Innovictor
New Member
From watching people and their attitudes towards money, I can safely group people into three broad categories. We have the Spenders, we have the Savers and we have the Investors. An interesting point to note is that your attitude towards money goes a long way in determining your financial health as well your ability to attain financial stability and independence.
This thread explores the three broad personas around people's attitude to money and I intend to provide you with actionable steps that could catapult you from being a Spender to a Saver and to transition from a Saver to an Investor.
Meet the Spenders
Spenders typically believe that money makes the world go round and they send their money on lots of errands. In fact, Spender's won’t mind borrowing money inasmuch as there's something to be bought.
Spenders do not recognize the line between frivolous spending and freedom. To spenders, buying anything that catches their fancy is a sign of freedom and financial independence. However, spenders are not free because they are slaves to impulsive purchases.
Spenders tend to live from paycheck to paycheck and it matters not if they earn N10,000 per month or N10,000,000 per month. In fact, spenders tend to have debt issues and they often believe that the next raise will fix their financial mess.
Who are the Savers?
Savers are a step ahead of spenders on the wealth-building journey but they are not likely to get to their destination in good time.
Savers love money for the sake of money rather than the things they could do with the money. A saver is likely to go hungry rather than breakdown a N1000 by spending N100. Chronic savers tend to feel some pain when the need to spend money arises, irrespective of the need behind the expense.
A Saver's peace of mind is usually tied to his/her account balance and they are they are most interested in seeing an increase in the account balance each month. Savers erroneously think that not spending money in a sign of financial responsibility but they tend to be irresponsible in paying their bills and meeting financial obligations in good time.
Investors' Corner
Investors are closer to being financially independent than spenders and savers because they understand the concept of delayed gratification and they would forego the purchase of one shiny toy today in order to afford 10 toys tomorrow. More so, they are not afraid to take on risks today in the hopes of future gains.
Investors understand the value of money as a means to an end, the end here being financial stability and independence. Hence, Investors are usually able plant money as a seed in order to harvest in multiple folds down the road.
Investors are patient because they understand that every investment has an incubation period. Hence, there are not worried when Spenders buy new cars, neither are they disturbed when Savers boast of how much they have in the bank.
Transitioning from Spenders to Investors
You can transition from being a spender to become a saver and from being a saver to becoming an investor in four simple steps as presented below.
1. Make a conscious effort to keep tabs your income and expenses and ensure that your income is always more than your expenses.
2. Set up a special savings account where you put a percentage of the difference between your income and your expenses.
3. Subtract that percentage to be saved and deposit it in the savings account as soon as you receive your salary. Don’t wait to save what is left at the end of the month because you'll have nothing left.
4. Learn about different investment vehicles and put your money into an investment that offers you the best risk-reward ratio.
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