We
spend the first five to seven years of our marriage trying to attain the same
standard of living as our parents. It only took them 35 years to get there.
Married
or single, age 20’s are doing the same thing. Everyone tells them buying a
land is bad so they rent mansion and drive the best of cars. But for the
African, it is a life of the early 30’s, reason being poverty.
It
is human nature to want stuff and want it now; it is also a sign of
immaturity. Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity. However, our culture
teaches us to live for the now, because tomorrow will handle itself, fallacy. “I
want it!” we scream, and we can get it if we are willing to go into debt.
Debt is a means to obtain the “I want its” before we can afford them.
Debt
is so ingrained into our culture that most Nigerians can’t even imagine a three
month salary without a car, a house without a mortgage, a student without a
loan, and credit without a card. But debt adds considerable risk and isn’t used
by wealthy people nearly as much as we are led to believe.
The
Forbes 400 is a list of the richest 400 people in America as rated by Forbes
magazine. When surveyed, 75% of the Forbes 400 said, the best way to build
wealth is to become and stay debt-free.
So how do you get started?
Make a budget and stick to it:
A budget is
not a torture device—it’s you telling your money what to do instead of
wondering where it went. Many youth sees budget as slavery and suppressed life.
A budget doesn’t mean you can’t have stuff—I want you to get some stuff—but save
up so you can pay cash.
Create emergency funds:
First
save $1,000 to cover small emergencies, like flat tires and medical co-pays,
while you get out of debt. That way when little unexpected things happen, you won’t have to reach for the credit card and
go further into debt to cover it. Once you are debt free, save three to six
months of expenses for a fully funded emergency fund to cover larger
emergencies like job layoffs and unexpected pregnancies.
Get out of debt for good:
Debt
has been a “recurring decimal” to some youths. According to USA Today,
the average college senior graduated in 2006 with more than $19,000 in debt.
That’s a lot of debt for someone just starting out! Even in Nigerian
universities, a bigger boom! Instead of only making minimum payments and
letting the debt escalate—get crazy and knock out the debt as fast as you can.
If you didn’t have a car payment, a student loan, medical debt, or even a
mortgage, you could become wealthy
very quickly…try it.
“Lastly, your wealth as a youth begins today, take a step to the right direction.”
More on GistWealth:
How to build wealth as a couple
How to build wealth from good stable network
How to build wealth from blogging
How to build wealth as an NYSC corper
How to build wealth on a small salary
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