Money mistakes I made in my 30s

Money mistakes most people make in their 30s [Courtesy]

 

I BOUGHT A HOUSE WHEN I WASN’T READY

Manyara Kirago, managing director of Financial Counseling Kenya

My biggest mistake was buying a house on mortgage without a stable income. I had a business but it was not stable then. So I could not pay for the house. I ended up in a huge mess because when I failed to play, I would be penalized so the mortgage balance kept increasing instead of reducing. I eventually had to sell the house at a loss and start over because the arrears became were high. That's why I don't advice anyone to take a mortgage without a stable income.

 

 WORKING FOR FREE DIDN’T LEAD ANYWHERE

 Chris Kirwa, events strategist and COO, CateChris Ltd

The biggest mistake I made in my 30s was giving too much value and credit where it was not due. People would request me to do a job because it would expose me to their networks and therefore other people would call me to work for them as well, be it for MCeeing or managing events. Most of the time that does not work. In fact, the people that you charge are the ones who call you back because they value you. I discovered I had done a lot of work for free and the best I got out of it was that they would maybe give me food and fare. It never translated to return calls for business. So you can work for free if you want to, but don't expect it to translate to future business. The best you can hope to get from it is to use it as reference when presenting your work to other people, so do an excellent job whether it is free or not.

 

 I INVESTED IN A PYRAMID SCHEME

James Karundu, business coach and founder of Passionbiz Academies

The biggest mistake I made in my 30s was investing in a pyramid scheme. It did not sound like one at first, in fact it sounded like a great investment opportunity. I "invested" around Sh30,000. The mistake I made was not realizing that the deal was too good to be true. It never works like that. But as humans we have a tendency to let our guard down when the information comes from a close friend. I'm usually a very sensible person but when he told me about it I latched onto it and we invested together. A month later, that business collapsed. The lesson there is that you should always check, verify and take your time. If the deal is genuinely good today, it will still be good tomorrow. Usually they tell you the opportunity is passing and you have to get it today. If it is a real opportunity, it will still be good tomorrow. This is your hard-earned money, so take your time.

 

I QUIT MY JOB BEFORE I WAS READY

David Tanki, executive director of Lan-X Africa Limited

The worst mistake I made was quitting my job before I had tied up all the loose ends. I had not finalized all I wanted to do, and that meant that because I had not considered every resource I would need, where I was to get the money from. I suffered for a whole year as a result of that. Another mistake along the same lines was failing to talk to people who had been in the industry before me. That would have minimized the damage and minimized losses. Imagining you will do everything by yourself will fail you. Get experts and skilled people to do some things for you and compensate them for it. That way you save a lot of time to focus on other aspects of your business.

 

I PUT MY COOKIES IN TOO MANY JARS

 Tony Sahni, Group MD, Securex Agencies (K) Limited

It is almost an accepted fact that entrepreneurs, especially when starting out, can be a bit trigger-happy. This was certainly the case when I was in my thirties. I invested resources in several businesses that I did not particularly understand because they were beyond my scope of expertise. I jumped head first into ventures without much thought. Perhaps we can put this down to youthful exuberance and the desire to just get the ball rolling.

With the benefit of hindsight, it became clear that I would have been better off sticking to my core rather than having my finger in many pies. As they say, you cannot sit on two toilet seats, so to speak.

 

I HOARDED MONEY

Chris Madison, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network Kenya

When I was in my 30s I did well, but I wasn’t prosperous. Prosperity is not simply the making and managing of money, but also its circulation. This is an idea that I didn’t really understand until my late 30s. If you have been fortunate enough to generate wealth, as a human being and a beneficiary of a stable society we have an obligation to use our money to heal and inspire. Hoarding money only stops the flow and tends to corrupt the possessor and their children.