I Earn a ?60,000 Salary and I Want to Get Married This Year, as Age Is No Longer My Friend. How Would Budgeting Help Me Actualise This?

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Question

I earn a salary of ?60,000 monthly and I want to get married this year, as age is no longer my friend. How would budgeting help me actualise this?

Answer

A budget helps you to plan how to spend your income. It helps you to make the best use of your money.?

While it is great to build a habit of keeping a budget, it's unlikely that a budget will help you to be financially ready to get married.?

Is ?60,000 enough for you on a monthly basis? If the answer is no, then it is unlikely that it will be enough for you to cater for a family as well, unless your spouse/partner is also able to support you financially.??

We’ll therefore recommend that you source for an additional source of income or salary increase before considering marriage.?

Should you insist that you would like to go ahead to marry even with your current salary, then you can decide how much income you want to keep aside on a monthly basis to save towards this. Also while planning the ceremony that may come with the marriage, it is important that you cut your coat according to your cloth and plan accordingly.

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Question

I bought some MTN shares during their offer scheme some months back and I have been enjoying dividends. I want to buy more shares so my dividends can increase but I am a bit confused about how to go about it. Do I buy directly from the NSE or do I contact my stockbrokers?

Answer

Stocks cannot be bought and sold by retail investors via the NSE (Nigerian Stock Exchange). Rather, stock brokers trade on the exchange on behalf of retail investors.?

To buy new shares, you can open an account with fintech apps.?

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Question

Please, what are the best ways to invest in government treasury bills?

Answer

Government treasury bills are a form of fixed-income investment. They are also called T-bills for short. Fixed income investments are investments that yield fixed returns for an investor at fixed intervals, just as the name suggests. Fixed income investments are often categorised based on the tenure/length of the investment. There are treasury bills, treasury notes, and treasury bonds. T-bills have a maturity period ranging from four weeks to one year. Treasury notes have a maturity period ranging between two to ten years. Treasury bonds have the longest maturity period of twenty to thirty years. They are considered a safe form of investment because it is a form of “loan” to the government.

Government/sovereign T-bills are offered for sale in two markets: the?primary market?and the?secondary market.

The?primary market?is where the government’s first issue is sold to high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and asset management companies. These parties who buy in the primary market now resell in the?secondary market?to retail investors like me and you.

Therefore, in order to buy government fixed income securities like T-bills, you can do so by reaching out to an asset management company or your bank.

Alternatively, one can buy bond ETFs that track the investment results of a bond index. Examples of these include GOVT ETF, VTIP ETF, etc. This will also give you access to the foreign market.

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We often get questions regarding how to plan your finances to align with your relocation plans, especially for students seeking to further their studies. As always, we have heard you, and we have put together an e-book to help you navigate this. Simply follow this link, to get your FREE copy of the e-book:?The Japa Encyclopedia.