There's Rice At Home - My Relationship With Money
IT’S ALL IN YOUR BASE
Every good pot of Jollof Rice starts with an excellent tomato stew base that’s rich in seasoning and various spices. No matter how many ways Jollof Rice can be made, everyone agrees that if the base ain’t right you ain’t got ‘ish. Start again, my friend.
Growing up and even now, Jollof Rice is a dish that’s readily available in the house. As a young child, I never cared for the ins and outs of making the dish so long as it was on my plate, however, when it was time for me to make it for the first time it was awful from colour to taste, everything I did was based on assumptions (despite my mum telling me to stand in the kitchen to learn, I never did). The same can be said for my relationship and understanding of money and wealth, my base and technique was wrong for a long time, finding myself in awful sticky-jollof-rice like situations.
STARTING A WEALTH JOURNEY
When I started my wealth journey I didn’t start with this step because honestly, I didn’t think I had a relationship with money or wealth, hence why I decided to start my journey. I soon realised that I had always been on a wealth journey but I’d never enjoyed a successful one until I changed how I viewed and interacted with money. As Dave Ramsey emphasises, how we interact with personal finance is made up of 80% behaviour and 20% knowledge, so even after attending the 9-week course, I incurred more debt and I still wasn’t saving. Where did I go wrong? I had a whole certificate to prove I gained knowledge, so why couldn’t I make it work?
ONE – The Financial Plan Prayer
A year after taking the Financial Peace University course I had more debt on my credit card than I had started with prior to doing the course, so one evening I decided to finally give up on trying ‘to do’ wealth by myself. I prayed, and really sought God’s help, because at the end of the day the resource comes from Him, and my desire to do better was for Him (and also from Him). Attempting something I only had assumptions on was turning out to be a big pot of unsavoury meh! I needed the Teacher of all things to teach me.
On 20 November 2018 at 2am I wrote this prayer down (yes, I numbered each point lol):
Thank You, God for the gift of money/finances. Thank you for your provision (financially)
Forgiveness: LORD, forgive me for being a terrible steward of money and for not managing my finances well and for choosing to remain ignorant about means to better my financial literacy.
Giving Back: LORD, for too long I have considered my money as my own – my money isn’t mine, LORD it’s yours. I give my finances back to you for your divine touch and management so I can use this gift wisely.
Learning: LORD, help me to implement the things I’m learning/have learnt because practice makes perfect. Help me to learn not to be fearful of money and its necessary uses.
Financial Goals: Pay off debts (I included each debt by name and the amount I owed at the time, I will talk about debts in detail in another post). Save towards my emergency fund and other goals.
My Bank Accounts & Allocations: Here I listed all the accounts I have and the purpose for having them i.e. what they’re for (I eventually closed two because they served little purpose and because of bank charges).
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
TWO – Consider The Root
Confession and hand-over done.
Now, even with despair, regret and fear I could confidently open my pot of mushy Jollof Rice and evaluate what I did wrong, because if I didn’t face my mistakes how could I change? To do so I had to retrace my steps and identify what money was/is to me.
By taking time out to consider my root and emotions with personal finance, I was able to identify the things that kept me making the same mistakes.
Questions I asked myself were:
Why am I embarking on a wealth journey?
Because having my finances in order actually pleases God.
Generational Wealth is a real thing I want to be a part of.
What’s wrong with my finances?
I don’t have any money, even though I have plenty.
Proverbs 22 verse 7 (NIV): “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.” I refuse to live pay-check to pay-check and be a slave to the banks and other institutions for the rest of my life because “it’s normal”. There’s nothing normal about being a slave.
What do I want to improve?
My financial literacy and my attitude towards savings need to improve. Learning about finance isn’t just for financial professionals or something I can worry about later in life.
Who taught me about money (who did I learn from) and what did they teach me?
Honestly, I don’t remember being sat down and being taught about money, I just remember being given it and it being spent (by me), then getting in trouble for not saving a penny (oh if I tell you what Jesus has fixed). I was always told “save your money”, but I wasn’t shown how (at least from what I can remember).
Side Note: Some people’s money issue is that they save too much, and find it hard to spend/use it, which isn’t good either – they hoard money out of fear and not with goals in mind. There needs to be a balance.
How did I develop my current view of money (pre-wealth journey)?
Everything was based on assumptions. I assumed I’d have enough money next month to cover my overdraft, so I spent more; I assumed student loans would cover everything, so I didn’t save. HA!; I assumed credit cards were the worst (my assumption is now fact, however, I also admit it’s been ‘helpful’ on occasions).
I also developed a mindset that having wealth was bad especially with the rise of prosperity preachers and their doctrine, and for this reason, I didn’t even think that God wanted me to talk to Him and involve Him in my finances because money was bad. Money as an object has no emotion, all the emotion ‘given’ to money comes from the one with or without it.
When do I want to see change?
Now! So this means acting today and not delaying till tomorrow. Putting my prayers into action is faith.
THREE – Goals & Intentionality
Retracing my financial steps made it so much easier for me to plan and list realistic goals. After making a bad pot of Jollof I remember calling my mum asking her “what did I do wrong?” She said, “You added too much water” and took me through the steps of how to make amazing Jollof Rice.
Steps are like goals and goals require intentionality (i.e. planning). When creating said goals, setting a deadline [in faith] is vital. I haven’t included my deadlines/dates below but God and I know what we’re working towards.
My Current Wealth Goals
Have my basic emergency fund saved (starting again for the nth time).
Be debt-free. My current debts are all student loans & two credit cards.
Have 3-6 months of living expenses saved.
Have a healthy and balanced view of finances and wealth.
Current Stats:
Start of 2019: 85% of my debt is made up of student loans everything else is from credit cards and personal loans.
July 2019: Two personal loans were paid off in full.
Investing & saving since January 2019.
LET IT COOK
Jollof Rice requires necessary steps, so does my wealth journey and it helps to understand that not all the steps can be done at once. With this knowledge, one doesn’t rush the preparation of a good and beneficial meal, instead time is taken.
Note to self: This is my journey, take your time, enjoy the ride and Thank God for every goal attained and surpassed. It’ll be done before you know it.
“True enrichment comes from the blessing of the Lord, with rest and contentment in knowing that it all comes from him.” – Proverbs 10 verse 22, The Passion Translation.
I hope you’ve enjoyed today's post?
At the end of this series, I’ll share a review of where I’m at with my wealth goals.
I’m looking forward to sharing with you all and I’m also looking forward to hearing your wealth stories!
Don’t forget to subscribe to get notified when each post is available; a new wealth post will be out every Monday at 7pm (GMT) – I know today’s piece was late (sorry).