The ember months seem to be synonymous with expenses.
In these months, parents pay school fees for the new school year, Black Friday comes with a promise of cheaper sales and of course, Christmas arrives in style forcing pockets to open and bank accounts to bleed.
While this period takes a good number of people by surprise, there are some whose finances don’t feel a dent through the months even into the New Year. These are the ones you look at and wonder if they have a money tree behind their homes. If not, how come they never go broke even in the face of mountainous expenses they shoulder, you wonder.
We’re about to share their secret with you. Keep reading.
They account for every Naira
The financially fit individuals seldom let a Naira go astray without accounting for where it went. It’s this frugal attention to the money they make that allows them to ensure it’s not being spent recklessly.
Budget is their best friend
“Fail to plan and plan to fail”. This saying has been proven true over time. In this case, if you fail to plan for the money you make, it will disappear into thin air – a truth all financially savvy individuals know and apply.
Budgeting is as simple as listing all the things you expect to spend money on in a month or three months; like petrol, electricity bills, school fees, transportation, household shopping and others – then append the amount you expect to spend on each and make sure you stick to it to avoid overspending.
They invest
A good number of those we consider to be financially fit understand the art of investing and utilize it too. Investing is simply letting your money make more money for you, especially if you invest in the right investment vehicle.
As you get the hang of investing with an investment vehicle like the ARM Money Market Fund, you’ll find that chances exist for you to make even more depending on your risk appetite. In truth, nothing will make you happier than receiving credit alerts even when you’re no longer working.
They prepare ahead of time
Knowing what you want and the timeframe you need to achieve it, you must create a plan. Let’s say you knew in July when schools vacated that your child’s school fees, plus the cost of books and other materials came to a certain amount and would need to be paid in September. You also knew even before then that you would love to go on a two-week Christmas vacation with your family in December.
If you knew all this and failed to start preparing on time, is it even remotely possible that it will pan out as imagined? That will be an emphatic NO - well unless you got paid your 13th month or end of the year bonus (monies you should also consider investing a chunk of for the rainy day).
Since the ember months are here, your plan for Christmas expenses plus surviving the usual financial drought in January along with paying another term’s school fees for your child(ren) should begin now if you haven’t started already.
