CHILDHOOD WISHES

Hello, beautiful people! Welcome to my blog. It's a pleasure to have you in this space. Once again, welcome 🤗

So I will be attempting the first question for this week's prompt.

What are the things you wish you had or did as kids but couldn't? What prevented you from doing those things, and how did it influence your life as an adult?

Most times, as adults, we look back at our childhood memories with nostalgia. We remember how it felt to be carefree.

However, we can also have some unfulfilled desires, missed opportunities, or things we wish we had or were exposed to, some of which have shaped the person we are today.

I wished as a kid I had a bank account and was taught the value of saving money. While growing up, I had a lot of money. My dad generously provided for me and my siblings; he used to give us substantial allowances to take to school.

I can still remember when five hundred naira notes were newly introduced (I think I was in primary four at the time). My dad would give two of my siblings and me five hundred naira or more to spend during break period; this money was aside from food and snacks that we would take to school, and at that time, five hundred naira was an amount that was considered lavish because those were the days that fifty naira could buy you different varieties of snacks during break.

I have never been a big eater; I can't remember finishing my food in my primary school days, so I did not spend much of it; instead, I would return home with the money untouched.

There is this particular plate that was in my mom's cupboard; the plate was at the tail end of the cupboard, so it became my secret vault, along with all the other money I got from different people that came to visit us at home.

Unfortunately for me, some of my uncles were living with us at that time, so they would ask me to borrow them and they would pay me back when I grew up, and this continued till after my secondary school days.

I remember while I was in secondary school how I wanted to have an account but was told to wait till a graduate.

If only I had a bank account then and knew about savings and investments, I would have become a millionaire at a young age. It may seem laughable and inconceivable, but you cannot blame a young, ambitious mind for thinking so big.

Whenever I remember the kind of money I had as a kid, it usually pains me. Maybe I would have had serious money and wouldn't be struggling looking for money for business.

This made me make a promise to myself while growing up that I would teach my children about finance and inculcate the habit of saving and investing.

There is no better leverage you can bequeath to your child or dependent than financial literacy.

This is my entry into this week's prompt.