 All right, thanks for staying with us. So leaving above your means means that you are spending more money than you are earning. People are able to do this by recycling or rather relying on credit cards, loan and prior savings to cover their expenses. Now the opposite of this phrase is to live within one's means, which means that someone is not spending all of his money and is staying out of debt. Now a lot of Nigerians have mastered the art of living above their means and don't even realize it. So today we're asking, how do I know that I am living above my means? Now please let's hear what you have to say. Remember you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 081-8034-663. You can also tweet at us at Weissho after one with the hashtag Weissho. I want to bring in Kathleen in a minute, but I want to come to Uhti. Uhti in her genders via Zoom. Hi Uhti, we missed you. Uhti my love, is it possible for us to live within our means in this country? Please just be real, especially in Lagos. I don't know about any other part of Nigeria. It's very difficult because one of the unique things of our environment there is that even when you have a budget, so even for the most diligent of us, right? There are so many unplanned things. I love the quote that says, I think it was during COVID that it became popular. Stay inside, there is a lot outside. So the truth of it is that there are so many things that can happen. You get into a pothole, it's 200K with your mechanic. Somebody bashes your car, it's 250K. There are so many uncertainties. I mean, it's not like these uncertainties don't exist anywhere else. But the uniqueness of our environment heightens the risk, increases the risk rather of those things happening. So you have to essentially, if you are a diligent budgeter, you have to budget the unforeseen and the unplanned into your budget and your expenses. So it can be quite difficult. But I think I like to just categorize it. There are the avoidables. For example, the O&Bs, the what's it called now? The AzureB, all those things. That one is preference. If you are that way inclined, then you are spending your money there. But we do have a lot of things that are societal pressures, that put pressure on us, that it takes the most disciplined of folk not to live above their means. And of course, there are very many people that don't even have enough to live. Before you talk of living above your means, there's also a large population of people that fall into that bucket. So we're an interesting space, I think. How are you glory? Our accountant? Is it possible? Well, it's possible, though difficult, especially when you mention Lagos, because as Uti rightly said, so many things on planned expenses might come up here and there. But it's possible and also discipline, I think plays a role. Example, so I have people that will say, glory please help me keep this money. I don't want to touch it because if I hold it, I will spend it. And after two days, they will give me the money, okay, I want you to hold it for maybe three months. After two days, they will call. Something came up, please give me this money. I need to do something. So it's not an easy thing to do, honestly. But I think that's the reason why we have Kathleen to help us and tell us how we can make this possible. Mary, should I ask you a question? There's no need to ask. It's very difficult, I must say. And I think social media as a whole hasn't really helped us in that aspect because it seems like your desires just keep growing. And I mean, it takes a lot of discipline as well to understand that, okay, I know you want to be at a certain place with time, you will get there, even as you are planning with time, the actual bills that you even need to settle, they are just coming back. So sometimes, it's like an escape to say, well, you know what, if I die, I die. Maybe just spend this on, you know, and live by the edge. Right? After they hit me today, my mom swelled over, come carry me to the restaurant. Okay, you are a star. If I die, I will always spend this money. Isn't that what that's like? That the food will never be better. It takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of discipline. And trust me, honestly speaking, this is not us just trying to maybe, but really living in Lagos is extreme sport, like literally what you would pay. I mean, the other day, I wanted to put air in my tire and the vodka, let the shock, the vokalizer told me, madam is 500, I said for what? Do you know that I had a huge culture shock when I went back to Kaduna in December, last, not upper year, to see my parents. I spent Christmas in Kaduna and my mom said, oh, I needed to put air in the tire. Okay, she now give me 244 tires. I said, mom, I don't understand. She said, no, it's 50-50 now. I said, no, it's 250 now. I said then we're doing 200 now per tire in Lagos. It's 50-50 now. Do you understand? So now, I now go to a vokalizer and he says 500 now. I thought he was joking. Until now, I thought maybe I was in a posh area. Let me go to my local village where I'm coming from. I said, madam, money don't increase. I said, when, since when? You don't even want to look at housing. Ha, don't even go there. Let me bring in Kathleen. Kathleen is the owner and the CEO of Kudimata Nigerian Limited. Penny Consult Limited and Poi Finishing School. She was the executive director and chief marketing officer at Hope PS Bank and the deputy general manager at Keystone Bank Nigerian Limited. She also worked in key managerial positions at Access Bank PLC for 15 years, extending her extensive banking experience to over 26, to over 26 years now. Kathleen has established herself as a change agent by promoting basic financial education in Nigeria through an institution called Kudimata, a financial community where money questions, problems and concerns are addressed just like the one we are going to be addressing now. Kudimata. Thank you, Kathleen, for joining us again. So, Kathleen, I mean, I saw you nodding your head as we were talking because it's not easy. First of all, let me ask this question. Is it possible first, before we would not get to how I know, because me, I know I'm living above my means. Is it possible for us to actually live on a budget? Is it possible? It is actually possible to