Financial Freedom: Where did my money go?

Have you ever for a moment, sit down to calculate how much money passed through your hands in the past 10 – 15 years? Well, not exactly bring out your calculator to punch out the figures, but an estimate. It is scary, how much money has passed through our hands all these years. The logical next question is – where did the money go, or who took my money? There is precious little to show for it.

Some of us are still living in rented apartments, driving not exactly the ride of our dreams, an aging wardrobe, a trail of abandoned projects, and little else. If we are to calculate our current net worth, it is much less than 10% of the quantum of money that has passed through our hands in the last ten years.

Where did my money go?

Back where I come from, the mystery of disappearing money was explained through the alleged existence of supernatural rats called witch rats. They have an in-built radar to detect where you stash your cash, and as you pull out one note, the spirit is two notes away, to God knows where. The end result is always that by the time the whole pile is gone, you are clueless as to where the money went.

It seems there are witch rats in every clime, well, figuratively. Money comes in like rain, falls on the earth, and hours later, the water is all gone. In the case of money, two weeks after payday, there is no trace of money passing our way.

Again, back where I come from, there is a proverb that money likes company, and hates being left all alone. If money comes to your house and does not meet any of its relatives, it wanders away. So month in and month out, money comes in, finds out it is alone, and heads for the door.

In everyday life, this means you save say 5,000 naira at the end of the month, and by the end of the first week of next month, something comes up, so urgent and important that you could not leave that money well alone. What do you do?

You un-save (or de-save) it! (I love the English language – you can invent words!) So off the money goes (against its will). What happens to the next 5,000 naira billed for your piggy bank by the end of the coming month? It comes to meet an empty shell. The money sits in the piggy bank forlornly, wondering what happened to previous occupants (does this chamber swallow its occupants, it wonders). It does not have to wonder long. A few days later, a shadow covers the entrance of the piggy bank. There are voices outside, then bam!, a hand pokes in through the entrance and grabs the money by the neck. In less than one minute, it is all over. The piggy bank is empty again.
Does this sound familiar?

Imagine another piggy bank somewhere in the same city or neighborhood. End of January, (after a quality year goal-setting session earlier), the same 5,000 naira drops into this piggy bank. Storms rage outside, needs arise, someone needs help, and if you do not help, someone will say, hell is let loose. The lid of the piggy bank remains closed until the storm wanes. End of February, the lid opens, and another 5,000 naira drops it. There is shouting and screaming as the old 5,000 welcomes the new 5,000 naira. They are thrilled to bits to see each other.

Where are the others? They don’t have long to wait. March end, the lid opens once more, and in drops another 5,000 naira. This time, they throw a party. month in and month out, this became a ritual, aka habit. Without fail, the lid opens every month’s end, and there is jubilation and back-slapping inside the piggy bank.

By December end, as new year resolution season opens, the owners of the two piggy banks have a different song to sing. The owner of the empty first piggy bank resolves to try harder next year. The owner of the second piggy bank is brainstorming where to safely invest his 60,000 naira, and figuring out how to step up his monthly savings to 7,500 naira monthly.

So in year two, the owner of the second piggy bank gets his money to work for him, while building up more on standby to go do more work, while the owner of the first piggy bank is back to ground zero.

To become rich or financially free, each new month should meet you richer than the passing month. This means that you are richer as every month goes by. You have something to show for all the money that passed through your hand all these years. The one that remains gets to work and also grows along.

If you ever have to ask yourself again – “Where did my money go?” or “Who took my money?”

Go close to a mirror, and as an image looms into view, you have the culprit right there. Read him/her the rights ” You have the right to remain silent or …”. It is not a witch rat that took your money. It was an inside job.

Photo: istorya.net