Still on spending to learn

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

Take it from here, they don’t always serve free ‘lunch’ on this planet. So, be ready to pay for it. Just thought of laying down the marker. So, let’s roll on as we return to the subject of ‘spend to learn’, which we touched on here in November.

When, after parting with my son at Stratford in the early evening of the first Saturday of May and I popped inside the WH Smith at Westfield, the plan was to go feed my eyes while waiting for Mrs O. to come over from her office at the other end of the capital.

Since it was going to take her about an hour to travel down, I was more than happy that for once, I had the time to really look around at the very famous bookstore.

I started by taking a glance at the shelves by the entrance and from there I moved slowly to the newspapers’ segment. Though yours truly couldn’t resist checking out some of the stories that made the headlines, I had no intention of buying any paper.

On proceeding to the book section, yours truly quickly spotted the business section. What was meant to be another flipping through exercise turned out differently. Never before heard of Peter Komolafe till then. I got hooked on opening his book, especially his childhood in foster care and how what was to be a visit to Nigeria became a sort of homecoming. Guess what? There was no way I was going to walk out of WH Smith without buying “How To Become Your Own Financial Hero. The Money Basics.” As it turned out, I fancied even a second book.

On getting to the till, my bank balance took a hit of over twenty quid (£20) after the two books were processed. Though not budgeted for, it was an opportunity to learn that one couldn’t afford to let go. I’m nearly through reading Komolafe’s book and boy oh boy! It’s worth its weight in gold.

There are things I’ve come across in the book that have filled some gaps in my knowledge. Some of the things he chipped inside have, in the words of King Wasiu Ayinde (KWAM 1), been “consolidation.” I’m so pleased to spend, to learn.

From The Premiership to Bankruptcy

The (London) Metro Newspaper of Thursday, April 13, had a story: “ex-Man Utd star reveals bankruptcy hell after earning £50k a week,” (p.9). It was about their former defender, Wes Brown.

According to the paper, Brown, who also got capped 25 times by England and won the Champions League twice with United, once “earned £50,000 a week as a player at one stage.” However, he was, surprisingly, “declared bankrupt last April.” So sorry to hear he couldn’t defend his fortune.

The paper noted further that the 44-year old told the Ben Heath Podcast , “I think the main thing is when you are making a lot of money, you need the right people, don’t you?” As it turned out, Brown discovered: “That’s one of the things I didn’t have.”

Please ensure you don’t surround yourself with people who are helping themselves with your money. You may want to also refer to our August piece here, “Start faking – practice what the rich are doing,” for guidance.

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