Those who understand leverage take every loan and max out their credit cards to finance something with higher returns.

Those who understand fraud never intend to pay back those loans.

My uncle warned me about defaulting on any loan. He was a credit officer. It is a stigma.

When I took my first loan ever from him and defaulted then came back for more, he sat me down to lecture me on living within my means. He said,”Nobody ever becomes wealthy from living beyond their means.” I never forgot that day. I needed new shoes.

He still gave me the money, I was robbed shortly after in a taxi at Ikeja. They took the shoes as well as the proceeds of my first ”insider deal.” I swore off doing those deals and never was bold enough to ask him for another personal loan except for business, with a spreadsheet.

I wore my old NYSC boots to work for the rest of the year. I patched the patches. I saw the folly of hoping for wealth with a fixed income. I didn't know where the variable income was going to come from yet until a colleague introduced me to Calisthus Ubajaka aka Agary!

He was my first computer training client outside work. He bought an Amstrad PC and I had to go to his house at Festac on weekends to teach him. He was running Izu Chukwu motors for his father and had to have a secure house because of all the cash dealings. I was scared sometimes.

Whenever I got into the house and metal doors closed, I was wondering if he turned out to be a villain? Thankfully he wasn't and became a great friend. He introduced me to by first real consulting client Mr. Ekwueme aka ”Ogbuefi Mozyk” of Idumota. The largest importer of locks.

Ogbuefi Mozyk grew his business exponentially after we figured out how to use spreadsheets for modeling scenarios. He was so grateful. He saw how to maximize his LC facilities and all. I learned all these from my uncle earlier. He introduced me to yet another client. A weird one.

This dude believed in Indian magic. He believed it was what helped his business. While Ogbuefi Mozyk learned himself and we looked at everything, this guy wanted me to train his secretary inside their one room Idumota office. The girl had absolutely no interest in computers.

This guy kept going deeper and deeper into the occult and came to the office regularly with talismans and new idols. At some point, I decided to quit. He didn't find it funny at all. He reported me to Ogbuefi who laughed hard when I explained my discomfort.

He said I had to learn to work with all sorts of people in the market. I got a firsthand introduction to Idumota politics that period. I started thinking of building a product specifically for traders who do a lot of information and distribution until I left to work at GICEN.

One chat from my uncle led me on a path of self-discovery. I defaulted on some loans while I was a poor student in England but I learned to always pay back in full. This week, I will be free of any personal loans but, I will still take business loans. Never mix both.

I learned the best of corporate leverage from my uncle and why real estate is best owned by your companies and not yourself.

At some point, we were owing so much that I began to question his earlier ”sermons”. He taught me the beauty of capital gains to wipe out debt.

Some of those capital gains came from revalued assets or businesses that had gained in valuation. Leverage was used as a tool for capital gains. The Idumota guys didn't know this at all. They probably still do not.

The richest people owe the most because they understand that money is not meant to be hoarded like a commodity. It is an asset that works for you. If your money isn't making money, you are getting poorer. They take the money of others to make even more money.

The wealthy are those who have learned the money multiplier effect. The poor are those who still chase money to keep.

Banking is the ultimate multiplier business. This is why most truly wealthy people own banks. They know how to use idle money better than those who save. Wealth is just optimal asset allocation. That's all. Nothing more.

Threads should have the edit button and autocorrect should be banned. Traders who do s lot of IMPORTATION!

I will definitely start moving threads to Substack shortly.