According to World Bank estimates, Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest savings rate in the developing world especially in comparison to South Asia, East Asia and Pacific countries.
For decades now, we’ve been having the conversation about Africans and black people worldwide receiving very little or no training in money management and wealth creation. Lacking generational stability and wealth, most black people of the world are brought up in survival mode. Financial survival mode means that people have only enough for current basic needs. Any extra costs lead to debt or dependency on one’s extended family or community. Extra costs include travel, school fees and emergencies such as sickness etc. Unlearning the art living in financial survival mode has proved difficult even when black people get good incomes. On top of that, black tax has relatives needing financial help as soon as one secures a stable income.
Educating a community to relearn how to become financially stable is one of the first steps in developing a community. This is also a big step in pushing a community towards holistic well-being and trauma awareness. In all the conversations we have about African development, we end up back at the individual’s ability to meet their basic and natural needs. Money always comes up. Without money, there is no love in relationships and there is education for the empowerment of young people. Money can buy time to think, innovate and philosophize about ideas and therefore we need to learn to save and invest.
To get you started, check out the Twitter thread by Brian Feroldi and pick some podcasts. More on this topic will come in the future.
Brian Feroldi’s top 10 Investing Lessons for Our Younger Selves
- Don’t sell too early.
- Capital is precious, buy high-quality, avoid garbage.
- Sometimes, the best stock you can buy is the one you already own.
- Your biggest edge is patience, don’t waste it.
- Get comfortable doing nothing. That’s really hard to get comfortable doing nothing, but you have to get comfortable doing nothing.
- Know what metrics to look at, and when to look at them, and when to ignore them. Study the business cycle.
- Make sure you have an emergency fund, because life happens.
- You’re going to be wrong a lot. Get comfortable with that. You’re going to be wrong a lot.
- Find an investing buddy, or rather don’t invest alone. Find like-minded people. The Internet makes that so much easier.
- Watch the business, not the stock.
Growth Catalysts 