This is a continuation from Part 1-4.
FIFTH CURE: OWN YOUR HOME
Owning your house is one of the best investments you can make. Many Zimbabweans raise their families in rented houses, paying monthly rentals to landlords.
No man’s family can fully enjoy life unless they have a plot of ground where their children can play freely, and where the wife can also have a garden to grow vegetables, flowers, or even keep chickens. It brings gladness to a man’s heart to eat fruits of his own trees planted at his own house. To have a house, a place he is proud to care of, without the landlord harassing his family, puts confidence in his heart and greater effort behind all his endeavours. Therefore I recommend that every man own the roof that shelters him and his family.
It’s not beyond the ability of any well intentioned man to own his own home. If you can buy an ex-Japanese car for $5 000, can’t you do the same and buy a residential stand, and build your house over time? Following the seven cures will make available for you money to buy your stand and build your own house. Save, cut your expenses, make your money multiply, and guard your treasure from loss. You can also get mortgages from banks for building a house. When the house is build, you can then pay the bank with the same regularity as you paid the landlord. Because every payment will reduce your debt to the bank, a few years will satisfy the loan. Some banks like CABS also have housing schemes, where you pay 10% deposit for the house, and repay the balance over 10 or 20 years.
After building your house then your heart will be glad because you will own a valuable property. Thus come many blessings to the man who owns his own house. And greatly will it reduce his cost of living, making available more of his earnings for pleasures and the gratification of his desires.
SIXTH CURE: INSURE A FUTURE INCOME
You can’t remain young forever, old age is unavoidable while death is the ultimate.. You should make preparations for the days to come, when you are no longer young enough to work and earn income, and you should make preparations for your family, for that inevitable day when you are no longer with them to comfort and support them. The person, who because of the understanding of the laws of wealth, acquires a growing surplus, should give thought to those future days, when he/she is old/dead. You should plan certain investments or provisions that may endure safely for many years, yet will be available when the time arrives which you have so wisely anticipated.
There are many ways in which you can provide safety for your future. You may find a hiding place and there bury a secret treasure. Yet no matter how skilful you are, it may be looted by thieves, thus I do not recommend this plan. You may buy houses and lands for this purpose. If you wisely choose your property and land investments, their earnings (monthly rentals) or their sales will provide well for this purpose. You may open a long term savings account with a reputable bank. You may have a pension plan. You can have a diversified portfolio; buy stocks and other long term financial assets. You may approach reputable investment companies like Old Mutual, who will assist you in investing your money long term in stocks, property, unit trusts, and other financial instruments. You can start businesses which can continue running profitably in the long term, whether you are available or not. When you get old you will still be getting income from the businesses and investments, when you die your family will continue getting income.
Everyone should have at least a funeral assurance policy e.g. with Nyaradzo, Doves e.t.c. so that when the inevitable day comes, your funeral expenses will be covered. You can also have a life insurance policy with reputable insurance companies, so that in the event of your death, the company will give large sums of money to your family. Zimbos leave something for your family. Have a plan of how you are going to finance the education of your children even up to university. Approach companies like Old Mutual, they will help you with all that, and give you several options.
Things don’t always remain the way they are. Circumstances change. You may lose your job anytime (retrenchments, closure of companies etc). You may be involved in an accident which will make you incapable of going to work. Your businesses may fail. Have a plan for such situations. We have cases of Zimbabweans who once were in high paying jobs, living a flashy life, and are now in poverty just because they lost their jobs. They wasted opportunities, and failed to plan for the future. They failed to start businesses, and/or make investments or savings while they still had their jobs. People will just be saying “akamboita mari uyo” meaning “he/she once had a lot of money.” We don’t want such situations. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. Even if you have a business, it may fail, make other investments, buy property.
SEVENTH CURE: INCREASE YOUR ABILITY TO EARN
This is one of the most important cure for an empty bank account. Preceding any accomplishment must be desire. The desires must be strong and definite. For you to wish to be rich is of no use. But for you to desire $500 is a tangible desire that you can press to fulfillment. After you have backed the desire for $500 with strength of purpose to secure it, you can then find similar ways to obtain $1500, and then $5000 and later $15000, till you become wealthy. In learning to secure one small and definite desire, you would have trained yourself to secure a larger one. This is how wealth is accumulated, first in small sums, then in larger ones, as you learn and become more capable. Desires must be simple and definite. They defeat their purpose if they are too many, confusing, or beyond your ability.
The person who seeks to learn more of his/her trade shall be richly rewarded. As you perfect yourself in your trade, your ability to earn will increase. If you are a farmer, get trained, attend workshops on how you can improve your yields, consult and exchange knowledge with other farmers. If you are retailer, continually seek better goods that can be purchased at lower prices. If you are a builder, get more qualifications which will enable you to take bigger projects, thus earn more money. If it means that you will have to get a degree, or a Master’s degree, or a professional qualification to get that high paying dream job you always wanted/to expand your business and get more clients/to manage your business better, then do so, even though it will require you to fork out money for the education. Get more financial education, learn how to manage and invest money. Therefore I urge all of you, whatever you do, don’t remain stagnant, always increase your ability to earn.
Thus the seventh and final cure for an empty bank account is to cultivate your own powers, to study and become wiser, to be more skilful, and thus increase your ability to earn. There is more money in Zimbabwe than what you dream of. Go forth and practise those truths, so that you may prosper and grow wealthy. Share these 7 cures with all your friends and family, so that they can also apply them in their lives and become wealthy. If you ignore these cures, don’t be surprised if 10 years from now you are still singing the same song, complaining about your circumstances, wondering why some are wealthy yet you are not having enough to cover your expenses.
This marks the end of this series of lessons, which was based on the book “The Richest Man in Babylon”. What do you think of this cure, and all the seven cures?
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Very useful insights here. Financial literacy is lacking in homes and schools. So articles like these can help our people to have a mindshift. Thank you
Wonderful article.
Very informative and educative. Hope one day such kind of staff (financial literacy) will find its way into our classrooms.