How to Live a Debt-free Lifestyle

A debt is simply defined as a financial obligation which you owe someone. On the other hand, a debt-free life is a life free from debt. It is a life void of financial stress, embarrassment, depression and slavery. It involves your knowing that you can't always get what you want, but you can always work towards what you want and how you intend to achieve this depends on you.You can decide to save for it or decide to spend someone's else money to get what you want.Remember why spending someone else's money to satisfy your wants be aware of the huge burden you will definitely be placing on yourself and even your immediate family. 

You probably have been wondering if it's possible to live a debt-free life and how you can live a debt-free lifestyle.Here are thricks that can help you live a debt-free lifestyle.

1. Be Determined and Disciplined

Determination and discipline is a major key for you to live a debt-free lifestyle.Being determined  goes a long way in helping you achieve your goals of living a debt-free life while discipline helps you stick to the goal so you don't swerve. Discipline helps you to stick to a plan or budget.It helps you conquer the temptation of overspending and gives you financial control of your life.This two keys are driving force need  to live a debt-free life.

2. Identify your needs and wants

Knowing your needs and wants helps you to set your priority right.Needs are the basic necessities of life i.e things you use everyday e.g Food, clothing and shelter.All this are needs which are meant for the survival of man.Wants is a desire to own something either due to its value or satisfaction it gives e.g car.They are seen as secondary needs.Differentiating them helps you to rank your needs and go for the ones that of more importance leaving those that are not whereby reducing your spending on unnecessary things and saving up.

3. Identify your means and living below them:

Identifying your sources of income or ways you get money will help you know how to spend them.Know what you gross income is like (earned and unearned income).know the total of each and live below them not above your means e.g You have an income of $1000, $700 can be used for your regular needs and in settling your bills and the remaining$300 can be shared into savings and investment..You can as well decide to invest your unearned income and not spend them.Living below your means will help you save for rainy days,make investments and keep you away from debt.In the event of unforseen circumstances you can bounce back on your savings.

Read: How to Invest in Stocks

4. Have a Savings Plan

Savings is the amount you set aside from your income for unforseen contingency.Have a saving plan and analyse it i.e know why you are saving.Are you saving for the rainy days or you are saving to meet a specific need e.g to buy a car etc or for retirement purpose or to manage your regular expenses.Atimes we have more than one reason for saving e.g ( To pay your child's school fees,to buy a car,to buy an equipment for business,to buy a dress etc)but it is advisable to do a scale of preference and choose a more pressing one and start our saving plan.How long will it take you you to achieve the saving plan should also be know and stick to it.You could decide to do a daily, weekly,or monthly savings till you reach your goals.The most important thing is that you are not borrowing.When saving for the rainy days you could keep your money in a savings account or thrift.It should be somewhere that can be readily available to you at the time of need. Saving for the rainy days and for a project will help you overcome temptations of taking loans.

Know what works for you:

Many atimes I see people who prefer to hold cash and say that way they will be able to minimize their spending and some prefer to keep cash at bank and use their debit card to engage in transactions.Whichever works for you stick to it.If you know holding cash  will make you spend lavishly then you should only hold specified amount with you and  the rest should be left in your debit card .This will help you control your spending and live a debt-free lifestyle.

Investment

This deals with you committing your resources to projects, businesses, assets that will yield return in the future e.g Investing in real estate, buying stocks, buying an equipment for business purpose etc. Investment can be for long term or short term.The longer the period,the higher the risk and the higher the return.They are seen as future plans.So investing part of your income in stock or real estate will yield a return in the future.This type of income are usually known as unearned income.It helps you to plan for the future e.g retirement,death etc and helps you live a debt-free life

Develop a realistic/proper budget and stick to it:

Budget plays a vital role in helping you stay out of debt.It helps you to plan your finances by allowing you to understand what you can afford and it helps you to avoid overspending on things you don't need.A budget is an intended plan of expenditure and revenue. A proper budget contains your projected expenditure.It helps you to know how you spend your money or where you channel your funds to thereby giving you room to keep track of your expenditure and be able to control it if it begins to exceed your revenue.You should always have surplus budget.A surplus budget is a budget where your revenue is greater than expenditure.A surplus budget gives room for savings i.e you have excess revenue over expenditure and you are able to save your surplus or invest it into a profitable business.Your budget can be reviewed every 6 months,3 months,2 months, to effect changes or any adjustments in expenses that might have occurred in the previous month's e.g Inflation, Reduction in expenses, Additional expenses etc.Developing one and sticking to it helps you avoid reckless spending and gives you control over your financial life.

