Sorry Guys,
Been on a trip and neck deep in work. I'll review ur questions and revert ASAP.

mercylicious:
Wow!
This is good.

I just learnt something on empowerment.

Am thinking of doing things for my village ppl. It seems its only my family ppl that are educated.I was thinking of giving scholarship to indigent female students, but with your explanation, indigent or female is not good enough, the person must be sound. If I train sound ppl, I can get them to train other ppl and with time, it will spread everywhere.

How do you think I can effectively run a scholarship scheme for abt 5 ppl for a start. You can start as another topic if its not fit in this topic. You can answer anytime during your free time.

I will like to respectfully disagree with our esteemed lecturer here. The weakest amongst require the greatest assistance. The weakest are usually the indigent female! As long as she is not a dullard, and can cope with academic stress, please help. The biggest predictor of success is willingness to work hard. That can be instilled in the awardees.

Some questions please. Where is fuel for generator used at home classified? Where is monthly stipend to parents classified? If am a civil servant and I don't have any business, what makes up my working capital?

Thanks

@OP. May God bles u richly. Plz i need vr email .

Ok. Let me see if I can run through some of the questions asked.

But first,
I'm sorry that I won't be able to always reply to questions or the time it takes between questions and reply. That is why I sought to make this topic interactive so that each person can bring their perspective. Sorry I'm a bit of a recluse.
As we all have different lives and circumstances, it's important to note that the WIRES are more like guidelines and each person has to ADAPT it to their circumstances.
The WIRES principle is not a product of motivational books or positive thinking it's based on real world experience . This is why I stated that it's gonna take all your strength and discipline to adhere to it.

I will tell you abit about how the WIRES came about:
In my social circle, there are expectations and fierce competition. On the one hand, you have the Old Money (people who over decades continue to remain successful) and the New Money (people who strike it rich suddenly but go boom and often go bust). One thing that is common to both groups is 'EXPECTATION'. You are expected to attend each other's events and are judged by the type of gift you give. The type of car you drive, where you live and where you own property etc. the schools your kids attend within and outside Nigeria etc.

To a lot of you, this may seem vain but to the members of this social class, it determines everything, especially for their kids. Why? Because the school your child attends determines the kinds of friends he / she has and this determines the type of contacts available later in life, even future suitors.

Over time, you see people come and go. The noisiest person suddenly becomes very quiet and hardly socializes because his container has been siezed by customs. You hear that your contractor friend asked his son to return the car he bought for him so they can sell and raise cash for urgent stuff.

People come and go but guess what, some people stay constant. There are those that never ever get broke. Never have to change their lifestyle. Year after year irrespective of the prevailing economic conditions around them, they stay afloat.
I learnt that Old Money people had a technique, an unwritten principle they live by that guarantees that no matter what, they stay afloat. Hence I started getting closer to those of them in my social circle, probing and seeking asnwers. I found that most of them live by the points which I articulated in the WIRES.

by writing about it, I've felt a burden lift off my shoulders. The WIRES does not teach you how to generate wealth, it only serves as a guideline that helps you PRESERVE that wealth for as long as possible irrespective of prevailing economic realities.

@Cmeo
Congrats in running your own business. It's actually the best decision one can make in Nigeria provided you provide sought services or products. I find that Nigerians are very easy to please. However, I will recommend that since you are still a startup you have to do your best to minimize overhead especially with regard to personnel. Invest in a few staff who you train personally at this beginning phase of your firm, few staff who you can adequately cater for financially come rain or sunshine. Now, as your income grows proportionally to your customer base, don't rush to employ more people, take a measured approach, increase workload of existing staff but add something to their pay. This way, you can have a 'Sprout' season in your company before you stabilize. A sprout period is a time in which a young firm breaks even, starts getting profitable and building an initial capital base which serves as a financial buffer before scaling up operations. This is an excellent time for corporate strategic long term planning. In summary:
Keep your overhead low (operational costs such as vehicle etc)
Push to get the best out of your current staff without hiring more.
Actively mark out a 'Sprout' timeline for your firm in which you strive to be as profitable as possible while running very low operational costs. Hence strive to build initial capital buffer of much needed funds for scaling up your operations.

