This morning, the post below crossed my Twitter timeline… It spurred a discussion that seems to come up on my Twitter timeline every so often: home ownership and its advantages (and disadvantages). I have blogged extensively on the benefits of buying a house and mortgages, so for this post I would like to point out fallacies/untruths/exaggerations that are quoted as people explain the benefits of taking…
Read MoreThe path to financial freedom is so simple: Track expenses for at least 3 months Use the information to create a budget Automate your savings Review your budget constantly Invest in areas where you will earn a reasonable return Avoid unnecessary debt. Anyone should be able to do that. Why is it that very few people are able to do it consistently? Why do we resolve to…
Read MoreWhen I set out to farm full time (sort of), I wanted to be a real farmer, one who gets her hands dirty and doesn’t need to jog or any exercise because she works at the farm all day long (farm workers are extremely toned!). See I am a perfectionist doer. I like to get things done, and I feel especially good when I am…
Read MoreThe other day I decided to visit my neighbor’s farm after I got bored of chasing birds at my farm. This happens quite often, we visit each other at least every two days to encourage each other and trade “war stories”. I found that her French beans had just germinated, she had workers top dressing them, which is agricultural-lingua for applying fertilizer after the crop…
Read MoreFirst a disclaimer: This post is about bad customer care, but it also has girly clothes talk. If girly clothes talk bores you to tears, please forgive me. Also from the header, it is about an expensive clothes store so if you are in the “be grateful you can afford it many Kenyans can’t” team, please skip the post. Let us start with a bit…
Read MoreIn the past, the companies that have achieved great success are companies that have been able to come up with great ideas, keep them secret, then release those ideas into the market with a bang, changing the way we solve problems. A great example of this is Apple launching the first phone that not only had a touch screen, but was a phone, an iPod…
Read MoreThis morning I heard on Nation FM that Safaricom is planning to launch a debit card that will enable users pay for online government services with ease. According to this article on Business Daily, these cards will go hand in hand with Safaricom POS’ in government offices and the company is basically going head to head with commercial banks which currently collect government revenues. I…
Read MoreIn a previous post, I explained in simple terms why Apple resorted to issuing a corporate bond even with so much cash reserves. First let us recap on the basics of a bond. When a company issues a bond, it is borrowing your money for a certain period of time defined in the bond terms, and it agrees to pay you interest at a fixed rate (coupon rate)…
Read MoreEntries to the 2015 African Blogger Awards are now open to bloggers, Instagrammers, Tweeters, Facebookers and YouTubers across Africa. The African Blogger Awards are the first programme that measures online and social influencers’ reach and influence through data analysis. This provides the opportunity for influencers to be measured objectively against their peers based on their reach, resonance, and relevance. Categories include Advice, Fashion and Beauty,…
Read MoreIf you have been following financial news, you have probably seen Apple’s corporate bond announcement seeking to raise $6.5 billion for a share repurchase scheme. This seems puzzling because just a few days ago, we were all aghast at Apple’s huge cash reserves of $158 billion. So why is Apple issuing a bond? First a definition of two terms I used up there: Corporate bond:…
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