Photo by Obi Nwokedi - “Barbie & Ken's Nigerian Traditional Wedding.”  FULL ALBUM HERE

“O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord ?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.”

Proverbs 30 vs 7-9 (New Living Translation)

Dear First name / Friend, 

HAPPY NEW… FINANCIAL YEAR!

I know, I know. It's not a real holiday or celebration, but imagine if it were?

Firstly, how have you been? I've been thinking of you and what this letter would be about and hopefully it'll resonate with you. I hope you enjoyed the last Good Letter and Good Letter Round-up… did you check out the “Sweet Melodies” song I shared? Give it a listen as you read this letter. And as always, don't forget to forward this Good Letter on to your other friends and your family members so they can enjoy the laughter and encouragement too.

Disclaimer

Before I start let me just say this - I am in no way a professional finance-somebody, any information shared in this letter is based on a few things that I've learnt. Please oh! If you're unsure about anything mentioned in this letter, do your research and/or seek professional financial advice. Remember there will always be risk associated with investing etc.

💰

It's a warm Saturday morning in June somewhere in London, and everyone in the two-bedroom flat is hustling and bustling, getting ready for the wedding. Children are sat in the living room watching The Power Rangers at maximum volume, mirrors in the rooms are occupied by aunts carefully applying charcoal-black lip-liner to their full African lips, filled with red-red lipstick; vibrant ankara (African print) outfits for the children and expensive hand-stoned, white Swiss lace for the adults, in all shapes, sizes and designs. Women with gold gélés (head wrap) tied on their heads and the men with their matching gold fila (cap). The crowded flat is full of summer joy, excitement and anticipation - anticipation for the wedding of the year; the invite reads: 

“The family of Black Barbie and the family of Black Ken invite you to the union of our children, Black Barbie and Black Ken.”

It's a known fact, that these people throw the best parties and as the fine specimen you are, you know your dance steps at the “till dawn” reception party are gonna be LIT! Your komole (dancing) will be the talk of the town and will guarantee you to take home some cool-cash from being “sprayed”.

Spray, Spraying, Sprayed

The joys of growing up in a Nigerian home is going to Nigerian parties and at Nigerian parties, if you can dance and dance well, you just might be getting sprayed.

Spraying is literally the distribution of dollar bills on a person as they dance. By distribution I mean, dropping, throwing, placing money on a person. As a child, I'd see the stamp and swipe technique being used by naughty little kids. The strategy requires standing next to the aunty or uncle being sprayed, and as the bills drop to the floor of the school assembly hall, then stamp your foot on the note, slide back with the bill firmly under your shoe, with a smooth moon-walk that would have impressed Michael Jackson. The aim would be to get as far away as possible from the aunty or uncle, to then pick up the bill without being noticed, but not too far away that you miss your next “stamp and swipe” opportunity.

The aunty dancing with the coolness of the deep-freezer in every African home, decides that her two-stepping is enough and the appointed money picker hands her her spray-money in a plastic bag. Aunty rummages through the bag assessing the currencies that filled it, she could have sworn that she was sprayed a £50 note… so where is it?

Three words: Stamp and Swipe.

First name / Friend, this is what it's like when we don't have our finances in order. 

We'll dance to the tune of hard work and hustle culture, yet at the end of the month, we won't know where our money went.

Three words: Stamp and Swipe.

Stamp & Swipe: Where is your money?

2020 was the year of learning and improving and if there's one thing I know a lot people learnt was that they had no money and needed better financial habits.

I embarked on my enlightened, Christ-centred wealth journey back in 2017/2018, thanks to my church offering a 9-week personal finance course for free. I spoke about the testimony of these sessions and what I learnt in my “There's Rice At Home” series (you'll have access to it again soon… the website is almost done). Since this course it's become an interest of mine to share the information with those around me, especially people younger than me. I say it over and over again, had I known what I knew now at 18, I would be a certified baller today. But wait… there's more.

