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Family Finance: Dangers Of Rainfall Spending For Your Family 1

June 14, 2016

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Family Finance: Dangers Of Rainfall Spending For Your Family 1
Bisi Adewale

Hey guys! I have a very important message for you today; it will definitely change your life and turn your financial destiny around.
I think I should start with this story. Years back; in the village where I had my elementary school; there was a great cocoa farmer. He was the village millionaire; he was known to be very rich; at least by the village standard. He was one of the lucky few that had a motorcycle, television (black and white); (you remember the kind of television you need to turn the bamboo tree that hold the antenna over and over again before you can get a glimpse of something that look like a picture), a video player and a motor battery to power the television (there was no electricity in the village as at then).
He was the envy of all as he had almost everything going for him. Whenever it is cocoa season, everybody in the village feels it that is the period for parties, burials ceremonies and ‘turning’ of the body of grandpas and grandma that died several years ago. Beer parlour is always fill up at this period; markets are always fill to the brim as people buy and sell. It is also the period of weddings as young ones get married, the old ones add to their collection of wives, by marrying two more to the four already in the house. It was also the period of crime as people are fond of fighting, breaking each other’s head with bottles of beer after drinking themselves to a stupor.
This period, Owolabi alias ‘Olowo cocoa’ (Cocoa Millionaire) is always at his best; snatching people’s wives and daughters, getting married to them by force. Anytime you see him adding another room to his house that means he is set for another wife, he can order thugs to beat up somebody because the person by-pass him without greeting him. The worst period for him is the period when cocoa is not in season, how humble he can be will surprise you at this period. He hardly goes out, he is fond of borrowing money from all dick and harry at this period, eating anything he can lay his hand upon while waiting for another cocoa season to come. This repeated itself year-in-year-out and he never sit down to think how to save money for the period cocoa will not be in season. The last time I saw him, he was in a sorry state.
It was a cocoa season, but his cocoa trees are no more, they have outgrown their usefulness, the land has become infertile, some cocoa trees are dried up useful only for firewood, little wonder he was selling fire wood when I saw him. Owolabi ‘Olowo Cocoa’ (Cocoa Milionaire) has turned to owolabi ‘onigi idana’ (fire wood seller). All his nine wives had abandoned him, taking their children with them. You blame them? Please don’t, they married him for his money. The money is no more there; they can hardly wait to pack their bags. He is now gentle, all the things are no more there, he was alone and lonely, not because God did not bless him but he was foolish enough to squander the blessings of the Lord.
You may be wondering why bothering you with the story of my village. Please, don’t be annoyed, it is because I saw the village in many cities and I discovered Owolabi ‘Olowo cocoa’ in many of us. We can even pardon this guy because he is an illiterate, but how can you explain many literates living like him, “I am not living like him”. You may argue. Don’t say that until you read the next part of this article in the next edition, I promise you, it is going to change the way you think and handle money.
Your future is very important and your current income should be the one that will prepare a better future for you. If you fail to handle money better when you are young, money will manhandle you when you are old. Don’t think you are big because you are driving a big car or using the most expensive phone in the office; they add nothing to you and nobody is impressed.
Think more of tomorrow, think more of old age, think more of retirement, think more of the period your “cocoa tree” will be old and may not be able to produce like before. Think, think and think!
Secure your future today, employ today to serve tomorrow. Make good use of the time when your strength is still maximum. Always remember that your money is not just your sweat; it is also your blood. Yes, your own blood, don’t shed it anyhow. Too many pleasure of today may be the spelling of pain of tomorrow.
In fact, ability to postpone gratification for the pleasure of the future is the definition of maturity. Grow up, handle money in more matured way because; how well your family will live at your old age is determined by how well you handle money when you are young.
Keep a date with me in the next edition as I expose the counsel of God about your family finance to you. May your tomorrow be better than your today.