One indisputable fact of life is the importance of money. We all say, “Money cannot buy happiness.” But how many of us want to be happy and in penury? Any volunteers? I don’t think so. No one can be in penury and be happy anyway. Who are you trying to fool then when you say money is not all that important? I thank God for my generation that the importance of money is not lost on us. While making heaven is the ultimate goal to most of us, living comfortably here on earth is not an option for us, it’s a must.
This brings me to youths’ attitude towards saving money. I have a bone to pick with the youth owing to their responses to the savings question. When asked about savings many a youth would say, “There’s time on my side.” “I’ll start when I get married.” “There’s no rush, I’ll begin when I start having children.” Yada, yada, yada…All these answers are quite tenable in the face of our national economic realities, the harshness of it seems to be biting deeper every day. With a lot of things to do with money and our best days ahead of us, young people can think there’s time to play with. That assumption may be true but while you can play with time, you cannot play with money, not even if you have tons of it. If in doubt, google ‘Iron Mike Tyson’, the most ferocious fighter of his time. He’s so broke now; he’d fight a lizard for coins these days.
‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, one-time owner of a lavish mansion and many state of the art vehicles of the late 1980s, youngest heavyweight boxing champion of the world at 21, he had everything. Money, houses, parties, girls...Oh! lots of girls, and everything…the only problem was he didn’t see money stop coming his way. Financial planning or advice never mattered to him, he was young, successful and owned the hottest pair of fists in the world of boxing, nothing could go wrong and the party could never ever end. Well it did. Inexplicably the party ended and it ended because the money ended. The money ceased coming. Court cases, drugs, bad company, more fights outside the ring than inside of it, name it…The allure of success and never seeing things changing was Tyson’s undoing. Refusal to see change coming was Tyson’s hubris. Refusal to save for rainy days...
This hubris, unfortunately, is not the exclusive preserve of Tyson only but of every successful young man and woman. He’s in good company when one starts compiling the list of ‘the young, the restless and the bankrupt’. Many NBA stars, Scotty Pippen of the famous Chicago bulls of the 1990’s, unbelievably was one of them, NFL stars, rock stars, rappers, singers, amongst which was Toni Braxton. Toni Braxton, who would have imagined that 5 foot 2 beauty, would be having money issues after those commercially successful albums. Well, she is.
What about back home in Lagos, Nigeria? A visit to Ojez, the popular celebrity haunt and hangout at the National Stadium would expose you to the stars of yester-years, but sadly, not all of them reflect style and grace. What they reflect, what they project, what you see about some of them is far from okay. Many of them are not good-looking anymore, and why is that? Simply because they are broke! While many have stories of investment schemes gone wrong, others simply frittered their wealth away, thinking they would never go out of circulation. How wrong they were and how unkind life can get! These erstwhile stars are barely living off their past earned fame. They are not in demand anymore and so…poof! Their money making days are gone, right before their eyes.
The undeniable fact of life is everyone has his time. At a point, you’re the sun, the center of the stage, the one hugging the spotlight, the one whom is being spoken off. A time would come when the curtains would drop not to be raised again, the final applause, the final ovation, and there would be no encore. The next time you’re seen, you’re an antiquity; there to be acclaimed, appraised, appreciated or even praised but you’re not the center of attraction anymore, or even worse…you may be banished to oblivion. When the curtains don’t open for you anymore, the stage belongs to another youngster, it isn’t yours anymore. And that’s when it dawns on you that your shine time is up. And at that time where do you turn but to what you’ve left, what do you fall back on but your savings and investments?
That’s just life for you, young folks. Our time is now. The stage belongs to us now; let’s make the most of it while we can before another star is born. Let’s think like the ancient Egyptians a little. Back in their time, when a Pharaoh is crowned, he starts building his tomb almost immediately. They believe in an after-life, the transition from the living to the dead, that even while dead, Pharaohs must still live like royalty. Based on such beliefs, they start stashing the Pharaoh’s mausoleum, the Pyramids, with treasure for his passage into the after-life. They prepare for his transition to comfort and riches even in the after-life! King Tutankhamen , one of the richest of that era died after a mere 6-year reign at the ripe age of 18! Imagine what he would have made of his life had ‘bad belle’ allowed him be!
The time is now, young folks…At Standard Alliance Life Assurance, we have policies tailored to meet financial needs of the immediate future and far more. The train is one the roll again, ladies and gentlemen, hurry up and don’t get left behind. Don’t spend your future regretting what might have been had you done the right thing 15-25 years ago. The time is now…
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