Can you give those goals a final push?

TUNDE OYEDOYIN  

Tunde Oyedoyin is a London-based personal finance coach and founder of Money Intelligence Coaching Academy, a specialist academy of personal finance. He can be reached as follows: +447846089587 (WhatsApp only); E-mail: tu5oyed@gmail.com

“If a man continues steadfastly in the direction of his dream and takes the steps he has imagined, he will meet with success in uncommon hours.” — David Henry Thoreau

Among several sports, football managers and their teams don’t joke with the final push. Either they don’t want to concede or they want a final roll of the dice in order to keep or change the score line. Put your finger here as we proceed.

Folks, believe it or not, heading into the very last month of the year seems to have come sooner than many of us would have wanted. While it’s exciting for some, the opposite may be the case for several others. That’s just the reality of how things are. Let’s cut through the chase, anyway.

If wishes were horses, many of us would have fancied being able to order an imaginary magic wand from Amazon in order to push back time. If only such a product exists and to complete our wishful thinking, imagine if it’s even stocked in Tesco or Shoprite and every other store in every city. Such a product will no doubt sell out each month end. We’ll all use it the way we use our television remote control to rewind or pause a live broadcast.

One topmost reason many would have wished to have a magic wand is to be able to put their fingers on the rewind button to take us a couple of months back to June. Here’s the thing, almost everyone will fancy the opportunity to buy some more time — even if it’s just a month — so as to achieve what they had listed as part of the financial goals of the year. I wouldn’t mind having such luxury of rolling back time for just a few more weeks as well.

That wishful thinking crept up while, as a matter of daily routine, yours truly was checking out his bank statement on Monday, last week. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a moderate sum owed to an old credit card account was still lurking around. What made it pleasant was that the direct debit payment went out that morning. Had the money not been available, it would have been, as Fela Anikulapo famously put it, a case of “double wahala for deadi body.”

Though the plan was to have reduced their debt further before stepping into December, finding the outstanding balance at the level it was, made me realise that the opportunity to still chip in more than the monthly payment is still available. So, whether you’re in my shoes or are still very far away from achieving any of your financial goals for the year, the good news is that we can still put in the effort and give those goals a final push.

In practical terms, that could mean ringing or logging into your bank account to pay a token off that overdraft. For someone else, that may translate to doing without a few things in order to book that seminar for next year. So, please take a look at your financial goals and like footballers, give it a final push and see which one you can still partly tick off. Against the same backdrop, make sure you don’t let your defence leak by letting your guard down.

Millions Suffer Debt Misery in Silence:

Though a tiny piece, the above report in the Metro Newspaper of November 6, was part of activities used in marking Talk Money Week.

According to it, “more than 8 million people across the UK needed advice last year,” and that “12 million are living on the edge,” said the government-backed Money and Pension Service (MaPS).

Aside from urging those struggling with debts “to seek help,” Anna Hall, the organisation’s corporate director of debt added: “many people wish they acted faster.” Furthermore, she said: “no one ever says they got debt advice too soon.”

In view of this staggering number, please don’t suffer in silence if you’re struggling with debts.

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