Platform for financial success (Day to Day Finances).

In follow-up to what I promised in the previous article, “Take ownership of your personal finances”, I would like to start off by giving opinion on how to run and manage one’s finances from a day to day perspective. In life’s journey, we pass through various stages, which are all impacted by how we plan ourselves on a day to day basis. Each day, we incur various challenges and also opportunities to be the masters of our own destiny. Once we learn how to manage our finances daily, that knowledge twill set us up to live comfortable standards and take advantage of other opportunities to save and invest, creating financial security and also accumulating and protecting wealth in the long run. There is no magic to being successful financially, it all involves careful and diligent planning as I will illustrate below. Firstly, we should all take time to review our goals in life now and the future. Create a plan on how you intend to get there. This will be the platform for you to manage your cash flow now, tomorrow and into the future. It will allow you to manage your income and how you spend it. Most of us have bank accounts, I would advice that we review the type of accounts we have and make sure we have accounts that suit our banking needs. Select a chequing or saving account by assessing your usage and needs. A lot of people have the wrong bank accounts, and thus are paying a huge amount of fees to banks, which is obviously helping pay people like me (bank employees) and also shareholders. Nothing wrong with that, but as I said earlier, my purpose of the blog is to educate my friends and colleagues and ensure they get ahead financially. Secondly and more importantly, ensure you have a budget of your expenditure. Plan your future use of any income and ensure that as suggested in my earlier article, spend less than you make. If you are those that are already spending more than you earn, then reduce your spending. Without these, you are headed for a financial meltdown should any unexpected events come up. In addition to that, if you have any debt from previous spending habits, pay the debt down because as you by now may know, the interest rates are ridiculously high. And more importantly, avoid consumer debt (buying stuff that will not bring any value/appreciate in value over the long term),-more on of these on another day. Remember we have got to start somewhere in life, and I believe that the first step is always the most difficult step, but once we get ourselves going then anything is achievable. It doesn’t matter what situation you find yourself in, if you can take into account the above mentioned strategies in managing your day to day running of finances, then I believe you will build a solid foundation that will allow you to successfully navigate the various stages of life’s journey all the way to a happy retirement. Invest in educating yourself financially, and trust me the time and cost will pay off in the long run

Take ownership of your Financial Success

I would like this blog from now and going forward to focus on giving personal opinions on how to be a success in managing and improving your financial situation. I have always wanted to have a platform to reach to all my friends and colleagues and help advice on how to get it done financially. I get a lot of questions here and there when holding discussions with colleagues, how did you do this and that etc, and believe through this platform I will help show you what has worked well for me. We all want to be successful in life one way or another, be it in a career, have a peaceful retirement, travel, complete PhD degrees and even being an entrepreneur (Which I highly recommend etc Let’s be honest, finances are big part of that success story. In the next couple of months, and even years I will go from successfully managing your hard earned money day to day, to investing the money overtime in various financial markets. Some of these things have worked well for me and I believe that recognizing this early on in my life was a key part of that story. Other issues that I will handle include whether to invest in the west or to invest in Africa, buying a house or renting, and ultimately investing in real estate, especially the rising need for housing in Africa and the opportunity that it presents to us. In the end, my aim is to ensure that we are informed to make wise decisions to help us be successful in the long run. This article will assume that we are all planning or investing as individuals, for those that intend to plan their finances as a couple, I always say make sure that the significant other person has the same financial values as you do. I advise those that aren't married as yet, as much as we love our partners, ensure that you share the same financial values, because as you go on with life, finances will begin to play a key factor in most of the things you do in your lives. First things first, how do you get ahead financially and even improve your situation? To me, my take on finances is simple and clear; respect your finances just like you respect anything else. Firstly, you need to spend less than you earn. It doesn't matter how much you make, if you spend more than you bring in, you are going to struggle financially. What I believe in is that it’s always easier to spend less that it is to earn more. If you are going to make a big purchase, like a TV, Car, Furniture etc and you don’t make enough to cover that cost, I would say save and plan for the purchase. Secondly, to get ahead financially we need to ensure that we spend our finances as planned, in other words have a budget and stick to it. If you are going to be flexible with your budget, then you must have a savings account from which you draw from. Often, a lot of people budget and then before they know it they have gone to overspend. Another thing that is going to prevent you from getting ahead financially is credit cards debt. People pay ridiculous amount of interest on their credit card balances, anywhere between 19.99%-30% on store cards. My advice is simple and clear, pay of any credit card balances. If you decide to use a credit card, make sure you have the funds in a savings account to pay off the balance when it’s due. There are very good credit cards that give you cash back, reward points for travel, and to build your credit score. But all of these are worthless if you carry a balance and continue to pay lots of interest. Remember if you pay the minimum payments each month on a credit card, very little if any is going towards the principal. You could use some of those funds for investments (that for another day). Learn to cook. Its sounds simplistic but it is very important. If you start making your meals, you will soon realize that a lot of funds are being saved from groceries, eating out etc, again funds that you can use to save toward retirement and invest for future earnings. A lot of us are mistaken to think that life will stay the same forever. There are lots of changes in life, losing a job, disability, retirement, relocation and divorce/separation. It’s wise that you recognize early that being financial in a strong position if any of these storms come your way is as important as anything else you plan in your life. Believe me, how you live in retirement will be a direct result of how you planned, saved and invested today, something we will focus on in the coming months and years. I hope some of the information here has helped recognize the need for planning our finances. In the end we want the money to work for us, and not us working for it. And planning wisely, living below your means will aid in that financial success story. We are on a journey and we need to help educate one another and the success will follow accordingly.

