Take charge of your finances with this budget template
[bctt tweet=”Budgeting is not difficult, but sticking to the budget is where discipline comes in” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Most young women in their 20s and early 30s dream about quitting their jobs and starting their dream businesses. But if you ask them how they manage their salary, you will be met with “uuumms” and “eeers”. How will you manage your business income, expenses and plans of you can’t manage your salary? Welcome to feminancial management! As women, we need to stop being controlled by our finances and take charge of it! Let’s get started with 5 easy tips to begin taking charge of our money. 1. Budget How many sisters budget their finances? Let’s talk about Achieng. Achieng is 26 years old. She works in a bank and her career is just starting to take off. Achieng lives from hand to mouth waiting for her paycheck at the end of each month. She spends on hair (with the natural hair trending, products are not cheap hehe!), clothes, social hangouts and such like expenses. Come one week before pay day, she is already broke, with just enough cash to last her till exactly payday. Does Achieng budget her salary? No. Does she track her expenditure? No. Has she allocated some money for investments or savings? No. Her reason will be she just earns enough for her upkeep. Once she’s promoted or gets a better paying job, she will start saving. Chances are she will not. Actually, no, she won’t save. What am I saying here in short? Budget your income. Distinguish between your “wants” and “needs”. You want that designer bag, you don’t need it! Budget “Savings” as your first expense in your budget. 2. Discipline Once you budget your finances, you need the discipline to stick to the budget. Meet our other sister, Fatma. Fatma is a 24 year old entrepreneur. She does online jobs and her income is intermittent. Once she gets paid, what does she do? Remember that nice dress she saw in that shop? She buys it and spends and spends and spends till she is broke and waits for the next gig to come along. The truth is, budgeting is not difficult, but sticking to the budget is where the rubber meets the road. That’s where discipline comes in. Track and monitor your expenses on a daily or weekly basis to help you stick to the budget. Separate your finances as per your budget e.g. if it’s bills, pay them immediately your salary comes in, if it’s savings, put up a standing order to a separate Savings account Remind yourself of the target, create a board even with pictures of your goal to keep you focused. 3. Goals Have I told you about Maame? Maame is a 30 year old stay-at-home mum. She recently had her second baby and can’t wait to shed the baby weight. What’s her goal? To shed off 20 Kilograms. What is she doing about it? Nothing! What gyms or exercising videos has she researched on to start her off? None. Doesn’t that look like most of us making New Year resolutions? It’s definitely me. We make plans in our head about our financial goals but we don’t put in the work needed to reach those goals. After a few months, we’ve forgotten all about it or have a myriad of excuses on why we couldn’t attain our goals. What can we do about that? Write down your goals. Break it down into sub-goals with time frames. Lastly be realistic about your goals otherwise you will get discouraged along the way and quit. [bctt tweet=”Keeping up with the Kardashians is great but keep up with news and current trends too” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Knowledge Meet Bola, a 32 year old doctor. She is a high-flying woman with the world at her feet earning a six figure salary and living the life. What investments has she made since she started working 8 years ago? You guessed right! None! Why? She doesn’t know where to start in investments. Is it real estate or stocks? She has no clue which direction to take. Most young women know a lot about their field in careers but no zilch about investments. But here is a chance to start somewhere Find a field of investments that interests you, and research on it. Make Google your friend. Mentors –talk to someone older, not even necessarily in your field who can guide you and perhaps you can learn from their success and failures. Keep up to date with current trends. Keeping up with the Kardashians is great but keeping up with news and current trends and innovations will help you a huge deal. Time Say hello to Esihle. Esihle is a pretty 23 year old in her first job after university. Esihle now has the “financial independence” she has been waiting for and no longer has to ask her parents for money. So where does she spend her free time? Social media, just stalking her friend’s timelines seeing what they have been up to, posting photos on Instagram with hundreds of filters and catching up with her friends over drinks after a hectic week of work or just catching up with the latest series or movies. According to research, the average millennial spends 9 hours a day on social platforms. How many years did she spend in the university learning about let’s say Journalism? About four years. How many hours does she spend learning about something financial related? Well, not enough. If she took four years to study in University and can afford to spend 9 hours on social platforms, how much more informed can she be if she spent one hour learning about investment opportunities like stocks for example each day? The point is we become empowered when we are more knowledgeable. We become knowledgeable when read and learn. We can only read and learn when we create time to do it! *Drops mic! What are you waiting for? Get empowered! 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When to ask for a raise and how to actually get it
[bctt tweet=”Everyone with your same title is ballin’ and 5 other ways to know it’s time for a raise” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] We’ve all been there. Working a job where your hours are 9-5 but you end up putting in 9-10 to show your commitment. After several months of putting in extra hours, covering for your absent coworker, or simply realizing your value, you’ve decided your wallet deserves some growth. If you’re on the fence about asking for a salary increase, do a little self evaluation to determine if now is the right time to ask. 1. You’re in good standing with your boss A couple of weeks ago my friend told me a horror story about someone who asked for a raise. This guy showed up to work late, took excessive time off, and wasn’t even with the company a year! That is a prime example of when not to ask for a raise. However, if you and your boss are close, why not capitalize on your positive relationship? If you’ve noticed some extra pep in your boss’s step or she’s treating everyone to lunch, this might be a good time to jump on the opportunity and talk money. 2. You’ve done your research Perhaps you’ve stumbled upon an article while reading through Forbes or LinkedIn —because you stay knowledgeable on workplace trends like any smart professional. If you came across this Forbes article about the fastest growing jobs in America, then you’ve most likely already started calculating the zeroes into your paycheck. Also, Glassdoor also has a new function that allows you to determine whether you’re being paid sufficiently. So if you feel you’re being under-paid, this will do the work for you and determine how much professionals in your field are making. 