Money Smart

Hello Everyone!!!! It's the last month in 2016, and I am soooo excited!!!!! 2015 has been a year of discoveries, and exploring new frontiers for me. I hope it's been the same for you? You know, I sat down yesterday, and I was thinking............ this happens to a lot of us in December right? We start thinking about the year which is coming to an end......... We start ticking our lists (for those of us who make lists/resolutions), to find out if we achieved what we set out to achieve. December is the month in which reality stares most of us in the face. It's also a 'turn-up' month, so we tend to spend a lot during this period. From giving out hampers and other Christmas gifts to attending parties, and lots of shows, we tend to spend more than expected in December. The funny thing about this month is this: It tends to go by in a rush, and sooner than expected January comes staring us in the face, with lots of bills to pay; from school fees, to ho

Hello friends.  Happy new month.  I hope we've been making good money decisions since my last post. I haven't written in a while,  not because I am lazy, but because I really wanted to be sure that this is what I wanted.  After some serious soul searching, I realised that I am in for the long haul. I am really interested in helping people make responsible financial decisions. Today's post is centred on marriage and finance . I was discussing with my friends about how wise it is for couples to share financial information with one another. We hear of couples who separate and even get divorced because they are not financially compatible,  so I thought that this needs to be discussed. As you will have guessed, different people have different schools of thought about this. I have a friend who said this: "Lolade, I'm not interested in any joint account o, I'm working for my money,  I think I should be able to spend it anyway I like,  plus the guy should be the br

Hello Friends, Ramadan Mubarak!!! How was your weekend? In my last post I said I was going to talk about mutual funds in my next post, but I haven't been able to post in a while, partly because of Ramadan, and partly because of work. However, I'm back to posting, and today's post will be centred around Mutual Funds. If you remember in my last post, I said that you don't need to have millions in order to invest, which is where mutual funds come in. Now let's talk Mutual Funds, What is a Mutual Fund? A mutual fund can be seen as a company that brings together a group of people and invests their money in stocks, bonds, and other investments. Each investors own shares which represent a portion of the holdings of the funds.          You can make money from a mutual funds in the following ways: Dividends if the funds invested in stock on your behalf, and Interests, if investment is in bonds. Capital gains: This occurs if the fund sells securitie

Hello Friends. Happy New Month. This is my first post in the new month, even though the month is almost half-way gone. I decided to change my writing pattern, as it seems, I don't write consistently on the day of the week, that I've chosen to be my 'writing day'. So I have decided to post as the spirit leads me. ***smiles*** Today, we will be talking about Investing. Recall that in my first post, I made a list of questions I asked friends and colleagues, and decided to post their replies, and my opinions as we progress.The questions we will be dealing with today are: Do you believe in investing? Do you have any investments? I had mixed feelings, when I got the reply to these questions. Infact my feelings/reaction were bitter-sweet. This happened because to a large extent, I absolutely loved people's answers to the first question, but their answers to the second question, had me 'hmmming' for lack of a better word. Most people believe

Hello Friends, It's been a while since I last posted. I am sorry about that. I promise to be more consistent than this. Happy Democracy Day. It's the beginning of a new era for Nigeria, the beginning of a new Nigeria. The feeling of having a new government in power according to some people, is similar to how you feel when you win a jackpot, the lottery or whatever it is someone can win, and this got me thinking that it is time for me to proceed to my next question: "What would you do if you won the lottery/ a jackpot? I remember when I asked this question a few weeks ago, I got all sorts of answers, some had me almost rolling on the floor with laughter, some had me really and truly shocked, a few impressed me............., so I decided to share a few of the responses I got, and my thoughts with you. Below are a few of the responses I got: Omo, I go first resign from my job, carry my family, go on a well-deserved vacation, when I come back, I will come and

Babe, why have you stopped posting on your blog? When is your next post? What are you going to write about? All these and more were questions I got during the week. I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who has come to this blog to read my posts. I also want to implore you to help share with your friends and family(after all, the more the merrier, or don't you think so?) Smiles................... So let's get back to the matter................. Of the discussions I had with people, one thing stood out for me, the second greatest excuse people give after "I don't earn enough to save from" is "I don't have the discipline to save in the bank, and not withdraw from it". Frankly, this was shocking, but then I realised that some people would rather keep things( money inclusive) out of their reach in order to keep it safe. So when I got answers like " If I save in my bank account, I will be tempted to withdraw when I want to

 Save ke!!!!!!  How much them dey pay me gaan sef?  Wooo my sister, after settling all my expenses and debts, how I wan save?  I try to save o, but I'm not consistent, because I have soo many things on my plate. Abeg responsibilities too much o, my dear These were some of the responses I got  from my survey- question 1. Then it dawned on me that most people don't save, not because they don't want to ( I like to give people the benefit of doubt), but largely because they have lots of responsibilities they cater to, and lots of expenses to offset. Research over the years have shown that to be a consistent saver, one needs to put savings over expenses, for example: if you earn an income of N100,000 monthly, you should first  take out your tithe ( this is for the christian folks), you should also take out your savings, before spending the rest on other expenses as they may come. Yimu, I hear some of you say, Well the truth of the matter is this: As humans

It was the second to the last week in April, salaries had not been paid, practically everyone around me was mumbling and complaining of how broke they were. They were all looking for a loan; be it a salary advance from a bank, or a loan from a colleague, it didn't matter. All they wanted and needed at that point in time was money till salaries got paid. On my way home, a good friend of mine pinged me, and the subject for discussion was also the money issue. He kept complaining how he hadn't been paid his salary, how small his monthly salary was, how he keeps borrowing monthly to supplement his salary, and so on and so forth. In the middle of our conversation, I asked him if he had any other source of income other than his salary, and his reply was " Babe, how do you expect me to have any other source of income? I can hardly save with my meagre earnings, not to talk of  invest in something" This got me thinking, and I decided to do a little survey. I a