This write-up is motivated by a story of a young lad struggling with his finances.
He is currently struggling with growing up season.
He feels the expectation from everyone is enormous.
Setting up his priority goals, keeps knocking at the door.
His supposed dependency on his parents is not welcomed because to them, he is mature and should take on the responsibility of his life and finances.
Even scripture speaks of times and seasons, but most times, we lack understanding of when to adjust to new seasons.
Yes, springtime and harvest, sowing and reaping cannot be erased from man’s existence, but who instructs you?
To what extent do you eat the seeds?
And to what extent do you reserve or leave for the next planting season?
How do you determine that it will be sufficient to yield a bountiful harvest?
This is not just a teen-to-youth problem, it affects the adults too.
The Nigerian reality, your parents have struggled to pay your fees through school, you are presently serving your country and some stipends are paid into your account, how do you balance the accounting books?
How well do you balance the books to ensure you don’t borrow or get stranded?
As an employee, the job only pays income, man’s insatiable desires are innumerable
What falls into want and who determines the needs in today’s modern world, where digital banking and instant withdraw is not an issue, unlike before, you would consider the strength to walk into the banking hall.
Instant gratification is easier to satisfy now than before.
How do I tackle this issue?
Financial management is now on your front burner (Financial matter have become an immediate and high priority. if we observe closely, we will notice that many people yield income, but lack the wisdom necessary to manage it.
While brainstorming, I got a better picture of the farming cycles relative to seed time and harvest.
A good farmer never consumes its entire harvest.
Guess what? he saves the best seed for the next planting season.
How much is your income?
What is the best part to be saved?
Remember, if you eat the entire harvest, you will lack what to plant in the next planting season, which means no yield during the harvest season.
Don’t spend your entire stipend, no matter how little that income is. Leave a good amount aside, as savings a lesson drawn from the farmers’ story.
Not all grain is for eating or consumption. A successful farmer distinguishes his harvest; he separates them into two categories: the bread and the seed.
The bread is the portion for consumption, while the seed is reserved for the next planting season. Like the farmer, it lies in your power to determine the portion of the finances to be saved and the portion to be consumed.
Taking this route can be very demanding, but the truth is, it does not leave you hard and dry. There is always a fallback to.
This brings us to the notion of the seeds kept and planted in the planting season is what yields the future harvest. Thus, spending your entire stipend or income denies you funds to tackle future problems.
I remember my father growing up, he always had emergency funds, he had trusted friends who we came to realize that these trusted friends was his saving. When a need arose, he would borrow from himself and tell us he borrowed from his friends.
Be your trusted friend who bails you out from every financial burden by leaving sufficient funds for the rainy day.
I love his principle, and I yearn to be like him. It starts by saving a portion monthly, which grew over time.
My dad understood the principles of the corn seed, he saved it and planted it during the planting season, he did as occasion served him, denying the pleasures of life for a season. He nurtured the stalks, and at last, the harvest was enormous.
Apply the corn seed principles. Always set aside money as savings. I know you will never regret it.
Seeds have great potential, so does saving a portion of your stipends and or income. Remembering a seed eaten is a forest denied. A corn seed, when planted, yields multiple harvests.
Seed keeping to yield a harvest can be likened to short-term or long-term financial planning depending on your goals.
You can start from the piggy bank we all used as children but your watchword must be DISCIPLINE.
You can grow into the local traditional savings culture we have in Nigeria called osusu, you can further stretch out by joining a cooperative society before advancing to buying shares, stocks or treasury bills.
Wherever you are or find yourself, start from the level that is convenient for you and gradually grow to your destination, which only you have the power to determine.
By
Augustina O. Harrison
Founder, Redemption Hub with Tinaris
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