₦airaland Forum

The pressure to look financially successful has become almost as strong as the pressure to actually become financially secure.

A person may have a modest income but still feel compelled to use an expensive phone, wear designer clothes, attend costly events, drive a car beyond their budget or maintain a lifestyle that requires more money than they earn.

When the income cannot support the lifestyle, borrowing can become the solution.

Social pressure plays a major role

Social media has made it easier for people to compare their lives with others. Weddings, holidays, restaurants, new cars, expensive outfits and luxury purchases are constantly displayed online.

What is often missing is the financial story behind those pictures.

The person posting an expensive lifestyle could have saved for months, received financial help, earned significantly more than expected or even borrowed money to fund the appearance.

Yet people watching may only see the final image.

That comparison can create pressure to keep up.

The fear of looking unsuccessful

In some social circles, appearance carries significant weight.

Someone may feel embarrassed arriving at an event without new clothes. Another person may worry that friends will notice an old phone or car. Others may spend heavily during celebrations because they do not want relatives to believe they are struggling.

For some, borrowing becomes easier than admitting that they cannot afford something.

The problem is that the embarrassment is temporary, while the debt can remain for months.

Weddings and family expectations

Major celebrations can also create financial pressure.

Couples and families sometimes borrow money for weddings, birthdays, naming ceremonies and other events because they want the occasion to meet expectations.

The celebration may last one day, but repayment can continue long afterwards.

For a young couple, starting marriage with substantial debt can create additional pressure when rent, food, transportation and other household expenses arrive.

Easy access to credit

Digital lending platforms and other forms of consumer credit have also made borrowing easier.

Money that once required asking friends, relatives or a bank can sometimes be accessed through a phone.

That convenience can be useful during genuine emergencies. But repeatedly borrowing for non-essential spending can create a cycle where one loan is used to repay another.

The danger is not simply borrowing. It is borrowing without a realistic repayment plan.

Lifestyle inflation

Another problem is lifestyle inflation.

As income increases, spending often increases with it.

Someone who previously managed comfortably on ₦150,000 may begin earning ₦300,000 but still struggle because their expenses rise alongside their income.

A better salary can therefore produce a more expensive lifestyle instead of greater savings.

The difference between looking rich and being financially secure

Financial security is not always visible.

Someone driving an ordinary car may have substantial savings and investments. Another person with an expensive car may be paying several debts every month.

The difference is important.

A lifestyle should ideally be built around what a person can consistently afford, not what they want other people to believe they can afford.

Borrowing can be reasonable when it serves a clear purpose and the repayment is manageable. But borrowing simply to maintain appearances can turn temporary social pressure into long-term financial stress.

The real measure of financial progress is not how expensive someone’s lifestyle looks.

It is how sustainable that lifestyle remains when nobody is watching.

Source: https://yaroinsider.ng/why-nigerians-borrow-money-lifestyles/

But corrupt leaders that have nothing to offer can borrow maintain their own lifestyle.

With much money comes much responsibilities.

When I was earning 210k, I somehow managed to live within my means. When my earnings increased to more than double the amount, somehow, without even my knowing, bills caught up with my earnings.

This life is just so much about pressure.

Those are the people trying to prove nothing all in the name of impressing or oppressing.

The mistake people normally make is when they make good money, they still want to remain in their hood with upgrading.

The issue with that is, upgrading where people know you before, nothing like going down again in that same hood. The request, demand, expectations will continue to rise which you need to meet up.

Enjoy your life where people don't know you, where they won't be dictating on which standard of living you should.be on.

I thought u were referring to Nigeria as a country because that's exactly what is happening
Tinubu borrowing to maintain a lifestyle we cannot afford

yaroinsiders:
Source: https://yaroinsider.ng/why-nigerians-borrow-money-lifestyles/

Its societal pressure...out there in other zone, nobody cares

An average Yoruba person attends about 5 occasions in a month, and each comes with different Ashuabi

If you have a job that you can pay back the loan, like people do abroad no p...

Pepper dem

Dem go pepper 🌶 you .

You done talk am finish, I was earning 160k and was doing pretty fine, I could travel, lodge hotel and even get my self some nice meal at any beautiful eatry, cause my job requires me travelling a lot with no transport allowance or float, now am earning 4 to 5 times the amount with float inclusive, and am in the worst kind of debts I can ever imagine, cost of living, responsibility and the need to at least upgrade made the salary look like it nothing. Not too mention all this was just in space of one year,

9jabox:
With much money comes much responsibilities.

When I was earning 210k, I somehow managed to live within my means. When my earnings increased to more than double the amount, somehow, without even my knowing, bills caught up with my earnings.

9jabox:
With much money comes much responsibilities.

When I was earning 210k, I somehow managed to live within my means. When my earnings increased to more than double the amount, somehow, without even my knowing, bills caught up with my earnings.

that is what he is saying. Sometimes your doubled income makes you begin to have higher taste, spendings, lifestyle

This is the first time I am hearing people borrow money to maintain a certain lifestyle. Perhaps I'm willfully naive, but still yet, the mind boggles at such a notion.

I wish everyone can be like me, incapable of being oppressed or feel pressured into conforming to certain societal expectations. If I feel you're being unnecessarily showy, I'll simply avoid you. If I feel that a certain event will have expectations which I cannot fulfill, I will not show up to that event. Avoid people and things that will deny you of your peace and complicate your life.

It's not hard. We just choose to complicate things for ourselves.

