Today’s
world is so dynamic that every other day passes by with a new development such
as; changes in fashion tastes and designs, technology among others these come
with desires for the new developments which usually involve extra spending,
interestingly the suppliers see this as way of increasing sales by addressing
these needs and also to ensure comfort to their clients so that they keep on
spending.
This additional comfort is a cost that that
service users have to pay for instance a phone with an additional feature like
a camera will be more costly than one without, a self contained house is not at
the same rental cost like one not self contained, the list is endless and I
know you can name it because you are a spending on them daily.
One of the questions you should ask yourself is are
really these costs worth your hard earned money or can you really do without them
and make a saving for future investment?
Before I make a purchase I ask myself very many
questions these days regarding my income and expense because at the end of the
day I have to see whether it is worth it, necessary and will I have saved for
the future at the end of the day?
Just
imagine why you have to work hard for thirty days to earn your salary and then
spend it in the first two weeks of the following month leaving you with no
finances to take you through until the next pay day; I surely know that this is
familiar and is happening to many of the young working professionals’ including
probably you. Have you ever asked yourself why this happens every now and then;
is it that you are earning less, have many responsibilities or have many needs
not yet met? The origin to all these questions comes to the way you spend your
income and in this lies the answer to all these questions.
I
believe that even salary increments, other additional income will not solve
this for you to live comfortably and so will the need a better paying job
unless you watch your spending.
I
have come to know that my income is an equivalent of my expenses and savings
therefore no savings made. Let me ask. What is the ratio of your monthly savings
to you salary or income? Is it a half, a quarter or nothing at all? If nothing
at all then you are living dangerously.
Costs
are of two types. Those you can control (avoidable) and those beyond your
ability to control (uncontrollable) such as rent, food and health, these are
basic cost of life). My emphasis will be on the avoidable costs, these are not necessary;
you can do without them therefore easy to control.
Whenever
I visit supermarkets, I see these items which attract my income and yet I have
always done without. Have you ever bought something and later realize that the
expense was not really called for, don’t you think you missed on controlling a cost
that you should otherwise have made a saving on?
A quick analysis of my life and many of my
colleagues reveals that we spend luxuriously, without planning and without any
financial literacy.
So back to controllable costs, where are they? They
are with us every day for example if you decided washing your car yourself
could save you minimum 5000 shillings a week and therefore 300,000 shillings per
annum as opposed to taking it to the washing bay, airtime is another unnecessary
expense because in most cases most of us just gossip on phone, it could save
you a lot if you minimized on the number of calls you make from your cellular. Do you really need that three bed roomed house
before you marry? Is your expenditure on 20 suits you seldom wear justifiable?
These are out of the many controllable costs which we should look at, I know some
of your controllable expenses may not be included in here but I urge you to
analyze your costs to make a saving.
I have also realized why we make unnecessary
expenditures, some want to be at the level of their peers, others simply don’t
know why they are working and have no clear vision in life to achieve.
In conclusion saving is the only way to go for you
to benefit from your income. It’s through this that the comfortably life you
have dreamed of will come to pass. Many of us are fed up of reminders to pay
rent name it and just can’t wait when we will be free of all this, but if you
don’t save how will you reach there?
May God help you control these expenses and give you
divine wisdom to spend wisely, plan well and multiply your savings
Richard Magoola Opolot
0 comments:
Post a Comment