“New Year, New me” for a young finance professional in Nigeria is to have saved at least five million Naira by the end of 2020.
Christy, a 26-year old who works as an investment analyst in Lagos, claims she has figured out a way to become five million Naira richer in 366 days, and it isn’t for the faint heart.
Christy says she earns around N750,000 per month and has an investment portfolio (mostly made of stocks) of nearly three Naira already.
Whether you can keep up with Christy or surpass her, adapting the young professional’s style to suit your financial situation would certainly be rewarding.
Save at least 10k per day automatically for 366 days
Putting aside ten thousand Naira every day will not be an easy thing to do but it would be worthwhile at the end of the year, Christy says.
N10,000 a day translates to N310,000 for a 31-day calendar month, and would be 41.33 percent of a N750,000 per month income.
This “aggressive” level of saving is twice the recommended “20%” in the 50-30-20 (needs-wants-save/invest) principle for a N750,000 income size but the relative saving size drops as income level increase, says Christy.
She advises the use of automatic-savings platforms like Cowrywise and Piggyvest that can debit straight from your bank to make saving easier.
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Asides removing the ‘stress of manual labour’, such platforms help prevent you from giving up half-way, she says.
“You should endeavour such platforms pay attractive interest rate unless you do not want interest on your money,” she says.
Since 2020 is a leap-year you should have N3,660,000 plus whatever interest rate you are paid.
Double hustle
N3.66m is almost two-third of the N5m savings target, and here’s where side-hustles comes into the equation, says Christy.
“Getting money from extra jobs is as easy as pie,” Christy says. “I can teach a skill, write paid-for articles, practice photography, model part-time and do a dozen other stuff, each of which would earn me more than N100,000 per month.”
Christy says getting one or two side-jobs is especially important for those who may not be able to comfortably save up to N750,000 in a month.
By the end of the year, Christy would have made N1,200,000 from side-gigs.
Combined with the daily N10,000 savings, this would be a total of N4.86m excluding the interest on savings.
Read also: Firm launches smart money savings app
Cut down expenses and save the money
Christy is an Amazon when it comes to personal finance management. She says a step further would be to cut down on some expenses and save whatever she makes from doing so.
“Netflix subscription, shopping, expensive dates and outings are important but I would cut down reasonably on some of them,” Christy says.
Christy says she would also consider taking turns to share ride with a colleague that lives close to her part of town; she would give her friend lifts on some days and ride in the friend’s car on others.
Christy says eating out during workdays is a significant part of her daily expenses and would instead try to take food to work as often as possible.
“Anyone interested in such an adventure could also make use of an accountability partner,” she says.
At the end of the year, Christy expects to have saved up to N420,000 cutting down on several wants.
Christy notwithstanding says young people should not be too fixated on saving to the detriment of ‘living their lives’ and vice-versa.
Combined with N4.86m already noted, N420,000 will result in a total of N5.28m net of interest.
Save 50 percent of all unexpected income
People make more money in a month than they realize, at least according to Christy.
“It differs with people but on the average, my transitionary income per month is N50,000,” says Christy, who explained she gets monetary gifts from friends, family, colleagues at work as well as, efficiency wage, 13th month salary and bonuses too.
So for the young investment analyst, this would translate to a minimum of N600,000 in a year plus whatever interest she earns on that amount.
At this point, she theoretically has N5.88m saved.
(BusinessDay understands transitionary income is by definition uncertain so this should be the last box you tick.
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