The Best Money Management Advice Ever

Ever heard the popular sentiment, “I’m terrible at money management.”

Or the self-defeating one with specifics, “I don’t know what’s eating up all of my money. Only last week I had some good money in my account. Now it’s all red. And I might be taking another Payday loan again this month.”

I bet you have. So have I. Some of your friends might even be in this vicious cycle.

But why does money management seem too hard? May be it has something to do with our DNA.

We’re hardwired to not delay gratification. Whatever we want, we must have it. And now.

Is there a simple way to help your situation if you’re terrible at money management?

My mother’s advice from some years back can help, especially if you run a small business.

Over dinner one day, I shared my money management frustrations with my mom.

A few months before, I had joined her in her trading business, and had made some money while at it.

But I couldn’t keep any of it. At the end of every month, replenishing my stock was a major challenge, and I had to borrow from her to stock up each month.

That evening, she looked me in the eye with a smile, and uttered the best money management advice I have ever heard…

This advice has made me an efficient manager of any money that comes my way.

You see, my mother never finished basic secondary education (her father died early so she had to drop out to enable her only brother finish instead).

But that day, she shared some natural African wisdom.

“Learn to separate profits from capital. Then never touch your capital unless you want to close up the business that day”

Though this advice was intended for my little trading business, it works like magic, even if you’re a salary earner.

For salary earners, I have created an adapted version.

“Mark out a portion of your salary. It could be 10% or 20% of your net pay monthly. Then never touch this portion of your salary unless you’re retired.”

Try it out from today onwards. Your story with money will take a different shape…