@dtphilosopher
Having your Savings in a Mutual Fund is not bad. I do my savings in an interest yielding bank account by one of the new generation banks. My mutual fund investments are investments. So it varies. However, the most important things are that:
Your savings are easy to access and structured to yield interest (without having to be actively invested)
Your savings are only accessed when you don't have an income source (for example, if you lose your job)
Your savings must not be applied towards anything that has potential to yield income. I.e your savings are not for investing. This minimizes risk of losing it. Rather invest from your Investment or Workimg Capital account.

@mercylicious
Starting a scholarship for 5. My advise is that you evaluate the antecedents of the people. For example, if you wish to provide tertiary education scholarship, then evaluate the WAEC perfomance of the intended beneficiaries. Also, you need to evaluate the intangible qualities that each possesses. You can do this by interviewing the prospective beneficiaries.
Because you don't have all the money in the world, you can't possibly sponsor every Indigent student's education. Hence its important that your limited resources go to persons who are passionate about education, hardworking and determined to succeed. Hence, if you send these ones to school, they will succeed and in Turn assist others, hence there is a multiplier effect.

@mfm04622
Yes, the weakest and most vulnerable need assistance. I agree with you. However, you also said something about willingness and I totally agree too. Empowerment is different from charity. If she wishes to be charitable, of course she can find a way to provide temporary succor to these vulnerable people. However, empowerment is a different ball game. Let me give you an example, a colleague's wife got a very nice househelp who they sent to school. They treated her as their own, she finished her primary and secondary education and they were willing to help her further it to university level. Guess what? Her parents came promptly for their daughter saying that she has suitors seeking to marry her. My colleague and his wife refused but we're flabbergasted when the girl actually agreed, insisting that she will go with her parents.
After this experience, my colleague vowed not to cover school expenses for future domestic helps, rather choosing to pay them fixed monthly salaries.
What I'm trying to say here is that you have to really find people who are passionate about the help you wish to render when it comes to empowerment. So that your efforts won't be in vain. By empowering someone, you expect that person to empower others who will inturn empower others. However, if you waste your LIMITED resources (because you can't possibly solve all the world's problems) on the wrong people, you are doing a grave injustice to those who truly deserve such opportunity.

Again @mfm04622
Like I said, the WIRES are more like guidelines, it is left for you to determine each case based on your unique circumstances. I cannot therefore categorize fuel money and monthly stipends for you. You are the one paying so you know what the purpose is. Let me use myself for example and illustrate how it can vary:
My Working Capital is meant only for generating income or facilitating the generation of income. Hence, knowing that lacking power will affect my home productivity which ultimately affects my work productivity, I will budget a fixed amount for fuel from my working capital. If your family lacks power especially at night, your kids will be restless and your wife will be very irritated. Their unhappiness will inadvertently affect the smooth running of your home which in turn affects your productivity. Once your productivity is affected, your income is threatened. Hence, on the above basis, I will mark out money for diesel for my generator from working capital.
On the other hand, if my generator is put on at odd hours or unessential periods for leisure, I may have to reconsider the funding source for diesel to cover these periods. Hence, I can reach into my rewards account for such because I know that the generator running within such nonessential periods does not affect my productivity, hence, my income is not threatened.
Hence, funding for running my gen from 6pm to 11pm daily may come from my WC while funding for running it so that my wife watches Telemundo from 9am to 1pm on Saturday will come from my Rewards account.

