Savings Saves

Growing up in a financially stable environment was one of the dreams I cherished as a child. I would spend hours in my imaginary world contemplating what I would do and how I would spend my money if I had it. Money is one of those things in life that is difficult to acquire but very easy to spend. So, the question became: how do I save money?

My parents always taught me the importance of saving money, especially for rainy days or times when money was scarce. During my secondary school years, I developed the habit of saving, particularly focusing on keeping new or clean notes. I would store them in a wooden box we call “Kolo” in Nigeria. Whenever the household was in dire need of money, I would break the box and hand over the savings to my mother. That became my routine. I was never drawn to flashy items like clothes, shoes, or watches; I preferred a simple life where I could get what I wanted when I needed it.

After secondary school, I opened my first bank account and started depositing my savings there. I managed to save money through menial jobs and sometimes received cash gifts from people, which I would set aside.

When I finally gained admission into a polytechnic, saving became a challenge. Every naira I earned seemed to have a pressing need, so I found it difficult to put anything aside. After graduating, I decided to learn more about investing and cryptocurrency as a means of saving money. I tried saving in stablecoins and buying other cryptocurrencies when their prices were low, selling them when prices were high to make a profit, but this strategy was not consistent due to other commitments at the time.

I explored several investment apps, including PiggyVest, Cowrywise, Bamboo, Afrinvestor 2.0, and Kebble. Each of these platforms has helped me save money effectively. You might wonder why I mentioned so many apps; the answer is simple: “one should not put all their eggs in one basket.”

Let’s start with PiggyVest, which allows me to save and earn higher returns than typical banks in Nigeria, and I can also save in dollars, though the returns are not as high as saving in Naira. Cowrywise enables me to save in mutual funds, which provided the best investment returns last year. I used Bamboo to invest in treasury bills and foreign shares, and I was pleased with their returns. Afrinvestor was my choice for saving in Nigerian stocks. Lastly, Kebble allowed me to invest in real estate both internationally and domestically. I sometimes found myself confusing investments with savings, but that’s because I was investing to save and saving to invest.

These methods were my saving strategies last year, and when I withdrew some of my savings, they proved to be incredibly helpful during times of need. Additionally, each platform has different maturity periods, which have helped manage my withdrawal habits.

This is my response to the Hive account@indiaunited community and find the link to the _Post to participate.