Most people don't understand how much influence our finance have over the entire aspect of our lives. There is a reason why people sacrifice time to study finance and management as a skill and a course. If it were something that is an abstract of natural knowledge, it shouldn't be that hard to cultivate.
I have dedicated quality amount of time in ensuring I attain a significant level of financial literacy and the discipline to maintain its principles. Managing income has never been about how much knowledge a person has/have because even the most knowledgeable people in this field find themselves struggling with bankruptcy. It is all about having a mind that is willing to do the needful regardless of the odds.
For most part of my life, I have had to manage my own income myself, the reason is quite simple. I often say, everyone is a mirror of a system, so am I. Unlike most kids, I'm a product of a boarding school, in a place like this you will have to learn how to take care of your own needs in the absence of your biological parents.
Being a product of a system like this, I understood the nature of mankind and my surroundings at a very young age. Instead of allowing it to drive me insane I chose to learn from it.
Speaking of the best financial decision I ever made, that will be coming across an app called piggyvest.
I came across piggyvest not by accident, a friend recommended the app. Unlike most fintech apps that focuses on keeping your money without you gaining anything significant from it, piggyvest app creates a user friendly system that helps users utilise their money in ways they feel comfortable with, no hidden fees or charges.
Piggyvest is one of the few apps that assisted me in cultivating a good Saving habit, there is a feature on piggyvest that allows you to save your money based on schedule. You get to select the date and times you want to save your money, then the system have a withdrawal date, I think about 4 withdrawal date in a year.
So if you choose to withdraw your money before the withdrawal date, you will pay a penalty fee, in order for you not to pay a penalty fee, you will have no choice but to wait till the next withdrawal date, so that you can withdraw your money without paying any fee. While it is there, it also accumulate visible interest, which means while you wait for the withdrawal date, you also watch your money grow.
Which means you can save money for rent, tuition fee and any other life expenses. There is also safe-lock, this one is quite juicy, you get to lock your money for a period of time and receive an upfront interest. It is similar to fixed deposit we do in banks but the difference is that, with piggyvest, you won't have to wait till the due date before getting your accumulated interest, you get it immediately after locking your money. Which means you get to use the interest for whatever you want and also patiently wait for the due date of the money you locked. This feature is useful for those who have some amount of money they are not using and they feel like they might misuse it. So you can lock it up and enjoy instant interest.
Like I said, there are lot of features on piggyvest but what I like about this app and their team, it is there customer support system. it is swift, if you have any issues, just reach out to them through calls, e-mail or any of the social media handles, they would reply you instantly, it is like they are waiting for you to say something. It is the kind of app I would recommend to anyone willing to cultivate saving habit.
They also have investment opportunities, it is called investify. You get to buy something similar to stocks but it is not. It is like buying a tree, the maturity date has been set, so when the tree is ripe they sell it on your behalf. Before investing you already know the amount of profit you would get, so there is nothing hidden about it. There is a lot about the app and it has assisted me in ways I can't fully quantify with words
This write-up was inspired by Indiaunited contest titled "What is the best financial decision you have ever made?" in indiaunited community.
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