As requested, How can you save

1. Make a list of your essential expenses (things you MUST buy or pay for to live)

2. Make a list of your non essential expenses (things you buy because you WANT them)

3. Work on cutting down list 2

4. Save automatically

Let’s break this down https://twitter.com/je_dna/status/1253943502821568513

List 1 should be essentials like rent, utilities like electricity, food, transportation to work etc.

List 2 would be things like entertainment (eating out at restaurants, going to see the latest movie except of course your job is to review movies then this falls under list 1

and other things you wouldn’t die if you cut out)

Think about list 2 carefully. Ask yourself if I don’t do this at all or if I reduce this, would I die? If no, CUT IT OUT. Since we’re stuck at home, there’s no better time than now to do this

If you don’t have a list 2 because

all you can afford are things on your list 1 then think about reducing your expenses. Can you pay less rent if you move to a different location or by splitting rent on an apartment? Can you spend less on transportation by sharing rides with colleagues or friends? Can you spend

less on food by cooking at home more or eating out less. The key here is to take some time and critically evaluate how much you spent in the last month or 2 or 12 and see how you can reduce that to allow you save or pay off your debts.

Then 4. Save automatically. That is, set

up direct debits from the account where you get monthly income so immediately your salary comes in, your savings goes out. That way, you only spend what is left after saving which in most cases helps you save more. Preferably do this with platforms like PiggyVest, Cowrywise or

Pettysave. They all provide higher rates than bank rates. Returns from 10-15% and there are no “account or card maintenance fees” or SMS charges and all those other ways that Savings accounts drain our funds.

If you haven’t already opened accounts with those platforms, you can

use my referral link to get more money from sign up bonuses added to your account when you save

Get ₦1,000 signup bonus on PiggyVest with - http://piggyvest.com/l/2ad02ec 

₦250 bonus on Cowrywise with my invite code OGHENNIF or invite link - https://get.cowrywise.com/r/OghenNiF 

₦250 bonus when you sign up and save with Pettysave
http://app.pettysave.com/s/OGH722817 

Personally, I prefer Pettysave because the investments (which I actually care about) typically have higher returns than other platforms but all of them are SAFE & GREAT for saving.

When all this is

done, if you still don’t have enough, then I hate to say this but you simply are not earning enough and you have to start thinking about ways to earn more.

Keep saving but pair this with seeking out ways to earn more while you save.

Again I must talk about lifestyle inflation.

This is what happens when you start spending more than you need because you have more money. If you don’t NEED to spend more, you can still maintain the same or similar lifestyle you had before you started earning more. This would give you more to save and invest.

The more you

save and invest, the more money you can make in return. If you have 1 million naira invested in something that gives you 20% returns per year, that would be 200,000 return at the end of the year. If you have 10,000 in the same thing that gives you 20% per year, you would only

have 2,000 but imagine if you had 10 million invested in the same thing that gave you 20% per year, that would be 2 million naira from JUST investing.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can start investing your 1k or 10k or 100k but remember, once you start making more money, you

should start saving and investing more and the more you save and invest, the more money you get and before you know it, you’ve built enough investments that can pay you your annual salary in returns! You just have to start & be intentional in building.

Another worry people have

with investing is, what if I lose my job or something unfortunate and I need money to survive? How do I get my money? Well there’s this thing called “emergency funds”.

If you want to know more about it, leave a comment under this thread and I will write about it