by Grace Agada
When you live in a country like Nigeria where a lot of things are not working, you think that your finances will change when you relocate abroad. You think so because you link your financial problems with the conditions of the country. You assume that changing your location will solve your financial problems.
Although this is common thinking, this thinking is inaccurate.
Relocating abroad will not solve your financial problem. This is because financial problems are not caused by the conditions of the country you live in.
If the external environment were responsible for making people rich or poor, everyone in Nigeria will be poor and all the people in developed countries will be rich. But this is not the case.
We have people with legitimate wealth in Nigeria and some of your relations who travelled abroad are still struggling financially.
This proves that the external environment has little to do with your current financial condition.
Even if Nigeria becomes perfect tomorrow night, the condition of your finances will not change.
If the electricity, our leadership, and the road become what it should be tomorrow, your bank balance will not increase. The Central Bank of Nigeria will not suddenly transfer some money into your account.
Financial problem is a personal problem and not a country affair. When a country has a perfect external environment, it improves the living condition of the people and not their financial condition.
The financial condition of a people can only improve when they increase their capacity to earn more income.
Earning more income requires that a person develops certain abilities to solve problems.
Solving problems means living in a place where problems exist. When you live in a country like Nigeria with many problems, you understand the pain of problems can relate to the average person and are better equipped to solve the problems.
Solving problems means adding value. When you add value you expose yourself to wealth creation opportunities. It is these opportunities that will change your financial situation.
To add value, you need certain abilities. There are three abilities you need: the first is the ability to produce; second is the ability to manage and the third is the ability to bounce back.
It is these three abilities that will make you earn more income.
Your ability to produce is your ability to use certain raw materials to create products and services that can produce income.
There is only one raw material you have as a human being. This raw material is all you need to create the wealth you want. This raw material is the idea raw material.
Ideas are the only raw materials you need to create wealth in the world. But ideas in its raw state cannot make your rich. You need to add value to your ideas to make it valuable.
To add value to your ideas, you need to master three skills. The first skill is thinking skills; that is your ability to use your thoughts to create and improve your ideas.
The second skill is the creative skills; that is your ability to convert your ideas into valuable products and services.
The third skill is marketing skills; that is your ability to exchange your products and services for cash.
To earn more income from your ideas, you need to convert them from raw materials to valuable and profitable products.
People with only natural ideas are poor people. Ideas will not make you rich. It is your ability to add high demand value to your ideas that will make you rich.
The second ability you need is the ability to manage. The ability to manage is your ability to use financial resources in the most effective way that increases and preserves its value.
Management is the effective, timely and correct use of financial resources. To manage money well, you need to master four other sub-abilities. The first is the ability to budget; that is your ability to have a progressive plan for your money.
The second is your ability to save beyond average; that is your ability to keep more of the money you earn.
The third is your ability to invest correctly; that is your ability to grow and preserve your savings through strategic goal-based investing.
The fourth is your ability to manage debt; that is your ability to leave below your means.
These four sub-abilities are what you need to manage money well and live a financially stable life.
The third ability you need to add value is the ability to bounce back. That is your ability to quickly recover from financial setbacks and emergencies.
Everyone goes through financial setbacks, but the degree of financial setbacks you suffer is dependent on the quality of your money management skills.
A life full of emergencies is a life lacking in accurate financial planning.
When financial setback happens, it is your ability to bounce back that will save you.
To bounce back from financial setback you need to do three things. First, you need to anticipate setbacks. Second, you need to be financially prepared long before they (setbacks) occur. Third, you need to have a setback recovery plan.
It is these three things that will increase your ability to bounce back.
Bouncing back is the only way to continue moving forward with your financial goals. Your ability to produce, your ability to manage and your ability to bounce back are the three abilities you need to improve your financial situation at home or abroad.
So what then can you do to develop these abilities?
To develop these abilities and improve your finances, you need to work with a wealth adviser that can help you. The job of a wealth adviser is to help you paint a clear picture of the financial life you want to create.
The adviser will help you understand the financial and non-financial cost and then create a 90 Days Transformation Plan that will begin to move you from where you are to where you want to be.
No amount of praying, hoping and changing location will change your financial situation. Your financial situation will only change when you develop the right capacities.
Grace Agada is a Senior Wealth Advisor and Author with extensive experience in wealth creation, wealth preservation and wealth transfer.
Culled from The Punch .
