An unofficial financial Advice

An unofficial Financial Advice

Dear reader, I am not a financial adviser but I think you and the world needs to hear this story.

When I was in the university,

I had this friend but I will like to hide her identity.

So for the purpose of this story, I will call her "Chioma" (Not her real name)

Chioma and I were in the same department and she is one of the happiest human beings I know, she is always happy and full of life.

I can't remember ever seeing her angry or looking frustrated. I observed her to be focused, diligent and a smart lady.

I really admired her cheerfulness, diligence focus level and intelligence, which were what drew me to wanting to have a friendship with her.

Sometimes in our second year;

On one faithful day, I borrowed her notebook for a particular course so as to complete my own note.

Her notebook was an 8 in one notebook. I.e It's a thick cover notebook that is demarcated into 8 parts and she used each part for a particular course.

After I finished completing the note on the course for which I initially borrowed her notebook, I decided to check where she stopped on her other notes on other courses to be sure my own is complete.

In the process of flipping through the pages, I saw a paper stuck in between one of the pages with a headline that says "Death certificate"

That caught my attention...

I took the paper out and started reading the details.

It happened to be the death certificate of someone who bears the same surname as that my friend. It stated the date of death, time of death, cause of death, venue of death etc and the date of death shows that the person died years back.

So I asked her who the person was and she told me that it was her Mum.

I was shocked to hear that, I never knew her mum was dead. So I sympathized with her.

Fast forward to our 3rd Year

I visited her hostel one day, she was trying to get something done, so I had to wait for her to settle.

While waiting for her, my eyes sighted her devotional booklet.

It wasn't the same with the one I was using or the ones I was used to seeing, so I picked the devotional booklet up to check out the bible study content and structure.

As I was flipping through the pages, a white sheet with a handwritten note fell out from the booklet to the floor.

I picked the paper to put it back into the booklet but the content of the paper caught my attention.

So I had to read it out of curiosity...I know I wasn't meant to do that ??

So as I read the content I realised it was "A letter to God" that my friend "Chioma" wrote.

In the letter, she was like

"Dear God,

Please help me, you are the only one that can help me bear this burden.

You know our parents are dead and as the first child out of six children, I have a lot of responsibility ahead of me.

Please help me to remain focused and graduate with good grades so as to be able to get a great job and take care of my younger ones ..."

I read the letter over again and couldn't believe that. Does it mean that Chioma is an Orphan?

Before then, I already knew she was the first child out of six children, they had only one boy who was the last child and still in primary school while the rest are all girls and she had two siblings who recently got admitted to study Law and medicine respectively ...

So when she came back to the room, I showed her the paper and said

"Sorry, I was flipping through your devotional booklet and this fell out from it, sorry I read it without your permission but are you the one that wrote this? I mean are you an Orphan, I thought it was only your mum that you lost?

She said "Yes, my dad is dead too, he died two years after my mum died"

I was shocked to hear that...

I would never have ever known if I hadn't found out myself, it's something she never mentioned.

And she was always cheerful and happy like one who never had any atom of worry.

All I could do at that point was sympathize with her and apologize to her that I never knew before now...I felt like a bad friend for not knowing all this while.

After sympathizing with her, I said

"Thank God you have good relatives, for them to be sponsoring you and your siblings in school, even as 3 of you are currently in the university and two are doing law and medicine which are expensive courses."

She scoffed and told me "Which relatives are good? If it were left for my uncles and aunties alone...I would have been a local market woman or petty trader by now, I would not have seen the four walls of a university talk more of my siblings"

I asked her "So, how are you and your siblings able to be full-time students and studying your dream courses?

She said that her parents actually died when she and her siblings were still in the nursery, primary and secondary school respectively.

But her dad set up Educational fund insurance for them while he was alive. And he made her the signatory to the Insurance. i.e she has to be the one to sign before the fees are released.

So that's the money that she and her siblings has been using to put themselves through school for years now.

But the problem now is that they have depended on the insurance money for years and the remaining insurance money won't be enough to train all of them through school.

It can still see her and the two that are currently in the university through school, but after that, it might not be able to cover for the university education of the youngest three. So that's why she is praying for God to help her get a good job and establish when she finishes school so she can be able to take care of the needs of her younger ones and their education.

Wow, all I could say at that point was "Thank God for the wisdom upon your dad" It might have been a different story. I prayed that God will grant her her heart desires to establish her to be a strong pillar to help her younger ones stand.

Chioma worked really hard while in school and even learned some advanced skillset.

Well, we all later graduated, God's grace found her and her paths got favoured.

Now, she is currently working and earning a salary of approximately 1 million naira per month and currently working on setting up a business.

I am really happy for her, she is now established and able to help her younger ones stand.

But in all of this, I took away a great lesson on the "Power of Planning"

If Chioma's dad hadn't set up Educational fund insurance for them, what would have become of her and her siblings?

He understood the fact that change is constant and he decided to secure his children's future in case of uncertainties.

He didn't just depend on the fact that he was rich and could afford to train his children to school, but also thought of what if he is not there?

What steps are you taking now to secure your future?

What investments are you making now to secure your future?

What investments are you making now to secure your children's future?

Do you have an investment portfolio?

How many insurance plans do you have?

What legal steps are you taking to protect that business of yours, Or you are waiting for when someone will drag you to court in the future?

The only thing that is constant in this life is change.

How prepared will you be when the change comes?

As you live in the moment, learn to plan for the future.

Ponder on this...

?? Faith Ezennaya