Bringing Optimism to Africa’s Bright Future

Most of us have been accustomed to devastating news about the extreme poverty levels in Africa as shown in the various media channels across the globe. Even though, this may be true, I do think that the whole story is not told as it should be. Africa has in recent times shown great potential for growth and offers many opportunities for emerging business. The private sector, especially the financial sector has been rapidly evolving in the continent which has allowed Africa to be on the verge of takeoff. I believe that the way out of our poverty levels is for the governments to create better business climate/models that support the emerging entrepreneurial culture in the Continent. The businesses in Africa will create the way out of poverty for its people. We can either get a job in an existing business or create your own business. All in all we need to better the business culture in us. It calls for us to take the risks and join the entrepreneur world. We need to take the risks, and support one another in building our continent. We are beginning to own our development and growth as a continent and these are encouraging signs for the future. We have the collective optimism that if we support our emerging businesses the future is bright indeed for Africa. Our private sector/businesses have played a key role in the continents growth and it’s important that our governments realize that creating the right conditions will not only prosper our growth, but all encourage foreign direct investment into our continent, which can only mean one thing, a way out of poverty for our people. Our governments can do better by improving the infrastructure in place and also by encouraging business by giving them tax cuts, and making sure that business rights are well supported. These businesses are the foundation of our future and I believe we should all aspire to contribute to the growth of our continent

Africa Has Potential Too!

After completing studies in a western country, assessing a plan to achieve our career goals and lifetime dreams is next on the list of objectives. For those of us that have a background from developing countries, deciding whether to return home or stay around must surely be our top dilemma. To focus primarily on Africa, a majority of reports from various media sources indicate that Africa’s countries have been growing consistently at a phenomenal rate that surpasses the so called emerging markets. There is lots of opportunity for those with an entrepreneur mindset and not afraid to take risks. Many young people have struggled to decide whether to return to their motherland, or to stay and build a life in their adopted countries. Those that advocate for a stay cite the poor infrastructure such as roads school and the difficulty encountered to register and run a business. They continue to argue that there is constant interruption in services such as electricity, water, health services and education and therefore do not warrant any consideration/ decision to return. While its unquestionable that we have poor standards, it can also be argued that the level of democracy has increased with lots of people migrating to urban centers which in turn has created a consumer oriented market, and thus paving the way for future growth.The past wars civil wars that affected countries, have created opportunity for entrepreneurship, as those countries try to build the infrastructures. Such countries include Rwanda, Sudan and Liberia. This are case examples of countries that represent opportunity. Just food for thought, Ultimately though, I do think that the decision to stay or head back is a personal choice that is entirely dependent on personal circumstances

Skills you need to Suceed as an Entrepreneur

The past weeks have been busy for me and my writing has been restricted to the minimum(precisely zero), but I promise my utmost best to write the occasional thought here and there as my scheduling permits.
That aside, let me focus my discussion on the essentials of becoming a successful entrepreneur in any given industry, be it in a service or a product. I am sure that some of us if not most of us aspire to be entrepreneurs. I believe that given a choice, we would rather be employers than employees. The lure of managing your schedule, controlling your destiny, higher revenue and even for some a chance to fulfill their long held dreams is enough motivation to entice many to entrepreneurship. But my big dilemma can everyone make the grade/cut? Well if you going to attempt, then you better read on.
Ignoring the starting capital requirement aside and arguing from a perspective of equal playground as far as capital is concerned, I would like to focus entirely on the qualities and skills that one needs to develop/learn before we plunge into the entrepreneurial world. I am tempted to jump ship tomorrow, but when I assess myself I am not ready? Because I believe that there are so many skills that one needs, and ignoring the popular believe you need to work hard, I argue that working hard is essential but on its own am afraid may not be enough to help you make the grade.
The other day, one of my friends was boldly debating with me that he believes that some of the successful entrepreneurs around have been lucky in one way or another. This is an interesting argument/opinion but I completely disagree with him. I believe that those people who have succeeded have either mastered the technique to understand and gauge the demand for their product or service. They have also been able to do extensive market research to aid in selling their product and service. We are all capable of working hard at all times, but am not so sure that we all have the same levels of intelligence, insight and commitment to master the same techniques for business success. I believe that hard work and a little bit of luck is necessary but I still do think on their own, they are never enough.
With entrepreneurship, we must be prepared to face obstacles, and if you are the kind of person that quits when the going getting tough or you tend to shy away from challenges, then in my opinion you are not ready for entrepreneurship. Use your present job to learn all the skills that you need to, even a menial job can provide you skills that will be important in running a successful business. Be prepared to learn the skill of networking, I cannot emphasize enough of this. You need this skill in career advancement; you need it twice as much if not thrice as much to succeed in business. Be prepared to learn from your friends, family and even present co-workers.
Lastly, develop street smarts, and good instincts when gathering information. Read widely from business magazines to politics, social issues and environmental issues because neither academic, logical nor systematic techniques will help you succeed as an entrepreneur.

