PART FIVE: ATTAINING FINANCIAL STABILITY for STUDENTS
*sings in ABBA: Money! Money! Money! Must be funny! In a rich man's world! Lol...
Hello! And welcome to this fifth episode of the 'Adulting Like A Boss' blog series. Today's post features my girl, Namoonga Hamapande! Namoonga is our resident financial literacy guru/business tycoon/medical student boss babe! And today, she's here to share the knowledge that has been acquiring on her journey to financial independence. So let's give a round of applause to my girl, Namoonga Hamapande!
*Ms Hamapande writes:
Hello from a Zambian university student, giving a quarter fraction of her experience with money.
Firstly, i'd like to begin by discussing the state that majority of Zambian youths are currently in, when it comes to their finances. I view our country as one with many resources and highly intelligent citizens and yet, the majority are in debt. Around the ages 18 to 24, most of us would have accumulated about K100 000 debt, owing to student loan acquisition. And sadly, many of us do not even think of the impact that these loans will have on us because financial literacy is not a sought after topic. Therefore, many of us are living in the dark about the impact that student loan debt has on us.
If you and I are to kick this issue to the curb, it is vital that we become intentional about being financially literate. Thankfully, New Wineskin Living, has afforded the platform for this matter to be discussed. I am, therefore, delighted to share the basics about personal finances, as well as a few of the successful mistakes that I have made on my own journey to financial freedom. So here it goes.
Just as each person is different and unique, every individual's financial journey is different and unique. We are different people living under different circumstances so we can not expect to have the same experiences with money. Two questions that I often ask my friends are; 'Why are you trying to acquire money?' and 'Why are you opening a savings account?' And trust me, the answers vary from person to person. But believe you me, asking yourself these questions is the very beginning of you attaining financial independence, as well as debt settlement.
Now that the foundation has been laid, here are a few tips to help you kick start your own journey to financial freedom:
Write Down Your 'Why':
This involves you writing down the main reason(s) why you want to be financially independent. Personally, I envisioned my wildest rich type of life and the reason behind my desire to have colossal sums of money at my disposal. I have even developed a habit of doing this at the beginning of every year, since the year 2018. As you are determining your 'Why', I advice you to be flexible about it. This is because as you grow, some of the things that motivate you will either change or you will outgrow them or you would have achieved them.
Determine Your Source Of Income (My favourite part):
This varies from person to person. I began my small business in the year 2017. By then my goal was to raise money to spend in university. But with time, it's become a livelihood. While I grow this business, I have assigned a small percentage of the profit as my salary, which I use to contribute to my savings. Having some extra financial assistance from my guardians helps with my monthly needs.
Now when I say; "determine your income", I don't mean you have to start a business or start selling things, no! If you are a university student, for instance, and you are living off your parents money or goverment sponsorship allowances, you can consider that as your income and then apportion it such that a percentage of it is directed towards you becoming financially independent.
And while we are on the topic of sourcing income, I'd love to introduce you to a cool way of making money. Drumroll please... It is the Passive Profits With Payhip Course! This is a self guided video course that teaches you how to start your own online store and sell digital products in as little as a day. Click here to learn more.
Back to our to our topic of discussion;
Some of you may say 'I don't earn enough money to even consider saving part of it' or 'I don't even have a side hustle' or whatever other excuse you can come up with. But I'm certain that you have mobile data bundles almost everyday of the year. And if we were to calculate how much you spend on those data bundles, we will discover that many of us make excuses for not having enough money for a, b or c but yet we find ways of having money for mobile data bundles.
Budgeting:
The term 'Budgeting' refers to the process of calculating how much money you must earn or save during a particular period of time, and planning how you will spend it. Attaining financial independence calls for you to learn how to budget. You need to know how much you spend on a monthly basis at least. This should include all your needs(bills,household products,etc),your bank charges, your wants(weekend chills or birthday/party expenses)
Study your spending habits by tracking them either via writing down or using a tracking application which you can download from istore or playstore. Tracking your spending habits will help you understand where your money goes which will in turn, assist you to devise a budgeting system that is suitable for your goals and lifestyle. Two of the most commonly used budgeting systems are the 70/30/10 percent or 50/30/20 percent based system, with the allocation of needs,wants and savings, respectively.
Well, that's every bit of information I can share with you with regard to finances. I hope that this has been helpful in setting you up for financial independence.
And before you leave, please grab your FREE copy of my latest ebook down below.
/div>
/div>
Comments
Post a Comment