TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR FINANCES AS A WOMAN: YOUR SALARY IS NOT SUFFICIENT?

Hello,

In the second post, you must have read that no 9 – 5 job can be called wealth creation. At best, you are helping another create wealth which is good in a sense but not what you set out to achieve. This is not to say that it is wrong to have a job, many people begin from working jobs and using salary to create wealth.

I honestly have not come across a person who is so content with their pay cheque at month’s end; this goes a long way to show that wealth is a thing of the mind. While struggling to create wealth, one has to be ‘content but hungry’. Content enough to know that it is not money that makes a person happy. The pursuit of money is almost never ending but you need to be hungry enough to want to ‘get up’ and create wealth (Trust me, the process is not a blink).

If you feel your salary is not sufficient to meet your needs, guess what? Half or more than half Nigeria’s population feel same. The only difference between most is their ability to manage scarce resources.

It is possible that your salary is genuinely not sufficient and when this happens the mistake most people make is that they go into ‘spending’ mode and even try to take loans. When faced with such situation the advisable thing to do is to go into ‘saving’ mode (this is very difficult to do with meager salary but it is very possible). You also need to budget (plan your expenses with your income before you make them).

It may be a wonder how family men who are paid 50,000 monthly run their families some of them end up building houses before the individual who gets paid 500,000 monthly. What do they know that the rest of us do not?

The answer to the question above is SAVING and BUDGETING.

Let us assume you are a single lady with monthly salary of N20,000 and have a yearly rent of N60,000. According to our basic survival need for women, your budget may look like this.

Air : Thankfully, this is free

Water: With 20,000 as salary, if it becomes necessary, fetch from a mate’s borehole

Food: Depending on N5,000 ( In the next post, you will understand better the reasoning behind the calculation.)

Clothing: N2,000 Hand downs and ‘Okirika’ also called ‘Bend down select’ (see also next post scheduled for tomorrow).

Shelter: N5,000 monthly (One room apartments start from 30,000 per annum depending on your location)

The need to impress the opposite sex: Use your character, at this stage no money involved.

Good health: In this part of the world headaches and malarias are common so it is wise to budget N1,000 monthly but also take precautions such as using mosquito nets (some of these can be gotten free).

Presentation: N4,000 This includes your cosmetics and transportation which should largely be having someone who is headed in your direction assist you. Telephone expenses should not run up your bill, N500 monthly should be more than enough.

Savings: N3,000 which includes an investment saving of N1,000 (find out the difference in subsequent posts).

The importance of budgeting cannot be over emphasised. You need to take time to plan by matching your expected income to your expected expenditure and saving.

This only part 3, to make up for not posting yesterday, there will be a post titled ‘Financial planning: saving’ tomorrow. Trust me, you want to see it.

As usual, I encourage you to share across your social media platforms, subscribe to blog post and I really, really would love to read your comments below.

PEARL