Are you ready to be an Investor?

A lot of people seem to not know what kind of investors they are or for that matter in what ways that they can invest their hard earned money. Most often, we see people start to worry when they are close to retirement on how they haven’t saved enough to retire. Do we really want to expose ourselves to such a situation when we grow old? I have time and again said, I have nothing against enjoying life when we have the energy to, but it also important that we maintain our conscious that we can only have that energy for so long and realize that we need a nest egg when our bodies won’t be able to support such a lifestyle.
I will therefore dedicate today’s page to help us understand ways that we can invest. Some people choose to have cash in their banks and money market funds. While I have nothing against holding cash, why should one hold funds in cash when you can be earning a return on the funds however little that amount may be?
If you are ready to be an investor here are my tips on ways that you can invest, these include real estate, bonds, preferred shares and also common stock. I find that a lot of people go out and buy common stock in reputable companies and even upcoming companies. While this may be a good strategy, it is always important to consider what levels of subjective and objective risks that you can afford. Remember that with stocks, you are placing your future on the company’s managers/CEOs, of which you do not know their skills, loyalty to the company and even the priorities that they may take, which all affect the growth potential of the company. Investing in bonds and preferred shares, offers you less but steady return and you are also insulated against most mismanagement. I have always argued that real estate is an area that one cannot go wrong, though one can argue the example of the collapse of that market in the USA. I would laugh it off as a one off! Most often times than not, real estate gives you capital appreciation and of course one builds equity.
As we contemplate, discover and learn new ways of investing, we need to minimize our exposure to risk, because investors suffer from company defaults, credit crunches and even inflation. We need to set our goals on how much savings we expect to have and the risk that we can assume. Obviously, the younger you are the more risk you can take, because with a younger age you can afford to take risks as you will have enough time to recover. That is why I have always argued that investment and money management should be part of our school curriculum. We do not want to end up being desperate in our investment endeavors as a result of being late in starting to invest; there is no jackpot in investing! Take time to learn investment techniques and also understand financial data, only then can you grow your portfolio. I have said it time and again there are many financial books around, take your time to read as many as you can.

How Africa can compete in the Global economy

Any news you read and even some of the people you talk to have/will indicate some stereotypical ideas, opinions and assumptions that are used to label Africa as a negative place to be. But for those that have been to the continent or frequently visit the place, you can generally agree with my believe that Africa has great potential in it and the continent is not as bad as many perceive it to be, After all, did we not host the 2010 world cup successfully? And through South Africa, the world saw how beautiful Africa is and the potential that the continent carries.
I argue that in order for us to move forward and remain stable amongst the challenges that we face, we need great and visionary leaders to help us achieve that potential. This leads me to my concern, how can we remain stable and grow as an economy when we entirely depend on agriculture? Yes, some countries earn some foreign income from tourism, fishing and even mining but no one can disagree that a lot of sub Saharan Africa is highly dependent in agriculture, and as population growth and industrial agriculture seem to take place, the continent needs new avenues to generate income for the small scale farmers who have high dependency on agriculture. Recently Kenya introduced tea picking machines which I believe will have a positive impact Kenya’s labour force. Surely, they were long overdue and I believe that this is a good step forward as we need to embrace industrial agriculture.
It is through industrial agriculture that we can free the labour and allow for enough time to civilize and educate our population. That way we can target a move to service based economies. I believe that the small scale farmers that derive their living from agriculture are prone to manipulation from those that are knowledgeable and have political power. This is where I argue that we need to invest in a sound education system and also embrace in technology if we are to compete in the global economy. If we continue to depend on agriculture, soon the land will run out and we will continue to have a poor majority, which doesn’t aid the progress of our dear continent. And in the end we will continue to have the same question marks.