I almost didn’t write this piece because I assumed EVERYONE would have heard of the video of a lady mocking Nigerian Singer and Actor Banky W and his wife Adesuwa, for driving what she called a dead beat car after forming ‘hype hype hype’.

 

Most recent is another video that surfaced about a Rapper- Speeddarlington who was allegedly driving his Benz in the US as a cab driver, with the ‘cameraman’ accusing him of deceiving Nigerians of living a good life….

 

Bottom line, they are videos that bring to our consciousness the depth (or lack thereof) of our understanding about wealth and building wealth.

 

You see, what really was happening was peer pressure at its worst. Peer pressure from ‘fans’ and society to look a certain way.

 

There were so many comments for and against, with some adding the impact of the entertainment industry in creating the ‘expectation’ for the lifestyle people should live.

 

I think we all have a hand in this. It is so easy to expect that ‘uncle’ to help you here and there, ‘Shebi he is rich’? It’s so easy to expect your ‘friend’ should be able to do certain things for you as she just ‘came into some money’.

 

We often erroneously assume what people earn and what they spend on. Ask yourself, do people think you are ‘balling’ and you are not?

 

You alone know where your shoe hurts.

 

But the bottom line for me is, you really never know what another person’s net worth is and the cash flow from same.

 

The person in your office or the woman who owns the business next to you might have come into an inheritance that fuels their lifestyle, so it’s not what you see(salary or traffic flow at her shop) that fuels her living expenses.

 

Even worse if you try to ‘match’ that lifestyle then you ultimately might NOT be building wealth but ‘looking’ like you are. It is not the same thing.

 

If they decide not to let the world know, it really is no real concern of ours. Even the Forbes richest persons’ list are estimates. Billionaires typically don’t go to Forbes and say, I am worth X Billion, add me to your list(except maybe Donald Trump…!). In fact, Forbes indicate some threaten to sue!

 

When you look down on the next person on their ‘perceived’ wealth, remind yourself that you really don’t know the details, you are only using what you see outside to ‘judge’.

 

It’s the same reason when using The MBQ, we say it is a self assessment oooo, you don’t get to decide for people and tell them they are this and that. You don’t know the details of their finances.

 

Frank Clark said, ‘many folks think they aren’t good at earning money, when what they don’t know is how to use it’. This is why money and investing is personal to you. Copying and pasting is not often the best strategy. You need a personal wealth building strategy if you are to build wealth. Let’s talk about your wealth building strategy!

 

Tolu Dima-Okojie.