Stipend to parents also falls into the same category as above. If your parents are broke, you will be distracted and if you are distracted, you will be less productive and this threatens your income. Hence I will advise that.
A FIXED monthly stipend comes from your Working Capital Account for your parents.
However, if there is an unplanned expense that suddenly comes up which you have to make on your parents, you must look at other funding sources.
Finally, as someone who is a civil servant without a business, your Working Capital is 40% of your Take Home. It must be applied to facilitate the day to day running of your life. Working Capital is best suited to budgeted month,y expenses that are not sudden such as food, transport etc. Working Capital HATES surprises. You have to evaluate your monthly recurrent expenses so that you can structure appropriately.

Thanks.

@ Op i have a humble request. Plz i want u 2 be my financial advisory mentor. I have a start up and ur post are timely. I've spent d past 2 months preparing my self for d world of business ownership via books like Richdad series, richest man in babylon and many others. Please, i need your email as i wil need guidance in my foray into B and I quandrants.

I replied your mail.

Good day Sir, am yet to get d reply.

Thanks so much YoungExec. This is very educating.

@OP, APPRECIATION: thanks 4 dis insightful post. I adapted it to suit me this way. WISER-T. Working capital, invest, savins, empownt, reward and Tithe. This is helping me a great deal in my biz. Thanks.

Very nice post.

Learn from my mistakes by not putting all your eggs in one basket and loosing the basket

Yep, wish I had you then, but I was young and aggressive and flamboyant, but the truth is, going broke is beyond terrible.

It just feels like a swift breeze at -10 degrees blowing your bare chest outside in the dark.

Had to start over and diversify, I actually don't spend on wants at all anymore, okay maybe once in a while, but rarely. The plan is to invest it all in low risk ventures like fixed deposits before I turn 40.

If I however decide to go into business again though, I will be following your disciplined WIRE approach, it's awesome.

For now, I live like a hermit and save 90% of anything that mistakenly comes my way, while single and not looking of course.

NoMoreTrolling:
Very nice post.

Learn from my mistakes by not putting all your eggs in one basket and loosing the basket

Yep, wish I had you then, but I was young and aggressive and flamboyant, but the truth is, going broke is beyond terrible.

It just feels like a swift breeze at -10 degrees blowing your bare chest outside in the dark.

Had to start over and diversify, I actually don't spend on wants at all anymore, okay maybe once in a while, but rarely. The plan is to invest it all in low risk ventures like fixed deposits before I turn 40.

If I however decide to go into business again though, I will be following your disciplined WIRE approach, it's awesome.

For now, I live like a hermit and save 90% of anything that mistakenly comes my way, while single and not looking of course.

I know how you feel and am glad you were able to pick yourself up again. You learnt the hard way. In many ways, it's better not to ever have tasted wealth than to have done so and lost it. The psychological trauma is often too much for many to bear but you took a very constructive approach.

Once you have the resources, it seems all the problems in the world present themselves for you to solve. People often make the mistake of taking on too much responsibility forgetting that when they are drained financially, there still will be problems but this time they can't solve them.

I'm glad you landed on your feet.

Wow! I just read through your entire post n comments n can't help but commend you for sharing this practical piece on financial literacy freely.

Others and even i would've been tempted to package this into a seminar that would cost between 10 -15k or more depending on targeted audience n place.

I'm following keenly n may God continue to enlarge your coast.

Thanks.
Glad it has helped someone. So many practice it but never share.

@YoungExec, I really appreciate your write up and hope you continue it.
I'm learning a whole lot from you and you won't believe what impact you are making with this.
Thank you.

@ YoungExec and other posters on this thread: I must commend you all for your efforts. I started applying this principle about 2 months ago; although, I live outside Nigeria. Applying this principle has been quite tough, but as you rightly said: it takes discipline; however, i'm quite conflicted as to where to start investing funds already saved in Nigeria or in the U.S where I am currently because i'm not versed at all in making investments . I would like to do both, but i would like some ideas as to to balance investing in both countries. After all those in the U.S know the struggle, and those back home know how it is over there too.

Thanks.

mexxy1:
@YoungExec, I really appreciate your write up and hope you continue it.
I'm learning a whole lot from you and you won't believe what impact you are making with this.
Thank you.

