40 | The Lion King
Saving for the rainy day
Investment
T
he art of saving is really like
getting an umbrella for the
rainy day. Like the rains, the
hard times will come. What you
need, to tide you over, is your
savings.
Saving can be described as a
substantial amount of income set
aside for future use or investment.
There are different reasons why
individuals save. For instance;
individuals could save to acquire
assets, for special needs, family
upkeep, investment purposes or
retirement.
But keeping aside money can be
difficult. For most people, their
first instinct is to spend when they
have money. I am like that but I
have devised a little trick to con-
strain me. The first question I ask
myself, when I have an urge to in-
dulge is, “if I didn’t have this item,
would that stop me from being
who I am?” When my answer is
no, I simply walk away.
One’s ability to imbibe a savings
culture may stem from different
life experiences or encounters,
but imbibing a savings culture
is a habit every individual must
form because just like the rain,
difficult times do not give notice.
I formed my savings habit while
in boarding school in the far
eastern part of the country. As
a boarding student, there were
very slim chances of having a vis-
itor on visiting days, so the most
I could do was to meticulously
maximize my pocket money until
I received ‘word’ from my par-
ents.
I set aside more than half of my
entire pocket money as reserves
for days when I really needed to
spend it on a very pressing need.
My friends made jest of my habit,
branding me stingy. This habit
has stuck with me over the years
and being a banker has not
changed it.
UBA has actually made it easier
for me to save with its array of
friendly savings options for indi-
viduals. From the general savings
account to the freedom savings
account, the U-gold savings
account, the U-care savings,
the Corper savings and even
the employee savings account;
the various savings options for
individuals makes it unpardon-
able for anyone to say he or she
cannot save.
The various savings options cut
across all social strata creating a
savings platform for the individ-
ual’s special plan or tenor. With
these savings options, individuals
could plan their savings for the
short, mid or long term goals.
But you need to draw a savings
plan first. With a savings plan,
you can choose the most im-
portant goals and scale them
according to priority. The bottom
line is ‘focus’, especially for the
individual that has a weakness
for impulse buying. A savings
plan requires one to remain
focused and ignore the impul-
sive spend or when the rainy day
comes, you find yourself without
an umbrella.
By Ifeyinwa Olloh
