Hello my fellow twenty-something mates, welcome to Life during your twenties (20's) in Ghana. In our part of the world, this period of growth as I know,comes with a lot of expectations, chasing of dreams and sometimes, the harsh reality of life. A number of our mates go through a lot of pressure and stress from family members who expect them to fend for themselves and others just because they have completed the University; some of us are not expected to cater for others but for ourselves; still others who get the opportunity to be assisted and supervised by their parents and other family members; and those of us who are totally on our own.
At this stage, most of us may be serving our country (National Service), starting a career, furthering our education, getting married and settling, exploring our talents or just lost and don't know what to do with our lives. Through all of these, there may be one common underlying factor to all of us and that may be to succeed at everything we have planned to achieve in our later years. Now the question that boggles my mind is how prepared we are for success.
I mean, we plan all we can for success but sometimes when the opportunity comes for us to actually get there; we seem so surprised and unprepared, almost as if we did not expect to actually succeed. Believe me, it happens a lot. And the excuses I mostly hear are, “I am too young.” “What if I fail?” “This is too good to be true.” I do not believe only older people can succeed and I understand the fear of failure but what I can say is that when we succeed in failing at something, it becomes a successful achievement which is better than not trying at all.
I had the privilege of interviewing some budding young hotshots and I am going to share their thoughts and experiences in my next article. Now back to making our dreams a reality through planning, common sense, and professional advice. These can help us to avoid some financial trip-ups that are common to 'twenty-somethings'in Ghana, Africa, and abroad.Below are some of the concerns some of us fail to be concerned about:YOU WILL NOT BE IN YOUR TWENTIES FOREVER!
This is one common assumption that some of us make. Sometimes, we feel invincible and immune to growing up and taking responsibilities. We tend to forget that our youth is not permanent. It is going to fade! Let this be a wake-up call mate. I know you have either not thought about this or you think it is irrelevant to you at this age.
• Planning For Retirement:
No one knows whether the Pension system will survive the coming decades. It is this uncertainty and the reality of inflation that force us to plan for our own retirement. You need only open the newspaper to find out about a company that is freezing pensions or a new bill that will cut government pay-outs. Imagine if you had to fight your government for your pension contributions, which is sadly happening to our parents and friends. In these uncertain times, investing can be a tool to help you carve out a solid path to retirement. We have more years to build our careers mates but just a few years to actually live life. Don't become dependent and miserable in your old age; when you retire, stay retired. Think this Through.
• Planning For The Present and Immediate Future:
This is what I call planning for the short-term with the little that you get. You don't always have to think long-term. Investing is as much a tool for shaping your present financial situation as it is for forming your future one. Do you want to further your education in a year or two? Or you want to acquire a new skill? Planning that all important birthday important graduation or birthday party? Or do you just need extra income? Investing can be used as a way to enhance your employment income, helping you to buy the things you want. Investing changes along with the investor's desired goals, as such, this type of investing is not like retirement investing. Investing to achieve financial goals involves a blend of long-term and short-term investments.
If you are investing in the hope of buying a house, you will almost certainly be looking at longer-term instruments. If you are investing to buy a new computer in the New Year, you may want short-term investments that pay dividends or some high yield bonds and preferably money market instruments. Get out there mates; you have a right to all the information. Just ask someone for clarification; you may ask me as well.
The caveat here is that you need to pinpoint your goals first. If you want to further your education or qualification in a year, you have to sit down and figure out the cost of acquiring this qualification and then come up with an investing strategy to meet that goal. If you don't have a set goal, the money that should be going into that investment will doubtless be used for other purposes that seem more pressing at the time (Christmas presents, a night out and so on). I am not saying you should get all your money into investment; how will you survive then? All I am saying is to invest some, even if its coins. Little drops of water make a mighty ocean, they say. The short of it all: START SOMETHING!
Investing to achieve financial goals as compared to retirement can be very exciting and challenging. Combining the pressure of time constraints with the fact that you're not usually dealing with large sums of vital money (as in retirement investing), you may be less risk averse and more motivated to learn about higher yield investments. Best of all, a tangible reward is at the end.If and when you decide to invest you must educate yourself before doing so. The two (2) main reasons why many are reluctant to invest are DEBT and LACK OF KNOWLEDGE on how savings and investing works. By no means am I telling you to save for either short-term or long-term goal when you're unable to make ends meet. I am simply expressing that there is a way to improve your situation instead of feeling helpless.Please keep in mind that a program of regular investments cannot assure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market. And, since such a program involves continuous investment regardless of fluctuating share values, you should consider your financial ability to continue the program through periods of low price levels. I call this PERSISTENCE!
“Every dollar/cedi that you do not save is a missed opportunity that puts you even further behind in your ultimate financial goals,” says Warren Buffet. We are Young and we have time to build our dreams but in reality, we are losing time as each day goes by. I will advise you to stop Procrastination and set Priorities, stop (unnecessary) Spending and start Saving. It is great to have a dream but even greater to wake up and make that dream a reality!
This is not all I have to say folks but I believe it should be enough to get you thinking, sitting up and bracing yourself for tomorrow with its uncertainties and surprises. No one is going to force you to do this; you just need to motivate yourself: JUST DO IT!
Remember, Vision without action is a daydream and Action without Vision is a Nightmare!
Author: Jacqueline
Agyeiwaa Owusu;
Assistant Investment Officer
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