live on a budget. So it's actually possible for you to live within your means. There are a lot of factors that affect us living beyond our means. You know these means, what it means is what you earn. So what I earn is different from what she earns, different from what Gloria earns, different from what you earn and different from what Uti earns. So if I want to live the same way that Gloria lives, I will most likely live above my means. That's behaving like the Jones. So that is a key factor that we must put into consideration in living or budgeting for our lives. Kathleen, do you know some people don't earn a salary, but they are living where? Living large. That's what it means coming from. So they have means. You know what means is income. The people who are dependent on you, you give them money. So they have to live within that means. That is the means. So if you give somebody 20,000 naira on the mountain basis, that's that person's income. The expense must not go beyond that 20. So you must work within that budget. Also at the month end, I'll have John give me money, I'll have Paul for those who don't earn money. There are different streams of income. That's income. That is the means. Income is means. So it is actually very possible to live within your means. Location affects it though. Location. But that means still works within your location because income you earn in Lagos is different. You just said, Vokanizer would take 15 naira up not in Lagos. The means or the environment within Lagos are being factored into the amount the cost of that. Because even the space is paid for. Yes. So you can actually live within your means. There are certain things that you need to do to live within your means. Cut off excesses. Now what Uti was talking about. Cut off excesses. Transportation takes a huge cost of our means. So you have to work on your look for jobs or the resources of income within your geography where you reside. Well it's not possible Kathleen because again sometimes where the good jobs are because I have seen people they work in Victoria Land they live at Akun or Jod they live at a what is it called first stack. You understand. So they can do carpooling. So they have enough people within. So you know that this financial you have to actually educate yourself understand that this is my pocket. This is what it is. We are five or six coming from this area coming to VI. Let's use Lagos for example. All of you carpool. And you come to Lagos and sometimes you have some people who live within the environment where they work and return back to their distant location where commuting costs them a huge sum of their income. So you have those people staying within those geography. So it is actually actually actually possible to live within your means. And then you don't shop where you think you want to buy tomato in VI when you live in Akun or Jod the price is different because there is rental there are other costs that have been factored into the cost of that tomato in VI and in Akun or Jod. It's hard to take the strong beat. So I know those of us here understand what she is saying. Let's bring it down to maybe the market women that don't even know what budget is. They don't probably they can't even like put together their income to say how do they start understanding that how can they understand how to put understand how to put their resources or what their business or their income that daily income together to say okay this is what I earn in a week so that with that they can plan so from what you said budgeting is a huge part of planning in order for you to be able to stay within your means of expenditure so how do they start how do they even understand it? You'll be very surprised mama will plan yes you'll be so surprised mama will plan mama knows mama separates money that thing mama put that you know mama would wrap money in bundles mama will put this is for this this is for that this is for me to go back to market this is for school fees this is for mama has a budget mama plans mama will shop the people who have problems of this and spending above their means it's not mama mama will finish in the market make 1000 naira in profit in profit removing all other expenses mama will know where to buy the small tomato the small meat and the small and go home and cook it is you who want to eat broccoli broccoli broccoli broccoli and everything when you don't even earn that money so mama is fine when it comes to living within means sometimes so mama don't even go home they stay within that location where they work so that rental income really doesn't is there but it does not really affect mama so much transportation coming from the villages or the farms or the interland where they go and get their things you see how the couple won mama will not go to markets on her own they will go in group put money together and buy in bulk because they understand the budgeting okay so for the people that want to be big girls since they are the ones that don't know the budgeting for me I would say what kind of investments can we can you start off so you have a young graduate who you know you just finish or you're doing NYC you know what advice would you give I think I'm more of the advice of saving and little investment increasing your streams of income yeah and increasing your streams of income because if if you desire a certain lifestyle and like I said social media has helps to you know put everything so because I'll give myself for instance sometimes I find myself I find myself comparing myself to people who are in their 40s and there's one day I don't start out and I was like Mary do you realize that this person is maybe 45 and you are how old so okay there's hope for you if at least at this stage you know you're thinking you're going to get there's a show banker that you're going to get there if only you just be a big patient like you are aware of you know what you want and you're striving for it despite you're striving for it you're a bit too I won't say now now now but take a step back and look at this person is 40 something you're in your 20s you've got a long way to go you're going to meet up because you're on the right track definitely so just calm down so what kind of advice you know in terms of like savings, investment would you give