I watched a video of Adekunle Gold’s new song Money. If you don’t him, welcome to my world, but you can google him!
In this video, he had A LOT of glass jars stuffed with money, hanging from the ceiling and on shelves all over the room. It reminded me of the popular ‘kolo’ a traditional way of putting money away in mud containers, what is called the piggy bank in other climes.
Now there are sophisticated and even branded ‘kolos’ to help you save or/and teach our children the value of money. I love the video of a client who took the initiative to use the kolo to teach her daughter the value of money, to save for a goal-raising fund for her business(yes she has a business called)
This is aside from other savings and investments the parents have for their child, so the kolo is not a primary saving for her.
The point? Some of us are struggling with our money Behaviour, struggling to save with the financial institutions because of the discipline required to commit to being a different person, to be the investor we wish to be but are not ready to act like.
Saving in a kolo can show us a huge amount of money we could have ‘wasted’, money we didn’t realize we could have set aside, saved and invested. It can be a real epiphany for a lot of us. But saving in kolos, just like investments, comes with its features and risks.
For the feature of convenience, that is having the kolo in our room, ready for us to drop ‘spare change’, it presents the risk of theft by others. A few of us have lost ‘money’ this way, money we didn’t even know we could have until the kolo.
Like investments, it is a risk you must acknowledge and prepare for.
It is very much like saving with the co-operatives too. There is the risk of members not paying one month or the other, especially where it is an informal ‘Ajo’, where direct debit from salary is not possible or difficult.
But the biggest issue is the loss of potential earning on your money on money saved. It is interest-free money at the end of the period, and with inflation, it’s money losing value. It can mean little, especially for someone still learning the ropes with savings, however, it is a downside to using the piggy bank.
Regardless, I acknowledge that many will find the kolo/piggy bank, as a stepping stone to saving than setting up a direct debit. I still recall a potential client refusing to fund a dedicated savings account program just because she wouldn’t be able to touch it for months! She wanted to access it anytime and therein lies the root behavior that must be addressed.
There is nothing really wrong with money. It’s our Behaviour to money that needs to be addressed.
How is your money Behaviour?
Tolu Dima-Okojie.
Amazing read. My daughter Moyo is just 5 years old but she was able to save N25,000 in her money box from August to Decemeber, 2017. I was proud of her indeed and I could see the excitement in her when it was time for us to open the box up.
I like how you’ve helped us analyse the risks. I became scared of letting her use it ehrn I started to read gory stories on social media of how a box with a lot of money in it was lifted and stolen.
There’s also the issue of money behaviour and how it affects the savings culture in the first place…I think it will also affect how people invest if its not tackled from the roots.
I am of the opinion that investment is the ultimate goal or vision but the savings culture and becoming immune to ‘laulau spending’ needs to be cultivated little by little..this is how people get to respect their investments and not make wrong decisions because they have learnt to value money.
Nice take on savings!