Why Cryptocurrency

 The Cryptocurrency space has not even been tapped yet, there’s still so much that can be done with it. The more I think of it, the endless its possibilities.

This is how I see it, everything you can do with your regular currency (money), you can do it with cryptocurrency but in a better way. So I will say it is an UPGRADE of the regular currency.

CURRENCY 2.0 BETA… Lol

So let’s answer why Cryptocurrency should be preferred to regular currency.

1. You can access and use your money anytime: It is accessible at anywhere and anytime, so it does what regular for of money do. Just the way you transfer your money from your phone app, so also is cryptocurrency, it is a digital for of money.
2. You are in total control of your money: what that means is that you manage your funds right from your phone just like regular money. You can buy card, buy commodity and do many transaction with ease.
3. Transactions are between you and the person you are dealing with. What these means is that you don’t need a singular institute to confirm your transactions before they become successful. When you understand BLOCKCHAIN, you will appreciate this more.
4. You are not limited to your country. The things that many of these financial institutes are trying to achieve with sending money overseas is not even a problem with cryptocurrency cause it doesn’t even recognises countries boundaries or border.

This is just a preamble to the nature of what cryptocurrency entails and how we can utilize it. In future post i will explain what Blockchain is and how the technology has changed the way we can handle processes.

Savings - Budgeting Formula

In 'How to Save Money: Making Smart Financial Decisions', Terrance Odean share some simple insight on how to save money.

We will notice 1st that when it comes to saving, Budgeting cannot be ruled out. It is the deliberate way to achieving your savings goal. I shared a little bit on some simple steps to creating your personal budget in a previous post, so you can check it out to know just a little more.

So now I am sharing a formulae for budgeting.

We should know that the higher your sources of income are the easier it is to achieve your budget.

That said, this is a simple formula.

Terrance Odean shared the formula Senator Elizabeth Warren and her daughter wrote in their book “Worth” stating that there are basically three personal categories in budgeting — The Must Have, Savings and Wants.

1. Must Haves; These are recurrent expenses that show up like food, bills, transportation.
2. Savings; are the money you plan to save.
3. Wants; These are any other expenses that pops up or stuff you desire to buy.

He advice you then split your income into percentages.

Must Have - 50%

Savings - 20%

Wants - 30%

This is quite simple and easy to apply.

We know that so many unexpected circumstances can arise everyday like health challenges, broken car or some domestic hazards which we don’t pray for any but this can be used as a simple template to achieve your budget.

I would advice that when it come to saving, ensure you do it 1st. It should not be done after you have met all your expenses.

Pay yourself First.

There are many saving platforms and opportunities that I will introduce you to soon that could serve as an investment to you why you save.

Create your Personal Budget

    Personal Budgeting is one of the ways to improve on proper spending. We are most times focused on how we make money but never how we spend it, but budgeting is a good habit that will help us check our spending and ensure our income goes to proper use.

This are some basic-easy to apply ways to create a budget.

Step 1: Know your Monthly Spending


You can do this by either

• 
Checking through your email and calculate the monthly account statement the your bank sends.

• If you have your bank mobile App, Just request for your Statement from January 1st till now (This is the easiest).

• You can go to your bank also and fill a form requesting for it.



Now this does not include physical cash you receive that never made it to your bank account, you can pen down as much as you can remember on a separate sheet. 

Step 2: Write down your Spendings into Categories.

    Categorising your budget will help you to know how your money is spent and what it is spent on, this can help you know what is a necessity and what isn’t.

    You can categorise them into your Regular or Fixed expenses like Food, Rent, Transport or Casual expenses like clothes, outings and then also emergency spending like health, repairs and the likes.

Step 3: Set Financial Goals for Yourself

This is totally personal to you. 

    What are the things you are planning to achieve but needs some heavy financial commitment. Lately for me, it was my school fees. So it could be that of your children, to building a house or buying a car, it could also be saving towards your wedding. Both short and long term goals should be set.

Step 4: Create a plan for the next month to achieve your financial goals.

    Now with all this definitions on paper, you can predict how your next month will look like financially. So you can create a plan you could work with on the things you would spend money on to achieve your set goals. Break some of the large financial goals into bits, in percentages and over a period of time.

Step 5: Lower Unnecessary spending as much as you can

    After all you have done, sticking to your plan is totally up to you. You might have to cut down on some luxury and if you must, create it inside your budget.

Step 6: Check your Budget weekly.

    Looking at what you wrote will help remind you of what you want to achieve and keep you committed to it.