Jim came into the room grinning from ear to ear. He waved his phone at me,
"Credit alert!! My parents have sent me upkeep again; ooh. We go sharpaly ball small. Do you remember that babe we sight for department basement? I have to take her out this evening."
He was already dialing her number on his small phone.
"How much did you receive?"
"Can't you check the screen? No dey disturb me."
"You that was just planning to take part of my garri, you come dey form now, no problem"
I read the message in the alert,
"your dad just credited you with 50k and the next thing you want to do is go out with a lady. I am sure you will spend nothing less than 10k tonight."
"And if I do? It's not your 10k, na. I'll plan the rest after this night, jare."
"Jim, your dad just sent another message. He said this should be enough till the end of the month."
"50k can't finish like that; it should do me till the end of the month."
"Are you sure? No problem sha, I have a work deadline to get to and an assignment to submit. I'll talk to you later."
Barely a week later, Jim came to my room. "Mike!! Mike!! Abeg I fit see garri for your side?"
"Guy, how far? What happened to the money your dad sent last week?"
"Mike, I won't lie to you; just 5k is left."
"Haba Jim, and I warned you."
"Can you believe that lady made me buy a bag of like 10k for her on Valentine's day. She disappeared afterward."
"Bro, na you mumu, I for no give you garri at all."
"I get, but you be my real Gee. But Mike, how do you always have money to take care of your needs."
Guess what, Mike plans.
Mike wasn't always in the best financial position, but he took the initiative one day, took stock of his situation, and mapped out how he wanted his life to run.
What does planning entail? The first step in effective planning is taking stock of where you are, and that is precisely what Jim needs to do. He needs to
- know what he earns (if he earns at all),
- what he does to make,
- how he spends,
- what he spends on,
- Where he stands financially,
- What to do about his situation,
- Who can help,
Etc.
Once Jim can adequately assess his situation, a chunk of his problem disappears.
I know deep down many of us are like Jim, not that you would blow a portion of your money on immediate gratification and useless things, but in the sense that we do not know where we stand financially.
Often we know money comes in, and money goes out, and by the end of the week, we cannot really account for our finances, time, and lives in general.
Fixing your life clearly starts from identifying where your life is at. Improving your finances is not a solitary endeavor. You also have to determine where you stand.
Look at it this way, if you get lost in a city, the first thing you would like to do is to identify where exactly you are. From there, you can begin to ask for help or map out a way to get yourself in the right direction.
There are different ways to do this.
One very effective way is asking yourself questions, questions like in the list above. Questions help you to think a bit more.
Take out time, 30 Mins to an hour, to ask yourself questions that would put you in a meditative mode. With those questions, you will be able to chart out the next steps in your journey to financial freedom.
One of the worst feelings in the world is feeling lost and knowing your finances are completely out of your control.
I have taken the liberty to extend a little bit of help.
I'll be preparing a cheat sheet of simple questions that can help you find where you are and give you an idea of what you need to do to get on track with your finances.
What do you need to do?
Send me a message on WhatsApp via 2348177324373 - A J Victor to join the waitlist.
Also, if you felt that Jim acted smart with his money, let me know in the comment section.
