Reflecting on my life journey from the University down to NYSC and being employed, I only wished I understood the actual meaning of saving. Adulthood brought a dawn of reality on me like the splash of cold water, you can check it out here.

I took savings to heart when I got a job, it was not a fairytale because am not proud of it. I have realized that the saying which states "money is never enough" is so true. No matter how much your income is, your wants and needs will most likely have a proportional relationship to your income.


Saving in university was impossible for me because I had an irregular flow of funds and I thought I had a valid reason for not being Penney pinching but I was wrong. NYSC wasn't any different, you can check out my recent review on Niger State and my NYSC experience .


The life of a corp member isn't always a piece of cake but that's not a valid excuse for not saving still. My total income was approximately N36,000 and here is the breakdown; N20,000 approximately from Federal Government, N4,000 from (primary place of assignment) PPA and N12,000 from side hustle (you know what I mean) as that was mostly the last resort. Still this money was too small, I tried saving by using one of my bank accounts I didn't have an ATM card to but it still did not work because when I got terriblely broke I would go to make withdrawals using the withdrawals slip. It was a futile effort.


Do you know I could actually save? All I needed to do was work on my mind and then try investing the little I saved in executing a project. Assuming my total income was N30,000, wouldn't I survive? Do you know if I had saved N6,000 for 6 months, that would have amounted to N36,000? Instead of leaving NYSC with just my final allowance (popularly called allowee) of N41,000, I would have left with N77,000 or probably a tangible investment. Hummm no wander a penny saved is a penny earned.


Mag-Investka Pinky says "it's never your salary that makes you rich, it's your spending habits".


I decided to get intentional about saving when I got employed. For about four months I was able to save about 25% of my total four months salary. I guess that was really small, but it was better than saving nothing.


I realized it's much easier to save in the midst of abundance but however, developing the habit of saving is king and investment is key. If you already have that habit of saving, more grease to your elbows. If you haven't cultivated this habit, I wouldn't say you are behind time but you definitely need to brace up by creating a budget and cutting down on your expenses. Having a budget is very vital to help you plan and also save.


Also note that it's not just about saving but investing your savings. The savings not targeted for a particular project will be squandered sooner than you can ever imagine.


Remember, saving is king and investment is key.


Feel free to share how you were able to accomplish your saving goals.


Thanks for reading.

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