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When it comes to matters requiring an advice, almost everybody becomes a counsellor. Opinions are so cheap that everybody has one. The remarkable thing is that you don’t even need to solicit for advice; people will always give it to you without your request, free of charge.
And when too many people advise you, it can spell trouble because 80% of what people say are things they are not practicing and consequently have no chance of working. In more grave terms, some of the advice that people give are potent poisons that are capable of ruining the receiver. This is why it is an act of wisdom to regularly check if you have received wrong counsel and do a detoxification of your mind.
Since money is obviously the most important goal of all businesses, Nigeria Online Business wants to share 5 common horrible advices about money you should look out for and reject.
1. Comparison advice
This kind of advice is the type that takes its merit from those around you. The value of the advice originates from what others are doing. In other words, it sets others as a standard for yourself and tells you all is fine since someone is in the same predicament as you are. It tries to give you comfort by telling you that you are not alone in the financial problems you’re facing. So, this advice will okay it that it is fine if you are broke since Mister A is broke.
You need to learn to cancel such thoughts and avoid such counsels. Your greatest competition must be yourself and not someone else. You must seek to be better than how you were yesterday and not another person. No two lives are the same and no two people get the same opportunity in life even if they share the same background and age. It is therefore wrong to judge two people using the same parameters.
2. Retirement Advice
Many people work hard towards enrolling in a pension scheme with the hope that they would be able to save money they can spend in their old age. The idea of pension is the best but it is not the most ideal in Nigeria, especially if you’re a civil servant. We’ve all heard various pension stories.
A renowned financial analyst in the US once argued that it’s unreasonable for people to save 10% of their income monthly for about 30 years and expect to live on it full-time for the next 20-25 years.
While you should have savings stacked up for your retirement, you must also realize that your best retirement plan is in your hands. It’s best to have several streams of passive income that brings you money without raising a finger.
3. Government-Dependence Advice
Many of today’s old folks still hum this statement. They believed it and held on to it that the government owes them. They believe the government is the reason they are poor as though it is not under the same government that others are making it. The government may be a problem to the nation but it not personally your problem. So many people have succeeded without the government. So, what’s your excuse?
Smart people do not depend on the government, but take advantage of any profitable policy the government rolls out. The geniuses even look for the good in a bad policy and exploit it. Take control of your life. Plan it independent of the government and work towards it. Make a resolution that you will succeed, with or without the government. It may not be easy at first, but it will eventually be worth it.
4. Money-Demonizing Advice
Money has been demonized in some quarters. It has been talked down as being overhyped. Those who often say money is not everything are those that do not have it. Statements like, “money cannot buy happiness”, “vanity upon vanity is vanity” and other money demonizing statements keeps flying around.
If money cannot buy happiness, well, neither can poverty. If money cannot buy you sleep, neither can poverty. There is no sense in the fact that money is being talked down. Any advice that tries to downplay the relevance of money is terrible. Money is important. It is a big deal. It is only evil when anyone tries to get it illegally.
5. Time advice
Timing is a very important factor in life. The idea of timing should be to recognize when it is most suitable to take an action. But many counsels these days emphasize that a future time is coming for everything: “There is still time”. It is one of those ways of deliberately excusing one’s self from having to tackle the problems and opportunities that come to one’s path.
The simple truth is, there may not be a better time in future to make money than now. It is not that it would be impossible; it is that may be difficult. The Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Now is the time to create the all-important passive income.