young people like us you know because is I must say is really difficult and streams of income is really what has helped I've seen young people who they're doing their 9 to 5 they have you know a side business on you know at least that side business if you make you know 100, 200 you can't be able to buy bone straight you'll still be happy you know so you have you have asked the question you have answered the question so you have actually just helped me what all I would say you have just said and you have actually spoken to the youth patience is key patience is key patience is key you budget different streams of income key and you start to budget or save for different projects and different things you have answered your you have answered the question I'll come to you Uti but I want us to go on a very short break right when we come back from the break Uti I'll come to you stay with us we'll right back alright thanks for staying with us now if you're just tuned in we're discussing the topic how do I know I'm living above my means and we have Kathleen with us now please let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS so what's up to Zoëd 1 803-4663 you can also see that that was at Weishaw after one with the hashtag Weishaw alright Uti over to you okay so I mean interesting conversations so far and I'm trying to think that from the perspective of when we talk about living above the means I'd be interested to hear the perspective on being disciplined enough to stay away from like we said the cultural norms and issues and what it takes to actually be able to manage your funds so in the current realities right the money may not even be enough but how do we manage the funds that we have today and what are the pitfalls that we need to look out for so that we don't inadvertently end up on that side of the track where we're living above our means so I'm gifting money or I'm helping people and then I look back and I'm like oh wow I've spent more than I plan to spend how do we avoid those kind of issues first discipline just like you said and to avoid it is actually to understand self you need to understand yourself and your money structure when you understand yourself and your money structure then you are able to plan when you plan you plan for you know your current so current now we really not matter you have to plan for your tomorrow and your future so that's where your savings come in you have to learn to save no matter how much you earn you must be able to set aside something and in our current situation other streams of income are most desirable because like you said it is most unlikely that one stream of income would carry you to to allow you to pick all your bills or to enable you to pick all your bills so if that has hit me other streams of income as simple as the digital space has helped us with so many streams of things that we can do streams of income that we can get you can simply bake at home your income from other streams of income added to what you have earned from employment or even your entrepreneurial work then you save you cut off those excesses you stop to leave like Johnson's even following other people wanting to be other people you know you are going to make a lot of enemies it doesn't matter because guess what that income and you don't make it Jesus Christ everybody will be your enemy because it is the simple money that you have that you are able to pick your bills that pulls people to you once you lose that that's it think of people who have lost their jobs their work and they stop making income the number of friends that they have teams out so you must actually work to tomorrow that's the plan savings cut down expenses all those excesses take them out reduce your cost of living and save you see that cost of living thing it's a tricky one because okay so I was going to ask that with the current economic situation where for instance maybe if I had a million Naira in my account I was a big girl like savings that I saved today that million Naira depreciated because of the dwindling economy right so if you tell me to save I've saved but the by power of that one million Naira 10 years or 5 years ago that I saved it it's not the same by power that I have today so I don't know how savings will help me that's number one I don't know how it's going to help me if I saved money and all of a sudden why the money is still there completed with a depreciated in value streams of income yes but really in all fairness except I don't even know how to explain it except these streams of income are really really tangible it really doesn't go that far right except maybe you are really earning big time forex with the economy today I'm not benchmarking it with anything because the cost of items what I would have bought maybe 4000 Naira before and buying it almost 16,000 or even 20,000 Naira today so the living expenses is on a rise housing that you talked about living just in your house apart from the landlord pulling at you there is also the increment there is also the increment on your bills your electricity of course we know what the drama is happening around the field situation and all of that so there is a lot that is just attacking that income so even if you say I am diligent I am prudent I do all of these things you can't really survive like that you have to just find a way to make up for some of these what is it called shortfalls that you would have that is true we have a lot of things tagging on or pulling on our income a lot but guess what you are actually just trying to live like others you know that is 30,000 Naira so a job man so let's use our minimum wage is 30,000 Naira for I think the lowest level civil servant it is expected that that civil servant bad as it may it is really really really really don't get me wrong but that money is is small is low but then what would you do you still have to plan to live within it not to have five six children because that is where you are actually just your life you need to understand yourself even with one child 30,000 Naira is too much but then you will not go the debt will not be so much and you will not go so much at begging because you would have planned at 30 at 30 depending on your location you know location location still counts 30,000 maybe in five village area