By Emmanuel Udom, Lagos
I have not
met AKINGBE OLATUNJI one-on-one. But,
I have met him through his many valuable write-ups and today we are the best of
friends, at least on phone for now. I will meet him and other value added
writers in Stockwatch one-on-one some day.
Akingbe is an
expert on financial intelligence and value investing. He is in fact the head, business development of
Stockwatch newspaper based in Lagos with a national and off course
international spread.
This is a
clear advertorial statement. But I feel the Stockwatch team deserves it. I
learnt they have gone on break to return mid- January, 2015, when the
politicians at various levels are on the peak of their battles.
Beyond this preamble, the inspiration for this
write-up originated from Akingbe and I feel I should share it with my friends.
There are basically four pillars to wealth creations, anywhere in the world,
Akingbe wrote in the last edition of Stockwatch, before the break.
The pillars are: income, simplification,
saving and investment. These are the words of Akingbe, which I have been contemplating since I
read his column.
INCOME-Off course you know what this means.
What comes into your pocket or bank account as salaries or money received from business
deals, trading or any other source(s) of revenue for that matter.
Income or
revenue could be linear, multiple or residual. Linear when it is from one
source only, multiple when it comes from different sources and residual when
you are getting monetary rewards for past efforts, even if you are stone dead
or alive.
SIMPLIFICATION-Yes, you have your channel(s) of
income-small, big, medium. How is your lifestyle? In Africa, Nigeria, some of
us love to spend to impress. We love to tell people we have arrived, even if in
reality, we are still struggling and hustling. Bad copy for wealth creations,
if you ask me.
Secondly, the
extended family system, where one man has to literally feed a whole village is
having negative effects on some of us.
Honestly
speaking, from my contemplations of the write-up of Akingbe, I have come to the
realization that an African or a Nigerian man or woman for that matter should strive
to keep his expenditures low and live a simple, not complex lifestyle.
We, Africans and Nigerians can never,
ever become rich if for instance we earn N100, 000 as income and spend N150,
000 every month. We may choose to blame the devil, witchcraft and generational
curses, or enemies, real or imaginary. This is very, very wrong.
But, the
reality is that if we spend more than we earn on liabilities instead of assets
that could bring in more income in future, we are not building wealth. So, are you living a complex, instead of a
simple lifestyle? Reflect on this question.
SAVING-We cannot become wealthy through
saving. As Akingbe said in his write-up, saving is simply a holding tank, where
we keep money, while looking out for opportunities to invest our money.
After
reflecting on this for some days, I agree with this financial intelligence
expert. No matter how small or big, we should save for the rainy day and
investment, otherwise yawa go gas.
INVESTMENT-When you make money, live a simple life,
save, off course you need to invest. This is where wealth is created. There are
a thousand and one investment openings out there.
Honestly speaking,
reading Stockwatch and specifically the many write-ups of Akingbe has tamed my
reckless financial lifestyle, even as a journalist.
I may not
have gotten there yet. But, I know I will continue to strive to be there. This
is not an advertorial write-up for Stockwatch, but I feel that people
out there should get a copy of the paper mid- January next year and study, not
merely gloss over it for valuable information.
You need to
dig deep for gold. So, search out Akingbe Olatunji and link up with him. As I
said earlier, I have not met him in person, but I have benefited from his
write-ups. I rest my pen for now.
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