Category Archives: Personal Finance

At the beginning of the month, a couple of us committed to a 31 day spending fast from the 1st of the 31st of January 2017. The aim was to reduce on our impulse spending, use up everything we had in stock, and generally purge for the new year. You can read the rules here.  About 65 of us even formed a Telegram group where…

In the last post, we looked at what should take priority between education planning for our kids and retirement planning, and the consensus even on Twitter was that retirement comes first. @RookieKE my dad says that you should always prioritize saving for your retirement,money for educating for your kids usually has a way1/2 — Bitch You Guessed It (@laureezyF) January 20, 2017 As Laura highlighted…

If my children are going to university to do an ordinary course, I’d rather they go to USIU or Strathmore, but if one comes with an admission to Juliard to study music, then I definitely want to be able to pay for it This was my friend Job at breakfast the other day. We were discussing my plans for my daughter’s university education and his…

This question came from Sarah, via our #52WeekChallenge Telegram group: “What are your thoughts on using extra income to pay off loans versus saving/investing it?” This is one of those questions that cause me to reiterate that it is called “personal finance” it is well…personal. Very personal.  The answer to this question depends on a number of factors, most of which are soft factors around…

Yesterday, I announced the #52WeekChallenge to such great response from twitter that I am blown away. Over 500 people responded saying they are taking it on, and the post has been shared countless times! Yay! You guys are awesome. This follow up post seeks to explain my thinking around this challenge, and at the end, I will share a form for those that want to…

So last year, we had our first savings challenge. Though it was a first attempt, I was so touched and amazed by the responses I got from my followers and readers about the impact the challenge had on their savings habits and lives.  People sent me regular emails to update me on their progress. If there is one thing I have stayed consistent with is…

So far, we have established that we do not like to think of retirement, neither do we like to save for it. There are far more urgent concerns that keep us from thinking about 20-30-40 years from now, and we always hope that the future will sort itself out. However, we also know that a back-up plan, though we hope for the best is wise….

In the last post, I confessed that even for me, saving for retirement is really hard. This is because of a number of factors, top of which is the fact that my present financial concerns override concerns for the future. Others are psychological: I will make it big in the future so I will not need a retirement nest egg, or, With inflation and all,…

Today is December the 7th, and from my Twitter timeline, we are slowly getting into holiday mode. Before we are fully lost in it, I want to propose that we commit to do something, starting on the 1st of January 2017. I want us to go on a spending fast. If you have subscribed to my newsletter, you know something about this. Basically, a spending…

Why do we all struggle so much to save for retirement? Of all personal finance hurdles, actively saving for my retirement is my biggest struggle. I have valid reasons why I struggle to save for the unseen future, I also have a tonne of excuses. At a rational level, we all know that keeping some money aside for the future is important. It should be…