In a world where we attach titles to everything, April happens to be the financial literacy month and no this isn’t my April fool’s prank. I happen to know this because on the 6th of this month, invited by a close friend, I attended a financial awareness event called Stories about Money organized by Prosper Path at Shree Sthanakvasi Jain Sangh (SSJS) auditorium in Loresho. I went because, in 2019, I made it a personal mission to become more aware of how I handled my money by gathering as much information as I could about managing it. I’ve stuck to that promise to date.
My inability to control my money became apparent when all I had to my name was 200 shillings in my pocket and a mind full of ideas. It wasn’t due to lack of a job or not having interacted with money but more of the ignorant mind of a 20-year-old guy who made plans with cash they expected to get rather than the cash they had. Back then, I hadn’t realized that money was just a tool and you could either be its puppeteer or it would take that mantle off you. On this particular day, as I made my way from Chiromo campus towards the bus station, it dawned on me that my monthly salary which had just checked in was not enough to cater for my accrued debts and my insatiable lifestyle. It was blurry and on the cliff’s edge. Something had to change. I had to change.
When Levy took the stage at the auditorium and narrated his story, his shoes fit perfectly to my 25-year-old self. I had breathed his air of desperation and walked his storm of collecting debts to pay off others. It was all out of the necessity to survive; scrapping at all that was available unaware of better approaches to wiggle off this vicious cycle. From his story to Linda’s to Martin’s to Martha’s and Paul’s, it was clear that whatever journey they had walked, money had a big say and talk it did.
Money is a topic we hardly talk about as Africans. At 18 years old, no one talks to you about taxation or better-saving instruments like MMFs or Unit Trusts yet opening a bank account is usually one of the first things you do once you get your government documents. As a 24-year-old, you land your first job and your peers expect you to go to the newest nightclubs in town and keep up with the latest fashion and gadgets, yet your savings are non-existent. When you turn 30, friends are getting married and having children which means you need to contribute to committees and fundraisers, yet you hear your knees start to crack – a young reminder to get on top of your health using a cover. At 40, black tax is no longer an option but an obligation. At 50, you’re wiser yet financial institutions question your youth – mortgages and health insurance premiums are hungrier and unforgiving. At 60, panic chips in because retirement is looming and your kids are in the same maze you were in a couple of years back – the next few years look bleak.
As I left the auditorium, it was bittersweet. On one hand, it was great to have such conversations. On the other, I wondered whether it’s a battle too big – to put it into context, according to Statista, in Kenya the population is 55 million with the youth percentage covering 80%. However, like the guiding light that towers overseas, we can be each other’s light by spreading financial awareness as quickly as possible. I for one, can’t wait to see what they have in store in their next event on the 27th of April.
