Stepping to success while earning less

Some time back, one man in Chilinde (Lilongwe) came foaming at me. He believed my advice in this column is meant for the rich. He told me in the face that I am totally not concerned with minimum wage earners. He challenged me on how one could save when they earn K15 000 a month while having a family of seven to feed (not to mention the extended family members) and staying in a rented house.

For a moment, he almost succeeded in making me feel guilty. This is the kind of guilt that overcomes you when you buy pizza for your child from a shop assistant who has always known the aroma of pizza but has never tasted it.

So I went back home rocking my head really hard. I had to provide some advice for the minimum wage earner.

I grew up in a household with a far below average income myself, and while we may have done alright for ourselves, I grew up around people who existed in extreme poverty. Thankfully, with God’s help, I was able to take advantage of the great opportunities that life offered me — and the great foundation that my parents gave me — and was later able to find a relatively better, financially healthy life where I am now able to raise my children without a regular sense of necessity underlying day to day life.

But what can a person do if they’re in a minimum wage situation? I will provide some few steps I consider salient.

First, take every opportunity for making additional money. There are all sorts of little opportunities to make more money if you pay attention. Doing small things like off-work jobs depending on your skills: Talking talents and skills which can make you master/mistress of ceremony elsewhere, for example. Skills in writing books and articles. Using the carpentry, shoe-mending, plumbing, general fitting skills off-work hours. Use these skills and talents to make additional money. Free meal offers from friends? Take them. A K1 000 offer by the landlord for keeping his lawn green? Do it. Running a hawker or second-hand clothing business. The list is endless — but mostly piggyback on your talents and skills.

Second, minimise your possessions. There are a lot of reasons for doing this. The biggest one is that the more stuff you have, the more money you’ve wasted. Also, fewer possessions mean that you need less room to live. If you recall, when you were just starting work, you could live in a guest wing because you didn’t have much but now with all your accumulated possessions you need a bigger and hence more expensive house.

Third, educate yourself. While you’re putting yourself in a better financial place, spend your spare time educating yourself. Take classes at the nearest college and work towards some kind of certificate or degree. The key is getting started — go around and see what the colleges have to offer and make your choice. It will come back with more financial rewards later — trust me, you can’t go wrong investing in your education.

Fourth, save automatically. You will never have enough to save. But just tell yourself you will be saving something. Go to your bank and set up an automatic savings plan. Tell them to be deducting say K5 000 every month from your account towards a savings or fixed deposit account. So if you earn K15 000, then just tell yourself that in effect you only earn K10 000 — because the K5 000 goes to the savings account. What will happen? After a year, you’ll have more than K60 000 in the account (remember you will be earning interest). Then you can eventually withdraw and buy land, you can pay for your education upgrade, or invest in shares. It is not easy to save at any level of income, but you can do it with determination.

Have a blessed weekend as you wear a smile on your face stepping to success with the little you earn.