“What you save today will save you tomorrow” — Reverend Olumide Emmanuel
While catching up with the Morning Show on Arise News on the first Wednesday of this very month, the newspaper review anchored by their international correspondent caught my eye.
That was because of the headline of their own newspaper, ThisDay. It was: “World Bank to Nigeria: Save Oil Windfall for Rainy Day, Rebuild Fiscal Buffers.” Almost all the other newspapers followed suit with similar headlines on their cover. “Save for the rainy day,” seemed like the editorial theme of the day. Well done to all the newspapers for giving prominence to this evergreen gospel on saving for the rainy day.
You might be wondering why the World Bank will take it upon themselves to advise our dear fatherland to save for the rainy day. Firstly, it’s because the price of oil is up as a result of the ongoing war that Israel and the USA are waging on Iran. More importantly, the World Bank knows that countries tend to increase their spendings when their earnings increase. Thirdly, most countries forget to stack something away for when the party’s over.
Folks, two of the three points apply to personal finance. Let’s take it as if we’ve received a salary increase of just ten thousand Naira per month from our employers because of the oil windfall or because the companies had a good 2025. Assume this increase is to last from April ending till September.
The truth of the matter is that many people increase their spending when they earn more money or when they get windfall like Nigeria and other oil producing countries. The World Bank wouldn’t have wasted their time advising that we save for the rainy day without backup data.
Back to our theoretical example. If I am an employee of one of such companies, I’ll increase my lifestyle with half of the salary windfall and put the remaining five thousand Naira away every single month. Saving for the rainy day is an evergreen sermon and if the World Bank preached it as recently as over a week ago, it’s time to listen.
Call to action: Plan saving just one percent of your salary per month from the next pay day. If that’s too much, save two thousand Naira.
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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
