Reuben Kimani is the co-founder and chief executive officer at Username Investment Ltd, a real estate development and investment company in Kenya.
According to him, your salary will never make you wealthy, but investments will. He shares some tips on how you can move from a Sh30,000 salary to a millionaire.
Work hard and smart. Grow your career or business so that it keeps generating more income. Most importantly, grow your investments because it can move from 1 million to 100 million in 10 years, but it’s impossible for your salary to move from Sh30,000 to Sh50 million.
Join a Sacco. Whether you are employed or self-employed, join a sacco where you can save some money. Saccos are good because they give you low-interest rates loans, compared to banks.
The objective of Saccos is to get loans for pure investments. Start putting aside some money using the 50:30:20 budget rule.
This rule states that 50 percent of your income should go to your needs, 30 percent to your wants, and 20 percent to your savings and investments.
If you put that 20 percent in an investment scheme every month, you will be surprised how your investments would have grown, say, five years later. Remember, consistency is very important.
Reuben Kimani: Hustle like a dropout, create solutions and money will find you
Even if you are not sure where to invest, just join a Sacco as you look for properties. Real estate is one of the best vehicles for investments, but if you are good in stock, focus on it and invest in education to be able to grow your investment.
Join an investment group/Chama. Look for friends who are serious and focused and start an investment group where you can save like Sh2,000 a month.
Take an example of how boda boda guys do it. They come together like 50 people and contribute about Sh1,000 per month. That is Sh50,000. With that amount, they immediately start building, and in five years’ time, as their income increases, they increase the subscription. Finally, they have an estate.
It becomes easier for ten or five people to acquire properties because they will be able to pull resources together. The good thing about property is that it keeps on appreciating and in one year, you will realize your wealth has grown.
However, it’s important to know that wealth creation does not take two months or even one year. It may take even five years, but with consistency, you will enjoy the journey.
Also, when we talk about savings and investments, most young people think they have to forego things like entertainment, but the fact is you don’t need to forego those things.
You just need to be balanced in your budget, and you will live a very good life depending on the season you are in.