I'm glad it has helped... I know it's tough at the beginning but believe me, if you stick to it, it can literally turn your finances around.

OzReal:
@ YoungExec and other posters on this thread: I must commend you all for your efforts. I started applying this principle about 2 months ago; although, I live outside Nigeria. Applying this principle has been quite tough, but as you rightly said: it takes discipline; however, i'm quite conflicted as to where to start investing funds already saved in Nigeria or in the U.S where I am currently because i'm not versed at all in making investments . I would like to do both, but i would like some ideas as to to balance investing in both countries. After all those in the U.S know the struggle, and those back home know how it is over there too.
Thanks.

You want to start investing saved funds. Let's categorize:
A) you want to invest in Nigeria
1. Minimal Risk, Average Yields
Do instruments like TBills, FGN Bonds, Mutual Funds, FD. You can set these up with with your Nigerian Bank even from th States.
2. High Risk, Great profit or terrible loss
You can invest in Equities, invest in business debt or equity funding (especially as an Angel or through Private equity VC)
B) you want to invest in the US
1. Minimal Risk, Low Yields
Do Us Treasury notes, bonds, credit union pool, state bonds, corporate bonds (fortune 500's)
2. High Risk, great reward or terrible loss
Invest in equties, businesses (via Angel or VC networks), consumer credit

However, you can think of very creative ways to link both countries. One way is to extend consumer funding locally in Nigeria at 15% interest while sourcing the funds from the U.S. at 2.5% interest or less.

@ YoungExec. Thanks; your efforts and opinions are highly appreciated. Hope you keep contributing as I hope to learn more.

OzReal:
@ YoungExec. Thanks; your efforts and opinions are highly appreciated. Hope you keep contributing as I hope to learn more.

Thanks, sorry I stopped posting, went on an extended hiatus.

Seun
Lalastica

I love this thread!!

Please no lalasticlala, pushing this theead to front page will ruin it. Folks that need it will find it.

ifyalways:
I love this thread!!

Please no lalasticlala, pushing this theead to front page will ruin it. Folks that need it will find it.

Supported. This thread has no business on the front page else, it will be ruined.
@YoungExec, we are still waiting for more. Thanks so far.

Very practical and applicable. I. Like this.

Which one again is front page will ruin it? Are you babies that cant see valuable information and take it and weed the noise. The op rightly said he wanted to share a secret that is not commonly explained and now that you have heard it, you want it to remain in investment section alone. If someone didn't comment on this thread in 2016 most of you won't have ever seen this thread.

Parisfran:
Which one again is front page will ruin it? Are you babies that cant see valuable information and take it and weed the noise. The op rightly said he wanted to share a secret that is not commonly explained and now that you have heard it, you want it to remain in investment section alone. If someone didn't comment on this thread in 2016 most of you won't have ever seen this thread.

Check properly and you'll see my previous comment on this thread was made on 14TH JUNE 2015.
The moment this thread gets to front page it will be completely messed up and finding valuable information will mean you have to read from the first page to the last.
My advice, if you feel there are people who might find this relevant is, that you mention them in your post or share a statement so your followers can see and read.
When the Nairaland Contractors lounge got to the front page it almost became irrelevant.
Same thing has happened to Ymodulus' thread on his business experiences of 2015.

Go check them out.

YoungExec, come on man, more. . .

I think the thread has developed nicely. What matters most is implementation. Remember 'No Pain, No Gain'.
This takes a lot of discipline, hurts like hell at the start but pays of over time.
I'll also advise people who are starting to not be so literal with the points, try to adapt the WIRES to your own unique circumstances.if you need to adjust certain aspects of it please do so.

Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!

Standing ovation for YoungExec. God bless you and yours. Blessings come in different dimensions. For me, your write up is a blessing and an excellent way to start the year.

