Reclaim your power over money

When did you become such a money monger? When did you become so desperate to see funds in your accounts that you have denied yourself life’s basic pleasures all in the name of saving money?

There’s a difference between being frugal and being a hoarder.

Since I began writing this column, I have preached austerity, summing up the nature of the last 6 months we’ve had to endure. With that in mind, I’ve encouraged you to practice frugality whose methods help you cut down on frivolous expenses, help you stick to a budget and keep you in a healthy cycle of saving money. To identify as frugal means you are deliberate about the way you spend your money.

On the other hand, a hoarder is someone who essentially cheats him/herself. Are you the kind of person who refuses to pay premium, despite the quality of product or service you’re getting, even to your own detriment? Do you revel in the sense of security that seeing funds sit in your bank account brings you? Do you feel especially sad when you put money aside for savings because you feel like you’re “dashing” the money out? My friend, you are a hoarder.

An interesting conversation with a member of my team last weekend brought up the story of Diran whose life’s philosophy was “Why pay more?” At first, it sounded to me as though he was doing a good job handling money, if he truly had the power to get the same quality for cheaper, after all, it was his money. She went on to say though she saw some sense in his ways; she didn’t want to end up like him. Diran was a complainer who never did anything about anything. He wasn’t being frugal; Diran was a miser – a cheapskate. Not only was he near always bitter, he hid what wealth he’d amassed from his folks, drove a beat up car so no one would think he was too comfortable and barely had any assets to his name except for an impressive bank balance that he would not stop talking about.

What was Diran storing his money up for? Tomorrow? One lesson these past few months have taught me is that we are powerless over anything that isn’t in the now. We must realise that we can neither change the past nor see the future.

The one difference between you and I, and people like Diran is that we are planners. That’s what we do which sets us apart. As we bolster for the remaining 100 days of 2020, we set goals, we improve our creditworthiness, we save, we invest and we strive to live our best lives. We don’t preach money hoarding and pass it off as truth. We make money moves with the right information and direction.

What if we reclaimed our power over money? What if we told you that you could still find the silver lining between your unlimited needs and your limited resources? Make the decision to get your personal finances back on track with plans that work, one of which is to grab your copy of Money Brain, a book I wrote to help millennials navigate career and money. Get situated in the right friendships and communities, join an investment club or talk to a mentor about your goals. It’s not too late! And if you prefer to talk to me, you can write to me at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to provide you some guidance. It’s time to stop being only anxious about money but to roll up your sleeves and finally do something about it.

Kanu holds an MBA from Stanford University, a master’s in Journalism from NYU and a bachelor’s in Engineering from Calvin College. His career has included time at Konga, Amazon, The United Nations, Esquire, CNN, and Black Enterprise magazine. Armed with a strong conviction that you can live a great life no matter how much money you have, JR founded REACH Technologies, www.reach.africa. His company builds software to help young people and companies to manage and grow their money.