How I went BROKE after saving my First Million!

This is one story I have refrained from telling you and worse even, admitting to myself. As I speak to you, I have circa 50K NGN in liquid funds to my name……whatever emoji I choose to insert at the end of this sentence determines if you’d feel pity or embarrassed for me, so I’d avoid it completely😂😂.

Well, thanks to COVID-19, my kinda broke is survivable,really…thanks, corona! and big thanks to my folks too for not rubbing it in and more importantly for seeing that my basic needs are still being met. In fact, I just remembered that 18K out of that almost 50K is not mine so do the math….hehe, can I also subtract my minuscule debts here and there???? Are you already pitying me? lmaooo, I’m okay chileeee…I promise😘

So for starters, why on earth did I try to become a Millionaire???

I am a Certified Event Planner; by day, afternoon and night. But these days, it’s been mostly in my day-dreams and sometimes in my RealiTee (ayyyyyy, 10 OG points for that pun!) but you see, I belong to the school of thought that even though the Tortoise won the race, the Hare is still the faster runner. No school of thought like that exists right? Lmaoo, allow me to land this jet.

You see in this hare and tortoise tell-tale with regards to my events planning & management business, I judge myself the tortoise because I’m trying to take calculated steps, make steady yet slow moves before the giant strides which should make me the winner in the long run yeah? but maybe when I’m done telling you my story someday, you’d wish I act like the hare more often; even though not winning the race but moving fast enough to be recognized as the fastest runner. If you kinda got the analogy, a pat on the back and 💋 on the cheek for you!

My long term vision for RealiTee Events put me in a position to consider winning the race more important than being recognized as Ms. Bolt (no offense to my future hubby or Usain’s wife) and with that, I decided to save my very first #1M (shhhhhh, don’t ask me what currency🤧). This money savings project brought the best out of me financially. Prior to 2019, I was the true epitome of how most Yorubas spend- spend till you drop, tomorrow will take care of itself. Spray your last money at an Owanbe, travel to London before paying school fees, buy the more expensive clothes to deflect the “poverty” e.t.c. e.t.c, which in no way I condemn nor recommend, because so far, tomorrow has always taken care of itself 😩…..but this time instead, I saved till I dropped.

Early 2019(more like late 2018), my plan was to save this #1M by the end of my NYSC year in October ‘19 either by fire by force or by Indaboski. I already had half of the savings goal which I earnestly saved from some undergraduate scholarship I had bagged in 2013/2014 so the remaining task was to make up the amount and ensure nothing happened to the previous money while doing so. I took out the 500K from Treasury Bills and opened a Money Market Fund investment account with ARM to start with. Please don’t go judging my choice of saving/investment methods, I’m a known non-risk taker. Plus, my goal was not to “multiply” the money but to ensure I hit the savings target alongside 24/7 funds security, which I well-achieved😌. I will save my financial savvy for bigger savings/investment projects and for my becoming risk-tolerant self.

I could afford to save 50% of my total earnings every salary and ‘allowee’ month soooo that I did, FAITHFULLY. My primary savings account which was in ARM received this 50% while the secondary savings account in PiggyVest for emergency funds that were never emergent received another 20% savings. 2019 was the year of aggressive savings! Now, I’m so frugal in my mind that I have to remind myself that I also deserve the good things in life! In some good months, my budget had lesser expenditure plans so I would save more than half of my earnings while in other months if things got rough, I would have to rob Peter to pay Paul. Eventually, the scale balanced out, the 13% interest per annum accrued, and come December’19, I had become an unheralded Naira Millionaire! Yessss, I had done it! I had kept my promise to myself, spent and saved money that came from my purse only, beat my splurge habit on biscuits & nibbles, and taught myself financial discipline so hell yeah, I did it!

I believe God saw my desire to really achieve this because of my WHY and made sure I met the “crazy” lady in the rain who advised me to actually save half of my salary! He really helped me keep the faith and stay true to this journey, yes He did. I wish I could explain in detail but I swore that this post would be a 3-minute read but I can’t help the author in me, I really can’t!

I still remember when I first walked into the ARM office in Ikoyi, late 2018 in my goddamn NYSC uniform and told one of the Customer Relations Managers at the reception that I wanted to go into Real Estate investment and needed a reliable Accounts Manager because I had a million Naira to save with them. Yasssssss baby, I made that enquiry like the CEO and future zillionaire that I am! Now, I don’t know if it was out of true respect for me or respect for his job that he offered me a seat and a cup of water but he attended to me like a ‘’high-profile’’ client and I took it all in like I was dressed in a Dior suit, Jimmy Choo shoes holding a Hermès bag while he explained all the details that enabled me to make informed decisions about the kind of account to open with them. Even though I reminisce about this beautiful experience in insolvency, I am still fulfilled and happy because I did it all for RealiTee.

My WHY was to make that investment so that in the nearest future, like the tortoise,I could reach the end of the line as a winner without sweating out. This race line and “competition” might only be extant to me,you know, just in my mind or perceived school of thought but you see I’m in a competition with myself, so I rest knowing that the only person I’m trying to outdo is the complacent version of my self. I have big (more like gigantic)dreams for RealiTee,the kind that leaves you frozen and anxious just thinking about how to execute it,so this was just a step in the right direction,I hope.There are still underlying and interwoven stories to this WHY and this journey as a whole but maybe SoMeDaY,when I get around to creating my podcast series,I would share the bucket-full deets with you in one of the episodes! I really would.

So there you have it! After I moved that money you see up there into Real Estate,that was it! Nada, Zilch, ~Zero…..and that’s how I went BROKE after saving my First Million!

Now, that’s something I wish we could all unhear! LOL….but I know what I would do better to ensure I’m still solvent after I complete every savings cycle or achieve any savings goal. I’m even ready to embark on the next savings project once I start earning regular income again because whatever you do for 21 days becomes a habit and for 90 days, a lifestyle!…..lool but really the do’s and don’ts are much more clearer to me now. I continue to seek advice from finance professionals and aspire to do bigger things for RealiTee. Also, I hope that such special WHYs and desires exist in your life that make you want to embark on this kind of journey too!

If they do exist, please feel free to share with me in the response section so I know I’m not alone :)

At least, it goes down in history that I’m a 5̶0̶%̶ self-made millionaire💅🏻💅🏻(shhhh, don’t laugh, that’s rude to my 500K ) plusssss no one can call me a broke bloke cuz……. immma ladyyyyyy!!!!

😂😂😂😂 what kinda broke joke were you expecting? Hahhaa, I apologize for the cracked crackers….you know what? Till next time.

Xx,

Tee.

Edit: Wow, Thank you all for your amazing feedback! Some of you have reached out to me to suggest better saving strategies, introduce me to other investment opportunities, acknowledge some similarities to your own personal financial journey and even to ask me how to become a PiggyVest user! Thanks guys! I really appreciate the engagement. If you would like to reach out to me as well or tell me how much you enjoyed reading this article,let’s talk on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you!

Stay winning!