Conclusion

Morals such as discipline, honesty, contentment etc are easy weapons you need to live a debt-free life.To stay out of debt you need to be determined,be truthful to yourself when you need to and caution yourself when you begin to notice you're overspending. Lastly live below your means and most importantly remember to save,make investments and not spend all.

 

5 Benefits of Multiple Streams of Income

 

 “Money must be made”, you may have heard of this line quite a couple of times especially if you reside in Nigeria. This is used most times as motivation to get as much work done to earn as much money as possible. I am sure it is no news that money is a crucial part of our lives as individuals, corporate organizations and country at large.

Having multiple streams of income simply means not relying on just one source or job to make money. You can work 9-5 for a company, blog or start a YouTube channel, run a home based business, invest in stocks and bonds, register as a driver under Uber, Bolt and the likes, teach online or engage in several other side hustles. This is how you get money coming in for you in several forms such as wages and salary, profit, dividend etc. By wanting to have multiple streams of income,you are allowed to become jack of all trade.

I cannot tell you doing quite a number of things at once will be easy but I can tell for sure that it will turn your live around especially in the long run. Therefore, the following are five benefits of multiple streams of income.

Read: What Exactly is Investing?

1. It helps You Accumulate Wealth

One of the benefits of earning money from several sources is that it makes you accumulate wealth. When you make money from  different sources  and keep reinvesting it into several other businesses and investments, thereby making the money work for you. As the cycle continues, you are unconsciously accumulating wealth and soon enough you will have a lot of assets in your possession. Just as David Bailey said, that to get rich, you have to be making money even while you are asleep.

Read: How to Invest in Stocks

2. It Keeps You Financially Independent

Being financially independent is such a big flex and comes with confidence.It is a position where you can show up for your own financial  needs without having to involve other people. Imagine wanting to change your car, fly business class, buy an expensive art work etc and all you have to do is just swipe your credit card. This is what you get when you earn money from different consistent sources, you get to make your own financial decisions and do with your finances whatever you deem fit.

3. It allows you Live your dream life

Have you ever dreamt of living in a penthouse,going to different countries for vacation or rather you have always wanted to ride the latest car in town. No matter what the perfect picture of your dream life is, making more than enough money is your ticket to live your dreams. Therefore,  ensuring you have multiple streams of income is the perfect strategy to earn more than enough. With this, you get to save money steadily towards living your dream life. 

4. Attaining financial goals

Is one of your goals to be on Forbes list , be a billionaire or chair the board of a successful company? Whatever it is, money is an important tool to attaining your financial goals and you sure need to make a lot of them which is where having multiple streams of income comes in. You should know that most of the rich people doing great things financially are not relying on just one or two source of income. They work for their money then in several ways make their money work for them.

5. Financial security

Imagine what happens if you only depend on your monthly salary and you get fired, or there are setbacks in your business and you don’t have other means to get money. It puts you in distress and worries and sometimes even depression. But with multiple streams of income, if there’s problem with one aspect the others can cover up. You can have a main source of income and other side hustles as back up . You also get to take more risks financially and not play safe with your finances, knowing that if what you are investing in flops, you have something else to fall back on.

Conclusion

Earning from multiple streams of income is not an easy task or something that just happens overnight. You need to be devoted, consistent and patient to be able to enjoy all of these stated benefits and many more. However, no matter how eager you are to lead a better life financially, endeavor to stay away from illegitimate means of making money.

 

 

 

5 Lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad for Nigerians

 

Chances are that you have likely read this book at a point in your life.  If you have not,  you might just be missing out on some useful financial information that can change your life,  so you can grab a copy from our Finance bookstore here.

Read: How to Invest in Stocks

Now,  whether or not you have read the book, it's pr]nciples are globally oriented and would function the same way every where.  However,  the results might be different based on your efforts and of course,  your country's government and economic policies.  In this article, I'd be sharing with to,  five unique lessons from Robert