4 MONEY ADVICE FOR PEOPLE IN THEIR 20S

Growing up, I never thought being in my 20s would be this crazy. It's like waking up from a deep sleep. One day you were just 15, thinking about all the fancy Designer clothes you wanna wear, big booty girls you wanna bang, the Bugatti Verons and Lamborghini you want to cruise. Places you want to visit. Waking up every day to a nice serendipitous sea horizon of your Beach House. Millions of dollars to your name. The worst part is when you put a time stamp to realizing all these fantasies in Lalaland. 

"By 20 I should have made my first million..."

"At 25, I should have bought the Beach house..."

"Yadi yadi yadi..."

Then you wake up one morning. You're 25, trapped in between a job you hate so much. Praying every day that your boss dies cause he's a dick. Don't have enough money to send to your sick mom at home even though you work. You try saving every dime you have but it looks like there is a hole in your pocket. It doesn't add up And nope, I didn't forget, you're still trying to deal with the fact that you're still in college and one bozo of a Professors is trying to suck the living daylight out of you up because the University chooses to make him your project supervisor. The sad life of a lot of people in their early 20s in Nigeria and it freaks me out!

Embracing the full blunt punch of adulthood is something I wasn't prepared for. I think Lade's inspiration for 'Adulthood na scam' came straight from Heaven. Because this wasn't the kind of adulthood I had envisioned. But there again, reality has dawned on me. Being in your 20s comes with making a lot of mistakes. Mistakes that you weren't prepared for. Mistakes that could determine how the rest of your life will be. And it scares the hell out of me. 

But if there is anything I feel I have gotten right in my 20s is that I surrounded myself with Mentors and Friends who have seen this life and know what it offers. People who have made mistakes, and are willing to share from their wealth of experience and knowledge. And most practically, people who have the kind of results I want in my life.

I sat with one of my Millionaire Mentors one day and I asked him, what 4 money advice will he give to young people in their early 20s in Nigeria. Here are the 4 secrets he shared with me.

1. Earn and charge your services in dollars.

Naira is a shitting deal, you won’t know when you’re falling behind in your pricing because it’s naira.

Have you seen the news lately? $1 is now N1025 naira at the black market rate(as at when this blog post was written). As it stands now, the system is rigged against you. You need to find a way to strike back. 

At first, I didn't understand what he was saying when he shared this with me. I thought I would get more of the emotional, "save your money..." "Don't buy this and that" bullshit. As I thought deeply about it, I realized the following.

First, it's not about the dollars, it's about building your business or skillset to a standard that meets the needs of the global market. Stop putting this embargo that depicts you have lesser value because of your country and environment. If you have what it takes to meet the standards of the global market, you should be compensated accordingly. So fix the rate in your mind. Start building for the global market. You're not just a Nigerian brand. You were meant to impact the world and be compensated in the global standard.

Secondly, the economic policy in Nigeria right now is a disaster. You have to find a way to shelter yourself from the hard times that's coming. Earning and saving in Naira won't get you your dream life.

2. Don’t buy fancy gadgets, but workstations like cameras, strong iPhone, laptop/iMac.

"Is buying an iPhone not fancy?"

I asked.

We live in a complex world right now. Appearance speaks louder than action. Don't judge people who are overly materialistic, they get the memo. Blending in and catching up with the time is not a bad idea.

Furthermore, Content rules the world and content can be anything. You need an iPhone for a start if you want to make any good content that will resonate with an audience.

A laptop is a must-have for every young person. There is almost no profession that doesn't need access to the digital world. Having a good laptop should be one of your proprietary needs as a young person right now. That's your tool for money-making.

3. It’s not time to take care of your parents, siblings, and “community”. You have to be in order to become!

This freaked me out!

What's the goal of chasing the bag? 

Is it not to make Mama proud?

Well, you will have plenty of time to make Mama proud but not when all you have in your hand is your seed. The money you will make in your 20s is the seed for your future. If you eat your seed for today, and I don't care who you eat it with, there will be no bread for tomorrow.

You have to learn how to make tough decisions because decisions separate Men. 

Don't forget that you have no excuse for failure. You can do more good in the world when you're in a better place financially.

4. Invest in knowledge and skill stacking, there’s not much your earnings can do in your 20s. If you’re lucky, you get to build one house before you are 30.

The best thing about being in your 20s is that you get the opportunity to learn new things every day and to learn them fast. Remember I said wealth is built over a momentous period of growth. That growth will take a lot of learning, unlearning and relearning to achieve.

The best return on investment you can get right now is not in the stock market, it's not in real estate( you don't even have money to buy a house sef), it's not crypto, or any other thing. It's in you. You have to believe in yourself enough to invest in your knowledge and education.

Buy books. Join mentorship programs, get courses online, and do all that it takes to move forward.

I hope if I meet you again in the next 10 or 20 years your life will be better than this. Till I come again.

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