This is what you do with the savings you have been accumulating. No fund should be left idle. Your money must to be working for you. These savings could be invested in share/equities or real estates, deposits and commerce. Good enough, these avenues of investment can be started with minimal amounts. There are many books on this topic and I suggest you get hold of the good ones to read.

Before investing, you must first determine the type of investor you are. Are you a high, medium or low risk taker? Depending on your temperament, some investors are great risk takers while others are not.

The timeless success principle says, “Life is nothing more than a game of numbers – the more risks you take, the more rewards you will receive.” Or in the words of Sophocles, “Fortune is not on the side of the faint hearted.”

Therefore, your risk level determines your investment vehicle and your investment vehicle determines your income. Remember, the higher a risk, the more income you can make.

Take a wise risk, otherwise later in life, when you are spent, your greatest regrets and sadness will usually be from all those risks that you did not take, all those opportunities you did not seize and all those fears you did not face.

The real secret of abundance is to spend less time searching for security and to spend more pursuing opportunities. You will win some and lose some. But failure is nothing more than learning to win.

Secondly, you have to acquire knowledge in your area of interest. This means that if you are interested in buying shares, then you must seek knowledge in the stock exchange. The same goes for any enterprise you wish to embark upon.

Sun Tzu in his book ‘Art of War’ said,

“If you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
thousand battles.”

“If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every
victory gained, you will also suffer defeat.”

“If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle.”

The first sound principle of investment is security for the principle. Therefore read and educate yourself on the investment vehicle of your choice.

Setting goals in every area of our life is necessary for three reasons:

• It restores a sense of focus in our lives where there are many distractions and conflicting demands. These distractions can make us lose focus in life. It provides us with a framework for smarter choices. If you know exactly where you are going, it becomes far easier to select those activities that will get you to your destination.

• It keeps us alert to opportunities. Knowing what your goal is, you will be able to see early, an opportunity that you can take advantage of in order to achieve your goal. A clearly defined goal commits you to a course of action. Therefore setting your financial goals is a secret to wealth creation and achieving financial freedom. It could be monthly, yearly, bi-annual etc.

Let’s assume that you set out to make $1,000,000 this year. Fine…………..the next thing is to plan how to achieve that goal. This plan could include generating the income from many sources. These sources may include one or a combination of all these:

• Stream 1 – Income from work place, allowances. Etc
• Stream 2 – Income from private practice. That is outside your official work and it requires your presence.
• Stream 3 – Investments in stocks, real estate, deposits, commerce etc.
• Stream 4 – Others not included in 1-3.

Develop The Habit of Savings :

Many of us have different reasons for not saving. Some of these reasons are:

• The money I make is never enough.
• There’s just no way to reduce my expenditures.
• Maybe when I get promoted.
• After paying my debt.

To save is to resist the temptation to spend money. It starts with the determination to save. If you don’t determine to save and make it also a habit, then you will always have an excuse not to save.

The reason is that our desires are insatiable. So if you don’t control your desires, you will always be in debt. Even when all the reasons given above have somehow been met, the money will never be enough, if you don’t have the determination to save nor to control your wants. In savings, I adopt the principle of “The Richest Man in Babylon” Get the book and read it. In a nut shell, he said that “double taxation” is a key element in establishing financial freedom.

This double taxation involves giving a 10 % of you income to God first and keeping a second 10% for yourself. The remaining 80% is for you to cater for your essential needs and expenses.

The 10% for God is in obedience to His word in Mal 3:10 which gets God committed and bound to honour in your favour. He promised to block all avenues of financial waste. These wastes could be from sickness, bad investment, theft and loss. This 10% is to be given to your local church or in support of missionary works and charity.

Even if you are not religious, try this secret. It works. Sometimes, we feel that the 10% could go a long way in paying for one bill or the other. But let me ask, what if you hadn’t gotten the money, wouldn’t you have still paid the bills anyway?

Having 80% for personal need in my opinion is enough if we set our priorities right. I have tried God in this particular secret and I must confess it has been good for me. God can’t lie whether we believe it or not. He is committed to His promises.

So much has been written on savings and I advice you get some good investment manuals to learn more. The bottom line is SAVE for the future and the unforeseen now.