Debts and a Late Bloomer’s Journey to Financial Freedom
SikaLife is a new bi-weekly column where we interact with young people in Ghana about their finances and exciting experiences on how they earn and spend their income powered by InvestSika. You can share your own story anonymously here.
In today’s episode of SikaLife, a late bloomer gives us an insight into his financial background, managing debts, and other experiences that have influenced him to become a Crypto agitator and how he keeps up with the ever-changing world of tech and money.
Q: When was the first time you spent money? Can you recall?
I spent money first in my infancy, somewhere in primary school. I can’t vividly recall
Q: How did you spend it?
I think I bought some snacks at school.
Q: Tell us about the first time you earned money yourself
The first time I truly made money for myself, using effort and not just trading my time for money, was with Crypto. I got introduced to Paxful (a Peer-to-Peer network-based crypto exchange platform) about a year ago. When I started taking trading on the medium seriously, which was barely six months ago, I’ve realized impressive earnings.
Today, Cryptocurrency has changed the way people work and earn, and I’m very grateful to be a partaker in this nascent financial & monetary revolution.
Q: What was your first salary, and how big has it grown today?
My first actual salary was something less than 400 GHS. It was remuneration for an internship I did with a construction company during vacation in my first year at the university. After Uni, I had the NSS allowances of 350 GHS for 11 months, then something less than 1000 GHS from my last construction job for about four months.
I am highlighting these first instances because I have no record of the growth of salaries I received when I was an employee. After all, I was practically living from hand to mouth then.
Q: What is your life motto or philosophy?
“If you’re going to be successful, it is important not to expect anything from anyone that you are not willing to do for yourself.”
Q: You seem to be very self-sufficient, so what ten things would you do if you won 500k cedis today?
• Neutralize all my debts
• Pay advance rent for where I reside
• Buy some more cryptocurrencies
• Invest in some stocks options
• Buy a few ounces of Gold
• Fund one/two friend’s startup ideas/ventures
• Startup an e-commerce venture
• Visit Jamaica, Rwanda, or Tanzania
• Probably get married
• Probably immigrate to North America
Q: Pretty extensive list; which option best applies to your lifestyle today, save more or earn more?
Earn More Money
Q: How much do you need in the bank to comfortably retire?
$500k should be enough
Q: Do you have any investments? How are you looking to invest this year?
Yes, I have some crypto investments. I’m looking to put something into some stocks soon, and there are a few business ventures I want to invest in.
Q: Tell us about something you wished you could afford when you were little that you can afford now, and it doesn’t mean so much
Expensive fashionable clothing
Q: How financially responsible are you on a scale of 10?
8
Q: Tell us about one thing you found out super late about money you wish you had done earlier?
I learned the disparity between MONEY & CURRENCY, the TIME VALUE of money, and financial systems. Those are the things I’ll be teaching my kids in their infancy.
Q: That’s great. What do you pay with momo, card, or cash at a restaurant?
MOMO
Q: Do you have an emergency fund?
No
Q: Why don’t you?
I don’t have an emergency fund just yet because I need to neutralize most of, if not all, of my debt, then I can have the liberty to set money aside for uncertainties.
Q: That makes sense, one step at a time. Tell us about your worst Uber/Bolt/Yango Payment experience
One time, a Bolt driver I ordered didn’t have any MoMo wallet I could pay into, and I didn’t have enough cash on me, so we had to drive around a bit (it was late at night) before we met a vendor to cash out.
Q: Have you been stranded before financially? How was that experience?
I have been cash-strapped and stranded several times in the past. It’s never a pleasant experience when you call people or sometimes even randomly ask strangers to bail you out of such a situation. It can be not very pleasant.
Q: How did you leave that space into somewhere better?
I’ve had some bad debts in the past that did put me in uncomfortable situations. I stopped borrowing money and learned to maintain within my means, no matter how bad conditions are. If I don’t have, I don’t have, and I will not create any situation that will strain me financially or whatsoever.
Q: Smart, so what was your worst debt experience?