Folks pressure themselves unnecessarily. Live simple and enjoy sunshine. But social media and all that will make some folks feel they are behind!

i disagree largely Base on the grounds of Economic hardship and poverty rate these are not small to ignore

this is not about living Fake life, Take a reality check, its about survival

we have friends, neighbours, family, even our lives is enough hypothesis ...the minimum wage is just 70k, salaries are not really enough

Rent as gone up, school fee as gone up, you spend over 50k to fuel a car for a week, feeding cost

Then you were glasses sit behind a computer People are borrowing to live fake life ...thats preposterous esp. In an economic over 160m people are below poverty line

Poverty bwnchmark is $2 per day ... How can 160m people borrow to live fake life when dem neva see food chop belle full ... I struggling not to be agitated here

Landlord evict you from where you pay 600k annual ..the new places yu see now cost over 2m total package you borrow money to secure 2bed again .. Is that the fake life

My friend sista borrowed 1.5m from him August for her business machine, she is back again she needs another 1m to perfect her plan ...

Please in this Tinubu economic where is Room for the Fake life, check X do you see giveaway trends anymore

Abeg! i am done ! you are very distance from People Reality & not being sincere

These things don't move me. Why would I go and borrow money for an event that'd only last few hours? My son is 2+ years, although I'm not religious, my wife is and till today we didn't do any child naming ceremony. I hardly celebrate birthdays. I didn't borrow a dime for my marriage, neither did I create a WhatsApp group to ask for contribution, although I had some support from few relatives. I don't go to where I'm not invited. Even if I'm invited, if I don't have the money to attend, I stay in my house.

Life can be manageable if we just learn to stay within our means. It doesn't make you less ambitious. It just tells that you value contentment over masquerading.

You can say I live a boring life. Yes, it's boring, but as long as it keeps me out of trouble and gives me peace of mind, it's worth living. I just stay clear off most things that add no value to my life.

Who told you no P abroad? Na there P sure pass. Maybe check youtube and see.

Judolisco:
If you have a job that you can pay back the loan, like people do abroad no p...

They look exactly like their country that borrows money for looting and extravaganza,

Without accountability & meeting the goals it was borrowed for.

Like country, like its masses, and vice versa.

If you like borrow more than your capacity just because you want to appear rich, that's your problem!

Hmmmm! so touching piece.

Dshocker:
An average Yoruba person attends about 5 occasions in a month, and each comes with different Ashuabi

You must not necessarily buy all the aso-ebi, especially the ones that are too expensive

There is nothing wrong with it, if anyone can borrow and spend and pay back. No problem! Life is for living!

[quote author=Ishilove post=140691896]

This is the first time I am hearing people borrow money to maintain a certain lifestyle. Perhaps I'm willfully naive, but still yet, the mind boggles at such a notion.

Ishi mi you are not naive, Maybe if this post had come up in Goodluck jonathan days or Buhari days i can still relate to the notion people are borrowing money to live fake

Besides fintech loan apps, go to lapo or any micro finance you can easy assess what people are borrowing for to raise an hypothesis

We are dealing with a hyper inflation of ova 200% you can tell us people are borrowing to live Fake life .. salary can not even cover basic life
I have a friend that is lookin for 1m to pay his 3 children school fee .. Ayeda fun fake life

I wish everyone can be like me, incapable of being oppressed or feel pressured into conforming to certain societal expectations. If I feel you're being unnecessarily showy,

Dont worry Our condition now no warrant we join any unviable competition .. If poco like make she fry one carton of titus fish use am drink garri post in kitchen thread, ..we see we move

If you are observant, trends are fading, where yu see give away on X , even big brother naija you see make e trend

Dont worry economic don reset, nigerians are goin thru alot borrow is for rent, school fee, complete house project to escape crazy landlord bills ...

From Cut ur coat according to ur size, e don become Cut ur coat oversize dis year
Na motivational speakers cause am

yaroinsiders:
Source: https://yaroinsider.ng/why-nigerians-borrow-money-lifestyles/

Personally I feel its disease that the black race has been infected it...because I don't really see such infection with among the Asians.

iamjavadem:
Who told you no P abroad? Na there P sure pass. Maybe check youtube and see.

I said, you should be able to work and pay back... It might be stressful but at least you're paying back... I don't subscribe to taking loans without having a means of repayment

Omalicious1:
Personally I feel its disease that the black race has been infected it...because I don't really see such infection with among the Asians.

It's actually quite disturbing.

Well, I simply do not completely grasp the reasoning behind some of these "pressures," especially if it's not related to survival, or simply having a decent standard of living.

"Pressure" to look rich
"Pressure" to meet up
"Pressure" to "blow" or "make it" or show that one has "arrived"

Under pressure from who or what exactly?


If one simply lives well and has peace of mind, why should one suddenly come under, or subject themselves to, the "pressures" I listed above? To what end? I don't fully understand.

What's your take on how the black race first got in contact with this infection (maintaining unaffordable lifestyles, etc.)? Would you say, there are deeper issues affecting the psyche of the black race that are not being addressed?

My problem isn’t the borrowing. My problem is they don’t pay back. I have people owing me a lot of money which they claim “month end.” At the end of the month, they go mute until I ask them. Now, I will start collecting collateral. It seems I will seize their phones because those are the only useful things they possess.

A music line comes to mind... Take a cue from Stylee by 2 baba,Mode9,DJ Jimmyjatt.. " if you No Get, No go bori ee(borrow), oohhh"

yaroinsiders:
Source: https://yaroinsider.ng/why-nigerians-borrow-money-lifestyles/

"Easy access to credit" you see this one almost trapped my destiny but glory be to God almighty. The dog will never go back to its vomit no matter what

yaroinsiders:
Source: https://yaroinsider.ng/why-nigerians-borrow-money-lifestyles/

Dshocker:
An average Yoruba person attends about 5 occasions in a month, and each comes with different Ashuabi

Bros,your deserve 10 plots of land in eko atlantic city for saying the truth.

I'm averse to social gathering and worth not so trying to impress people who probably doesn't care about my existence is not my thing.