By JOHN KARIUKI

Hezron Gakuya, a retiree in Nyandarua County, likes to retell "heroic tale" to anyone cares to listen.

The man from the hilly parts of Central Kenya that borders Rift Valley did the unforgettable antics in his youthful years.

He has remained the talk of his village for decades. After earning Sh100,000 in court compensation, he partied all day long.

By that time, such amount was huge, equivalent to millions going by the current inflationary rate.

Towards late afternoon, he realised the last matatu to his rural home had long taken to the hills.

Gakuya loaded with enough cash stopped a Nyeri-bound 62-seater bus and negotiated with the crew to swing by his home.

He offered them an irresistible Sh600, a fortune then, and the crew ordered the passengers to alight for refreshment while they "checked" on the bus’ brakes! Gakuya boarded it with his mistress for the journey back home.

The grand entry of the swanky bus to his village with blazing headlights and horn blaring, set a first of sorts that mesmerized villagers of what money can do!

A hefty shopping Gakuya carried along confirmed his new status. "I would later make more but low key trips to town and squander most of the court award," Gakuya tells Shillings&Sense.

He would argue that such money was not factored into his life in the first place.

Spending spree

He adopted a ‘clearing and forwarding’ mentality towards it. "Now I see the immense opportunity of changing my life I missed by squandering all the cash," Gakuya regrettably narrates.

From the employees who abscond work every end month ostensibly to reduce their pay to "a manageable amount," to the housewife who sees all savings from her intense haggling only in terms of beauty products that it can buy, there are many Gakuyas in our midst.

And they all have a common denominator — adopting the wrong notion towards money, especially any cash acquired irregularly.

But at the end of the day they repeatedly confirm the old saying that a fool and his or her money are soon parted!

Witness the many strange things scores of Kenyans do with any irregularly acquired cash like working out how many bottles of beer it can buy!

Others will haggle to get a reduction on bus fare, only to use such savings to buy "quarter chicken and chips" once they reach their destinations!

Little savings

They do not see the tidy sums such little savings can amount to and help solve major money issues!

In deed, some old geezers squander all their tea and coffee bonuses in Mombasa usually secure a date with fate at a later date.

Others run away from home and take all their meals in star rated hotels.

Like Gakuya, they may hire taxis to move around in just to prove that they are in the league of "real and propertied men!"

But personal finance experts reckon that putting all extra income to flashy cars, furniture, clothes and electronic goods and so on does not augur well with financial freedom.

It could be overcompensating for something that they missed in their childhood.

And such behaviour is bound to breed a culture of never saving and can impoverish a person.

George Kantai, a veteran personal banker with a local financial institution, has seen experienced all the mistakes people routinely make with the unexpected cash when dealing with clients.

"I had a client who despite getting promotion in his work place, could not pay his loans and I personally intervened to sort him out," says Kantai.

According to Kantai, the client went for a car, on loan, and a mistress after getting a promotion, which came with some extra Sh10,000 in his net pay.

"When we calculated together, my client and I realised that the new car and mistress came with extra and hidden costs that were derailing him from serving his loans," says Kantai.

"But rather than give up on these, this client claimed that people wouldn’t know of his new job status — a costly way of proving a social point," says Kantai.

Unplanned resources

Kantai argues some people often undertake unscheduled holidays when they win jackpots, court compensations or acquire inheritance, instead of investing such windfalls wisely. Kantai advises people to plan soberly about their regular and irregular incomes if they want to gain financial freedom.

"The beauty of financial planning is that one can set it and forget it,’ he says. He gives the example of a fixed deposit account through which people can save and enjoy the fruits of their smart decisions down the road with minimum pain now.

"If you are employed and have a regular salary you can save 10 per cent of it each month, even if you have to sign a standing order with your bank," he tells Shillings&Sense.

One can adjust to the "loss" of this money soon but he or she will enjoy seeing the balance when they retire or want to invest. Additional money from other irregular sources to such an account will only quicken the goal of investing for the future.

Sadly people take such money as manna from heaven and squander it sparingly without thoughts on posterity.