Having read your write-up, i've classified my entire fund into WIRES (opened two additional bank accounts yesterday and moved the funds respectively). However, I've been at cross road and i need your candid opinion......To lay a solid foundation for our children and also considering other benefits attached to being a US citizen, my wife and I have decided to birth our 2nd child in the US as we did the 1st child a couple of years ago. To be sincere, this really put my working capital under intense pressure then. I, infact , went borrowing to remain in business. I was able to stabilize my finances late 2014. I'd have been far ahead of my present status if I'd found this hidden treasure (W.I.R.E.S) few years back.

Now my question are;
1. Which part of WIRES do I categorise the funding/cost of birthing my child in the US this time around? Investment - right?

2. Ok if investment and you are to choose between spending about N3.5m - N4m on birthing your child in the US and using the same amount to complete a 4 blocks of 2-bedroom flats in a capital city, I pray, which would you go for?

P0rtHarc0urtB0y:
Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!

Standing ovation for YoungExec. God bless you and yours. Blessings come in different dimensions. For me, your write up is a blessing and an excellent way to start the year.

Having read your write-up, i've classified my entire fund into WIRES (opened two additional bank accounts yesterday and moved the funds respectively). However, I've been at cross road and i need your candid opinion......To lay a solid foundation for our children and also considering other benefits attached to being a US citizen, my wife and I have decided to birth our 2nd child in the US as we did the 1st child a couple of years ago. To be sincere, this really put my working capital under intense pressure then. I, infact , went borrowing to remain in business. I was able to stabilize my finances late 2014. I'd have been far ahead of my present status if I'd found this hidden treasure (W.I.R.E.S) few years back.

Now my question are;
1. Which part of WIRES do I categorise the funding/cost of birthing my child in the US this time around? Investment - right?

2. Ok if investment and you are to choose between spending about N3.5m - N4m on birthing your child in the US and using the same amount to complete a 4 blocks of 2-bedroom flats in a capital city, I pray, which would you go for?

Thanks and God Bless you too.

1. Definitely an Investment
That blue passport will open doors for your child while not losing anything at home. Last I checked, Dual Citizenship is permitted in Nigeria and some state governors are even dual citizens.
In the long run, when you are sending your child off to college, you will likely pay far less than foreign applicants since your kid is a citizen. So in the long run, it's an investment that yields economic benefits.

2. Prioritize the birth of the child over the building
- Investing in your children is ultimately the most important priority. The world is so competitive these days that you need to do your best to arm your children as best you can to enable them have competitive advantage over others. Years from now your kids will be forever grateful for the foundation you laid for them.
- Ask yourself, do I currently have a roof over my head? If my wife gives birth outside the U.S., is there another way I can secure dual citizenship for my child? The answers to these questions clearly show that while you can always build at a later date, your child can only be born once. Hence if you miss the chance to do this, you've missed it.
- Other than being born in the U.S., the only other path to citizenship is through legal immigration (marriage, work, asylum), the issue is that your child will have to denounce his/her Nigerian citizenship to get that (if they qualify). Whereas, being born could have conferred dual citizenship (the best of both worlds)
- the U.S. Elections are around the corner and one of the issues that is being hotly contended is the birth right citizenship, I know for sure that Republican candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump want to end it. in the event that a Republican wins the White Hiouse, that window may close. So you don't have all the time in the world.
- securing the land is advisable, factor that into your plans. Now that the Nigerian Economy is in dire straits, a lot of people are selling their Real Estate to shore up their liquidity. For instance, I just secure a property late last year at half the value because the seller was in a fix. Hence, it will be great if you secure the land and then plan on building at a later date.

In conclusion,
Make sure in pursuing this, you don't liquidate yourself entirely. Make sure your Savings (S) cushions the effect of the cost of the trip until you balance your finances again.

Goodluck!!

YoungExec:


Thanks and God Bless you too.

In conclusion,
Make sure in pursuing this, you don't liquidate yourself entirely. Make sure your Savings (S) cushions the effect of the cost of the trip until you balance your finances again.

Goodluck!!

Thank you boss.