may not be the same as 30,000 Naira income in Lagos you know that so location counts but in all of these two you still have to learn to live within that money and that income you know that 30,000 is not all that supports the sorry to say but our environment we live in a communal environment we support ourselves so that person who ends 30 that's not the only income so that's not the only means there are other means that are added but what is it that they do with these means that's what is important at least 30 maybe nobody for the other streams of income can I ask so how do you how do you grow how do you elevate because for me it just sounds like suffering that is never ever going to end so like you see that you just aspire you just hope that one day your income will increase you work you don't just aspire in all of these you have to improve yourself for you too you know there are different scales for the people who end that you still have to improve yourself and when you improve yourself your income improves if you know like in Nigeria there are different cadres of so it starts from that minimum 30 up the way to millions depending on your the way you have improved yourself so education still matters and you will now ask me education there are schools that are free education online not just even the online even the free education the government schools are there and they are free so if you know there are some standards that we cannot okay you know let's say come let me come to you quickly before we run well I think it's a sobering picture to hear everything that we've discussed today because even with the locality and all that I was listening to even with just saying government schools are free they're still attached expenses so it almost sounds like it's impossible but I think that the only thing that we can take away from this and it's not necessarily a comment it's just multiple streams of income your side hustle has to have your side hustle income I didn't know so I think that's all I'll take away and the side hustle has to be as heavy as your real hustle I hope but the side hustle has to have his own side hustle so it's exponential are there minimum where we are because one is literally go ahead this is from Daniel Ilo good evening my beautiful ladies how do I know I'm living above my means you can only know if you are living above your means if you make extra cash outside your monthly salary salary earners will be affected by their own budget your guest made mention of cutting excesses that is where discipline and the idea of cutting your code according to your material sister uwa I think I am in the same boat with you after saturday the 18th of march I think I want to be through with election and politics politics in Nigeria has been saw it it is total nightmare and disaster I can never be proud of Nigerian's politics go ahead Mary how do I know that I'm living above my means this is an interesting topic first if I want to live within my means I must first of all advise myself that I am not in competition with anyone but my very self in that regard I must learn to cut my code according to my size this is from Sanctus not size according to your material I was going to go ahead and cut your means because it is actually your size if you want to follow your size and you are size 50 you can only sew for size 5 and there is problem so you actually need to cut your cloth according to your fabric your material so Kaklin if you had one thing to say to anybody that is listening what would you say to that person because me I know I am living above my means how do I stop living above my means I would say it is a difficult thing we all would strive is discipline discipline first is key it is difficult it is easier said than done we must all strive to cut off excesses and stop to behave like others our own goal is our own goal not the next person's goal don't live somebody else's life somebody else's lifestyle cut your code according to your income and your lifestyle create your own path and live within it and don't forget extra streams of income and you must save pay yourself so we should still save more save for tomorrow don't forget today is here already you agree with that we should save money we don't have a choice we have to save money are you sure yeah we don't have a choice because it's worse I really love the way that we put it to say today is here already so think about it that today is lost so just try and plan for tomorrow so tomorrow is better absolutely absolutely like this so ladies who is going to start first Mary are you taking a new leaf you are an accountant you don't have a choice you don't have a choice but I think I have watched that I have to be very very important before people have to trust me so I need to start with myself obviously how about you Mary I think I'm thinking of I can end more that's really my own when you end more your lifestyle increases and then you have to save more it's the same thing but let's end more I don't know but from like end more let me end more more money let's be quotas you always have to do more money it's more money more spending money is for spending but thank you so much Katlin I think it's a fantastic conversation we keep bringing the conversation around money issues because I think finance is very key whether you like it or not everything is almost hitting everybody so let's just find means to help ourselves and all of that it's not easy honestly people are just asking for money left as net that you don't even have the money to give it is well thank you so much Katlin thank you ladies, thank you Mary, Glory and thank you Uti alright so before we go and show you follow us of course all our social media handles that waste your Africa you can interact with us further drop a comment and more importantly follow all our engagement on social media likes and invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation so if you missed our very important quote here money does not dictate your lifestyle what you do with it what you do with it rather it's what you do what you do to get it and how you manage your finances that determines your lifestyle right Mary says she wants more extra income I don't know what I want yet I'll tell you people next week see you guys on Monday bye