What Arese Ugwu Taught Me About Money?

"If you don't treat the money you earn with respect, it will leave you with no respect" - by Arese Ugwu

The book "The Smart Money Woman' by Nigerian author Arese Ugwu, was a delightful surprise, this was the first book we read in our book club one year ago. I was so pleased to read a popular financial book written by such an accomplished Black woman, a book that Netflix turned into a TV show, no I am not kidding, I couldn't be more proud. African women will find the story so relatable because it accurately depicts our African realities. I'll share with you a section from the book in the hopes that it would encourage you to read it. The money lessons she imparted in her book are available as well in the TV show. I personally always choose books because they go into more details but this is a matter of opinion since not everyone enjoys reading and there are now so many other avenues to learn. Arese Ugwu hosts a program, “Your Life, Your Money” on Guardian TV’s personal finance show and also a co-host “Analyse This” on NdaniTv and has her own podcast "The Smart Money Tribe. She provides useful financial advices on all these platforms.

SMART MONEY LESSON

There's a lot of fear surrounding the way African women feel about money and the subsequent consequences of our relationship with money. When it comes to money in relation to our families, our businesses, our friendships, and society, many African women worry about not having enough to survive, not having enough to measure up to the lifestyle of our friends and family, the fear of failing in business, the fear of not being able to afford the lifestyle one has become accustomed to, then losing it all and becoming dependent on others.

Ultimately how we behave with money is deeply rooted in how we think about money and fear can be a very crippling thing; it can stifle you and stop you from taking action to achieve your goals, but we must realize that fear is just an emotion. It is worrying about something that has the possibility to occur in the future. Unfortunately, this fear can be paralyzing.

So sometimes instead of confronting and facing those money fears, we hide from them and avoid them.

However, confronting our fears is always the right step toward conquering them.

What you deny or ignore, you delay; what you accept and face, you conquer. At the end of the day, we are all afraid of something but the difference between successful people and average people is that they acknowledge their fears but don't let fear overcome them or stop them from achieving their goals.

EXERCISE: CONQUER MONEY FEARS

1.

Make a list of all your money fears.

2.

Think about why you have this money fear in the first place. It might be rooted in money habits that you already know are bad for your finances. For example, having expenses that are so high they consistently exceed your income each month, so you know it's not sustainable

WHERE IS YOUR MONEY GOING?

TRACK YOUR EXPENSES

Most people don't know where the money they earn goes. What percentage of your income goes to food? Transportation?

Clothes? Just like in any successful business where you track the revenue and costs periodically, it is also important to track the expenses in our personal lives. Nigerian women have to become the CFOs of their financial lives and learn to take control of the income they earn now, instead of waiting for their incomes to increase in the future before they learn to manage money.

Some women have no idea how much their lifestyle costs.

She may not spend recklessly, but she subconsciously develops a habit of spending—good or bad. If you don't treat the money you earn with respect, it will leave you with no respect. We have to learn to spend with intention by allocating our resources to reflect the lifestyle we want and are able to sustainably afford. This all starts with having a clear idea of where the money is going in the first place. You have to give up the excuses and learn to control money instead of letting money control you.

EXERCISE: TRACK YOUR SPENDING

1.

Write down everything you spent your income on in the last month. This will give you good ideas of how you are spending money and help you identify areas to cut or increase.

2.

Review your bank statements from the last twelve months.

Book Summary:

Meet Zuri. She’s living a fabulous life. Great car, gorgeous apartment, well paid job.

Meet Zuri. Broken down car, an apartment she cant afford, a job she’s about to lose.

What’s a broke girl to do?

With her best friends Tami (the flighty fashion designer), Lara (the tough oil and gas executive), Adesuwa (the conservative lawyer), and Ladun (the fabulous housewife), Zuri grows a little, learns a lot and navigates her way to making better financial decisions and building wealth.

This book tackles, debt, spending, the consumerist culture of the African middle class, the fear and misconceptions surrounding money and the lack of it, love, friendships, cultural and societal pressures and the roles they play in success. With each chapter comes a Smart Money Lesson, there to help you work your way up the financial ladder.

As usual, I will leave you with a quote that I hope will get you thinking and starting deep conversations with like-minded people: "Your destiny is determined by the choices you make. Choose now, choose well" by Tony Robbins.

Yours truly,

The Queen Of Africa