Where Did It All Go?

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I wrote here on the importance of relational intelligence - how you are to relate with one another and how you are supposed to also relate with yourself because you won't build as much relationship with others if you ignore loving yourself.

We might be blessed with the right kind of people who will always chip in to build us up and make us a better person but when we lack the needed discipline, we would soon ruin a lot of things we have built up for ourselves by the virtue of those we have surrounded ourselves with. We all need to learn about financial intelligence that would lead most people to financial freedom.

Finance is an important aspect of our lives and we cannot ignore it. We need the needed discipline to thrive as it determines what we can achieve and what we cannot. Not all the money we receive are to be spent and that's the bitter truth. It's strange because I used to be like that. I spend just about anything and what wasn't important to me suddenly became important and I would spend the money till I was back to the status quo hahaha.

If you have been following my posts you would have read where I talked about being told to study Economics rather than the football that I had a passion for so it is not surprising that as an Economist, I was still struggling with my finance despite understanding how money works. We need to understand how money works and money is supposed to be a tool to get the things we want, even our dreams. What's the usefulness of the money you stack up without putting it to profitable use? What's the essence of the money you have that you can't employ to achieve better things other than liabilities?

We need to identify our needs from our wants. Our needs are the necessities that we can't do without while our wants are the things we simply desire or admire but we can do without them for the time being. We don't need to be Economists before we know how money works. We need to see money as bread and seed. We need to categorize it into that. Bread is what you need to expend on your immediate needs while the seed is what you need to invest to reproduce what you have spent (if not all). You need to identify urgent and important needs as well as important needs but not so urgent ones. It will help you to prioritize and put your money to profitable use.

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You can't help but draw up your budget. List your income as against your expenses and if the balance tilt in favour of more expenses than income then you should cut away some of your expenses to allow you to have something left that you can put to profitable use. I understand that sometimes it's not as easy as that that's why we need to increase our sources of income. Lay your hands on other things and whatever it is you can sacrifice for you to be able to invest, please do. It's just for a short period.

Most of the time we spend money we didn't even plan to spend. Some even budget the money they haven't yet received and that's wrong. This is why you need to draw a budget so you can know where your money is going and then prioritize. We've all been guilty of spending money we can't account for. In fact, after drawing up my budget sometimes, I have had to spend money that affected my budget because 'something came up'.

Have you ever wondered where your money went after just being bullish about the credit alert you received just 2 days ago? We've all been there hahaha. We just need to understand that money is a tool so stop allowing your money to dictate to you on impulse rather you should be the one controlling your money.

I know my weakness when I visit the supermarket. I have a list of things to buy in my mind but you will see me buying them and some other things because they looked 'attractive'. It took me discipline before getting over it. I would make sure I don't even go with my card or my wallet sometimes (risky, yeah) when I go out on a stroll or I go with cash when I am heading to the supermarket. Of course, I go with just a little over just in case of price changes. I did these till I master that discipline and now, it's what I want to buy that I buy, no stress.

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I love giving and most of the time this is where my money goes hahaha but I have come to understand that I can have a budget for that too because I hate not having to give when I see someone in dire need. It hurts my heart to see someone struggling to get by and I don't have to give. This is why sometimes I try to push myself as hard as I could, to be able to make those provisions to help.

If you don't learn how to be disciplined and plan your finance well, your finance can mess you up and that is always not so nice. A little drop into your sink here and there would soon cause a shipwreck. You have to have a target in mind and be deliberate about it. Most people want to save a huge chunk of money at once when they haven't even saved anything before now. Be true to yourself and to first learn the art of being disciplined, you have to stretch yourself reasonably. You can't fly when you haven't even learnt how to run neither can you walk when you don't even understand how to crawl and stumble.

Some things are not that important but due to the pressure of trying to impress others most people have incurred debts upon themselves while trying to 'catch up'. There is a slang that popped up recently and that is 'Everyone will all eat breakfast'. It means, we will all enjoy the things we desire in life but the timing will be different, as expected.

Learn to tame those unnecessary spendings so you can have enough to take advantage of investment opportunities when they arise. Life is all about taking chances.

Thank you for your time.