10 habits of future millionaires - Are you one of them?

A friend I met within chapters of a tired novel said to me, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough go drinking.’ I liked the phrase.

Loved it. It bounced in my mind the way a child would in a bouncing castle. Though it felt like a careless phrase, bordering contempt towards those who have less, I managed to squeeze some sense from it.

We are in debt as a nation. And though the government is broke, most of those, if not all in government, are going drinking when the rest of us are innovating survival techniques.

And this is why we have comrades gambling their rent, upkeep money, school fee and the little cash they can make. We are pursuing a mirage.

As a weak guy, when the going gets tough, I drink. I can’t afford it.

Yet I drink. I live beyond my means. In the immortal words of teacher Ruth, ‘I live from hand to mouth’. I rarely save the dough I make from peddling words. I drink and smoke the cash mother dearest and dad send for my upkeep.

Saving for a rainy day is pointless yet in my foolish dreams, I’d want to own a lovely puppy, an SUV, a mini bar in my farm house and arrest the love of a hardworking smart girl. I’m a foolish sad boy who can’t save and invest in the future yet he dreams of a smooth tomorrow.

Barack Muluka, who from time to time writes for this publication and our sister paper wrote about Kenyans’ need to own a higher purchasing power beyond their power.

We, in university, have a tendency of spending cash on fruitless ventures like clubbing, drinking bottles of whiskey and vodka we can’t afford to, smoking rolls of weed and sticks of cigarettes we can’t finance on our own. We’d want to dress in designer dresses, suits and shoes that our parents don’t even wear.

There’s no pain, I’ve come to learn, in clubbing once a month. Girls, there’s no pain, I’ve learned when your boyfriend takes you for a movie or pizza once in a month. And as a fourth year, I’ve learned that teachers and modules and units will never teach you how to make and manage money. 

Look around you comrades, there are fewer jobs. Lots of poverty. Crime and hopelessness. Let’s learn on how to start a business, make money and save. Let’s not spend the money we don’t have.