‘Thrive’.
We can help you make better choices about your money.
Major decisions like the kind of house you choose to live in, the car you choose to drive, the school you decide to send your kids to and minor decisions like how many times you top up airtime on your phone in a week, the type of restaurant you choose to eat at or the kind of hair salon you visit, all have significant impact on your financial lifestyle. Remember that your salary doesn’t grow much over time, but expenses do grow rapidly over time.
Because the average person may not be able to keep up with all his/her expenses with a fixed income(salary), it is wise to start saving and do some good investments.
Below are some tips to consider:
Save before Spending
One of the wrong ways to go about saving from your monthly earning is to save what is left after your spending.
But when temptation strikes, it is important to be able to remind yourself exactly why you are saving, so that you don’t slide into a spending spree which brings short-term pleasure but long-term stress.
If you truly desire to see the account balance of your savings account go up every month, you have to save first, then spend what is left. If you insist on spending and then saving what is left, the chances of having anything left are quite slim. As Warren Buffett said ‘Do not save what is left after spending; instead spend what is left after saving.’
Among other things:
- Saving puts you in Financial Control
- Saving is money good for your Health
- Savings make you Money
- You will reach your Financial Goals Faster
Wealth.ng offers Wealth Cash as a savings product at 7% annual interest, so you can put some money aside as savings every month, that way you can reap the rewards later.
Over to You
What steps can you take in your own life to save before you spend? What are your savings goals? Share your saving tips.
Invest towards a comfortable tomorrow
For investing, you need to have some extra cash that you are willing to put to good use.
Investments are required for growing your wealth and achieving your life growth goals. Going for the right investment can be a daunting task for anyone but not to worry, you are at the center of all that we do.
Set aside 20% of your monthly income in Fixed Income Instruments like Treasury Bills and Bonds.
Although the return rate is currently below inflation, a six percent return on Treasury Bills is better than a zero percent return from leaving money in the bank. T-Bills and Government Bonds are also relatively risk-free.
Depending on your preference and needs, you can invest in short-term products like the 30-day or 365-day Treasury Bills or long-term products like premium stocks on the NSE.
What Next?
Choose to invest based on your life goals, starting capital, growth targets, market trends & your investment profile.
Learn
When you start investing, you would likely come across so many unknown investment terms that will make you blow your top. But be wise to learn the concepts from these terminologies so you don’t lose your shirt* or make the wrong investment decisions.
Some investment instruments are riskier than others but may bring higher than expected returns. Depending on whether you are in for the long term or looking to day trade, you should learn accordingly.
It’s too easy to lose focus of your investment targets in your pursuit of wealth accumulation. But it becomes easier if you set a realistic target/goal and follow a good role model who is already successful in an investment.
Wait a Minute
You should only invest your money in anything you can verify. If it sounds too good to be true, then it isn’t.
Study the Market Patterns
For those looking to profit from relatively short-term positions in financial markets, you should regularly study the Market Patterns on where successful investors are currently investing or where the markets are likely to move in the future.
Consistently be in touch on the latest investment trends & how market movements are affecting these investments. E.g. If prices are going up, which stocks, currencies are getting affected by it. Learn which investment sectors are strong & growing, and which are likely to grow in the future.
Get in Here
If you want to better understand what might happen next in the market — like what traders might do next and whether you should take a trade, ensure you keep abreast of market indicators and trends.
*Losing your shirt is an idiom that, in the investment world, means to lose one’s money, savings, investments, resources — or more, if investments were made with borrowed funds.