Financial Discipline

FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE

"There is no growth without discipline."

So many things about our lives, work, and experiences require discipline. Just over the weekend, I had an interesting time with a wise old man. As he shared so many things about life, he said that where he is now in life has required making a lot of hard choices. He said he and his wife went through some rough patches but they have stayed together for the past 28 years.

There is so much we learned in his short speech, 28 years seems long but it is also short but what underlined their storyline is how they have worked together and maintained a discipline to bring them this far. My wife and I kept talking through the night about the wisdom we picked and were motivated to emulate some of the great disciplines.

Old & Poor

He talked about an old man who once told him, that it is bad to be "Old and Poor" - this old man was a teacher who taught many of the young people who have become prominent somebodies in this country - but the message to the wise man we were listening too was that we should work hard for our future, we should do whatever it takes to maintain a great financial discipline and put investments aside for the years when we won't be as active.

He encouraged us to invest in land, to do business - he said they failed countless times in many businesses, but that did not deter them because they had to do what it takes to prepare for the future. We marveled at some of the investments they had, and I told my wife that is old money, what we need from such guys is their wisdom, not their money.

Questions To Answer

As the month of October takes shape - ask yourself these three questions.

Where am I from?

Where am I now?

Where am I going?

Those questions need to be answered in the most brutal and honest way. We cannot keep saying that our future will take care of itself, we can't keep saying that, I earn too little to put some money aside for investment, we can't keep having the mindset of I can't do this, "I can't invest", "I can't save", "I can't start a business", etc. Right now in his late 50's going to 60's, the income he is getting is already more than good enough to cater for his life ahead, in 5 years, this man will be retired, but he won't be begging, he won't need to rely on his children, in fact, his children will perhaps be the ones to rely on the generational wealth, he has already put aside.

Financially Disciplined

It doesn't take rocket science to start being financially disciplined. Being financially disciplined is not just about eating rice and beans, it's about having a clear plan for your money- knowing where it is coming from, where it will go, and what it will do.

Some of the biggest problems the world is facing are the issue of financial discipline. We live in a spend-thrift culture, almost everything is got on the go, no plan, nothing at all. Buying out of impulse is the order of the day - the culture of consumerism is the ghost that visits us every day and takes away the little or much that we have- if only what is consumed could be positive consumption, then we would see many investments come up but alas, someone reading this will say ah! that's old talk, I have FOMO, YOLO, etc. The youth will say, I still have time - yours truly used to say he has time, I know many others like me used to say, "I have time" - remember this wise saying, "The race is not for the swift but time and chance happens to them all" - times happens to us all, how we use it and convert it into tangible results is entirely upon us. The woman or man in kikuubo(the common market for everyday people) works so hard, they don't speak or write good English like you do but they make wise investments with their money and time.

Another discipline you will need to learn is financial education, you won't wake up and say I will have 100m in my bank account in a month's time unless you are part of a corrupt cartel that would be - there are financial principles you will need to employ, shortcuts will kill you.

I have mentioned this quote many times and it resonates with the message today, "Personal finance is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge" - Dave Ramsey

Do not solve a behavioral problem with a mathematical solution, you might be given a pay rise, but the status quo remains the same, the guys who ask for you to house a round of drinks will surely be waiting- It is written that as your money increases, those who spend it also increase. The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.

#Transform #Impact #Empower