I borrowed 4000 GHS from my cousin for an investment deal, and I ended up being scammed. What makes this account worse is the bad decisions I made to get myself out of this situation and the trust I lost from friends who had much reverence for me.
Q: That’s sad. Were you able to recover from that? From the debt and also regain your friends’ trust?
Mentally I’ve been able to recover from those experiences. I still have some debts to settle, though, and I’ve burnt some bridges or lost trust with one/two friends, but life goes on, regardless!
Q: What is the most you have spent on food before?
Single-handedly, I think about 150GHS. However, I’m not a foodie, I hardly eat out, and I often do intermittent fasting. So I’m less likely to spend much on food.
Q: If you do not spend a lot on food, what takes most of your money?
Transportation! A quick check from my expenses & budgeting app Spendee says it’s Transportation overall. I’ve spent about 1628 GHS on Transportation from Jan 1, 2022, until Feb 22. It even surpasses that of Food & Drinks, which mainly includes that which I’ve spent on others. I believe I’ll save more on Transportation if I have owned a car.
Here’s a quick look at my finance breakdown recently:
Q: What is the most exciting thing about your city today?
The most exciting thing about Tema today is the good roads and that I can take midnight-dawn strolls in my neighborhood, feeling safe.
Q: How many Ghanaian-made apps do you have on your phone right now? ECG app included, of course
15
Q: Oh great, what are six apps you use every day?
Spendee
Telegram
Evernote
Paxful
PS: This list should’ve been ten apps
Q: I see; how about you tell us the others and why they’re so important to you?
Dash — I replaced Dash with expressPay since I discovered it about a year ago. It has a much better UI & UX overall.
Twitter — for the apparent reasons why it’s the best social platform, IMO.
CoinMarketCap — for catching up on daily crypto trends and statistics
Spotify — for Music & Podcasts
Q: What is the most expensive thing you own today?
A watch
Q: If you were to caption this article about you, what would the title be?
A late bloomer Crypto hustler and Fintech observer
Q: Hahaha, I will think about it. Do you think your age plays a factor in how intense your beliefs are in savings and investments?
Yes, I believe my age probably is a factor, and most importantly, my keen quest to seek financial intelligence & freedom.
Q: You ascribe many changes in your life to Crypto. Do you think it has given you financial freedom?
Of course, Crypto has given me much more financial liberation than I’ve ever had in my three decades of existence. The truth is Crypto is all about information, tools, and financial discipline. And if you get it right, it can rapidly transform your financial capabilities. It’s quite like “Magic Internet Money”, says a friend of mine.
I believe that we are in the nascent days of monetary revolution backed by an “invisible” technology (Blockchain) that liberates information that traditional institutions and professionals have locked up. Crypto gives this information/tools to the people to make good use of digital financial services leading to their freedom.
Q: Any other exciting money-related experience you want to share?
There are dozens of money-related experiences I would like to share, but instead, I want to give these few pieces of advice.
MONEY IS NOT EVIL, for it answereth all things. But evil is what makes money evil; the motive and intention behind making money make it evil.
The Love of money is EVIL.
The pursuit of money is CIVIL.
The absence of money will BELITTLE
MONEY affects your whole LIFE, so pursue it as much as possible, especially now that we are in a time where the essential tools for wealth creation are making the playing field of opportunities even. We now have access to Cryptocurrency, the Blockchain, and Digital assets like stocks, all happening right in front of us.
Q: Not sure what to call you, a Scholar, Motivator, or Speech giver, either way, this sure sparks some energy.
Haha, give Thanks! These accolades humble me, and I’m glad they do light up some energy.
Q: What did you like about the InvestSika app you tested recently?
That is the Sika Community page with the intended stories & reviews. I love the possibility for users to share their investment cues and for others to interact/learn from many others’ portfolios.
SikaLife is a new bi-weekly column where we interact with young people in Ghana about their finances and exciting experiences on how they earn and spend their income powered by InvestSika. You can share your own story anonymously here.