3. You just took on a new project that’s above your pay grade If you’ve been going above and beyond by taking on extra work, exceeding your goals, staying late, or covering for your “sick” coworker, it’s a good time to speak to your boss. Not only will this highlight your value to the organization, but you’ll also let them know you’re no fool and you want your money. 4. The company is expanding This means that not only will positions be opening up for promotions, but your company clearly has the budget to pay you more. If your company is opening a new branch or creating a new department, this is your chance to showcase your skill set. 6. Everyone with your same title is ballin’ I’m not saying to compare yourself to others, but, if your accountant salary leads you to order malt liquor while your fellow accountants are sippin’ on Dom Perignon; it might be negotiation time. Now that you’ve decided you need that paper, here’s how to successfully ask your boss for a raise: Ask around Nothing compares to information from the source. Talk to people who have successfully been promoted within their companies. This is also a good time to reach out to a professional mentor. If you don’t have a mentor yet, don’t worry, there’s an app for that! The Grip app gives smartphone users an easy way to network. It’s like Tinder for networking. Make a list It’s important to keep track of what you’ve accomplished. After all, they need proof that you deserve to be making more! When my mom (who is a CFO for a non-profit in Los Angeles) asked for a raise at a previous job, she decided to ask after taking on an advanced project. She wrote down her accomplishments from the project and used that to back up her proposal for a raise. Your accomplishments should be specific and measurable. For example, at my current position I publish our office’s first eNewsletter. If I was proposing a raise, I would say, “I have contributed to the design and production of our office’s first online newsletter. In the first six months the newsletter was distributed to over 3,000 contacts monthly and maintained an open and click-through rate of 20% and 250% higher than our industry average.” [bctt tweet=”Before you ask your boss for a raise, make a list and write everything down!” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Write it down Going in to sit down with your boss can be anxiety inducing. Therefore, plan out what you’re going to say and give yourself action items so you don’t sound rehearsed and stay on track. Try saying something like; “I’ve been with this company for X amount of time and have accomplished A, B, and C. Seeing that I have reached these benchmarks I would like to discuss a salary that reflects my accomplishments with this organization.” Now go forth and get that money!
Working to learn versus working to earn: The Millennial dilemma
[bctt tweet=”Does it mean more for you to work to learn right now or work to earn?” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Admittedly most of us enter the job market with high hopes and plans to make waves working 9-5 and ultimately, leaving a footprint. In the excitement of the dawning of a new day; we sometimes forget that there are tough decisions that we need to ponder. This realization usually means an inevitable transition that takes us on a joy ride. Happy New Year! First of all, congratulations! You get to do all of the things which you set out to achieve as soon as you graduated and you are fired up with zeal to the brim. As a result you’ve been granted the opportunity-of-a-lifetime. The universe and your grancestors have been on your side; all that’s left to do is, SLAy! Yet, there’s a disclaimer, this job you’ve been offered does not pay enough for you to rent, pay off tertiary debt and have a social life. But, you’re probably fresh from university and in need of expertise. You’re thinking surely it won’t be long until you climb the corporate ladder, right? [bctt tweet=”Being a Motherland Mogul, you know that you cannot play with your earning potential” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Earning Potential Almost all your previous stresses and worries come through like; “Oh? You thought you’d be 20-something, driving your dream car and living in your luxurious penthouse?” Ha! You thought you were so woke and resolved and then got a feel of the juice. Being a Motherland Mogul, you know that you cannot play with your earning potential; that experience begets zeros, and recognition in your chosen field or vocation. So you need to draw up a list of priorities and take it from there. Question: Does it mean more for you to work to learn right now or work to earn? The ramifications of either decision Consequently, adulting comes with the unavoidable task of choices. So opting to work to earn could mean you forsake active mentorship —your job may not necessarily be in the trade or industry you may have wanted to be in. Or you may be working with individuals who are not invested in impacting any significant change within the industry because all they are about is the bottom line. The plus side to this is the fact that you will be able to settle your student debt, send money back home and be able to start saving to purchase property or buy a car. The reverse scenario is accepting a job to learn, truly dedicating oneself to the course of learning as many tricks of the trade and attending networking sessions to establish a strong foothold in the industry. Huge disclaimer: the remuneration may not live up to the job title and expectation of duties to be carried out. The silver lining on this cloud would be that what you gain in experience can always be made up for in monetary value at a later stage. [bctt tweet=”It is possible to have your cake and eat it when it comes to work situations” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] The grass may not always be greener Whether one is working to earn, or working to learn —there are both pros and cons to each scenario. The situation will vary from person to person and it is your prerogative to choose whichever works for you at a particular juncture in life. As such; you need to decide from a place of clarity and being grounded in what you wants for yourself. It is possible to have your cake and eat it; inasmuch as something may look attractive to you, it may not be all that it is cut out to be. [bctt tweet=”The world of vocation is a journey of continual learning writes @ZimK_Mvandaba” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Striking a balance The world of vocation is a journey of continual learning. By asking yourself deliberate questions about the aspirations you have and what fulfillment you want from a career, you will be a step closer. There is a preparedness that goes into the decision process guiding you from university to the world of work. Asking for help is not something to shy away from. Also, you could spend the first few years post-grad school interning or in a learnership to gain practical experience and take charge of the learning opportunities on offer. Alternatively, one could start off working to earn and building on their professional and academic portfolio simultaneously. There is no right or wrong, just make decisions that work for you as an individual.