I don’t think there's anything more common today than people making money and still staying broke. You see someone who is earning good but you look at their life, and nothing to show for it. The sad part is, I’ve been in that shoe before, and maybe you reading this too have experienced it at one point. The name for that problem is mismanagement of money.
Let me break it down simple. Mismanaging money just means you're not handling your finances well. Either you're spending more than you're making, or you're just not tracking how your money is going. Sometimes, it’s not even about spending too much, it's just the small small expenses that you think don’t matter, that’s what ends up draining you.
There was a time I use to believe that the solution to all my money problems is just to make more money. But even when I did make more, my problems doubled. I realised it’s not really about how much you're making, it’s how you are managing what you already have.
Many people, especially in this part of the world, think budgeting is only for rich people or big businesses. But that’s a big lie. In fact, the people that need budgeting the most are those of us trying to survive daily. If you don’t tell your money where to go, it will go anywhere it likes. And most times, it goes into things we don’t even need.
I remember one month like that, I was just looking through my bank alerts and I saw that I’ve spent almost 15k on just snacks and drinks. Not food o, just snacks. That’s someone’s salary. And I didn't even feel it because it was ₦500 here, ₦800 there. That’s how mismanagement works. It creeps in little by little.
Another big way people mismanage money is by trying to impress others. Some people will rather buy clothes or new phones just to post online, meanwhile they are borrowing data. There’s no future in trying to live a fake life. It’s better to be broke and honest, than rich on the outside but dying silently.
This thing is very common among us youths. We don’t like hearing about savings and investments, we just want to “enjoy life”. But the same life we’re trying to enjoy will suffer us tomorrow if we don’t handle money well today. Hive has even taught me a lot. Seeing people grow their LeoFinance wallets, powering up, saving in HBD, all those things made me to start adjusting slowly. Crypto helped me realise that small drops of water really do make a mighty ocean.
To be honest, nobody is perfect with money. Even rich people mismanage funds, just that theirs is on a bigger scale. The goal is not to be perfect, the goal is to try and be better every month. Track your spending, save small, invest small, and don’t live above your means. It's simple advice, but not everyone will follow it.
If you’ve been mismanaging money, it’s not the end of the world. You can start fixing it today. Start by writing down where your money goes every day. Use paper if you don't trust apps. Then cut down the waste. You’ll be shocked how much you’ve been losing.
Let’s all do better with money. It's not about making millions, it's about using what you have wisely. One step at a time.
