On today’s episode of our creator stories, we had an Instagram live session with Jennifer Awirigwe, where she took us through savings and wealth investment strategies for digital creators in Nigeria.

Our #CreatorStories series showcases amazing creators turning their passion to profit, we talk to them about how they got started, their journey so far, and get lessons that could help the next creator. 

Jennifer Awirigwe is a financial education instructor who has taught over 13,000 women how to manage their finances correctly and also provides them with information on how to invest their money both in Naira and foreign currencies.

For digital creators looking to create good financial habits that will help them grow financially, relax enjoy this interview, and draw lessons from Jennifer Awirigwe

Can you tell us a lit bit about you?

Jennifer Awirigwe: Let me say, I became an accidental finance girl, I trained as a chartered accountant, I do some writing jobs, I do some social media jobs and so many other jobs. Money was coming in from different angles but unfortunately at the end of the year, I won’t be able to account for my income.

This had been a cause of concern for me, hence I decided to take the bull by the horns and start saving from my income.

To keep me accountable in this new quest of mine, I decided to make my social media followers, my accountability partners. I will write about my savings journey, about new savings platforms or strategies I just found out and so many more.

Before I knew it, so many people started asking me questions and also relating to my posts.  From there my page grew into a community and at that point, I felt it was high time I started coaching people on how to manage their finances.

I went ahead to get certified, took different courses, equipped myself, and here we are.

I have close to 13,000 women doing amazing things with their money just from my teachings.

There are over 14,000 creators on Selar, how do you think those Digital creators can manage their money better?

People resonate better with stories so I will be using myself as an example to respond to this question. There are two ways to manage your money and they are; saving and investing.

Personally, as a seller on Selar.co, I get alert every day, so I make sure that as the money is coming in, I set aside a certain percentage of the money to go into either investment or savings.

For instance, if you already planned that 30% of your earnings is going to savings or investment, then immediately the money comes in, you make sure you separate that particular percentage and immediately send it to your savings platforms or investment platform.

Summarily, the first step to managing your finances is to plan on how to handle your income before it comes in.

Always make sure your savings are a part of your budget, as you are paying bills and the rest, you make sure you also add your savings money to the budget.

Always make it a necessity to save a percentage of your earnings because if you don’t save, you will realize that no matter how much you earn, money can never be enough.

This is one thing that has helped me and is still helping me.

How can digital product creators build better saving habits? Is there a way to automate it?

Automation has helped me to save, There are two basic ways to automate your savings. The first way is to save with your bank.

How do you do that?

You can give your bank a standing order to deduct a certain amount from your savings every month either to another savings account of yours or to an investment platform.

The other way is by using Fintech platforms, Fintech platforms available in Nigeria are cowrywise, piggyvest amongst others.

These Fintech platforms can be automated to remove a certain amount of money from your account at a set date and the good part of these platforms is that you can lock up your savings till a set date and they won’t allow you to withdraw your savings until that set date, no matter the emergency.

As a digital products creator that earns daily, some of these Fintech platforms have features whereby you can activate them to deduct a certain percentage from your income every time money comes into your account.

Apart from these, I also have other ways I go about savings. I have a small container that is always beside me at all times. This container is mainly to save money so every time I go to the ATM to withdraw, I will always drop part of the money into the container. 

Also, random monetary gifts from friends and families go into the container. At the end of the year, the money I get from the container is always beyond my imagination.

Then, group contribution, where you gather your friends and you contribute a certain amount monthly, you can decide to rotate the Packers or just continue saving till a later date.

This group contribution, however, has its cons, you might not trust people enough with your money but Fintech platforms has simplified this, they have feature for group savings, all you need to do is to form an accountability group on WhatsApp or telegram where you urge one another to save on the platform at said date.

What are the best investments for wealth creation that a digital creator should know about?

Savings is just a means, it’s not an end. Naira is not a stable currency, it can be devalued at any time. Savings won’t make you rich because at the end of your savings cycle, the value of your money saved might have depreciated, all thanks to inflation!

Savings is very good when you have a certain project you want to use the money for or perhaps, you can save towards an investment.

One investment strategy I will recommend for Digital creators in Nigeria is dollar-cost averaging, by dollar-cost averaging, you invest at a particular set time, monthly or yearly, regardless of what the stock rate is at that moment.

You set out a certain percentage of your income to go into investment either monthly or quarterly or yearly. You are not after the price of the stock in the market at that moment, all you are after is that you want to invest and you have invested.

What is your view on cryptocurrency?

If you ask me about this last year, I will say I don’t do it because I don’t know much about it, and I have my principle that I follow when it comes to investment, and that is “I don’t invest in what I don’t understand”. This principle has helped me to avoid a whole lot of losses.

Earlier this year, I noticed that big investment houses and companies are beginning to show interest in cryptocurrency to the extent that some even accept it as a form of payment, so I felt it’s high time I knew more about this investment. That was what made me learn and understand more about cryptocurrency. 

I invest in cryptocurrency, but I can’t give you 100% of its sustainability because it’s not regulated so anything can happen at any time. The world leaders might decide to kick it off or accept it. It’s unpredictable. So many people say it’s the future but I can’t assure you whether it’s the future or not.

My advice for newbies who are just starting into investing in cryptocurrency is that:

#1. Access your risk profile/appetite

Cryptocurrency is not volatile, you can get double your money within 24 hours, also you can lose all your money in a twinkle of an eye. If you are someone whose risk profile is low, you might end up having health complications from trading in cryptocurrency. So you need to access your risk profile before going into cryptocurrency.

#2. When you are starting out, start with a tiny percentage of your income

You won’t want to risk all your earnings into cryptocurrency. I won’t advise you to drop all your income, for a start, use a little from your income.

#3. Don’t mess up with bigger cryptocurrencies as a beginner

As a beginner, just keep on to popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, BMB, etc rather than going into bigger unpopular ones. Yes! The bigger unpopular ones are very easy to make your funds double in a short period but they can also fall drastically within that period.

#4. Don’t be in haste to sell your stock.

This happens especially when the stock market is going down, people tend to sell their crypto so as to avoid loss, but if your main aim is to invest, you don’t need to sell off your stock so fast, just keep calm and you will see it rise again.

Thank you.

This is a transcribed version of the interview, for full video experience, jokes cracked, games played and questions answered, kindly check out this link.