Xee:
Zee, please I want to improve on my personal finance management. Please can you be my mentor?

Zee:
Yes. What do you know about personal finance management so far?

Xee:
Oh just the usual, spend less than you earn, invest in property and buy equity in businesses you understand.

Zee:
Great. So how are you doing in all 3?

Xee:
That’s the problem. It is really hard because I don’t seem to ever make enough, property prices are high, and I don’t trust all Nigerian businesses.

Zee:
Are you earning more than you did 5 years ago?

Xee:
Yes.

Zee:
By how much?

Xee:
About 48%.

Zee:
What is the price range of properties you are looking at?

Xee:
15 to 20 million, and that is just for land ooo.

Zee:
What is the price range of properties you can afford?

Xee:
500k to 1 million. Hahaha hahaha. I’m in trouble.

Zee:
What is holding you back from buying up properties in that range?

Xee:
I can’t live in such areas.

Zee:
What Nigerian businesses do you regularly engage with – your bank, your meals, your beverages, your toiletries?

Xee:
GTBank, Flour mills, Nigerian Breweries, Unilever…

Zee:
How long have been working with them or using their products?

Xee:
For years. They’re the most reliable of the lot.

Zee:
As your mentor, do you agree to follow through on some trials with the commitment this relationship deserves?

Xee:
Yes. Haba, should we sign a contract and negotiate payment terms?

Zee:
Hahaha, your success will be enough reward.

Xee:
Thank you.

Zee:
Let us start with what you know already.
Spend less than you earn. Buy property you can afford as investment, not necessarily as new habitation, and buy equity in the companies you have been loyal to.
Let us review your progress quarterly for the next 5 years, and if you show the right level of discipline, you will not need me anymore to explore other investment options. Deal?

Xee:
Baba, calm down now. I already know these things and they’re not working for me. I heard about forex, agric cooperatives and blockchain currency trading. I know you know about them. Teach your boy abeg.

Zee:
Xee, you came to learn about personal finance management, not new vehicles of investment. I want us to start from what you already know and build your discipline muscle with it.
The path you are nudging me towards is not built for those that have not yet built discipline, and discipline is built in drudgery.
Please ignore the lure of massive returns, do not let greed get the better of you. Like betting, greed is a quicksand that few people ever find a branch to pull themselves out with. Most people drown.
Let us start with what you know. There is sustainable opportunity there, and in the long term you will outperform your expectations.

Xee:
I should have known you will make a simple request complicated.
Abeg I don’t want this mentoring again. I will go and learn on my own.

Zee:
Okay Xee.
I will continue to root for you.
Godspeed.

– Osasu Oviawe