₦airaland Forum

Some positive news from IELTS

1st attempt LRWS 8.5; 8.5; 6.5; 7.5 EOR unchanged Feb 9 BC
2nd attempt LRWS 8; 9; 6.5; 7 EOR unchanged April 28 BC
3rd attempt LRWS 8; 8.5; 7; 7.5 Sept 28 MOD

So my Wes came back today as 2 bachelor's degree of 4 years each, however the names on the two certificates slightly differ. Can I use a one and same person affidavit for this?

Ifeoma77:
Woke up to THE mail today
It's PPR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. Congratulations dear. You have a big heart.

Let us talk about your net worth

What is your net worth and what does it have to do with your personal finance?

In theory, your net worth is the value in cash you would have left if you sold everything you currently possess (assets) and paid off all your debts (liabilities).

To get to the level of wealth that one desires, it is essential to assess ones current standings (present net worth), and how long it will take to get to the desired wealth level.

If you want to be worth N10m in 12 months’ time, then it is only logical that you determine how much you are worth today.

Determination of net worth

Companies in general access their net worth’s via annual preparation of financial statements.

For an individual, the same principle is also applicable.

Some of the items that will qualify as your assets will include; house, car, jewelry, household items, amount in your retirement account, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, cash from life insurance, entitlements , savings, cash, prepaid rent etc.

It is important to make conservative estimates when valuing assets to avoid inflating your net worth to avoid ending up with an unrealistically optimistic view of your wealth.

Some of the items that will qualify as your liabilities will include; outstanding mortgage, loans (student, car etc.), credit card debt etc.

Should my education / training cost be recognised as my asset?
What is even an asset?

An asset is any resource with economic value to you, which is either owned or controlled by you with the expectation that it will provide future benefit to you.

So from this definition above, the cost of education and training cost for an individual should be capitalised as an intangible asset provided the below conditions to recognise an intangible asset are met.

a) It is probable that the future economic benefits that are attributable to the asset will flow to you (ie your education is likely to result in improved earnings)
b) The cost of the asset can be measured reliably (Here we are talking about all costs incurred that were absolutely necessary in the attainment of that education/training).

Paying too high for education is another matter all together, which will likely result in impairment (reduction in value recognised) upon subsequent assessment.

It is important to point out at this point that the major reason Companies do not capitalise employee training costs is due to the word CONTROL.


To be continued...

Let’s talk about compounding and the 72 rule

What is compound interest and what does it have to do with my personal finance?

There is a saying that "many overestimate what they can achieve in a year but underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years".

This statement is so visibly true when we look at the impact of compound interest on our investments.

So what is this compound interest?

Compound interest refers to the growth in earnings on your investment (principal amount and interest) as time passes, where the amount earned is reinvested.

Here is a simple formula for compound interest.
A = P(1 + r)^t.
Where:
A = Compounded(accrued) Amount (principal + interest).
P = Principal amount (Initial amount invested).
r = Fixed annual interest rate in decimal.
t = Time Involved in years.

Illustration

Mr Ken invested N500,000 at the age of 25 for a fixed interest of 11%, and completely forgot about this without any further investment. 40 years later an excited Mr. Ken while searching through some old documents stumbles upon the investment documents. Imagine his shock on realizing how much was waiting for him after 40 years.

A= 500,000(1.11)^40
A whooping N32,500,433.65

Ok so we can argue back and forth about the impact of inflation on this amount, but the fact remains this could have just been used to purchase 1 or 2 fancy phones which will require replacement in a maximum of 2 years with nothing to show for it.

What is this 72 rule and why does it matter to my personal finance?

The 72 rule is a simple way to determine how long an investment will take to double, given a fixed annual rate of return (fixed interest rate).
By dividing 72 by the fixed annual rate of return, investors can get a rough estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to double.

Using our above example at 11% fixed interest, our N500,000 will double every;
72/11= 6.55 years. That is over 6 times(40/6.55)
500k*2=1,000K*2=2,000K*2=4,000K*2=8,000k*2=16,000K*2=N32,000K

…To be continued

Lets talk about Inflation

What is Inflation and what does it have to do with my personal finance?

Inflation is the rate of increase of the general level of prices for goods and services. In other words inflation refers to a general reduction in ones purchasing power.

If I buy a bottle of wine for N5,000 in January, and the same bottle of wine costs N10,000 in February, then the price of that bottle of wine has increased by 100%. Which is the same as saying that the bottle of wine has an inflation rate 100% for the one-month period.
The impact on your personal finance is that more money will be required in the month of February to purchase a bottle of wine. So to maintain your wealth level, you should either have a 100% return from your N5,000 in January or purchase half bottle instead of a full bottle in February.

What is the current inflation rate in Nigeria, and what does it have to do with my personal finance?

As at today (March 1 2018) from the information on CBN website, (www.cbn.gov.ng) the inflation rate in Nigeria is currently 15.13%. This figure represents the year on year change in all items.

What this means is that while food prices had a higher year on year change of 18.92%, the impact from other items less farm products were much lower at 12.09% thus moderating the inflation rate at 15.13%.

In the simplest of form, this means that any savings that produced a return below the above inflation rate actually meant you lost money.
Better to save though even if it means losing money than embark on reckless spending.

An illustration:
In march 2017 lets say the cost of a land was N2,000,000 and just like every other thing the cost of land suffered a 15.13% year on year inflation. Mr A choose to invest his N2,000,000 for a return of 14% instead of purchasing this land at that time with the hope of making profit before making the purchase while Mr B bought the land.
Fast forward to march 2018 Mr A now has (=1.14*2,000,000) N2,280,000 from his investment but the price of land has moved from N2,000,000 to (=1.1513*2,000,000) N2,302,600 meaning Mr A will need to add money to make the purchase and would have been better off making the purchase when Mr B did.


…To be continued

On d way...

Hmmmm na male voice call me sha.

Yeah counted 31 myself

Where ar d females? Anyway my break just got extended got 2 make d best of it.

Where ar d females? Anyway my break just extended got 2 make d best of it.

D thing with most Nigerians is we love bad/doom messages so we can gloat 'i said so' whats wrong with being optimistic and apprecitive of our success. Show some faith in d ability of Mr President. Wait till 2015 b/4 rushing 2 judge him

Just got a mail dat d location is etc unilag tym 11 am

@last congrats guyz was wot d wait c u all soon...

Another week of suspence...

Ok guyz enuf of d grammer just b glad 2 have made it dis far lots of ppl didnt. And try 2 be optimistic it helps smtys.

I pray we all make it. Guess b4 weekend smthn positive ll come out. All d best guyz

Got d same message too. Congrats guys. Anyone with idea of wot to expect?

Na God ooo though i tried 2 be fast and answered d question i knew well, just check ur mail

Got d same mail guys no date yet. Anyone with ideas wot to expect? Wrote n lagos here on 18th.

Got a congratulatory message n invitation to a function based test and assessment centre interviews on a date to b communicated later plz can anyone help with what to expect. I wrot d ability test here n lagos on 18th

Thanks guys.

My laptop does not charge even though my charger is good.