For me and by God's grace only, wealth isn't about amassing things, having a diversified investment portfolio or being a baller - if anything, I wanted, and still want better financial habits so I can be in a position to give without a care in the world. For real, to be able to give to whoever needs help, without reservation and the worry of not being able to “afford” to help… imagine.

We know that God loves a cheerful giver, we understand that we're to give as He leads, there are examples in the Bible of the early church selling their belongings and using the money to support each other. The early church did this so they could all focus on knowing the message of Jesus, without the interruptions of the world calling for their attention i.e. bills, eating, etc… basically everything for everyone was covered. These things can only be done because of God, should be done for God (not for human recognition) and with God - He gives the gift, surely He knows how you should use it.

BUT First name / friend, we can't get here if we don't faithfully steward (manage) what God has given us.  

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”

1 Peter 4 vs 10 (New Living Translation)

How to Avoid “Stamp & Swipe” Wahala (trouble)

Before you continue, I've prepared an informative Resources folder to help you kickstart your journey. In it you'll find - The "There's Rice At Home" Workbook, List of Recommended Apps for Savings & Investing and a List of Additional Financial Teaching Sites/Pages (affiliate links included).

Steps to Avoid “Stamp & Swipe”:

1. Pray - Ask God for the wisdom and resources you need, to learn to get better at managing what He has given you. I wrote a prayer at the start of my journey, you can find the prayer in the workbook.
2. Budget - There are many budgeting templates and methods out there, I use the zero-based budgeting method. Find what works for you and fine tune it to meet your needs and goals. Your budget is your money map so that at the start of each month you'll know exactly where your money is going. Remember to cut your “Aso Ebi” according to your size.
3. Give faithfully. No explanation needed, except, inquire of God how He wants you to give.
4. Pay Yourself - Yes, allocate your personal spending fund for the month before allocating your savings and paying debt. Don't leave yourself to last, you'll end up taking money from other areas if you do not pay yourself after giving. Be realistic, but don't “over-do”. Be honest.
5. Save! Have an Emergency Savings Account. Start with saving £1,000/$1,000 and then work on topping it up with 3-6 months worth of living expenses. Prioritise your savings.
6. Use the Debt Free Snowball to become Debt Free. Personally, I equate not paying what you owe as stealing. BURH! Think about it, there's an agreement in place, whether written or verbal, and it's important to honour your word. If you owe someone or something i.e. student loans, pay it. Having debt is what's holding a lot of us back from doing amazing things.
7. Investments - I see investments as another way to save and increase income streams. As part of my journey I did a bit of reading before I embarked on investing and I'll encourage you do the same. I signed up to Clever Girl Finance as a paid member and accessed their easy-to-follow short courses. Thankfully, membership on Clever Girl Finance is now FREE! First name / friend, if you are interested in investing and have spent time reading to understand what it's all about, then check out my recommendations in the Resources Folder.
8. Be disciplined, but also be thoughtfully-flexible. Life happens… basically LOL.

So What Happened to Aunty and the missing £50?

Aunty never found the £50, but she didn't dwell on it too long, instead she drank a cold super malt, ate some jollof rice, and got back on the dance floor when the live band took over from the DJ. So long as the music played, and she had energy to dance, the spraying would continue (this time she'll watch out for the “Stamp & Swipe” culprits).

So First name / Friend, Dance, Get Sprayed, Save & Repeat.

Let us enjoy life and as we do so, let God find us ready to be used by Him, to share the gifts He has generously given to us.

Signed, A Reformed “Stamp & Swipe” Culprit. 🤣

P.S. Spray the money, share the money and share this Good Letter with your friends and family!

💰 

Disclaimer (again): And no, I didn't take anyone's £50 oh!! It's just an example lol.

NOTICE: Affiliate links might be included in this Good Letter. This means if you click on the link(s) and take action/make a purchase I'll receive a commission.

Registered company 12376045, Copyright © 2020, The Word of Mouth Co. Ltd, All rights reserved.